Some Like It Charming (A Temporary Engagement) (18 page)

Mackenzie touched the sensitive skin, flushing as she remembered him lifting her skirt and taking her from behind.
Biting her.

No wonder his mother had taken one look at them and known what they’d been doing.

She hung up, turned out the light, and paused at the door.

She’d already
slept
with him, she could sleep with him. He’d told her he’d be waiting for her. It was just. . .

Sleeping
with him was one thing. A fun one thing. That, really, she’d forgiven herself for as soon as she’d done it. There was only so much Ethan a woman could take before she melted into a puddle at his feet.

But sleeping with him felt like something else. Something softer. And more. . . dangerous. Something that real couples did. Not fake engaged couples who couldn’t keep their pants on.

She peeked out her door to find his still open. She tip-toed down the hall, craning her neck to look inside. He was laying on his back, his arms behind his head, watching the door.

When he saw her, he said, “Oh, good. I was afraid I was going to have to go get you.”

She crawled into his bed, lying down next to him and putting her head on his chest. He wrapped an arm around her and said, “Sarah is an old friend.”

Mackenzie nodded. “Your mother likes her.”

“Everyone thought she would be the girl. And she could have been. She’s fierce and loyal and she loves me.”

“You love her, too.” That had been plain for everyone to see. He had been delighted to see her. And with his arm around her, Mackenzie had seen why everyone thought Sarah Milton would be the one. They were perfect together. Beautiful and poised and. . . tabloid worthy.

Ethan nodded. “I do. But. . . I wasn’t sure if I loved her enough. I’m still not. I like her and I love her. And I still couldn’t take that last step.” He shook his head. “Even now I know I could choose her and she would never do anything to hurt the O’Connor name. I hurt her when I left and she still would defend me with her last breath.”

“It was nice of her to come tell me you were innocent of breaking her nose. Even if your mother invited her to.”

He was silent and she popped her head up to find him grinning. She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t know why you think it’s funny that your mother hates me.”

He laughed. “I honestly thought I could bring home a showgirl and she would be beside herself with joy. It amuses me to know there is at least one woman out there she does not approve of.”

“Oh, yeah. What a laugh.”

“If you could see how my mother is with other women, you would laugh, too.”

Oh, Mackenzie could see how his mother was with other women. It wouldn’t surprise her if Christine reserved a church whenever her son brought home a woman. Just in case.

Ethan said, “But you don’t care that my mother hates you, right?”

She laid her head back down. “Of course I don’t care.”

“Because if you did, I could keep her away from you for the next couple of weeks.”

“No weekly dinners?”

She felt him shake his head, felt his chest rumble under her ear as he said, “You just have to admit you care.”

Mackenzie listened to his heart beat, slow and steady and evil. “You know, now I’m starting to hate
you
.”

He chuckled. “She’d like you if she really knew you.”

“I think that makes it worse.”

“I like you.”

“That’s because I’m in your bed.”

Ethan made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. “And now I’m picturing you in bed with my mother. Thanks for killing the mood.”

She snickered and he adjusted his arm, pulling her in tighter.

He said, “I’m sure I can get the mood back tomorrow. After I scrub my brain with bleach.”

“That’s probably what your mother is doing right now. She looked like she wanted to douse me with her wine and light a match.”

He laughed. “I would say she wouldn’t even know to think something like that but. . . Since she’s met you, I’ve seen a different side of her.” He paused. “And my grandma.”

“You think I’ve made both of them lose their mind?”

“My grandma was calling around, trying to reserve a church, when we left.”

Mackenzie shuddered. “And I thought I was really going to like her.” She popped up again to glare at him. “Tell me you have it under control.”

“It’s coming back.”

She gave him a light shove. “Not that. Them. Tell me I’m not going to find a horse head in my bed. Or be forced down the aisle by shotgun.”

He cocked his head, thinking about it. “Maybe you should skip dinner next week.”

“Works for me.”

He pulled her on top of him. “But I’ll need something in return.”

She shook her head. “Your crazy family was not part of the deal.”

He grinned. “My family only goes crazy around you. There’s just something about you that throws us all off-kilter.”

“Maybe I’m the anti-O’Connor.”

“My mother certainly thinks so.”

She leaned closer to him and said softly, “You just think that if you bring up your mother I’ll get upset enough to let you do all sorts of depraved things to me.”

“It’s worked in the past.”

“I think she might be the anti-Wyatt.”

He chuckled. “So are you going to let me do all sorts of depraved things to you?”

“No.” She put her lips to his ear. “I’m going to do them to you.”

“I don’t want to ruin the mood, but God bless my mother.”

“Shut up, O’Connor.”

“Shutting up, Wyatt.”

Another week gone, another family dinner they’d all survived. Barely. With copious amounts of liquor all around.

Mackenzie had persuaded Ethan that she needed a day to recover, so she was still in her pajamas when he came home.

He saw her on the couch in her lounge pants and held up a takeout bag. “Lunch. Put something decent on and I’ll share.”

She looked down. “What’s wrong with this?”

“It’s pajamas. It’s boring. And it’s on.”

She got up, snagged his magazine, and headed back to the couch. “This is what I wanted anyway.”

“You know it’s not the Enquirer, right?”

She laughed at him. “You’re the one who reads that. I prefer heavier tomes.”

He looked at the magazine in her hands and raised an eyebrow. She said, “Alright, I just prefer my fluff pieces to be about stocks.”

“And have you picked something to invest your million in yet?”

“Part of it. I’m looking at WestCon.”

He blinked, then laughed. “We’re in negotiations to buy them out.”

She sat up, thinking WestCon was suddenly looking a real winner. “Oh, really?”

He wagged his finger at her. “Which means no buying or selling for you, Ms. Wyatt. That would be insider trading.”

