The Couple who Fooled the World (14 page)

“I needed to tell you, I realized that I didn’t use a condom last night.”

Her cheeks turned pink. “Oh.”

“You’re safe, in terms of your health. It’s fair of you to be concerned about that all things considered. But I was very careful with my clients. And I had not had sex in twelve years, and in that time I’ve been tested, just in case. My concern is pregnancy, of course.”

“Oh…oh that. No. No that won’t be a problem.”

“It won’t?”

“It’s a bad…time of the month and stuff.”

Julia felt a little shell-shocked. A lot shell-shocked. She wasn’t sure how she’d missed the oversight last night. But she had. So stupid of her. Irresponsible. And yet, shell-shocked though she was, she didn’t feel terrified.

And she had no idea if she was at a fertile time in her cycle or not. She’d never really paid attention to that kind of thing
since, until recently, she hadn’t been sexually active. But it sounded like the right thing to say. Sounded like something she should know.

Except lying was wrong.

“I…I don’t really know if it’s a bad time of the month,” she said. “But…but I don’t want to take anything. Any pills or anything to…to stop it. I just don’t want to.”

He nodded slowly. “I understand.”

“You do?”

“I do.”

“I have enough money to take care of a baby,” she said. “I could get all the help I’d need. Even if I had to bring the baby to work, I could. I’m the boss lady. There’s like…no woman on earth more ready, financially speaking, to handle an accidental baby than me, and you wouldn’t have to do anything.”

“You think I want to do nothing?”

“You came in here all panicked.”

“I don’t want you to be pregnant,” he said. “I don’t want to raise a baby, with you or anyone else, but I’ll be damned, if there is a child, if I walk away from it.”

“That’s…well, that’s crazy.”

“How? How is it crazy? Do you want to be pregnant?”

With the potential father looking at her like she was public enemy number one and all kinds of frightening unresolved feelings for the man? No. No she did not.

“No.”

“But if you were pregnant?”

“I would love my baby. I would take care of it.”

“So then, I’m not crazy.”

“Look, nice cart, but the horse doesn’t go behind it.”

“What?”

“Cart before the horse. I’m probably not pregnant. Let’s all chill.”

“This kind of a lapse is unacceptable, Julia.”

“Okay, so let’s be more responsible then.”

“It never should have happened.”

Julia felt her ears starting to burn. “Great. Fine. So it won’t happen again. We’ll be more careful.”

“Because…”

“Stop it!” she shouted. “Stop reiterating how awful it would be to have a child with me, please. I can’t take the repeated statements of your horror.”

“Don’t make this about your insecurities, Julia, it’s bigger than that.”

“I’m sorry, it’s hard not to make it about my insecurities since…you know it’s so heavily about me.”

“And about a child,” he said, his words clipped. “Do you really think I should raise a child? Do you think I’m daddy material? What life lessons do I have to pass on? If you’re struggling, don’t give up, sell yourself to the highest bidder?”

“But you wouldn’t let our child struggle,” she said, her voice muted.

“But I would still be who I am.” He looked out the window, past her. “It is, in some ways, a blessing I have no family. No one who loves me. Because they would be horrified by the man I had to become to get to the place I’m standing in now. I know I am. I’ll see you in a couple of hours, at Barrows. Be ready to make the presentation of a lifetime.”

She nodded slowly and watched him walk out of her office. Something in her chest burned. Fought for recognition, fought to get through all the walls she’d built up, to tear off the blinders she’d put on. It burned until it hurt. Until the words swam through her head, clear and undeniable.

That’s where you’re wrong, Ferro. Someone does love you
.

She put her hand on her stomach and hoped the wave of nausea would pass. Yeah, she’d done something really stupid. She’d fallen for her first. She’d fallen for Ferro. Their relationship had brought her through so much, had taught her
so much about herself. It had helped her strip off her armor, and find she didn’t need it anymore.

And she’d started, not just to love him, but to trust him.

But she hadn’t done that for him. He was still the same. Still at the point he’d been when they’d first began.

And no matter what sort of lie she’d told herself to the contrary, sleeping under the stars with him hadn’t meant a damn thing.

