The Pretense

Chapter 1

                Jessica was convinced Harper's boss was interested in her, but Harper didn't see it.

                "Frank's married."

                "Seperated. And you know he's keen on you. That's one of the reasons you lied about having a boyfriend."

                Harper let her head fall back on her neck and made a tortured sound through her teeth.

                "I was coming off the back of a week of sixteen-hour days and I was exhausted. I might have had and emotional reaction to the whole thing."

"Emotional? You? Heaven forbid." Jessica shivered dramatically.

It was a standing joke between them that Jessica wore her heart on her sleeve and Harper kept hers stashed in one of the many shoeboxes in her closet.

"I was after sympathy, not sarcasm." Harper grumped.

"But Frank did offer to go as your 'protector', did he not?" Jessica probed.

Harper sighed. "A little weird, I grant you, but we knew each other at uni. I think he was just being nice, given Callum's drunken pronouncements to him the week before."

Jessica did her famous eye roll. "Regardless, you faked having a boyfriend and now you have to produce one."

"I'll give him pneumonia."

"Harper, Callum Denver is a business powerhouse with a shocking reputation and Frank is an alpha male wannabe. And you've worked too hard to let either one of them decide your future. If you go away this weekend and Callum makes a move on you, his wife will have a fit and you'll be reading the unemployment pages for the next twelve months. I've seen it happen before. Men of Callum Denver's ilk are never pinned for sexual harassment the way they should be.

Jessica took a deep breath and Harper thanked God that she needed air. She was one of the best discrimination lawyers in the country and when she ranted, Harper took note. She had a point.

Harper had put in six hard years at the Owlstone Consulting Group, which had become like a second home to her. Or maybe it was her home, given how much time she spent there! If she won Callum's multi-million dollar account, she'd sure to be made a partner in the next sweep–the realization of a long-held dream and one her mother had encouraged for a long time.

"Callum hasn't actually harassed me, Jess," she reminded her friend.

"At your last meeting he said he'd hire Owlstone in a flash if you 'played nice'."

Harper blew out a breath. "Okay, okay. I have a plan."

Jessica raised her eyebrows. "Let's hear it."

"I'll hire an escort. Look at this." The idea had come to her while Jessica had been ranting and she turned her smartphone so Ruby could see the screen. "Madame Tessa. She says she offers discreet, professional, sensitive gentlemen to meet the needs of modern-day heterosexual women."

"Let me see that," Jessica took the phone. "Oh my God. That guy would seriously have sex with you."

Harper looked over Jessica's shoulder at the incredibly buffed male on the phone's screen.

"And they cater to fantasies!" Jessica continued.

"I don't want him to have sex with me," Harper yelped, slightly exasperated. The last thing she needed was sex, or her hormones to derail her from her goal at the eleventh hour. Her mother had let that happen and look where it had got her–broke and unhappy.