Page 6 of Captivated By You
“I’m sure I would have remembered you telling me you met your husband ten years ago because he paid you twenty grand a month.”
Her shoulders rose and fell with a heave. The only sign she usually gave she was at her limit of patience with me. “And it’s not something I can talk about or would. It was none of your business until now, and…I couldn’t. Like you will do, all employees and clients sign a nondisclosure, limiting how much knowledge we can give until we know someone who can benefit from Infidelity’s prestigious services.”
Other than my own parents’ marriage, I’d never seen anyone make such a perfectly matched couple until I met Anne and Don. Realizing this was how she met him, gave me hope this could work.
For a year. That’s all this was. One very expensive publicity stunt.
“Fine,” I said, turning back to Karen. “I can buy into this. So what happens next?”
She grinned and opened a tablet, tapped a few buttons and slid the screen across her desk. In front of me was what looked like a basic questionnaire, until I realized it was twenty-three pages long.
“Holy shit.”
“At Infidelity, we’re thorough. We match you with a client based on preferences we think will be most successful. So while you complete this, I’ll go grab everyone some water, or a drink of something else if you’d prefer?”
I waved her off. I didn’t need anything and I wasn’t filling this out.
“Fill it out,” Anne said once Karen left the room. “They’ll do a good job, I promise you. They’ll choose someone who won’t care about your status or who you are, and someone who can easily fit into your lifestyle, Liam. I wouldn’t steer you wrong about this.”
Her bottom line was as much at stake in this as was my career. Not for the first time, irritation exploded inside me, making my skin tight and the roots of my hair burn on my scalp.
“I don’t even get a choice in who I’m shackled with?”
She had to be kidding. Somehow, they’d glossed over this important piece of information.
“Like we said, Liam…”
“No.” I slashed my hand through the air and shoved the tablet aside. “I will not have my life, my girlfriend, dictated to me. I get why this, in general, is a good idea, but I’m not having some stranger thrust into my life and I’m just expected to trust her.”
“The nondisclosure—”
I tugged at my hair and all but shouted, “I don’t give a fuck about the NDA. I didn’t even do anything wrong, Anne, and this is bullshit. If you want me to do this, then I get to choose. And I choose Claudia.”
And why did I fucking care? Why was I so hung up on some pretty girl who crashed into me and looked like she hated me the next second?
Because she didn’t fawn. She was stubborn. She refused me her name. Maybe I was fascinated because she was new and different. Maybe her glossy shine would wear off and she’d end up being just like every other woman I’d been with.
I didn’t care. I wanted something, and damn it, I should be able to get it. One damn thing. I had a life constantly being dictated to me, but no one was going to tell me who I could, or who I could not fucking date for crying out loud. I was paying enough money to be able to have a say.
“Karen said she’s not an employee.”
Anne’s tone turned patronizing. She spoke calmly and slowly, lowering her voice like my mom used to do when I was on the verge of trouble.
I glared at her. “Then do your fucking job and talk her into it.”
The door to the office opened and Karen walked in with three bottles of water and paused. Her gaze darted back and forth between Anne and me. “Everything okay?”
I pushed off the chair and stood. “I need to use the restroom.” Glaring at Anne, I repeated. “Do your damn job.”