Except it had to her. It had meant everything.

This deal is what’s supposed to mean everything. Barrows is supposed to mean everything
.

Yeah, it was. But all she could think of was that when this presentation was over, when the deal was made, there would be no real reason for Ferro to share her bed anymore.

And that was something she simply wasn’t ready to think about.

J
ULIA WAS SO
filled with energy she had to jiggle her knee beneath the table to keep it from spilling over completely.

“Don’t be nervous,” Ferro said.

“I’m not. Just excited. Everyone will be here soon and we get to pitch out an idea and it is so awesome.”

“Hamlin will be here, too.”

“He’s pitching in the same meeting? Oh. Goody.”

“Not my preference, either. I was only told in my last phone call with Weston just before I got here.”

“At least the CEO called you. He didn’t call me.”

“I’m the lead on the project,” he said, his smile reflecting that easy charm of his. But this time, the teasing seemed genuine.

“Like hell, billionaire man, this is just as much mine as yours.” She reached under the table and grabbed his hand, squeezing him gently. He froze and pulled away.

She was about to say something when the door opened and the board of directors for Barrows, plus all the executives and Scott Hamlin, filed into the room.

Hamlin was clearly taking the “suck-up” approach to the whole thing. His hand was glued to Carl Weston’s back, his laugh too loud and too obvious as they made their way to their seats.

Introductions were made, and Scott got up to give the first
presentation. Julia’s confidence and all around smugness increased the longer Hamlin talked about his product. It was nowhere near as sophisticated as theirs. Nowhere near as user friendly or generally awesome.

She had almost tuned him out, his speech was so boring, when he came to the wrap-up.

“In short, I think you’ll find my product to be exactly to the briefing. Inexpensive to manufacture and easy to repair should something go wrong, not that it will. And even more importantly, my company will not put a stain on the reputation of Barrows. At Hamlin Tech we uphold family values. Unlike the sort of values my opponents seem to uphold, or rather denigrate. But then, let’s be honest, we know Mr. Calvaresi is a professional at seducing what he wants out of a woman. And unlike Ms. Anderson, no one at Hamlin has ever sold their body to the competition to get ahead.” He leveled his gaze at Julia when he said the last bit, and it stung. Like a whip across her skin. She knew it wasn’t true, that she’d had Ferro because she wanted him and for no other reason. The irony was him accusing
her
of selling her body, when it was much closer to Ferro’s truth. But he was just the sort of man who would assume that about a woman, the sort of man who had no respect for women at all. Just another reason to grind him into the dirt with their awesome presentation.

The room was deadly silent when he sat down and Julia waited for someone, anyone to reprimand him. But no one did. She looked at Ferro and the glint in his eye could only be described as deadly.

She leaned in. “Let’s just make the presentation. He doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.”

They stood and she started saying her part, that she’d thankfully rehearsed enough that she only needed a quarter of her brainpower to focus on it. The rest could quietly panic and simmer in humiliation over what had just happened.

Then it was Ferro’s turn to talk about the technical specifications and he did, quickly, his voice getting rougher as he spoke until he turned to Scott Hamlin. “I’m not certain what sort of family values you ascribe to,” he said, addressing the man directly, making no effort to veil where he was directing his words. “But as far as I know, the sexual harassment of employees is not a family value. Furthermore, I don’t care what you think of me. I am everything they say and so much worse. What I had to do to survive on the streets is one long, ugly story, and it is my story. But if you dare to ever imply that Julia has somehow gotten to the position she’s in by any means other than hard work and her sheer brilliance, I will show you some other survival tricks I learned on the streets. And I can guarantee you won’t just walk away from that demonstration.”

The room had reached a new level of quiet. Julia could only stare, her face hot. With anger, with humiliation and with adrenaline. She was proud of Ferro. She wanted to kill Ferro. She couldn’t believe what had just happened.

He took her arm and started to lead her from the room. “Ferro…”

“Call us with your decision,” Ferro tossed over his shoulder as they walked out of the boardroom and into the hall.

“Ferro! You just…you probably just killed that deal for us.”

