Her Backup Boyfriend (Entangled Bliss) (Sorensen Family) (6 page)

Which was similar to what Kate had been telling herself.

“And if you have a little fun while you’re doing it…” Payton wiggled her brows, earning a laugh from Kate.

“I’m not having sex with him, Payton.”

“Unless you want to. Come on. It’s been over a year since you and Michael broke up, and you have yet to show any interest in anyone. Maybe a little diversion is just what you need to move on.”

Two shot glasses were set in front of them, followed by their drinks.

Payton took a shot glass and held it up as she smiled over at two guys in suits who were watching them. The angle she held the glass made the diamond on her hand hard to miss. The men smiled and nodded, apparently not discouraged by her impending marital state.

“To moving on,” Payton said and waited for Kate. “And taking a risk.”

Kate only hesitated another moment. Payton’s fearless take on life was always something Kate had admired. And here was the perfect opportunity. Why not?

She lifted a glass, and realizing her mind was made up, she tapped Payton’s before throwing the fiery liquid down.

An hour later, bold from another shot of tequila, she picked up her phone and dialed Dominic’s number.

“I’m in.”

Chapter Six

“So Ms. Herrera is claiming Mark came in to her office, sat on the corner of her desk, and unbuckled his belt while asking her to…” Nicole paused as she read from Kate’s chronology. “‘Give it a pull and let’s see what comes up’?”

“According to her discrimination complaint, yes. But she also provided a written statement to the company that didn’t mention anything about this alleged incident,” Kate answered. “Seems to be a significant detail to have missed. If it really happened. Which is why I want to thoroughly review the details of that day with her.”

It was almost five Monday evening and they’d been at this for a couple of hours. And it was agony. Kate was fine with working a case with another associate and had done so many times in the past. But Nicole had that dismissive way about her. Just like Michael’s mother. No wonder they got along so well.

“I think it would be helpful to lay out their individual schedules for that day before we jump into questions about the details of their meetings rather than develop schedules
after
the fact.” Her tone making it clear she thought Kate was making a mistake.

“I’ll consider it,” Kate said and continued to skim Ms. Herrera’s past eight years of performance reviews.

Ava Herrera had worked at McKenna and Associates, a large accounting firm downtown, until she resigned more than a year ago. According to Ms. Herrera, her boss, Mark McKenna, made several overt sexual advances toward her during her employment.

Mark’s story, of course, was entirely different. According to Mark, Ms. Herrera had been desperate to keep the accounts she’d been warned about losing if her performance continued to slip. Desperate enough that while they were on a business trip, she’d come to his room in a long trench coat and nothing underneath. He claimed he’d sent her away immediately.

Kate had contacted the hotel, but it was their standard practice for the video surveillance footage to be purged after ninety days. However, she had kept at them and they’d conceded IT might be able to pull something off a network drive. She was still waiting to hear back.

Nicole flipped through a few more pages of Ms. Herrera’s complaint, pausing to jot some notes down. Leaving Kate to her thoughts.

Usually the details of a case, particularly at this stage, would take over her every waking thought, and sometimes even her nonwaking thoughts. But today, Kate was distracted. She wanted to get things wrapped up so she could get home.

She and Dominic had a lot to discuss if they were going to pull their ruse off.

“You know”—Kate sat back in the chair and stretched—“I’m pretty wiped out. Would you mind if we finished this up in the morning? I think we have all the documents in order.”

Nicole barely glanced up at her. “No problem. I was planning on leaving soon anyhow. Michael and I have dinner reservations at Caffe Molise for seven.”

Ouch. That had been their favorite Italian restaurant, usually going there before hitting the theater. But she refused to let Nicole know her comment had had any effect. “Well, enjoy your dinner. Don’t let Michael get carried away with the bread basket. He always feels guilty later, you know.”

Kate couldn’t help but note Nicole’s hand tightening on her pen. But she kept her attention on the file in front of her and barely nodded when Kate said good-bye.

She grabbed her notes and made a beeline for the door. She could be home in thirty minutes. She checked herself as she raced down the hall, telling herself that the excitement and nervousness she was feeling had to be because of the planning she and Dominic had ahead of them if they wanted their charade to be a success. Nothing else.

But it wouldn’t hurt to brush a quick layer of polish on her lips. She had to moisturize, after all. And if the color and shine perked up the fatigue that might be evident on her face, it was purely coincidental.

