Beauty and the Boss (Modern Fairytales) (3 page)

Where was that freaking meteorite?

Mr. Gale rocked back on his heels, finally showing some emotion. But it was amusement, not anger. “I wouldn’t be the first to do so, and if you think otherwise, you’re more naive than I ever imagined. Last week, Mr. Thorn brought a woman that I know for a fact is a—”

“
Don’t
.” She dropped her hand and shook her head sadly, as if she’d caught him banging a woman in front of her late husband’s shrine, instead of walking in on an awkward dinner between boss and employee. “You will announce an engagement before the next board meeting, or I will put forth a motion to remove you as CEO under a No Confidence vote, and do everything in my power to instate Andrew into the position in your stead. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I won’t get the votes needed. I will. I’ve ensured as much. As I said, I abhor losing.”

He glanced at Maggie again, and the idea he’d planted with his silent gaze earlier took an insane, reckless turn. She’d been trying her best to ignore the plan forming silently in her head, but something inside of her snapped.

But she couldn’t do it. Could she?

She didn’t do things on impulse.
Ever
.

And yet, she was about to. Like a
boss
.

Ignoring her actual boss, she tossed her hair over her shoulder. “That’s ridiculous, and this is the twenty-first century. You can’t force someone to get married because you
want
them to.”

Slowly, her boss turned to her, shock on his face as if he couldn’t believe that someone was sticking up for him. Or maybe he’d forgotten she was there. Either way, it looked as if a strong gust of wind would have blown him right onto his perfect, tight butt. “Maggie—”

“Excuse me?” Mrs. Gale said. Her face flushed an angry red, and her hands fisted at her sides as she advanced on Maggie. “Who exactly are you to speak on this matter? And why are you still here? I fired you.”

“Ah, but
he
didn’t. And there’s a reason for that.”

Mr. Gale blinked at her, looking like a fish out of water for the first time.

His mother spluttered. “How
dare
you—”

“I’m your son’s fiancée,” she blurted out. “We were together before I joined the company. That’s why he can’t date other women, why he didn’t show up last night. And it makes all of your threats empty ones, too. You can’t fire me. So–yeah. He already wins, because he has
me
.”

Mrs. Gale’s jaw dropped.
Finally
the woman shut up.

But as quickly as her uncharacteristic impulsiveness had come into play, Maggie’s common sense came right back. She’d literally just announced, without her boss’s permission, that she was
engaged
to him. If he denied it in front of his mother, she would not only be fired, but everyone would hear about her shame, and no one would hire her.

New York might be a huge city, but the pharmaceutical research field was
not
.

And all of this had happened because she had a stupid soft spot for creatures who needed help. Her boss, with billions in his bank account, shouldn’t fit into that category, but yet he somehow
did
.

Mr. Gale, who probably wanted to strangle her, choked and dragged his hands down his face. “Maggie, you don’t—”

“It’s okay. I told you I didn’t want to announce it yet, but I’m ready.” She forced a smile. His mouth opened, closed, then pressed into a thin line. “We can tell the whole world how much we love each other if you want…Benjamin.”

He made a strangled sound and tugged on his tie. He seemed more shocked than anything, but he had to be angry underneath that cold exterior of his. “Love—?”

She cast a quick glance at Mrs. Gale, who was starting to turn blue from lack of oxygen, before turning back to her boss. Not giving him a chance to ruin the ruse she’d thrown together, she launched herself into his arms and kissed him, right in his office in front of his mother.

The second their mouths touched, it was as if she’d woken up from a long, deep sleep. This wasn’t a kiss—not really—and she was fully aware of that.

But her body didn’t get the message.

His mouth softened under hers, and after a moment of sheer awkwardness, he closed his arms around her and hauled her against his chest. Though she’d initiated the kiss, it didn’t take long for him to show her who was in charge of it. A small shift of his chin, and he was the
kisser
instead of the
kissed
.

He turned her slightly, facing away from his mother, and ran his tongue against the seam of her sealed lips. She gasped, shocked he’d actually gone
there
, and he took full advantage of the situation. He tasted like wine and something else she couldn’t place, and that was about as far as she got before she couldn’t think of anything except his lips on hers, his tongue against hers. She curled her hands into his shirt, and a small moan escaped her. She jumped at the sound, jerking back and covering her mouth in surprise.

Mr. Gale stared down at her, breathing heavily, his focus
clearly
on her mouth. It did weird things to her insides—things that made her want to launch herself back into his arms, only for real this time, and take that kiss a step further.

Like, stepping right into his bed.