“They should not have let him say that,” Ferro spat, releasing his hold on her and walking ahead to the elevator. “They should not have let him say such things about you. Someone should have spoken up.”

“In fairness, it might look like I…with you…to get this…”

“Why should you need to? I need you just as much as you need me in this. To imply otherwise is insulting to you as a person and a businesswoman and I will not allow it.”

The elevator doors closed and Julia leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling very tired. “I’ve been insulted more than
once in my life, Ferro,” she said “It’s why I don’t go around being all happy-happy joy-joy Julia all the time. It’s why I don’t talk about spaceships and games and my new processor in polite company. I can honestly say, though, that I’ve never been accused of using my body to get what I want. I suppose that’s what I get for having a sex life.”

“It’s wrong.”

“But I’m fine. I would have been fine if you would have just kept your mouth shut and made the presentation.”

He turned to her, dark eyes blazing. “But I wouldn’t have been.” He pushed the button on his phone she knew now called his driver.

The elevator doors slid open and Ferro’s breathing started to normalize, the color draining slightly from his face. As if he’d just realized what he had done. They walked through the glass and steel building, out onto the warm, sunny street.

“Perhaps you should stay at your own house tonight, Julia,” he said.

She nodded slowly. “Okay. I mean…if you really want me to.” She wanted to ask him to change his mind. Wanted to tell him she needed to be with him after a day like today. No one else would understand. But he would, not just because he’d been there, but because it was his life, too. His passion.

She wanted to sit on the couch with him and drink a glass of wine and talk about how horrible the whole thing had been. And then she wanted to spend all night making love with him.

But he wanted her to go home.

“I guess I’ll…” And she realized they didn’t have a reason to see each other again. “I guess I’ll see you,” she said. She hoped it was true.

He nodded once and walked to his car. Julia stuck her hand in her pocket and took out her phone, getting ready to dial her driver. She really should get Ferro’s stupid app because she didn’t want to talk to her driver, she wanted to call
for him nonverbally so she didn’t have to say a word past the ache in her throat.

She decided to text him, even though that wasn’t a normal way for her to communicate with him. But it worked. He pulled up five minutes after Ferro had already left.

“Mr. Calvaresi’s house?” he asked.

Her stomach tightened, stealing her breath. Oh, yes, because that’s where she’d gone every night over the course of the past week.

“No. My house. Thanks.”

“Did the presentation go well, Ms. Anderson?”

“No,” she said, leaning her head against the seat. “It did not go well.”

In the end, she decided to do a big blanket, sweats and a glass of wine on her own. She didn’t need Ferro to sulk with. She could sulk all by herself. And if it was a little lonely, a little cold and a whole lot sadder, then fine. She could deal. She was sulking after all.

She picked up her remote from the couch and hit the stereo button, then pressed Play. A little smooth jazz would make a nice soundtrack to her hard times.

She was a billionaire. She should totally blow off sulking over a man and fly to Paris to sample wine and cheese or something.

No, she wasn’t sulking over a man, though. She was sulking over the presentation. The presentation was the important thing. It was why she’d agreed to the Ferro ruse in the first place.

Ugh. Then why didn’t she care more?

She set her wine on the table beside the couch and drew her knees up to her chest. An alarm pinged, the sound of a vehicle at her gate, and she sat up straight, grabbing the remote again and aiming it at the TV, turning on the security feed.

It was a dark sports car, but she couldn’t see the driver. She hit the intercom button. “Can I help you?”

“I hope you can.”

The sound of Ferro’s voice made her heart jump up into her throat.

“I hope I can, too. Come up.” She pushed the button that released the lock on the gate and sat back down on the couch, wringing her hands. What was she doing? Why had she told him he could come up? She should be all mad at him.

Except she still wanted to be with him. Even when she was mad.

She jumped up from the couch and downed the last of her wine, then looked down at her sweats.
“Mmf.”
They weren’t exactly what she wanted him to see her in. But then, the other option was stripping down to her undies or further really quick and she wasn’t sure he was here for that.

Anyway, he’d seen her in sweats before. Just not so much since they’d become full-time lovers.