That’s right. She could be professional.

Only Kate couldn’t deny the small bubble of excitement in her chest when she saw Dominic’s truck parked in front of her house and the lights on upstairs when she pulled up. It was almost six and it was already dark outside, but her house looked warm and welcoming. Like home. She loved it.

“Hello?” she called when she walked inside, dropping the keys on the hall table.

“Up here,” he called. “Come and take a look.”

Kate found him standing at the sink in the guest bathroom with a smile on his lips and her cat curled at his feet. His light blue T-shirt was rolled up at his arms. Who knew forearms could be sexy? Or the display of muscles that were hard to miss in the fitted shirt as he crossed his arms in front of him. She almost licked her lips, which would have displaced the layer of gloss she’d put on. “Give it a try.” He nodded toward the sink.

Her fingers skimmed the shiny, cool surface of the new faucets she’d selected last Saturday. Chic. She turned the handle and waited. Usually the water took a good minute to even reach tepid, but within ten seconds, it was running hot. She smiled and looked up. “You did it.”

“You’ll find the same in your bathroom, but since we’ll be tearing out everything for the remodel, you’ll only have a few more days to enjoy it.”

“It will definitely be worth it,” she said as she pictured the bright pink-and-white tiles that ran across the floor and up to the ceiling of her master bath. They had to go. Kate looked around the small guest bath that Dominic had turned his attention to today. Even with just the small tweaks of the new faucets, towel racks, and new lighting and mirror, it looked brand-new.

“Did you get a chance to decide on some paint shades for the master bath and kitchen?” he asked and turned those impossibly brilliant blue eyes in her direction. Had he chosen that shirt because he knew the way it brought them out? Yeah. Probably. Men like him absolutely knew the kind of effect they had on women. Take that grin of his that he had to have practiced in the mirror a few times.

She noticed he was still waiting for a response. Right. “I think so. I have it narrowed down to three shades of yellow for the kitchen and two different blues for the bath.”

Dominic gathered all the trash from the floor into a black plastic bag and she purposely turned her attention to the new faucets in the sink instead of his backside. It about killed her.

Unaware of the serious self-control she was exerting, Dominic said, “I was thinking about heading to Home Depot for a few things. Want to come with? We can pick up the paint samples and maybe a pizza for dinner. Give us time to discuss some of the details about our little arrangement.”

“Let’s do it,” she said without hesitation. For a moment she worried she’d answered too quickly. “I mean, I’m pretty hungry, and pizza sounds great. Let me put some jeans on first.”

They debated all the way out to the driveway whose car they were taking, and Dominic ended up victorious, but only after pointing out they might find more things than they anticipated and his truck could hold more than her sedan.

She slid into the cab of his truck, already feeling its familiarity from last Saturday. It even had his scent. Clean. Masculine. There was an empty bag of chips on the seat and a Big Gulp cup. It was completely unlike Michael’s, which had only had the faint aroma of his Polo cologne and was immaculate to the point of obsession. As weird as it might be, she found Dominic’s truck—gas-guzzling monster and all—preferable.

He slipped the keys into the ignition and she laughed when she heard bluegrass playing over the radio.

Okay, so that was a little unexpected. Kind of like him.

…

A couple hours later, Dominic and Kate stood with their mouths full of pizza, staring at several long swaths of paint crisscrossing the wall. He was careful not to get too close to her since he’d been struggling all evening to keep his hands in his pockets instead of wrapped up in her hair or settled on those lush hips.

This was going to be harder than he’d thought.

“So far I think I like the third one best.” She took a sip of wine. “The first one, under the lights, appears more lime green than buttery.”

He nodded. “Fortunately you have some time to make the final decision. It’s probably going to take me a good week to gut the bathroom and get the new walls and tile in place, maybe longer since I’ll be taking a weekend off for that retreat of yours. Then comes the paint. I’ll do the kitchen last, which should time well with the arrival of those cabinets we ordered. By then you may have changed your mind several times.”

“Sounds good.” She turned back to the island to top off her wineglass. “And now that the shoptalk is out of the way, I think it’s a good time to discuss our other little arrangement.”

