It's Only Temporary - The Complete Collection Read online

  She heard Ellen in the background and then a scuffle as the phone changed hands. “You two are going to fight this the whole way, aren’t you? Call Ethan; he’s looking for you.”

  Ellen read off his number and the suite he was staying in and Mackenzie hung up, rethinking whether she really wanted to talk to him or not.

  She was going to fight it the whole way. But she knew better than anyone that Ethan got what he wanted as long as it was worth the cost. He wasn’t going to just change his mind about their pretend engagement; he thought it fixed all his problems. He would pay a lot for that, and considering that she was the one paying, not him, there wasn’t much hope convincing him it wasn’t going to work.

  And she certainly wasn’t going to win this battle by appealing to his better nature; he’d known before he started the ball rolling that it would disrupt her life and give her a heart attack.

  She needed to either make him see that it wouldn’t help him like he thought or make her terms too damn expensive to be worth it.

  She dialed his number slowly, wondering if he would even pick up an unknown number, but it barely rang before his voice came on the line. “Mackenzie?”

  She let out a pent up breath. “My house is inundated with reporters.”

  “I know. I drove by trying to find you after you ran away.”

  She ignored his dig. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “I think we should let them take some pictures. That’s all they want.”

  “They want pictures of your fiancé. I am not, nor will I ever be, your fiancé.”

  He sighed heavily. “Mackenzie, I know you normally wouldn’t help me out for any reason, but I need you. I really do.”

  There was silence on the line as they both digested that. He didn’t seem to like saying it anymore than she liked hearing it.

  He sounded desperate. How in the world was she to fight a desperate Ethan O’Connor?

  He cleared his throat. “Come to my hotel. Or tell me where you are and I’ll meet you. We can work out a mutually beneficial agreement, okay?”

  She shuddered as he inadvertently mimicked his grandmother, then gave herself a shake. He didn’t want kids, he wanted a fake fiancé. No need to make this worse than it already was.

  She sighed heavily, leaning her forehead against the payphone box.

  She was still trying to figure a way out when he said, “What number are you calling from? Is this your cell?”

  “It’s a payphone. I don’t have a cell.”

  There was a long, confused pause. “You don’t have a cell? Kindergartners have cellphones.”

  She hung up on him.

  She was just getting into her car when the payphone rang. She stared at it, then stomped back to answer it.

  “What?”

  “We could meet at your place but you’ve seen the vans. At least the hotel will keep the paparazzi away.”

  She closed her eyes, sealing her fate. “Fine. I’ll come to you.”

  “I’ll have some dinner waiting. What do you like?”

  She looked at the phone in frustration. “This isn’t a date, Ethan.”

  “No. It’s a business meeting in my hotel room at a time most people have dinner. We’ll eat and hammer out the terms.”

  Her stomach squished at the thought of being alone with him in his hotel room.

  “Don’t they have a restaurant at that fancy hotel of yours? Make a reservation.”

  She could practically hear him shaking his head. “You know that’s not going to work. We can’t have someone overhearing this particular negotiation, can we? Besides, I get the impression you’re going to need to yell at me some more.”

  She almost smiled. “You got that right.”

  He said, “I’ll order something chocolate. That’ll help.”

  She hung up on him again. He’d better have a lot of chocolate.

  And back downtown she went. His suite was on the top floor of the hotel, of course. Nothing but the best for Mr. O’Connor.

  She stood in front of the panoramic windows, staring out over the city. Lights glittered in the night and she watched the red and white stream of cars on the freeway below them.

  Ethan walked up beside her. “It would’ve just gotten worse and worse with the tabloids. I have a lot of ex-girlfriends.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh at the understatement and he flashed a wry grin at her before looking back over the city.

  She said, “Have you ever thought of taking a break? Do you always need a girl on your arm?”

  “I know this sounds conceited but a girlfriend is sometimes the only defense I have. Women just…”

  “Throw themselves at you?”

  He nodded and she rolled her eyes. “Have you ever considered just saying no?”

  He turned toward her. “I don’t think you understand what it means to have someone throw themselves at you. Every time I step in an elevator, there’s a woman waiting for me. Every time I sit down at a restaurant, a woman slides in next to me. Numbers in pockets, whispered invitations. A simple ‘I’m a one-woman man’ saves face and ends the confrontation quickly.”

  “Along with a smile and a ‘honey’.”

  He smiled slightly. “I only call you honey.”

  She didn’t know what to say to that and he laughed.

  “Honey comes from bees and bees have stingers. No one has a bigger stinger than you.” He shrugged, still smiling. “It makes me laugh. And you don’t like it, which makes it even better.”

  “Yeah, I can see how everyone is going to believe we’re madly in love.”

  He took her hand. “We have something together. Heat. It may be antagonistic heat, but it’s there. Any idiot can see it. We were in the National Enquirer.”

  She took her hand back and put it in her pocket. “My claim to fame.”

  He looked out at the city and she silently watched him for a moment. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

  He met her eyes and shook his head. “I know your weakness, Mackenzie. If I have to, I’ll pay the price.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “And just what is my weakness?”