Then he was knocking on the door, heavily, and she didn’t have time to waffle. She set her glass down and went to the door, bent on owning the sweats look now.

She pulled the door open and stood there, her hand on her hip. “What brings you here?”

Ferro looked down at Julia, her curves concealed by her baggy sweats, and he nearly sank to the floor in relief. Just the sight of her did so much to him. Just the thought of her was enough to keep him awake, to drive him from his bed in the middle of the night so he could see her. So he could be near her.

“I could not sleep,” he said, walking in past her.

“Come in.”

Ferro set his computer bag down on the floor and started toward her living room.

Much like their offices. Hers was what she’d thought an
important businesswoman might have in her house. Neutrals, large windows that overlooked the sea. Beige and lots of it, with little pops of lime and blue here and there. Sedate and expensive.

It was starkly different to his house, his office. Which was what he’d imagined someone with money should have. Everything he owned was a testament to disposable income, while Julia’s was so much more…normal than she was. Normal and boring. Nothing like her. But it would show the world that she was more like them. Would make her look like less of a bubbly, eccentric genius.

It was a shame. A shame that anything, any man, anyone, had made her hide herself. He wanted to tell her but the words stuck in his throat.

She put her hands on her hips. “Are you blaming me for your lack of sleep, or just coming to share the misery?”

“I am blaming you,” he said, anger so much easier to find than sincerity. “I have never had a problem dealing with sexual frustration, and trust me, Julia, twelve years of celibacy means I had my share.”

Her eyes rounded. “I just assumed you didn’t want sex in all that time.”

“I didn’t want the baggage. The reminder. I missed the orgasms. But it’s not a matter of a cold shower or taking care of things on my own, not now. Not when all I can think of is what’s missing.” The words were broken, scraped his throat raw on the way out. “The way you feel, the way you smell. The way you touch me. You have ruined things for me.”

“Oh, gee, well, thanks.”

“I want you. Now.” Need. It was so much more than want. It was need.

“I…” For a moment, just a moment, she looked like she might say no, and he couldn’t bear it. He was shaking inside, with need, with…he didn’t even know what.

“On our original terms,” he said. “I give the orders, and you say yes.”

Control would help. Control was what he needed. A way to make this all make sense. A way to make it something he recognized. Something he could deal with.

Julia looked into Ferro’s eyes, black, haunted, endless. A man who was wounded, hunted. She could see it. Feel the desperation. He was demanding control because it was the only thing holding him together.

Because it was the only way he could handle things between them.

“Yes,” she said. An agreement she shouldn’t make, but one she needed just as badly as he did.

“Take your top off,” he said.

“Here?” she asked, looking out the windows at the beach. It was a private beach, but even so.

“Modesty from the woman who went stargazing on my roof naked?”

Yes, but that had been different. A moment of connection and sweetness rather than this…intensity that was arcing between them.

“This was not a request, Julia, it was an order. Take off your top, or I am going to leave.”

She caught an even more revealing glimpse then. Of his frayed control. Of the reason behind the orders. And it hit her then that for all his dominant manner, Ferro wasn’t the one in control of this moment. She grabbed the hem of her sweater and pulled it up over her head.

He looked at her breasts, covered by a black bra, and smiled. this wasn’t a light, charming smile. This one was dark. Wicked. Perfect.

“Now your pants.” She obeyed this time without needing prompting, pushing
her sweatpants down her legs and kicking them to the side, the game, the intensity, arousing her past the point of reason.

“Now,” he said, “I want you to go upstairs. Walk ahead of me. Don’t turn around.”

She sucked in a breath and turned away from him, walked toward the curved staircase. She felt completely on display. The stairs were open all the way up to the second floor, making the most of the view. But now, she had the feeling she was the view.

She felt powerful, and vulnerable, weak and strong, at the same time. But then, being with Ferro had that effect on her. with him she felt more secure than she ever had, and more terrified of where her life was heading than she ever had. Happier with what she had, more afraid of the potential loss.

Loss was the only place this could end.

She swallowed hard and kept walking, the marble floor cold beneath her feet, and Ferro’s steps hard and purposeful behind her.