TheBillionairesPilot by Suzanne Graham Page B

this deception was over .
    His stomach soured at the idea that he
was lying to make this deal with Xavier. Only five months into this business
and Evan was already shoving his ethics aside for the sake of making money. At
least his father wasn’t alive to see this, but Evan was going to have to decide
what to tell his mother.
    Would it be better to come clean with his
mother from the start or to let her believe he really had found the perfect
woman to marry? Either way, he was bound to disappoint her. She’d been not so
subtly hinting at grandchildren for years.
    This fake engagement only highlighted how
far he really was to making a serious commitment, especially when the thought
of settling for a lifetime of vanilla put him in a cold sweat. Besides, he was
nowhere near ready to settle down with a family. All his time and energy needed
to be focused on learning his father’s business.
    He glanced down at Cassie at his side.
She was going to make cute kids someday, and she would be a ferocious mother
bear, judging by the way she could take care of herself. He didn’t imagine
she’d let anyone mess with her children. An unwelcomed feeling of tenderness
for her swelled in his chest.
    Damn, he needed to step back and gain
some perspective on the situation.
    She was his employee, not someone he
should be considering any kind of involvement with. Moreover, she wasn’t what
he’d be looking for in a lover. She’d never let him dominate her if her
self-defense demonstration earlier was any indication…but sometimes the
strongest ones out of the bedroom made for the best subs in the bedroom. Could
she be hiding her true inclination?
    Shaking the disconcerting thoughts of
Cassie from his mind, Evan focused on Esmé extolling the craftsmanship of her
favorite jeweler to Cassie. He sighed inwardly; this was definitely going to
cost him a bundle.
    * * * *
    Storming
ahead of Evan into their suite after dinner, Cassie was finally able to break
her tightly held composure. She spun on Evan where he stood with his back
against the closed door.
    “How long will we have to keep up this
engagement charade?” she demanded. “You said you only needed me for the
weekend.”
    “I did originally only need you for the
weekend, but obviously, I’ll need to extend our arrangement.” He stepped
further into the sitting room, and she resisted the urge to get in his face and
shake him by the shoulders. How could he put her in this situation?
    “For how long?” she asked with forced
calm.
    He shrugged, and she wanted to sock him.
    “Four weeks…six at the most.”
    “Six weeks! You want me to pretend to be
your fiancée for six weeks?” Getting through three days was proving challenging
enough with this damn magnetism she felt for him. When he’d held her close to
his side tonight, she’d been so tempted by his hard body and warm masculine
scent. She was proud of herself for not giving in to the urge to let her hands
roam, but she’d had to employ all her military discipline to keep her palm from
sliding down to feel his tight ass.
    “You’ll be compensated, of course.” He
sat in one of the armchairs.
    She stared down at him. “You think money
will convince me to lie about our relationship for six weeks?”
    He gave a brief nod. “You were willing to
pretend to be my girlfriend for three days when the price was right.”
    She sat in the facing armchair. “This
engagement is different. This is going to go public. I’ll have to tell my
father and friends.” But how was she going to explain it so it didn’t sound
like she’d sold herself? And why would she even be considering this when she
knew how hard it would be to quell her feelings for him? This situation was
definitely something she needed to get out of quickly.
    Evan shook his head. “You’ll only be able
to tell them you’re engaged, not that it’s fake.”
    “You want me to lie to everyone important
in my life?” Her chest tightened at the thought of putting