Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 115308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
I thought I’d feel a sense of relief as I walked out of my boss’s boss’s office with Baird still holding tight to my hand.
Instead, I was shaking with dread at the massive lie we’d just told.
This was surely bad for my karma.
Baird led me back to the lift. “I need to get over to Blantyre. I’ve got a meeting with Braden. Otherwise, I’d stay for lunch.”
“No, you go do what you need to do,” I replied a little numbly.
Baird stopped and turned to clasp my face in his large palms. His thumbs stroked my cheeks as his warm dark eyes held mine. I shivered at the intensity of his expression. “It’s all going to be okay,” he promised on a whisper. “I won’t let anything happen to you. We’ll get through this, and it’ll all be good. You’re my best friend, My. I’m going to take care of you.”
Perhaps it was the tumultuous chaos of so many emotions in such a short period, but my eyes stung with unshed tears.
Before they could spill over, Baird bent his head and gently, so very gently, brushed his mouth over mine. My lips tingled like I’d touched electricity. I felt that soft caress in all my erogenous zones.
A tiny brush of his lips.
And I felt it everywhere.
I gaped up at him in shock.
“Becky’s watching,” he murmured. Then his lips pressed a little harder to mine before he released me. Baird stroked my cheek one last time. “Call me if you need me.”
I nodded, speechless.
As Baird disappeared onto the lift and out of sight, I felt uneasy for a whole different reason.
It never occurred to me that when our fake relationship imploded, it would be a danger to more than just my career.
CHAPTER NINE
MAIA
As usual, I was in the pool before Baird had arrived at the gym. I was in the middle of a length when I heard a splash and someone cutting quickly through the water toward me. I sped up to get to the shallow end and turned just as Baird reached me. He stood, pushing his wet hair off his face, his biceps bulging. In my periphery, I saw water droplets trickling down his tan, sculpted, inked chest.
Like always, I kept my focus fixed firmly on his face and off his magnificent body. Before I’d done it out of consideration for Will because I knew I’d be upset if Will was ogling another woman (if only I’d known he was ogling another woman in every way a man could). Now I restrained myself for my own peace of mind.
Baird gave me his killer smile. “That’s it done.”
A wee bit mesmerized by his mouth (his lips had proved distracting ever since he’d kissed me two weeks ago), it took me a minute to process his words.
“What’s done?”
“The contract.”
Surprise shot through me. “How do you know?”
“Did you not check your emails this morning? That’s everything tied up between the club and Pennington’s. I tell you, I don’t know what Iain Erstwhile promised, but I’ve never seen a contract move that fast.”
“Wow, it’s done.” Oh my goodness, we are really doing this? “That means the campaign will start at the end of the month.” Just two weeks from now.
“Aye.” Baird seemed so unbothered. “Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet now?”
“You saw the plans, right?” The marketing team at Pennington’s had already drawn up a schedule for us even before the contracts were signed. As long as the schedule didn’t interfere with Baird’s training or matches, we were penciled in to do photoshoots and video shoots for the social media campaign. Everything from an engagement announcement to bridal wear to our wedding gift list to the actual wedding (oh my goodness, we were going to get married in front of the public!), to our honeymoon.
It was starting to become a reality.
My dad was right. What we were doing was kind of insane.
My chest felt tight.
“Maia.” Baird reached for me. “Are you okay?”
“We’re getting married.”
He embraced me, pressing my cheek to his hard chest. The feel of his strong, wet body cut through my panic. I’d never been more aware of him, and I didn’t know why it had to happen now of all times. “I promised you everything would be okay, and I meant it.”
“None of that funny business in here!” a belligerent male voice echoed through the pool area.
Baird turned in the water and I stood on tiptoes to see over his shoulders. An elderly gentleman was easing himself into the pool, glaring daggers at us.
“I’m hugging my fiancée. Only a pervert perverts a hug,” Baird snapped back in annoyance.
That was the thing about my now fiancé. He was as laidback as a sunbathing walrus until someone upset a woman he cared about.
The man stuck his finger up at us before pushing off into a swim.