Chapter 2 Chloe

Chloe

"Rule number three is mine," he interrupted.

I took a sharp breath.

"No other man touches you while you're mine. Not even Jake, the rookie who stares at you every chance he gets."

I shook my head. His possessive words sent a strange vibration through me, but I rolled my eyes to hide it.

"Look, Chloe. I know you sleep with different men, and-"

My cheeks flushed. I clenched my hands into fists. "Where the hell are you going with this? Because the last time I checked, you were no better than me."

His expression hardened. "You will watch your tone around me. I am still your boss."

His voice was cold, yet something about it sent warmth through me. I folded my arms across my chest and noticed his gaze drop before returning to my face.

"What if I want to back out?"

He stopped just inches away. I could smell his expensive cologne, and suddenly the space between us felt too small.

"Chloe," he said, his voice dropping. "Bauer pulls fifty million if I don't look like a family man by Thanksgiving. My mother is sixty-eight and wants grandchildren. You need the money, and I need a girlfriend who isn't going to fall in love with me."

He listed the facts as if I didn't already know them. Then he ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.

"The whole point is you put your... hunger on hold for five days. I don't do love, and neither do you. But I don't want my mother hearing about you sleeping with someone else while we're together. And if Bauer catches you with Jake, we both lose everything. Do we have a deal?"

A thousand thoughts raced through my mind. Ten thousand dollars. My savings wouldn't cover my sister's tuition, and my salary barely covered rent, bills, and groceries for my family. My father wasn't strong enough to work regularly anymore.

I bit my lip. "Deal."

***

The next day, my hands trembled as I sat in the back of Cole's Mercedes.

Before I left the office yesterday, he'd handed me his black credit card and told me to buy whatever I needed to look like his girlfriend. He gave me a check for ten thousand dollars too. I paid my sister's tuition before I could change my mind.

Now, sitting beside him, I tried to remember every detail of our rehearsed story.

"My mother will ask how we met," he said. "You tell her we met at a charity gala. You spilled wine on me, I forgave you, we've been dating for three months. You love hockey and everything that has to do with me."

He went through the story again, as if we hadn't practiced it all day yesterday.

Finally, the car stopped in front of a beautiful lake house. The driver looked for a parking spot among several cars already there. Most of Cole's relatives had arrived.

"Stay here," Cole said.

The driver opened his door, and Cole stepped out. A moment later, he came around to my side and opened my door himself. My palms grew sweaty.

"We need to make a good first impression," he said.

I rolled my eyes but took his hand as he helped me out. I could feel his eyes on me from the moment I'd stepped out of my apartment that morning.

"Is he going to tell your mother we're fake?" I asked, tilting my head toward the driver.

Cole smiled. "No, he won't."

"Action," he said.

I immediately wrapped my arm around his. Laughter echoed from inside the house. I blew out a deep breath, trying to calm my shaking hands. Cole pressed the doorbell.

A woman in her late fifties opened the door. I recognized her. She wasn't Cole's mother. I'd met her before at the office.

"My boy!" she exclaimed, pulling Cole into a hug. Then she turned to me. "Your mother is dying to meet Chloe. She hasn't stopped talking about you two."

"Oh, here she is!"

Cole's mother rushed toward me the moment we stepped inside. Her face lit up with joy as she pulled me into a hug. "Oh, my goodness!"

I chuckled as she squeezed me tighter. When she finally pulled away, she held my shoulders and looked me over. "You're even more beautiful in person. You must be Chloe. You have no idea how happy I am to finally meet you."

Cole chuckled beside me. "Come here, sweetheart." She took my hand and led me farther into the house. I turned toward Cole, silently begging him to save me. His jaw tightened, and I almost laughed. His mother hadn't even acknowledged him since she'd seen me.

"Everyone, meet Chloe!" she announced excitedly. "You two are already married in my head. You can call me Tasha."

"Mom," Cole said from behind us.

My heart ached at how happy she looked. Seeing her joy made our lie feel even worse.

Then I stiffened as Cole placed his hand on the small of my back. It fit there so naturally, as if he'd done it a thousand times before.

"Don't scare her off by talking about marriage," he said, his voice warm with amusement for everyone to hear, "we've only been dating for three months."

The lie sounded so natural coming from him, and he looked down at me with a softness I hadn't expected, so for a moment I almost believed he meant it.

"Okay, enough, lovebirds!" His mother chimed in. "This is the first girl you've brought home since..."

She paused and waved her hand, leaving the sentence unfinished.

I turned toward Cole and his jaw tightened, and something flickered in his eyes, quick and dark like pain, because whatever his mother had almost said had clearly hit a nerve.

He recovered quickly.

"Come on, Chloe, we're one big family." Tasha pulled me away from Cole again and began introducing me to everyone, while the women hugged me warmly and the men shook my hand, and I smiled until my cheeks hurt.

Then my mouth fell open.

Standing by the fireplace in a Chicago Vipers hoodie, holding a beer, with messy blonde hair and bright blue eyes and a sunshine smile, was Jake Sterling.

The rookie Cole had drafted last year, the fastest skater on the team, the guy who'd been leaving protein bars on my desk for months trying to get my attention.

I was relieved I'd never given in, because dating a player would have been career suicide.

"Chloe, come over here, look who came, Jake, my boy!"

I looked at Jake, then back at Cole.

Cole froze beside me, his hand on my back going completely rigid.

"Jake," he said, his voice so cold it sent a chill down my spine despite the warm house, "what are you doing here?"