IN BED WITH THE BOSS

Vivian opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t find the right words so she closed it again.

Scott shook his head.” Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“Scott, you don’t understand.”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

“I think I do, Vivian. Just forget it.”

The car stopped and Vivian looked out the window. They were already at the cheesecake shop. She returned her gaze to Scott, but he wouldn’t even look at her and she felt very bad.

“Thanks for the ride.” she said. “Good night.”

“Good night, Vivian.”

Vivian got out of the car and hurried into the shop, feeling even worse than she felt in the morning. Scott watched her as she walked away. Damn her, he thought. Damn her for making him feel this way and putting him in this constant state of confusion.

Then he withdrew his phone and canceled his date with Olivia.

——–

Jennifer Bennet stood in the foyer and stared at the front door as the ring of the doorbell echoed through her house.

Seven o’clock. Right on the dot, she thought and rolled her eyes. It was time to face Scott McCall again.

The doorbell rang again, and it unglued her feet, propelling her forward. She unlocked and opened the door, revealing her date for the evening. No, correction-the man she was pretending to be madly in love with for the next six months.

“Seven o’clock,” she rasped, “Just as you requested.”

“Yeah. I like to keep my word, and it’s good to see that you’re ready too.”

Jennifer nodded. “Hmmmm”

“Where’s your coat?” Scott asked, glancing past her into the house.

“I have it.” Jennifer replied. Get it together, she silently ordered herself as she briefly returned inside to grab her coat off the stand.

“Here. Let me.” Scott stepped inside the foyer and took the cape from her, holding it up while she slipped into it.

Fastening it, she turned back to him, and was honestly surprised at the nice gesture from him. She was even more surprised when he offered her his arm. She hesitated for a moment, then slid her arm through his and let him guide her out of the house and to his waiting Car. A driver stood at the rear door, but Scott waved him away and opened the door for her himself.

“Thanks.” Jennifer said when they got into the car and began to move. “I honestly wasn’t expecting any sort of kindness from a man like you.”

Scott wanted to punch something. What was it with everyone acting like they knew him and could just assume whatever the fuck the wanted about him. He still hadn’t recovered from what he heard from Vivian and Betty. And now this? It made him feel sick.

“A man like me?” he repeated, the sardonic note relaying that he understood exactly what she meant.

“I hate to tarnish your image of me, Jennifer, but you have no idea what kind of man I am. First of all, my beginnings aren’t as rarefied as yours and your brother’s. My mother raised me alone. She worked barely above minimum-wage jobs when I was a kid. My father left her, so she often worked two jobs to provide for us. And as soon as I was old enough, I took any kind of employment I could to help her. I’m not just some company owner. If you ever need your yard landscaped or your gutters cleaned, I can do those, too

None of this happened out of blue, got it?”

Shame sidled through Jennifer in a slick, oily glide. She’d unknowingly spoken from a lofty place of privilege, but her ignorance didn’t excuse it. True, she didn’t subscribe to the idle lives some of those in high society did-she believed in working hard and making a difference in the world-but she couldn’t deny that she didn’t know what it was to go without. To go to bed exhausted from menial labor or worried about how the next bill would be paid.

Scott’s mother, and even Scott, obviously did.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I spoke out of turn.” She paused, debated whether to say anything else, but ended up whispering, “Your mother must be proud of you.”

Scott studied her for several silent, heavy moments. “She is. But then again, she would’ve been proud of me even if I didn’t become a company owner.”

Jennifer digested that, turned it over and analyzed it again. Could she say the same for her parents? No. Her father would’ve easily disowned her. And as much as Jennifer adored her mother, Margaret Bennet wouldn’t have been proud of or happy for her daughter if she had been anything less than what her name demanded- respectable, wealthy, connected and married to a man who fit those same qualifications. The certainty in that knowledge saddened her. Did Scott McCall realize how fortunate he was?

“She sounds lovely,” Jennifer said, ready to drop the unsettling subject. But then, because her mouth apparently had no allegiance to her, she blurted out, “I’m sorry about your father.”

Another heartbeat of weighty silence. “It was a long time ago, and I didn’t even meet him anyways.”

“My mother died fourteen years ago. And I still miss her every day,” she admitted softly.

Slowly, Scott nodded. “I remember,” he finally said, surprising her. “Your brother and I went to high school together, and later attended the same college. But I recall when your mother died. The principal came for him in the middle of class and took him out.”

“I didn’t know you and Bruce went to school together.” Shock whistled through her. “He never mentioned knowing you.” Not that he mentioned Scott at all unless it regarded business.

Or more recently, not unless a blue streak of unflattering adjectives followed his name. Guess they were even more than just business rivals. Their history went way back.

Scott’s mouth curved into a hard, faintly cruel smile. “Your brother and I have a long history. He was decent until that day. I was a scholarship student at an elite, private prep school. That already made me a target for most students there. But your brother wasn’t one of them. Until after your mother died. Then he became one of the worst. That he and I were often head-to-head competitors in academics and athletics didn’t help matters. Neither did the fact that I didn’t take his or any of the other assholes’ shit.”

“He changed after Mother passed,” Jennifer murmured, the dagger of pain stabbing her chest all too familiar when she thought about the boy who’d become a hardened man. “She was the…buffer between him and my father. My dad…” Jennifer shook her head, turning to stare at the passing scenery outside the car window, but seeing Lincoln Bennet’s disapproving, stern frown that was often directed at his children. But more so at his first-born child. “He was demanding, exacting and nearly impossible to please. And Bruce desperately wanted to please him. Which became impossible after our father died. Yet, even now…” Again she trailed off, feeling as if she betrayed her brother by revealing even that much.

“That doesn’t excuse his behavior,” Scott replied, ice coating his voice.

“No,” she agreed, more to herself than him. “But no one is created in a bubble. And no one is all bad or all good. Sometimes it helps to understand why people behave the way they do. And it helps us give them compassion and mercy.”

“Your brother doesn’t deserve compassion or mercy, Jennifer. So don’t try to convince me differently with sad stories of his childhood.”

Jennifer kept quiet. She didn’t trust Scott, and she didn’t want to say anything that he could use as a source of ammo in this war he waged with her brother. She turned away. The sooner this thing was over, the better for her.

__________

“I feel like a zoo animal in a cage,” Jennifer muttered, lifting a glass of white wine to her lips. “They could at least be subtler about the staring.”

Scott arched an eyebrow, scanning the large formal living room. Several pairs of eyes met, then slid away from his, caught ogling the newest couple in their midst. Satisfaction whispered through him. He’d have preferred to attend this party with Vivian, but he’d accepted this particular dinner party invitation because of who would be in attendance. Not just business associates, but members of the social circle Jennifer was intricately a part of. Talk of their appearance together would rush through society elite like a brush fire.

“They’re wondering why you’re with the beast,” he said.

“Probably.” said Jennifer.

He snorted at her quick agreement, earning a dazzling smile from her. He had to hand it to her-Jennifer Bennet was a brilliant actress. As soon as they’d crossed the threshold into Janet and Donald’s mansion, she’d immediately charmed his client and her husband. And though he knew the truth behind their arrangement, even he could almost believe Jennifer was smitten with him. He was impressed with her acting. Gentle teasing when they were around people. Special smiles when she knew people were watching. Yes, she deserved an award for her performance. And as their hosts approached them, she slid her arm through his.