She put her hands over her ears. “Don’t tell me anything else!”

He shook his head, grinning. “I’d better tell you everything we’re looking at. The SEC wouldn’t care about you being my fake fiancé.”

She slouched on the couch, pulling her feet under her and glaring at him. “First you take away my job, now you take away my investments. I’ll be in the poor house by the time this engagement’s over.”

He looked unconcerned. “Mm-hm. You’re still not getting that half mil.”

She grumbled, “You’d better give me half that sandwich then.”

He brought her a plate and sat next to her. “We’re only looking at one other company. So unless you’re looking to invest in Parkade you should still be able to retire comfortably.” He grimaced. “As comfortably as one can on a measly million.”

Mackenzie bit into the sandwich, closing her eyes as pastrami juice ran down her chin. “Good sandwich. And luckily, I’ve owned Parkade for a while.”

He grinned at her. “Have you? I guess great minds think alike.”

“Or small minds never differ.”

Ethan patted her chin with a napkin. “Are you insulting me? Or you?”

“I’m insulting the idea of us.”

“Oh, good. Because I couldn’t tell how you felt about us from all your snarky comments.”

She sat back, looking at his petulant expression. “You’re upset I’m not falling all over you.”

“No. I picked you because I knew you wouldn’t.”

That was why he’d picked her alright, and he’d still gotten her into bed.

She said, “And it’s pissing you off.”

“It’s what I wanted, Wyatt.”

“Mm-hm.”

He set his sandwich down, uneaten, and she eyed it. Deli sandwiches quite possibly tied with the subway about being the best thing about New York.

He said, “Would it kill you to pretend you like me?”

She looked back up at him. “Probably.”

They spent eighteen hours together everyday, the only time they were apart was when he went to work. The only defense she had left was snarky comments because the reality was. . . life with Ethan wasn’t so bad.

He glared at her and Mackenzie laughed, leaning into him and running her hand down his arm. “Do you want me to get clingy? Make you worry that I really do want to marry you?”

He looked into her eyes and she thought for a moment that he was going to say yes. But he shut his eyes and sighed. “No.”

“Do you need to go hit on another woman to get that old spark back?”

He smiled wryly. “No.”

“Should I tone down the snark?”

“Yes.”

“I can do that.”

She started to reach for his sandwich and he opened his eyes and lightly slapped her hand. “Can you?”

“Probably. Can you turn down the charm?”

He picked up his sandwich and took a big bite, right in her face. He said around a mouthful of sandwich, “Probably.”

She watched him eat his half, wondering if she could get him to go out and get her another for dinner. Today was a pajama day, and not even a deli sandwich could get her out of them. She said, “Then we’ll probably make it another two weeks together.”

He looked at her in surprise and swallowed. “Is that all we have left?”

“And a couple days.”

“It’s going fast. I thought it would drag by.”

“Nice. Just for that I’m not going to tell you all the places I’ve hid candy when I leave.” Just that morning she’d hid a couple snack size Kit Kats under his bathroom sink. Mackenzie wouldn’t eat anything that had been in a bathroom but if he didn’t have a problem with it. . .

He shook his head. “I know I will be finding candy for years to come. My children’s children will unscrew a light switch and find a bag of Skittles stuffed inside.”

“That’s a good one, actually.”

Mackenzie looked around the room, wondering what else she could unscrew. Ethan watched her, laughing out loud. “Is that what you do all morning? Too busy hiding things to get dressed?”

“No. Today is a pajama day.”

He looked down at her lounge pants. “I am unfamiliar with the concept.”

“That doesn’t surprise me since I just made it up. It means I’m not getting out of my pajamas today. I’m not going anywhere, I’m not doing anything.”

“Sounds. . . boring.”

She nodded. “I tried to watch some daytime TV and had to turn it off. Talk, talk, talk. Couldn’t stand it.”

“You should come to work with me tomorrow. It’s only half a day. Doesn’t even feel like work.”

She shook her head. “You can’t afford to pay me two salaries.”

“You usually pull your own weight there. And wear real clothes, at least. Everyone would like to meet you.”

Mackenzie was surprised to find out just how much she didn’t want to go into the office. She would have happily wanted to see how the New York office was run before. See if anyone could get any work done with Ethan wandering around, messing up everyone’s concentration. But she did not want to go in as Ethan’s blond bimbo.

She said, “They don’t want to meet me, they want to meet your fiancé.”

“They want to meet Mackenzie Wyatt, best salesman in all the branches.”

“And number one pain in the ass?”

He laughed. “Absolutely. And the woman who also snagged the boss. It’s all connected now.”

“I don’t think so. I’m not part of that anymore.”

He said, “You could be. You’re going to miss it.”

She was afraid he was right. She wasn’t quite getting the hang of all this leisure time yet. But there was no way she was going in there as Ethan’s woman.

Besides, she couldn’t stand to spend twenty-four hours with Ethan. Couldn’t stand to find out that she might be perfectly happy with him all day long.

“No. I need to learn how
not
to work.”

He watched her for a minute, gauging her sincerity. He finally said, “Then I have a another question about this pajama day.” He pinched her lounge pants. “You’re not getting out of them for any reason?”

“Nope.”

“What’s the technical definition of still on? Would a few inches south still count? Because I think I could make that work.”

She tipped her head to the side and he said, “What else are we going to do if we’re not going out?”

He had a point.

The door buzzed and Ethan groaned. “Don’t they know it’s a pajama day?”

He rolled off her, picking up her pants and handing them to her. “Sorry about that. We can try again after I get rid of whoever is trying to disturb us.”

Mackenzie unhooked her leg from the back of the couch. “Let’s move it to a bed. This couch isn’t big enough for the two of us.”