My Boyfriend and Other Enemies

Six little scale models in glass and a large pencil sketch decorated the table between them. Fish of various sizes, seahorses, a diving kestrel, strips of kelp, a sparkling school of krill. ‘And this will be the shards of sunlight cutting down through the ocean.’

Nathaniel smiled, but he wasn’t looking where her fingers pointed. ‘We’ve never had anything like it in any of our buildings. It will be astonishing.’

‘How much is it going to cost?’ Aiden asked, lips pressed.

So the arctic thaw over lunch the week before was only a lull, it seemed. Just as she might have relaxed.

‘Aiden,’ his father barked. ‘Unimportant.’

Tash moved to ease the sudden tension between the two men. ‘This is a showpiece for me. I’ll be doing it for material costs only.’

Aiden frowned.

Nathaniel sat up. ‘No, Tash. You mustn’t...’

She locked eyes on his. ‘I’m not going to charge you, Nathaniel. Not for my time. But there’ll be a lot of glass in this piece so if you’d cover that I’d be grateful.’

Insisting would just be awkward and she’d handed him a chivalrous out. But, of course, this was Nathaniel. ‘Naturally we’ll pay for materials but...’ He pursed his lips and thought for a moment. ‘What we really need is a public announcement. That way you get the PR benefit in lieu of payment for your time.’

‘I don’t require payment for my time.’

Aiden’s eyes darted between the two of them.

‘Well, I wish to show off this marvellous design and if I choose to do that in front of my corporate equivalents and that just happens to lead to more work for you, so much the better.’

‘Nathaniel—’

‘It’s decided. I won’t protest at you not charging MooreCo for what I’m sure will be a considerable amount of your time and artistic focus, and in return I expect you to be gracious and professional about my desire to throw a party to celebrate the acquisition of our biggest ever art piece.’

Snookered.

She glared at him. Then very ungraciously snorted. ‘Fine.’

His smile was immediate. ‘Good girl.’

Aiden’s left eye narrowed.

She met his gaze and held it.

‘That’s worked out well, hasn’t it?’ he asked flatly.

But she got the sense that he really wanted to add ‘...for you’ to that.

THREE

Tash stepped out of the expensive vehicle onto the highest heels she owned. Their engineering had always seemed pointless, but she’d take the extra inches against Aiden any day.

‘I’m still struggling to understand why I needed to be invited to a party in my own honour?’ she said.

‘Think of it as more of a VIP escort than an invitation,’ he murmured.

Uh-huh. She would have believed that from his father, but not from Aiden. Although it was entertaining to imagine him as an escort. Upper-case E. He was slick, handsome and full of fakery enough for it...and he had the right body.

‘Something amusing?’

Tash forced her lips into a more serious line. ‘No. Just appreciating the architecture. I’ve never been inside this building.’ The second part was true, at least.

‘You’re in for a treat. It’s beautifully restored.’ His hand dropped to her lower back as he guided her up the stairs and through the ornate doors. Heat from his fingertips tingled through the soft fabric of her dress. ‘I thought you would have seen the glasswork, at least. That’s why we chose this as a venue for the launch party. And this time of day.’

She let her eyes drift up to the stunning stained-glass windows on the western side of the building practically glowing in the rich, low afternoon light. ‘I’ve seen them from the outside, of course.’

‘Natasha. Aiden.’ Nathaniel moved towards them, as dapper and handsome as ever. ‘Did you arrive at the same time?’

Aiden’s chin lifted the tiniest bit but it was enough to put paid to his lie about her needing an escort. But it was too entertaining watching him trip up on his own transparency to make a big deal of it. She leaned in for a kiss on each cheek from Nathaniel then glanced around the beautifully appointed venue. Up on the big screen her glass prototypes had been photographed and lit by a professional and looked about as good as the finished artwork would. The AV team flicked quickly through them in rehearsal for the speeches later.

‘This is all so beautiful. Are all your parties this lavish?’

‘Usually. Aiden sets a high bar.’

She turned her surprise to him. ‘This is your work?’

‘I didn’t personally choose the flowers, if that’s what you’re asking, but I do know the quality planners in town and how to get the best out of them.’

I’ll bet.

‘Will you forgive me?’ Nathaniel said. ‘The inexcusably prompt are starting to arrive.’

He waved his arm in a flourish and the visuals on the big screen ended with a snap as the lights sank in a subtle crossfade with the music that grew out of the silence around them.

And just like that, it was a party.

Aiden’s hand was back at her lower spine again but where before it had only tingled, now it blazed with un-ignorable heat. Either he’d developed a raging temperature in the last thirty seconds or hers had inexplicably plunged. So much so that tiny bumps prickled up all over her back.

‘Would you like a drink?’ he murmured, close to her ear.

How galling. That his charm and charisma should have actually had some effect. She spun away from his gentle touch. ‘You don’t actually need to escort me, Aiden. I’m quite capable of getting safely to the bar.’ Or not, since she didn’t drink much and certainly not at work events. ‘I’m sure you’ll have better things to do this evening than shadow me.’

And as the word slipped unconsciously across her lips she realised that was exactly what he was doing. Babysitting her. Controlling her arrival and departure and her movements while here.

Why?

‘Tonight is very important to my father,’ he simply said. ‘I’m on hand to run interference should anything go...wrong.’

Interference? By sticking close to her? ‘What is it you imagine I’m going to do here? Lie back on the bar and drink shots straight from the bottle?’

His blue eyes crackled. ‘I would pay good money to see that.’

‘I’m sure you would, given some of the other things you’re famous for spending your money on—’ she ignored his flare of surprise ‘—but I’ve been to many of these nights, Aiden. I know the drill. Turn up, look good and be wild enough to be interesting but not inappropriate. Intrigue but don’t offend. Generate speculation but not gossip.’