Page 19 of Drunk on You

A look passes between Julian and me as he realizes that we’re both guilty of the same thing—lying about our real names.

“Wait a second,” Dad says, looking at Julian. “Is this your fiancée?” Then, to me, he adds, “You’re engaged to my COO?”

“Did you two not discuss the important things, like family and work?” Selene pipes in, looking at us in bewilderment.

“We did. Just not the specifics,” Julian says, pulling me into his side as I connect my own dots.

Julian wanted a trophy wife for the same reason I wanted a fake fiancé—to show my dad that he’s a family man because just like me, Julian Parker is trying to become the next CEO of Kingston Limited—which means … I’m officially fake engaged to my enemy.

“To be honest,” I lie, “we’ve been so caught up in each other that we didn’t discuss things like that. I knew he was a COO, but I didn’t know he worked for you.” I glance up at Julian, trying like hell to look like I’m in love before I look back at my dad. “We’ve been totally lost in each other, in our own little bubble.”

“So, this engagement is real?” Dad asks, sharp as always.

“Of course it is,” I tell him, laying my head against Julian’s chest to emphasize my claim. “I’m in love with this man, and I can’t wait to marry him.”

Dad nods slowly, his gaze flitting between the two of us, and I hold my breath, waiting for him to call us out on our shit. But then his face spreads into a smile, and the corners of his eyes crinkle with happiness.

“Well, all right then,” he says, glancing at Julian. “Congratulations, son! I guess I have you to thank for bringing my daughter home.”

He opens his arms, and Julian releases me to give my dad a hug.

When they separate, Dad looks at us both and chuckles. “Since you guys haven’t discussed work, I’m assuming you haven’t told Julian about what we talked about today.”

“I haven’t had time,” I say, shaking my head.

“Work?” Julian raises a brow. “I thought you wanted to be a stay-at-home wife.”

My dad barks out a laugh. “My daughter, a stay-at-home wife? That’s funny. Are you going to tell him, or should I?”

“Tell me what?” Julian asks, his eyes staying trained on my dad.

When I don’t say anything, Dad chuckles. “I hired Anastasia to work for me as a marketing analyst. She wants a chance to prove she can be the next face of Kingston. Your fiancée is your biggest competition to become the next CEO.”

Julian slowly turns toward me. “Is that so?” he says with a devilish smirk that sends a shiver racing up my spine. “Well, soon-to-be wifey, it looks like we have a lot to discuss, don’t we?”

chapter seven

SAMUEL KINGSTON

Julian and Anastasia must think falling in love has turned me blind, deaf, and dumb. But I can see past the way they’re currently glaring at one another, hear the words they’re not speaking, and despite the fact that they’re not actually engaged—even though they want me to believe they are—I can feel the chemistry coming off them in waves. I could call them out on their lies, but I won’t because for the first time since my late wife passed away, I have my daughter in the same zip code as me, and I can see what they can’t—they’re already falling in love.

I was afraid to let either of them take over as CEO, not because they aren’t capable, but because they’re both similar to me, and I love them too much to step down and watch either of them make the same mistakes I made. I’m not going to lie. I planned to give Julian the CEO position, but I was hoping by telling him that I didn’t want to hire someone single, who would get absorbed in the company the same way I did, he would think about finally settling down. Selene warned me that manipulating people was wrong, but I was hoping that by putting the bug in his ear, he’d give it some thought.

But what I wasn’t expecting was for my daughter to want to take over as CEO. And at first, that scared me because the last thing I want is for Anastasia to follow in my footsteps. It’s something her mother never wanted for her, and when she died, I felt I owed it to her to honor her wishes.

Anastasia was raised in a home where her father put business before everything, and I think she’s afraid to fall in love. Afraid to end up like her mother. She knows how the business world works. But love? That scares the shit out of her.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when she got here, and then I realized I would have to choose between my daughter and the man who had become like a son to me. But now, I have a feeling they’ll make the choice for me.

And if things go the way I hope, they’ll choose love.

chapter eight

JULIAN

As everyone talks over dinner, I remain quiet for the most part, only adding to the conversation when a question is directed at me. Too much is going through my head. Stacey Webb—aka Anastasia Kingston-Webb, the woman I’m supposed to be paying ten million dollars to be my fake fiancée for the next year—is not only competing with me for the CEO position, but she’s also worth hundreds of millions, which means she’s been playing me from the beginning.

I have to give her credit though. What she did—attempting to play the willing trophy wife—was cunning. She needed a man on her arm because I’m sure her father gave her the same speech he gave me, so what does she do? She gets the man to pay for her, so she can claim she’s engaged to be married.