Evie REX HAD FAILED to mention that his childhood home was no ordinary home. This place was an actual mansion, or whatever the next st ep up from a mansion might be. The foyer had ceilings that stretched three stories high, with the largest crystal chandelier I’ d ever seen hanging from the highest point. A staircase arced up to the second floor. As soon as I saw it, I didn’t want to go to dinner. I wanted to run up the staircase and explore. Dennison led us to a set of double doors that reached at least fifteen feet high, because nothing was small about this place. When he opened the doors, I held my breath. Just as I was centering myself and coming to terms with meeting one of the country’s wealthiest families, Rex took my hand and placed it in the crook of his arm, which threw me off - center again. He wasn’t wearing a suit today. Instead, he wore a short - sleeve, button - up shirt and jeans, so that when he placed my hand on his arm, he placed my hand on his arm . The warmth of his skin under my hand — his hand on top of mine — filled me with sensations I really didn’t need right then. Mostly, that I liked touching his arm. Too much. My boss was hot — I already knew that — but he was far too serious for me, far too grumpy, and far too rich. Part of me thought none of that mattered if I just wanted to sle ep with him, but I could not sle ep with this man. Wait, had I just thought that? I did not want to sle ep with my boss! No, Evie! No! I couldn’t even slip my arm around him or snuggle in closer against the warmth of his body. I wanted to. I wanted to touch his stomach and see if he had abs. I liked to think that he did. No, I knew he did.
But we had agreed to limited touching. He’d said he wasn’t an affectionate man. I couldn’t jump on him and go against our agreement. At one point, I’d been a serial dater, but it had been a long time. Maybe too long. I needed to get these thoughts out of my head and calm down. I was touching his arm, not his crotch. We crossed through the double doors and into what I guessed was a dining room. Of course, it was not a dining room like anything I’d ever seen. The walls were covered with artwork that looked like it belonged in a museum. More giant, arched windows looked out over a perfectly manicured lawn, out to a lake sparkling blue in the late - day light. “Holy shit,” I breathed, and I felt Rex’s arm tense under my hand. Right. Probably shouldn’t swear at the view. Be myself, but not that myself. Then I noticed the people in the room. With a quick count, I could tell these were his parents and siblings, no bonus guests. His parents approached us while his siblings lingered around the table. The first person I made eye contact with was Rebekah. I gave her what I hoped was a confident and cool smile, but I was ninety - nine percent sure it came out as embarrassed and self - con scious. She looked directly at Rex and inclined her head, asking him an unspoken question in secret sibling language. Yeah, this would get a little weird, and I hoped Rex had a plan to deal with her beyond trying to act professional at work. I couldn’t wor ry about that now. It was showtime. His father’s frown and eyebrows — lowered at us as we entered the room — were just like Rex’s. “Rex, darling, I’m so glad you could make it,” his mother said. She had a sweeter energy about her than the father. His father clapped a hand on his shoulder, as though that was his form of hugging. Then their eyes all settled on me. I smiled. Not because I was happy, but because I felt like a flock of vultures was about to eat me alive, and I wanted to look as harmless as possible. “And who is this?” his mother asked. “Evangeline Day,” Rex said. I flicked my eyes toward him. His expression was stiff, and he looked uncomfortable. “My girlfriend.” A few paces away, Rebekah took a sip of a drink. When Rex called me his girlfriend, she choked on that drink hard enough that she started coughing. Not some little dainty cough, either. “Are you okay, darling?” Their mother went to Rebekah’s side and rubbed her back.
Rebekah swatted her away. “I’m okay,” she rasped. “Did you say your girlfriend?” Rex nodded, and I saw him challenge her in a glance not to say anything. Maybe she thought we hadn’t known each other long enough to be together. We’d have to address that. “Since when?” Rebekah asked. Rex’s eyes narrowed at his sister, but I didn’t see any evil intent in her expression. She was taken aback, and I understood that. Of course she was. She knew me from work. She’d just barely hired me as her brother’s assistant. And now here I was in her ho use as his girlfriend. How dumb was he? Had he really thought he could handle this by surprising her with it? Clearly, he had. “Call me Evie, please,” I said, as sweetly as possible to his mother. Then I took a de ep breath because this was Elizabeth Quinn. I knew of her movies from the seventies and eighties. One of them, in particular, had always been one of my favorite movies. She was older now than the last time I’d seen a photo of her, but she was still delicately beautiful, with shining blue eyes and black hair with silver threads running through it. The skin around her eyes pinched just the slightest bit. She didn’t know what was off, but surely she noticed some unspoken exchange between her oldest children. I wondered if she could tell that my clothes came from a d epartment store in the mall. Scratch that. Of course she could. “Why do you say that, Rebekah?” she asked her daughter. “I’m sorry,” Rebekah said. “I know Evie. I wasn’t expecting to see her here, that’s all. She’s Rex’s new assistant, but I also know her from my time in the marketing d epartment at Quinn.” My cheeks heated up. “Your assistant?” his father asked. “She’s a wonderful assistant,” Rex said, “and an even more wonderful girlfriend.” Oh God. He was going to blow this whole thing acting like that. He sounded like an actual puppet, hand up his ass and everything. “Funny story,” I said, my mind whirring. “We’d actually seen each other a few times at a cafe near Quinn Financial, so we knew each other before Rex came on as the CEO. You might say we’re a bit star - crossed.” Rex gave me a quick look. I could hear his thoughts — What are you doing?