She lifted her face, going for another taste. His eyes darkened, and a sexy growl escaped him, so quiet she might have imagined it. He fisted her shirt at the small of her back and closed the distance between them. She sucked in a breath.

If she didn’t, she might pass out.

“
Enough
,” Mrs. Gale shouted, forcibly jerking Maggie out of her lust-hazed tunnel vision. “If you think I’ll buy this…this…
indecent sham
as something real, you’re even less fit as the head of this company than I suspected.”

Mr. Gale—God, she didn’t even call him by his first name in her mind and she’d just
kissed
him—turned to his mother. Instead of letting her go like she’d expected, he tightened his grasp on her waist and kept her tucked against his side. “There’s nothing indecent in this room. We love each other and aren’t ashamed to show it.”

“This is unacceptable. Whatever
this
”—she gestured between Maggie and Mr. Gale—“is, it needs to end.
Now
. I’ll contact you with a list of suitable candidates, and you
will
woo them all. And you
will
pick one of them and kick
her
to the curb where she belongs…or you’ll pay the ultimate price.”

Not waiting for an answer, she stormed out, closing the door behind her with a firm click. Even though she hadn’t slammed the door, the effect was still there. Maggie jumped and dropped her hand—which had been covering her mouth—to her side. Mr. Gale let go of her, and he immediately stepped back to a respectable distance.

She still didn’t look at him. Didn’t dare.

God, what had she
done
? So much for keeping her disastrous love life—real
or
fake—out of the office. She’d kissed her boss. Her
boss
. Jesus.

After counting to three, she blurted, “I’m sorry. So, so sorry, Mr. Gale. I have no idea what came over me, but she kept yelling and calling you worthless, and you work so hard and don’t deserve to be treated that way, and I just, I don’t know,
snapped
. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I…I…”

“Did the perfect thing,” he said, his voice as calm and collected as always. “Damn brilliant, really.”

“It was stupid and irresponsible and—” She staggered back and glanced at her boss’s face for the first time since they’d been left alone. “Wait.
What?
”

Instead of anger and disgust, which she’d totally expected to see, he smiled at her. Actually
smiled
. And he had dimples. Two of them. In his cheeks.

What just happened?

Chapter Three

B
enjamin rubbed his jaw, and his smile widened as he replayed the look of pure shock on his mother’s face when Maggie threw herself into his arms and declared their love for one another.
Love
. What a silly notion, and an absolutely perfect weapon against his mother’s ultimatum. She would be as disoriented in the face of love as he would be, because neither of them had a clue what it was.

The Gale family ran on ambition, not
feelings
. And that was a damn good thing, too. If she had said they were marrying for money, or for convenience, his mother would have been on them quicker than a lion on a wounded gazelle.

But instead, she’d used
love
. It had been enough to send his mother running, and it had bought him some much-needed time to get his shit together. He had no doubt his mother could challenge his position if he refused to at least try to settle down and be responsible. But if he already had a fiancée…

Hell, she didn’t have a case against him. And she was fully aware of that.

Maggie’s ruse had literally saved him. Of course, she was panicking, and looked as if she might be close to running from the office. But after she handed him that ingenious plan, there was no way he was letting it slip out of his fingers. He’d make her see that it was resourceful, not irresponsible. Her lie saved both their asses.

They were in a win/win situation.

She licked her lips—lips that he couldn’t get his mind off of now that he’d had a taste—and shook her head. “N-No. It was stupid. All she has to do is ask a few questions around the office, and she’ll find out the truth. She’ll fire me. I won’t be able to pay my rent, or help my parents out back home. I’ll be disgraced, and no one will hire me. I’ll have to leave the city and go back to milking cows and training—”

Milking cows?
Jesus. People still did that? Didn’t they have machines for that? “Maggie.” He pressed a finger to her soft lips, and she shut up. It took all his self-control not to kiss her into a silence, but he had a feeling if he did so, she’d bolt. She was already seconds from hyperventilating as it was. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”

She flushed even more. “No, it’s not. I messed up so bad, just like I always do, but this time it’s at work.”

“But we don’t have to tell anyone. No one needs to find out.” He lifted her chin with two gentle fingers, and her upturned face was more vulnerable than he’d ever seen it before, and so impossibly beautiful. He tried another smile, hoping to set her at ease, but if anything it seemed to freak her out even more—probably because he didn’t smile much anymore. Or ever. “We can make this into something real. Well, not
real
, but for the sake of everyone else it will
look
authentic. Like we were dating all along.”

Her gray eyes—they were definitely gray with blue flecks, now that he was this close to her—watched him, full of so many questions he could practically hear them. She was so different from the society women he usually dated.

