Hello Quarterback (Hello #8)

10. Ford

10

FORD

I came back to the bathroom and knocked softly on the door. “Mia?”

The doorknob jiggled in response, and I stepped back, seeing her come out of the bathroom. Thankfully, some of the color returned to her face. She glanced at the cup and plate in my hands. “You got me ginger ale and crackers?” She seemed surprised. And a little touched too, judging by the tender note in her voice.

At least it seemed like she was doing better than before, when her color quickly shifted from pale to green. “Of course. You looked like you really weren’t feeling well.”

“I’m okay now,” she said softly, looking up at me. Her blue eyes were clear, and this close to her, I could smell her perfume again.

“If the food didn’t set well, I can order something else,” I offered, stepping back. She brushed past me, her shoulder grazing my chest.

I felt like I’d been seared. Maybe this was a bad idea, asking someone my body reacted so strongly to for a fake relationship.

She reached the table, picking up the wine and downing the glass. My eyebrows rose, and I set the crackers and ginger ale on the table. She clearly didn’t need it anymore.

I opened my mouth to take back my offer just as she said, “I’ll do it.” If I wasn’t standing across the table from her, I’d try and get a closer look, see if she wasn’t joking. Or already feeling the effects of the wine.

But Mia was deadly serious as she leveled her gaze at me. “I’ll be your fake girlfriend.”

“Wow, Mia, that’s um...”

She was all business as she cut through the fluff. “In an arrangement like this, we’ll need some clear boundaries and a plan of action. Can you bring me my purse? I’ll get out a notebook to write it all down.”

Now I understood completely how this woman controlled boardrooms and ran a billion-dollar company. She was intimidating, powerful... and incredibly sexy when she took charge like this. I turned on my heel, no longer Ford, but a player in her game.

I went to the hall closet, retrieving her surprisingly heavy purse, and brought it back to her. She opened the cream-colored leather and retrieved a simple notebook and pen.

“We need to create SMART goals.” She wrote SMART alongside the paper. “Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and?—”

“Timebound,” I finished.

She looked at me, surprised.

“I know I’m a jock, but I paid attention in my college business class,” I teased.

She gave me an apologetic smile that made my stomach all soft. So I focused on the paper. “Specific would be start a fake relationship that appears real to everyone else.”

She nodded. “Measurable. For me, it would mean acquiring the Andersen sisters. For you, getting out of dating...”

“Felicity,” I finished for her.

Her face pinched. “Felicity Reynolds.”

“Know of her?”

She nodded. “I’ve heard of her. Now I know why you’re so desperate.” The teasing lilt to her voice made me laugh.

After a beat, she said, “Achievable? Can we make everyone believe this is real?”

The real question was if I could keep myself from believing it is. But I didn’t say that out loud. Instead, I said, “What do you think it will take to make people buy in?”

She blinked slowly, long dark eyelashes fanning over pale cheeks. I swore her chest hitched with her breath. “Public appearances,” she began. “Going to your games. Some posts online.”

I leaned in close, because she hadn’t mentioned the most important part. I wanted Mia to know just how much this mattered to me. “Trent will be watching me to make sure I’m not pretending solely so I can avoid his daughter. My career, my life here in Dallas close to Cottonwood Falls, is on the line. It won’t be enough to stand in the same room and say we’re together.” We were inches apart. I could tell I was making her uncomfortable, but I needed to press, to see if she could really act interested in me. If I could pretend without letting myself fall over the edge.

Leaving no space between us, I flicked my gaze to her lips. “Could you kiss me, knowing it means nothing?”

She blinked, then forced her gaze to meet mine. Her voice was strong, belying the worry in her eyes. “For my company, I could do anything.”

I stayed close, searching her eyes for the truth. When I found it, I used all of my strength to step back. “Good.”

She nodded, seeming far less affected than me. “Relevant...” She added a check mark by the word in her notebook. “Timebound?”

“It has to be until the end of the season or until Felicity gets a boyfriend,” I said.

“That will be a couple months past our board meeting—which will help with the believability on my end.”

I nodded. “Should we shake on it?”

She arched an eyebrow and closed her notebook. “I’ll have legal send you a contract detailing our respective obligations along with an NDA.”

Wow, she really was taking this seriously. “You can trust my word,” I insisted.

“Sorry, Ford, but someone willing to put on an act to fool the entire world isn’t going to fool me too.”

Her words left an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach—even if they were true. “Okay.”

She stood up, tucking her notebook in her purse. “Call Vanover once you’ve signed the documents to set an appointment with me. We can discuss the game plan.”

“We can’t do it now?” I asked. I had the evening free.

She shook her head, a smile in her eyes like she was in on a joke I didn’t yet know. “This is my personal time, Ford. Our arrangement is one hundred percent business.”

I tilted my head. “I thought we were friends.”

“We’re business partners,” she corrected. Then she walked out of the house.

I watched her walk to the car waiting in the driveway and slip into the back seat. The driver glanced toward me for half a second before closing the door behind her and driving her away.

At the end of the driveway, the car turned and disappeared from sight. I waited for a moment before turning and looking back at my empty home.

I’d gotten exactly what I wanted... so why didn’t I feel like celebrating?