  He grinned. “You like to win.”

  “I thought you were going to say money.”

  He shook his head. “Money is the trophy. But winning is what you want.”

  “How in the world am I going to be a winner engaged to you? Do you know how many sales I’ve made since your little fiasco of a press conference? None. Do you know how many times I’ve heard ‘sleeping with the boss’ whispered? Twice.”

  “I’m sorry for that. I really am.”

  “Ethan, I don’t know how I can continue to work for the OC. Whether I go along with this charade or not, every accolade I’ve ever received is now in question, every bonus wondered at.”

  “No one would ever doubt that you earned everything you got.”

  “Oh, they would. They will. They’ll start wondering if I’m getting special treatment, the easy sells.”

  Room service knocked on the door and Ethan went to answer it. A cart was wheeled in heaped with dishes. Two bowls of soup, two plates each of salad, steak, pasta, a bottle of wine, two bottles of beer, and chocolate cake.

  Mackenzie shook her head, a smile hovering at the corners of her mouth, and Ethan grinned at her. “I didn’t know what you wanted. Except I was pretty sure about the cake.”

  She grabbed a steak and salad and beer and he did likewise.

  He pointed to their plates and said, “See how compatible we are?”

  “Uh-huh. I can see it now, matchmaking services based on what you eat.”

  “Or perhaps based on what you won’t eat. If you don’t like fish, you don’t want to wind up with a fish eater.”

  Mackenzie snorted and shook her head. “And there goes romance. What if love is putting up with stinky fish?”

  Ethan eyed her. “That’s love? I had no idea.”

  “I’m just saying that love isn’t all good parts
. Sometimes there will be things you just can’t stand but they don’t matter.”

  He watched her with a small smile on his face. “You’re a romantic. I would never have guessed.”

  “I’m not. I just think that if there’s love, stupid little stuff shouldn’t matter.”

  “Nope, you’re a romantic. Can’t talk me out of it.”

  She sighed, reaching for a slice of cake. It was thick and rich and chocolatey and she felt a little less hostile about getting herself engaged to Ethan O’Connor after eating it.

  She said, “So what happens if I go along with your crazy idea and agree to be your fiancé? Pretend that all the little things you do that drive me crazy don’t matter? Just how are you planning on making me come out on top after all of this?”

  “First of all, there aren’t that many things with me. Don’t you know I’m Mr. Charming?”

  “Uh-huh,” she said again and he grinned.

  “And second of all, I’ll give you a share of O’Connor Capital.”

  She sucked in a long breath, gauging his sincerity. He looked at her, no smile on his face, no twinkle in his eye. She opened her mouth to say something, say anything, and nothing came out.

  He said, “It means that much to me.”

  Mackenzie cleared her throat. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am. I’ll give you a three percent share. That’s worth about $100,000 per year, which is comparable to your base salary, but you’ll be the only outside owner. That’s how you’ll wind up winning.”

  Mackenzie sat back in her seat. “Can you even give a portion away?”

  He smiled slightly. “I need a majority approval. Mother, Grandma, and I all own equal shares, so I need one of them to agree to let me give you the shares. Luckily, my grandma likes you.”

  “This much? And what happens when this ends? She still going to want me owning even a little part then?”

  “You’ve worked for O’Connor Capital for seven years. You know sales, you know the business. I have no worries about bringing you on board as a minority owner. She knows this engagement won’t last and still thinks it a fine idea.”

  A laugh escaped her lips. “Do I even want to know how your mother took it?”

  He took a bite. “I didn’t tell her. I only need one of them to go along with it.”

  She shuddered. “I don’t want to be there when she finds out. You’re crazy for even thinking of giving me a share.”

  “I need a break, Mackenzie. A break from women, from drama, from the stupid tabloids. I need a break from Mr. Charming. I feel as if I’m standing on the edge of a cliff and one more rumble from any direction and I’m going right over.”

  He sat back, looking at her. “I know I can trust you. I don’t need to worry about hurting you because you’ve never believed anything I’ve said. I can be myself around you.”

  “That’s not worth three percent of your company.”

  He closed his eyes and said softly, “I can’t see one more woman look at me like I’m the answer to all her prayers when I know I’m not. When I know in just a few short months I will be one more hurt. I don’t want to hurt anyone, especially anyone I care about. I can’t seem to stop, though.” He opened his eyes. “I need a buffer. I need you to be my buffer.”

  She stared at him, trying not to feel sorry for him.

  He said, “And I know that you will only play for my team when I pay you. When this engagement ends, we’ll let it leak that I gave you a share of my company. And everyone will say how smart you were to get a chunk out of me at the beginning instead of standing there empty-handed at the end.”

  She closed her eyes, shaking her head. She hadn’t quite realized how desperate he was. He was willing to give her a share of his company? She wasn’t going to be able to stand against him if that was any indication of what he was willing to pay. Funny that he would dangle a piece of his company in front of her though because she didn’t want that.

  “I don’t want three percent of your company.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not going any higher. It’s my best offer.”

  “I’m not negotiating here. I don’t want any part of your company.”

  He blinked. “Why not?”