The last one, Elizabeth, he’d been with for a year, and she never showed him even an ounce of emotion or softness. But Maggie? Ah, she showed every emotion as she experienced it, and it was refreshingly sweet. He didn’t know how to do the same. All his life, he’d been trained to hide his feelings.

But she was so…so damn
open
.

A surge of protectiveness hit him. He’d do what it took to help her keep her job
and
to make her stay by his side. With her help, he could get to the bottom of his mother’s plan. Hell, maybe he could talk to his brother and see if he was as eager for the position as his mother made him out to be.

He
would
win this battle.

But he’d need Maggie’s help to get it done and to avoid endless dates with the insufferable, money-grubbing, empty-headed snobs his mother usually set him up with.

She stepped back, and he dropped his hand to his side. “No one will believe it. We’re never alone together.”

“Yeah, we are.” He stepped closer, towering over her short height. She bit her lip and gave him a onceover. The air between them became charged, and he curled his fists into tight balls to keep from touching her again. “All the time. We always work later than everyone else, just like tonight. If we announce our engagement, people will all slap their thighs and go, ‘
That’s
why they always stayed late.’”

She shook her head once. “It can’t possibly be that easy.”

“The hell it can’t. People are gullible. Show them what they expect to see, and they believe it. If we tell them we stayed behind late to hide our
love
from the world, they’ll eat it up.” He paced, unable to stand still with so many ideas running through his head. “My mother will fall for it, too, since she already saw us on a date.”

She spluttered. “It wasn’t a
date
.”

“I know that, and so do you.” He pointed at her. “But she doesn’t.”

She tugged on her fingers. “Okay, fine. Whatever. But why would you
want
to pretend to be engaged to me?” she asked, watching him as he paced back and forth. “I don’t get it.”

“You’re the one who told her we were engaged in the first place,” he said. “Not me.”

“I know. And again, sorry. I’m never impulsive like that. I have no idea what came over me. I guess I just wanted to help you.”

“I’m not impulsive either, and I
always
think things through. To the point of exhaustion, even.” He stopped in front of her. “But
I
can see the merit of us pretending to be engaged, and you should be able to as well.”

She pressed her mouth into a tight line. “And that is?”

“Well, for starters, you could be fired if she went to the board with what she ‘saw’ here tonight—and she does have that power, if she can convince them.”

She paled. “She does?”

“Yes. It’s against company policy, so we could both be punished. It would help her force me out as CEO, and you would be fired on the spot.” He rubbed his jaw. “But with your smart lie, we wouldn’t have to worry about it. If we act as if we’re in love, and have been for a long time, we’ll both be safe.”

“That’s great and all, but we’ll have to convince people we’re in a relationship.” She held her hands out, palms up. “How do we do that?”

He’d seen it in movies, so it couldn’t be that hard. Smile a lot. Kiss a lot. Hold hands. Stare into each other’s eyes meaningfully.
I can handle
that
.

“We act happy, just like regular couples do. Kiss. Smile. Date. Instagram how in love we both are, and how we can’t wait to get married.” He shrugged. “And then, after a suitable amount of time, we break up and continue on as we have been.”

She shook her head. “But we have to pretend to be in
love
? That’s
crazy
. Isn’t it?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” He shrugged, his heart pumping hard and fast. “Either way, I think it’s our best option. This way, you keep your job and I keep mine. No cow-milking necessary.”

A small laugh escaped her. “But we’d have to actually, you know,
date
.”

“Yeah.” Another shrug. “And?”

“And…and you know nothing about me,” she said, wringing her hands. “Nothing at all.”

“That’s not true. Remember when we worked on the Collins project for a week, and on Friday, it all fell apart?”

She blinked at him. “Yeah.”

“We thought it was hopeless, that we’d end up failing the client because we didn’t have the numbers or the presentation ready.” He rested a hand on her shoulder and stared into her gorgeous eyes. She shivered and swayed closer. “We worked all throughout the weekend, only breaking for sleep, but we ended up giving them the best damn presentation we’ve ever given.”

“You’re saying this to prove we work well together, right?”

“Yep.” He let go of her because if he didn’t, and if she kept staring up at him, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands to himself. “And there’s no way in hell you can argue with that.”

“You’re right. I can’t. But you still know next to nothing about me.”

“Sure I do. You’re kind, smart, and think fast on your feet.” He shrugged. “I can count on you to get a job done, and you’re a loyal employee. If that’s not enough for me to decide we make a good team, there’s the fact that I enjoy working with you.”

He purposely left off mentioning he liked
her
, because the appreciation he had for her had grown even stronger after her lie. Never in his life had anyone cared enough to try to help him like that. When his father died, and he’d been in a dark abyss of grief and shame, all his friends had abandoned him the second it became clear he wouldn’t be paying for their drinks anymore. He’d been alone, struggling with guilt, for almost six years now.

