Page 85 of The Girlfriend Clause
Chapter 18
Andrea
James had claimedhis usual Friday night spot on the end of the sofa, his feet on the coffee table like he owned the place. Eliza was perched cross-legged on the armchair, glass of wine in one hand, dipping a cracker into a tub of hummus with the other.
“So.” James waved a breadstick at me. “Have you signed away your soul yet, or is Liam still sharpening the quill?”
I sank back against the cushions, tucking my knees up. “It’s done. NDA signed today.”
Eliza grinned. “With the clause.”
“The clause?” James narrowed his eyes.
“The girlfriend clause,” Eliza said sweetly. “Five years’ job security. If she’s made redundant or fired during that period, he covers her salary for a full year. Smartest thing Andy’s ever done.”
James gave a low whistle. “Bloody hell. That’s impressive.”
“I know, right?” I gave Eliza a quick fist bump. Having a sister who was a law student had turned out to be surprisingly helpful. I could hardly believe Liam had signed it. Andall I had to do—pretty much—was go along with this pretend relationship thing. “We reckoned no harm in asking. The least he can do is guarantee I won’t end up unemployed.”
“Loving your work, ladies,” James said, crunching his breadstick. “Turned out even better than we could have hoped. Feels very espionage.”
All week it had been like nothing had happened, apart from the back-and-forth with Bonnie over the NDA. Neither she nor Liam had been at the office, and I hadn’t even seen Monish or Kelly. It was just the usual stuff. Chasing a hematology registrar who still hadn’t replied to my emails, carting sandwiches into another hospital seminar room, smiling through glazed expressions while I explained the finer points of clotting times.
Rumors about restructuring were still just that—rumors. The new boss had yet to make a single move. Perhaps he was waiting for Daddy’s permission? There was no way someone Liam’s age would have made enough money by now to buy a pharmaceutical company.
It was weird. Officially, no one at Novexia knew I was “dating” the boss, except Liam, Bonnie, and me. And now we were just over three weeks away from the wedding.
“You do remember I’m not supposed to know,” James said, “so technically, you should be talking in code. Maybe just moo like cows every time you mean Liam.”
Eliza snorted wine out of her nose.
I closed my eyes. “James…”
“What?” He looked angelic. “I know nothing.”
Eliza leaned forward, animated. “You’re going to need a cover story, Andy. It’s super sus that it’s been a secret for nine months. Like, why now? You can’t just rock up at this posh wedding holding hands and expect no one to ask questions.”
True. At least a hundred little inconsistencies were waiting to trip us up.
“Well, we already know Liam’s private,” I said. “I think it’s believable that we wanted to be sure it was serious before making it public. We could say we’d decided the gallery was a good place to make our first appearance together?”
“Not terrible,” Eliza said. “You’ll need all the other details too, though. Family background. Favorite color. Doesn’t eat tomatoes. All that crap.”
All I really knew about Liam was what was on his Wiki and what he’d told me over lunch. And half of that was probably bollocks.
“Ooh, and not forgetting the good stuff,” said James. “I mean, after nine months, you’ll be well under the hood. Childhood traumas. Guilty pleasures.” He gave me a side-eye and nudged me with his elbow. “At least you know what he’s like in the sack already.”
I rolled my eyes. “I hardly think Hugo and Miranda are going to quiz me on whether Liam’s into the reverse cowgirl.”
“Andy, you don’t even know what that is,” said James with exaggerated condescension.
“Nobody does,” I said huffily. “It’s just something people say to sound wild.”
My mind flicked back to Liam’s mouth on my boob, his hard cock pressing against me. Damn him. Maybe hypnosis would fix this? I couldn’t spend a whole wedding with a man I hated and keep thinking about the sex we’d had.
It was silent for a moment, broken only by James munching his breadstick.
“Oh—any word on your painting?” Eliza said.
