Fiance by Fate by Jennifer Shirk Page A

you’re the one who wants to change your reputation. Kissing and any other type of manhandling—fake or not—in front of people is not a way to show them you’re in a serious relationship. I won’t be treated like all your other bimbos. We’ll just have to be convincing in other ways.”
    Jack sat back and grunted. Little Miss Perfect had a point, as per usual. Kissing was not something they could be caught doing at work, and even if they were out on a fake date, at their age, they wouldn’t be lip-locked at some restaurant. But the idea still didn’t sit well with him. Who knew that he’d actually be disturbed he wouldn’t be able to kiss her?
    And the more he thought about how it disturbed him, the more disturbed he became.
    “So…are you okay with that?” she asked, nibbling her bottom lip.
    He forced his attention away from her mouth and smiled tightly. “No problem at all.”
    “Good. However, I think handholding would be completely appropriate.”
    “Are you sure? Hand over hand or full-on fingers entwined? I don’t want to look cheap.”
    She folded her arms and glared at him. “Can you ever be serious?”
    “Can you ever not be serious?”
    Leonard Brenner poked his head in Jack’s office then and smiled at the sight of the two of them apparently having a nice company chat. “Oh, there you are, Sabrina.” He smirked as he cast a sideways glance at Jack. “I don’t want to interrupt anything, but I need to steal Sabrina away from you. I wanted to go over a few of the last expense reports that Chuck just emailed me.”
    “No problem, Mr. Brenner,” she replied. “I’ll go grab my notes.” Looking way too happy to leave Jack’s presence and not at all like a woman smitten with a potential new boyfriend, she jumped up and turned on her heel to go.
    Before she could leave, Jack reached out and blocked her with his arm. “I’m sure I can count on you to handle the situation we’ve, uh, discussed,” he reminded her pleasantly.
    She gave him a long look. If he wasn’t starting to know her so well, he would have completely missed the silent message she shot him that told him exactly where he could stuff their so-called situation along with all his beef jerky.
    “You can count on me,” she said, letting the words roll off her tongue as sweet as maple syrup. “I’ll definitely handle the situation as I see fit.”
    Jack smothered a grin as he watched her leave. Sabrina surprised him. For all her bossiness and rule-making, he liked her. Much more than he thought he ever would.
    When his father turned back to Jack, it was with a pleased expression. “This is very refreshing to see.”
    “What is?”
    “You and Sabrina getting along so well.”
    Jack thought about announcing his and Sabrina’s fake relationship now, but he figured it would have more believability if he didn’t rush things. Played it cool. Plus, there was still the outside chance his father would go to the board before their quarterly meeting without this exercise in wholesome behavioral CEO standards.
    “Yes, Sabrina is proving to be a very valuable coworker,” he agreed. “It was a good decision pairing her up with me.” For more reasons than you know.
    “I’m glad you think so. I also wanted to tell you that I won’t be around this afternoon.”
    “Why? What’s going on?”
    “I have to go to the doctor’s.”
    Jack felt as if he’d taken a punch to the stomach, which made it hard for him not to sound alarmed. “Dad, are you feeling—?”
    “I’m fine. Just a follow-up visit with my primary care doctor. I think he might change my meds around, but other than that, no cause for alarm.”
    “If you need me to come with you, I’ll cancel my appointments.”
    “I know you would, and I appreciate it. But your sister is going to take me.” He nudged Jack with his elbow. “I get to see my grandkids that way,” he said, grinning.
    Jack couldn’t smile back. He was too concerned about his dad’s health. He