Free Some Like It Charming (A Temporary Engagement) by Megan Bryce

themselves.”
    He’d hear about it from his mother, and wondered briefly if he’d hear about it from Mackenzie as well.
    His grandmother asked, “Did you get a ring?”
    “She has it. It needs to be sized.”
    “We’ll do it.” She laughed. “Tomorrow will be fun. And don’t worry, your mother will warm up to her.”
    Ethan grinned. “I doubt it. But it should be pretty fun anyway.”
    They hung up and Ethan glanced down at Mackenzie’s hastily scrawled signature.
    This would work.
    The tabloids would stop quoting his exes, reminding him how much he hurt those he cared about. Mackenzie would keep him from hurting anyone else for a while, and he had no fear of somehow finding her falling for him. If anybody in this world was O’Connor-proof, it was her.
    And at the end, he would go into a woman-free mourning. He’d make sure Mackenzie came out on top and that the world knew that his heart was broken. If he played it right, he could get a year off by this six-week engagement. He would become more careful, a little more introspective. Slower to jump in to the next relationship.
    He already knew this was going to be the best million dollars he’d ever spent.
    All he really had to worry about was keeping that half mil in his pocket for the full six weeks.

Four
    Ethan’s grandma had called Mackenzie early the next day. Ellen had said, “We’ve got some work to do today, I hear. We’ll turn you in to a pretty picture to hang on my grandson’s arm.”
    “Is that the goal for today? Let’s just aim for no one questioning whether this engagement is real. I don’t need to look like a Barbie.”
    Ellen had chuckled. “Good. Then in that case we’ll go out, have some fun, spend some money, eat some lunch. He doesn’t need a Barbie hanging on him, he needs a grown woman walking beside him. We’ll make sure he gets what he needs.”
    It had gone worse than Mackenzie could have possibly imagined, with her somehow ending up with blond locks worthy of a pin-up. All it had taken was one look from Christine O’Connor that plainly said no one in their right mind would believe that Ethan had fallen for her, and wham , she’d allowed the stylist do whatever he wanted.
    Mackenzie’s only consolation was that Christine had hated the transformation just as much as she did. And probably for the same reason. Mackenzie hadn’t known hair could scream sex but this hair did.
    After escaping from the stylist she headed to work. She quickly tamed the fluffiness as best she could, wrapping her hair into a bun. Maybe she could deal with the color. Maybe she could wear a hat.
    She grabbed a baseball cap out of her batting bag and instantly felt better. She wasn’t willing to test whether blonds really did have more fun. She was way too sure that they did.
    Mackenzie entered her office, thinking this was the last time she’d ever come here. She started boxing up seven years of hard work and was unsurprised when Rob came in, sitting down in her uncomfortable chair like it was a cozy sofa.
    “You’re marrying the boss? I didn’t see that one coming.”
    You and me both, she thought.
    She tried a smile. “He wore me down.”
    “There was a bet going on how long it would take for you two to sleep together, but no one guessed you’d ever get engaged.”
    She closed her eyes. She’d been very, very right about having to quit. She would never be able to show her face here again.
    Rob said, “I lost a packet. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
    She looked up, trying to decide if that was a compliment or an insult. His smirk made her lean toward insult. “You should leave before you say something really stupid.”
    He stood up slowly. “Probably.” He pointed to the chair he’d just vacated. “Take that thing with you before it injures someone.”
    She shut the door behind him and leaned against it. She wasn’t really sad about leaving. She had no one she even wanted to say good-bye to. Rob was as close to a friend as