I thought back at him — Saving your stupid ruse, that’s what. “You hadn’t mentioned that before,” Rebekah said. “Well, we have been trying to ke ep everything on the down low. It’s been an unusual situation, but also a lot of fun. We work really well together as a team, don’t we?” I asked, to bring Rex back into the conversation. “We do.” “I’ll bet you do,” one of the dark - haired men near the table said. “My brother, Remy,” Rex said. Remy was a little taller than Rex, had the same dark eyes and eyebrows, a sharper jawline, and an easy smile. “Just so you know,” Remy said, “we’re not all as serious as he is.” Rex ignored his brother and pointed to the other man near the table, also tall and dark, but more serious like Rex. “My brother, Ronan.” He pointed to another woman, obviously another sibling with her dark hair and similar smile to both Rex and Rebekah’s, but unlike the rest of her siblings, she had her mother’s blue eyes. “My sister Raven. Of course, you know Rebekah already.” “All Rs,” I said. “That’s very clever.” As soon as I said it, I felt lame. I needed to up my cleverness if I wanted to be convincing. But it was difficult to be clever and interesting when all I wanted to do was run through their house, exclaiming over how amazing it was. We took our seats at the table, and a middle - aged woman with her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail entered the room with a rolling cart. She sat a plate in front of each of us. Salmon with roasted tomatoes and greens and little slices of fancy toast. I had to bite my tongue to suppress the urge to exclaim over the food, too. I was in a mansion and was being served. This was not my life. The siblings were chatting about their lives. I heard things about famous events I’d never be invited to, cars I’d never own, and it sounded like Remy might be dating an actress. All I wanted to do was say “oh my God” on r epeat about a million times, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. I was supposed to be here. I was supposed to be with Rex Claremont. Of all the women on this planet, me. I had to act like I was smart enough, clever enough, and classy enough for that to make any sense at all.
I snort laughed. The idea that any of them would buy this suddenly just struck me as so ridiculously funny. As soon as I did it, I clapped my hand over my nose and mouth to ke ep more of that from es caping. Inappropriate laughing would not convince the Clar emont family I was really, truly Rex’s girlfriend. “Are you all right?” Rex asked. “Yes, sorry. I think a gnat must have flown into my nose.” “Are there gnats in here?” Elizabeth said, a touch of horror in her voice. “Camille! Could you please close those windows?” The brown - haired woman reappeared. Rex’s eyes grew wide, and he frowned at me. He seemed to be frowning a lot this evening. Maybe that wasn’t the right answer. No, it definitely wasn’t, but I’d had to think quickly about why I would have snorted, and that was all I came up with. Why else wo uld I have randomly snorted? “I’m fine,” I assured him. Then I noticed his father staring at me, while Elizabeth watched as Camille shut the windows. Not that it would help. If there were gnats in here, they were already here. “Don’t worry,” I said to Elizabeth. “I think that was the only one.” Raven snickered, and Rex patted his mother’s hand. I took a de ep breath, sat up straighter, and folded my hands in my lap. I needed to channel my inner classy girl, assuming there was one in there somewhere. I could do this. “So, Evie, are you enjoying your new job?” Rebekah asked. She sat across the table from us and exuded all the sophistication I lacked. I wished I could put a spell on her and suck all that sophistication right into my body. “Yes, I am! I love a new challenge.” I left out the part where I’d lost the company a major client. “We’re happy to have you on the tenth floor,” Rebekah said. I appreciated the support, but there was something off about her tone. She still didn’t understand why I was here, but she was not the sort of person to fire questions at Rex or me at the dinner t able. The younger sister, Raven, sat next to Rebekah. She grinned at me after Rebekah spoke, giving me the impression she knew she was saying something a little unwelcome. “I don’t think any of us have ever dated anyone from our workplaces before. Are the dating apps not working out well for you, Rex?”