And she’d jumped to his defense, like no one else ever had, tying them to each other in unexpected ways. His mother was every bit as ruthless as she let on. If she wanted to get Maggie fired, she would. Unless he did something. Unless he saved her. And he
would
. If there was one thing he’d inherited from his mother, it was her ruthlessness.

She took her turn at pacing, with short, agitated steps. Pressing her thumb against her mouth, she nibbled on the nail, clearly upset. It was so strange to be able to read her so easily, since he lived in a world of masks and fake smiles. “But we have next to nothing in common. Your family is as different from mine as night is from day.”

“Night and day aren’t that different, when you think about it. Both are ruled by a bright, round object in the sky. And both end in order for the other to begin.” He stepped into her path, stopping her pacing, and caught her arms gently. Her skin was soft under his hold, and when she glanced up at him, every nerve in his body focused on her. “It’s all about teamwork. And I, for one, think we’d make an excellent team.”

“But—” She rested her hands on his chest then quickly jerked them back, leaving behind a searing heat. “Sorry. So sorry.”

If there was one thing she didn’t need to apologize for, it was touching him. Every small caress, every soft stroke, reminded him what it was to be alive, instead of just living. And he didn’t want to let that go yet. “I’ll pay you,” he blurted out. “Twenty thousand dollars.”

“Wha—?” She choked on nothing, falling into a coughing fit.

“Thirty.”

She coughed even harder, wheezing.

He patted her back, and by the time she was able to breathe again, he was prepared to pay even more, if that was what it took to get her to agree to be his fiancée. He’d never been so certain of anything in his life as he was of this. It wouldn’t even be hard to pretend he’d fallen for Maggie. He looked forward to having an excuse to spend time with her. For all intents and purposes, he’d be her…
lover.

He would be expected to kiss her. Hold her. Touch her. That was enough to make pretending to feel that foreign emotion called “love” well worth it.

She finally recovered from her surprise, shaking her head. He opened his mouth to up his offer, but she beat him to it. “I can’t–
won’t
—take money from you to continue a lie that
I
initiated in the first place,” she finally said, her brow creased in a scowl. “You insult me by insinuating I would.”

What?
No one ever turned down his money.
Ever
. He scratched his head, not sure where to go from here. “But—”

“
No
.” She shook her head furiously. “Absolutely not.”

He dragged his hands down his face, not sure how to deal with someone who wasn’t out to profit from the situation. If she didn’t want his money, what could he offer her?

Nothing. That’s what.

He eyed her, trying to get a read but failing. “What will it take to get you to agree, then?”

“Not money,” she spat, crossing her arms. “You can’t
buy
me.”

He held his hands up. “Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I’m used to… Most people wouldn’t turn down money. Actually, most people would have asked for more before ‘reluctantly’ agreeing.”

“Then you obviously hang out with the wrong people.” She shook her head. “And that’s just sad.”

Sad?
Maybe
. But he didn’t give a damn about any of them, and they didn’t give a shit about him. So he certainly wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. “I said this before, but we make a good team, Maggie.”

“We do,” she said softly. “That’s exactly what I’m scared of, because I don’t want to mess that up, like I inevitably would. Pretending to love someone—”

That wasn’t the first time she mentioned “messing up” in the area of her private life. “Let me guess. You and love don’t get along?”

She blinked. “No.”

“Well, I wouldn’t recognize love if cupid shot me with a heart-tipped arrow straight through the chest. So we’re the perfect match. Neither of us will get attached, because we both have no interest in doing so, therefore no one will get hurt.” He caught her chin again, tilting her face up to his. “Please do this for me? For us?”

She locked eyes with him, swaying closer. The magnetism between them was undeniable, and he was getting pulled under her spell again. His blood rushed through his veins, heading down south to his already hard cock. Her pink lips called to him, beckoning him to take another taste. This time, nothing would stop him from taking it.

They might be talking about pretending to be a couple, but the attraction between them was one hundred percent real, so maybe he was going about this wrong. Instead of trying to buy her help, maybe he should try a sweeter path. He lowered his face to hers, slow inch by slow inch, and stopped just short of kissing her. “Maggie.”

She gasped, her hands creeping up to grasp his shirt at his shoulders. “Mr. Gale—”

“Benjamin.” He brushed his mouth across hers in a brief imitation of a kiss, and she tasted as sweet as he remembered. He watched her for any signs of rejection or hesitation, but she melted into him, letting out a small breath. “Call me Benjamin.”