“Is it safe to say you haven’t changed your mind since you called me Saturday?” he asked. Something he probably should have double-checked before he’d mentioned it at Sunday evening dinner with his family. His mother had practically wept at hearing he was seeing someone again, which had given him a twist of guilt. But any joy, no matter how short-lived, would make it worth it. And keep his family off his freaking back.

“I’m 100 percent on board. I can almost see my new letterhead now. Kate Matthews.
Junior partner.
”

“So tell me about this retreat. What do I need to know?”

“It’s at one of the lodges in Park City. Friday to Sunday morning. Fortunately, other than a cocktail hour the first night and a dinner on Saturday evening, we’ll be left to our own devices. As long as we make brief appearances, we should be okay. Now, the firm booked a block of suites for the event, which I doubt has any available rooms left at this late stage. And I think it would be risky for us to stay in separate rooms and keep this up. So you’re going to need to stay with me.”

“Okay. As long as you don’t try to violate my moral code.”

“I think your virtue will be safe. You’ll be on the sleeper sofa. In the other room. Believe me, I’ve been there before—we’ll have plenty of space to keep ourselves out from under each other.”

That gave him an image he wasn’t ready to let go of. Kate. Under him. Him under her. Probably not a good thing to be considering about now. He coughed. “Easy enough. Now, as to introducing you to Daisy, I think we need to ease into that. We have a big family dinner every Sunday at my parents’ that would be the best place to introduce you. I already mentioned I was seeing someone yesterday, so it wouldn’t be a surprise.” She nodded, but she seemed to be looking a little green. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m just not really good at the whole meeting-the-family thing.”

“You’ll be fine. They’ll be so overjoyed to see me even bringing someone home they’ll overlook anything. Taxidermist, psychic, serial killer…I promise they won’t care.” She was still too damn quiet.

“It must be nice having someone looking out for you like that. I always wondered what it would be like to have a brother or sister around.”

“It’s hell.” But he was smiling. “With an older brother and two sisters, let me tell you, there is no such thing as privacy. They’re up in your business all the time, thinking they know what you want better than you know yourself.”

“Kind of sounds like my friend Payton. She’s the closest thing I have to a sister.” She managed a smile and lifted the wine bottle in a silent inquiry as to whether he wanted a refill.

He shook his head. “What about your parents?”

Whatever small smile had curved her lips was gone and he saw a wariness cross her face. Before she could tell him to mind his own business—which she had every right to—the doorbell rang. It wasn’t hard to see her immediate relief at having a reason to end the conversation as she headed over to open the door.

He saw the mop of silvery-blond hair first and then his aunt’s twinkling eyes as she stepped into Kate’s foyer.

“I just wanted to pop in and see how things were coming along,” Glenda said. Only he wasn’t fooled. He’d bet anything her arrival had something to do with a phone call from his mother as the two women tried to put together who the mystery woman was.

Glenda crossed the room and went to the windows, where she slid her fingers across the silky fabric of Kate’s new drapes. “These are lovely. You’re probably relieved to have the extra privacy. I am so glad you decided to take my advice and go with Dominic. He certainly is a wonder. In fact, he’s part of why I’m here. My dishwasher is on the fritz again. Do you think you could take a look for me?”

“Sure. I was just wrapping things up, I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

“Oh, please. Don’t let me interrupt you two. Take your time.” His aunt’s tone told them both she was insinuating more than just his contractor services. “I just knew you two would be a great team. In fact, your mother mentioned you were seeing a special someone these days. I was wondering if I might know who the lucky woman was…”

He rolled his eyes at her subtlety. Dominic had known it wouldn’t take long for her to figure it out, but he had to give her credit, because he hadn’t expected her to be so bold.

“You’re killing me here. But if Kate’s okay with it”—he looked over at her, seeing the bemused look on her face as she watched the old lady in action—“then I don’t see the harm. Kate and I are dating. There. You happy?”

“Why wouldn’t I be happy? I knew I saw the sparks between you two from that first moment you met. I’m just glad you recognized the undeniable attraction and didn’t let her slip between your fingers.”

He and Kate both opened their mouths but stopped as they met the other’s gaze. Any objections they made to her far-fetched observation would not help their cause. This was what they both wanted, right? To convince people this was real.

“Well, you really nailed it on the head this time, Glenda,” Dominic said. “But it’s getting late. If you want me to take a look at your dishwasher, I probably better get over there.”