Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“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.
I glance over at her, unsure if I should be pissed or in awe at how damn smart she is. I knew this though. The moment she stepped out of the town car and started to speak and when she was talking about my sister’s major, I knew there was more to this woman than a gold digger trying to make some easy money by playing the doting fiancée.
Her father’s talked about her over the years. She went to a private college and majored in business marketing, then went on to get her MBA in hospitality. Her dad would brag about how proud he was of her, and he even has a damn picture of her on his desk. She’s in her cap and gown, but I never paid close attention to it. I guess I should’ve though because I literally invited my biggest competition into my home.