Free Billionaire's Contract Engagement / Money Man's Fiancée Negotiation by Maya Banks

please.”
    His entreating tone had her turning once more to stare into those intense green eyes. He looked earnest, and he looked. worried.
    â€œI didn’t do any of this to hurt you, I swear. I thought if I just came out and asked you to do me this favor, you’d have never agreed to come with me, even with the promise of listening to your pitch.”
    â€œSo you lured me here and ambushed me instead,” she said drily.
    â€œIt didn’t go exactly as I’d planned. I’d hoped to have a nice dinner together in our suite and I was going to ask you to do me a personal favor then. I was going to outline the entire charade and ask you to play along. Just for the time we’re here. But that all went to hell when we immediately ran into my parents.”
    His hand crept over hers, and she didn’t pull away. She should. She should already be on her way back to San Francisco, and she should be calling Brock to tell him that therewas no way in hell she was delivering Evan Reese on a platter to Maddox Communications.
    She pressed her lips together and tried to collect her scattered thoughts. “So you want me to pretend to be your fiancée.” She lifted her hand to angle the huge diamond in the light. “Complete with a really gorgeous ring. What happens after the wedding?”
    Evan shrugged. “We break up quietly later. They’ll never know the difference. We don’t see each other that often. One day Mom will call and I’ll say ‘oh, by the way, Celia and I broke things off.’ And that will be that.”
    She shook her head. “All of this because you couldn’t stand the thought of your fiancée thinking you weren’t over her?”
    Evan scowled. “It’s not that simple. There are other factors. Besides, we’ve already established the fact that I’m an egotistical, immature male. We don’t have to go back into that territory.”
    â€œPoor baby.” She patted his arm and then laughed at his disgruntled look. “I can’t believe I’m even considering this.”
    His eyes glinted predatorily. “But you are.”
    â€œYes, dammit, I am. I’m a sucker for immature, egotistical males. But we need to establish a few ground rules.”
    â€œOf course,” he said solemnly.
    â€œMy reputation is everything to me, Evan,” she said quietly. “I won’t have any notion of impropriety attached to this account. I won’t have it bandied around that I got the account because I slept with you.”
    Something that looked an awful lot like lust gleamed in his eyes a second before he blinked and adopted a more serious expression.
    â€œThis favor is separate. If I don’t like your ideas, you’ll go home without my business. It’s that simple. Agreeing to be my fake fiancée doesn’t buy you anything but my gratitude. It won’t land you Reese Enterprises. Are we clear on that?”
    â€œCrystal,” she said. “Tell me something, Evan. If I refuseto play the part of your lover, are you still going to hear my pitch? Are you even going to consider Maddox?”
    â€œWell, I do have a fragile ego, remember?”
    â€œWill you be serious?”
    A grin worked at the corners of her mouth. She should be mad as hell at this man, not entertained by his self-effacing wit. And she definitely shouldn’t be attracted to his boyish charm or his straightforward handling of this entire ridiculous affair.
    â€œI tell you what, Celia. The plan was always to have a quiet dinner in tonight where I could explain my plan and beg you to go along. Then tomorrow morning we were going to have our business meeting, again, in the privacy of our hotel suite. Afterward we would perpetuate my silly hoax on my brother and his grasping, manipulative bride-to-be. See? Completely separate.”
    â€œYou are completely irreverent, and I’m disgusted that I like it so