Rebekah swatted her arm, and Remy smirked. Raven and Remy were obviously the jokers of the group. Rebekah appeared to be far too self - controlled to have a sense of humor. The other brother, Ronan, seemed shy. I glanced at Rex to find him glaring at his youngest sibling. “I think you know that comment was unwelcome.” Raven shrugged, but stared down his glare. Then a weird heaviness settled over the group. They knew, I thought. They must know. They were saying these things in an attempt to call us out on our lie. Why would we be dating a few days into me working as his assistant? Why would that even happen? My e xcuse about having met before might not have been strong enough. I had to save this situation, but how? I searched the table for someone most likely to chat with me. I couldn’t wallow in the awkwardness. I needed to get them — or at least one of them — talking. The only other tool I had at my disposal was my knowledge that Elizabeth Quinn was an actress, so I we nt with that. “Elizabeth — Mrs. Claremont — I have worked at Quinn Financial for ten years, but I never knew it was named after you, but I love that it is. I’m a huge fan.” A smile lit up her face immediately, and I mentally high - fived myself. “Oh, thank you, darling. It’s always lovely to meet a fan.” “I am definitely a fan. You’re brilliant!” She lowered her lashes, and her smile lingered. “I really, truly love Ten Birds .” Ten Birds was one of my favorite movies. It was, in fact, the only movie I’d ever actually watched of hers, since most of her movies were from when I was very young or before I was born. As far as I knew, she had stopped acting a couple of decades ago, but that one was a movie I could watch anytime. It always made me laugh. Her smile became tight and brittle, and confused horror filled me. I could tell I’d done something wrong, but I had no idea what. Rex cleared his throat, but it was Ronan who spoke up next. “Dad, you told me you’re close to breaking ground on a new property. Where will it be?” Rex’s father glanced at his wife, but Elizabeth had given up on maintaining her smile. Instead, she picked daintily at the napkin in her place setting. Without a response from her, their father let the situation go and responded to Ronan. As their father told everyone about the new hotel, which would be in Park City, Utah, I did what I probably should have done in the first place. K ept my mouth shut.
I found myself grateful to Ronan, though. After we finished dinner, Camille returned, this time to gather our plates, and place a slice of an intriguing chocolate torte in front of each of us. It was as good as it looked. It was the best dessert I’d ever had. “Rex, I’d like to speak with you in the study,” his father said after the last bites were taken. “Alone.” Rex nodded without hesitation, and my stomach dropped. Under the table, he patted my knee, and I took that to be some kind of reassurance everything was fine, but I didn’t feel fine. His father likely wanted to talk about why I was there. I was not sure I was ready to hang out with Rex’s siblings — especially Rebekah — alone. And Rex had touched my knee. He had told me he was not an affectionate man. To me, that meant no casual touching. But so far, he had placed my arm on his and patted me on the knee. Both of these touches took me by surprise. Both of them struck me as caring and familiar gestures from a man I did not anticipate such things from. And both struck me in ways far beyond what a casual gesture should. I was suddenly far too aware of my knee and the heat of his hand. I watched Rex and his parents leave through the giant double doors, and then turned to face the siblings, all of whom were looking at me. “Camille,” Remy said. “Could you bring us some drinks? Evie, what will you have?” “Um,” I said, unsure of my options. “Anything you’d like. What’s your drink of choice?” “White wine? I’m not picky.” The table was clear, and soon the drinks arrived. It seemed Camille already knew what everyone else wanted, and I supposed she should if they all lived in this house. I wondered what their rooms looked like. Or were there apartments for each of them here? Rebekah put her elbows on the table and leaned close to me. I thought for sure she’d drill me about why I was really there, but instead she said, “You’re very daring with your table topics.” “I am?” She laughed. “You brought up Ten Birds . It’s a major faux pas. Not that you’d know that, but just so you know why she gave you the silent treatment.” “She gave me the silent treatment?” I squeaked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Raven said. “You should probably apologize the next time you see her. She’ll forgive you. You didn’t know.” “What did I do, exactly?” Remy got up and moved a few chairs closer. “Her movie career ended after Ten Birds . It was a huge commercial flop. Critics panned it across the board.” “But I really do love that movie! I wasn’t pandering. It’s hilarious.” “But it’s not supposed to be,” Rebekah said. “It wasn’t trying to be. Our mother wasn’t trying to be funny, either. It became a cult classic for all the wrong reasons. The other cast members have rolled with it and done appearances, but Mother was horrifie d and largely retired. She doesn’t like to talk about it.” “Oh my God.” I put my face into my hands. “Seriously, don’t worry. She could use the reminder that it’s not that big of a deal,” Remy said. But it was a big deal to me. I’d just insulted a famous actress. I would not win any points with this family.