  “You can’t give away part of your company for a favor. You can’t. It’s not worth that much. I can’t believe your grandmother would even go along with this.”

  “She wants it to turn out real.”

  She looked at him in disbelief. “Because I almost beat you at softball?”

  “I think because you threatened me. She can’t stand women who throw themselves at me, who fall for the O’Connor charm.”

  “I can’t be the only woman who can keep my wits around you.”

  “It’s a short list.”

  She pointed to the growing stack of tabloids piled haphazardly on the end of the couch. “Getting longer everyday.”

  He laughed. “I can only hope. I’ll need a few more women than just you to choose from if I ever want to find the woman who can see past the money. And the looks.”

  “And the bullshit.”

  He saluted her with his beer bottle and nodded. “O’Connors marry forever. If I’m going to give my wife half my shares when I get married, I’d better be damn sure of who I’m marrying. And she’d better damn sure be able to see me.”

  Mackenzie choked. “Half your shares?”

  “It’s tradition. When my grandfather married my grandmother, he gave her half of his shares. When my father married my mother, he gave her half of his shares. When I get married, I’ll give her half of my shares.”

  She shook her head. “You O’Connors are crazy. No wonder you dump your girlfriends as soon as they start thinking marriage.”

  “Maybe love isn’t putting up with stinky fish. Maybe it’s giving half of everything you’ve ever worked for, everything you will ever work for.”

  “That’s not love, that’s stupid.”

  He looked into his beer bottle and said with a sigh, “It’s being certain of who you’re marrying.”

  “And if you never find the woman who is worth half your fortune?”

  “I will. She’s out there.”

  She couldn’t decide if she thought him incredibly sweet or the dumbest person alive. “Now who’s a hopeless romantic?”

  He smiled. “Maybe. Or maybe a hopeful romantic.”

  She took a deep breath. “Well, I’m not going to take one and a half percent from your future wife. I won’t take any shares from you. You’ll have to think of something else to get me to play for you.”

  He stared into her eyes, then smiled. “Oh, Mackenzie. I can even trust you not to take advantage of my desperation? You’ll never get me to change my mind now.”

  She saw that it was true. She should’ve negotiated for half his company, half his life’s blood. Now she’d never shake him loose.

  He leaned back in his chair. “How about this? Take a little break from work and come be my fiancé. I will continue to pay your average salary for the last year, including bonuses, out of my own pocket. Then after a few months, when all this blows over, you can go back to work.”

  “And you think I can go play fiancé for a few months, break up with you, and then go back to work for your company like nothing happened? That my clients would even still be there waiting for me?”

  He was silent, knowing she was right but refusing to agree with her.

  She said, “I can’t work for you now or after. I can’t go work for a competitor engaged to you, no one would hire me. They would be afraid I would spill all their secrets to you.”

  “There’s more to life than working. Take a vacation.”

  She laughed at him. “There’s more to life than working? That really just came out of your mouth?”

  He shrugged. “I’ve had plenty of girlfriends to prove I am not a workaholic. How about you? Lots of boyfriends to prove there’s more in your life than work?” He froze. “Is there a boyfriend right now?”
/>   Mackenzie mentally kicked herself. Now that would have been an excellent reason she couldn’t go along with his outrageous proposal.

  “Yes, I have a boyfriend. He was understandably upset when he heard I was engaged.”

  “Liar. You would have brought him up before this.” He leaned forward, taking her hand. “Come with me to New York. Whatever you want, I’ll do it. We’ll work something out, just come with me.”

  She knew she would. She’d go with him to New York, disrupt her whole life, and come back to nothing when it was all over. But it had to be worth it to her.

  “I will do this on one condition. I will take my accrued vacation time while we live out this little fantasy of yours. And at the end of it I get a nice severance package. Nice enough that I don’t need to find another job until everyone forgets that I was ever engaged to you.”

  “You won’t have to leave the company. I’ll simply stay away from the L.A. office for a while.”

  “I will have to leave. I will be your ex, Ethan. You said it yourself, your breakups are always ugly. There’s no way I could continue working for you. Are you willing to give up your best salesman for this?”

  He looked her in the eye and said, “Yes,” but she knew he didn’t believe he’d have to pay the price.

  She shook her head. “Let’s write a pre-nup.”

  “Huh?”

  “A pre-nup. I’m sure you’ve heard the term.”

  “You know I don’t actually want to marry you, right?”

  She went to the desk, searching for paper. “It’s an engagement pre-nup. I have about six weeks of vacation time. At the end of the six weeks, we break up and I quit. And that will be the end. I will move to a competitor, probably HGC, and you will go out and get another girlfriend, thereby starting the whole cycle over again and accomplishing nothing except losing all my sales.”

  He slouched in his chair, folding his arms. “Not HGC. Anybody but them.”

  She smiled. “Oh, I think it will have to be HGC. I can just imagine how much Bob Givens would love to hire Ethan O’Connor’s ex-fiancé.”

  “He’s a putz. You’d hate working for him.”

  “Probably. But I doubt I’ll see him as much as I’ve seen you. And besides, my severance package will be good enough that I won’t have to for awhile.”