“Your tits look amazing in that dress. You should wear it more often,” I tell her.

She narrows her eyes. “Do you always have to be so crass?”

“Yes,” I muse with a smile. “It’s part of my charm.”

“Who said you were charming?” she jabs back at me.

I raise one eyebrow. “I seem to recall being able to charm you out of your panties on more than two occasions.”

“Well,” she scoffs. “Everyone loses their mind from time to time. If anyone ever questions me about it, I’ll plead temporary insanity.”

“Insane with lust, you mean.” I chuckle.

“Hardly,” she says as the elevator doors open.

When we step out into the lobby, Darby stands near the front exit. He smiles the moment his eyes land on us. I know what he’s thinking. God knows he and Aggie have voiced how beautiful Margo is enough times since they met her yesterday. Although they aren’t entirely pleased with the way I ended up married, they somehow believe Margo might be a suitable match for me since she doesn’t seem to take my shit. While their opinions mean a great deal to me because I consider them to be my family, I don’t think they know what in the hell they’re talking about. They obviously don’t know the bitchy side of Margo like I do. Once they see that come out, I’m sure they’ll be celebrating the day I get Margo to sign the divorce papers.

Without permission, I wrap my arm around Margo’s waist and pull her tightly against me.

She begins to pull away nearly instantly. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Acting married and madly in love, of course,” I reply as smoothly as I can.

She shakes her head. “There’s no one here to put on a show for.”

I swirl my index finger in a circle. “There are eyes everywhere. If we want to be believed, anytime we’re in public we need to make our relationship appear to be real. So get ready because these hands will be on you a lot.”

I can tell by the heated expression on Margo’s face that she would love nothing more than to smack my hand away. The woman seems to be very fond of inflicting pain to my face with her hands. I can tell this is killing her to allow me to grope her a little in public, but before she has time to argue much more, Darby steps in front of us to open the door.

“It’s almost working,” Darby says. “The two of you aren’t smiling. If you want the world to buy it, you’ll be needin’ to sell it a wee bit more.”

I glance down at Margo and plaster on the biggest grin that I can fit on my face. “Hear that, sweetie. We both need to smile. We’re in love, remember?”

“How can I forget,” she replies with a dry tone. “How’s this?”

She tips her head and stares up at me, and it gives me a moment to stare into those gorgeous blue eyes of hers. The moment she smiles, I swear to God my breath catches. I’ve never believed in the saying ‘You take my breath away,’ but it just fucking happened to me.

“You’re perfect,” I tell her, and at that moment, I mean it.

My honesty must surprise her because her usual sarcastic comment doesn’t follow. Instead, her eyes remain locked on mine as she swallows hard.

My heart is pounding like a thoroughbred’s hooves beating against the ground. I know it makes me sound like a complete fucking pussy, but if I had met Margo Buchanan in a different way, I could see myself actually being with this woman. Not only is she the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, but she’s wicked smart and has a witty tongue. Beauty and brains like hers are a rarity. She’s like finding a goddamn unicorn.

Darby clears his throat. “Your car has arrived, Alex.”

I shake my head, breaking out of my daze. I can’t seem to keep my head on straight when I’m with Margo, and I need to figure out a way to stop that. So much is riding on every move I make right now. I can’t afford to screw anything up. My head has to be in the game at all times, or I might lose everything.

The car ride to the office is quiet. I’m sure we both have a lot of thinking to do and neither of us find it necessary to make small talk. I appreciate the silence.

When we step into the elevator to head up to the office, I tell her, “Even though this is a work setting, we still need to maintain our little act, so I expect you to play your part of doting wife.”

Margo smoothes her hair down with her fingers. “Don’t worry, King. I know my part and I plan to play it well, so you better hold up your end of the deal.”

“I never go back on my word.”

“Good to know,” she says.

The elevator dings, and as if on cue, I place my hand on the small of her back. Her body shivers under my touch, and I fight back a smirk. It pleases me greatly to know that I have that effect on her.

The doors open, and since I’m much later than normal, every set of eyes in the front office is on us the instant we walk in together.

Margo stiffens, and I know she’ll probably hate what I’m about to do, but I want everything out in the open as quickly as possible. I’m the kind of man who wants to break the bad news to the world instead of allowing speculation to run wild.

I lean down and kiss her cheek and then whisper, “It’s best to maintain control at all times, don’t you agree?”

She nods and then pulls back and smiles. “Absolutely.”

That’s when she does something that shocks the shit out of me. She traces my cheek with the tips of her fingers before she kisses me. I close my eyes briefly and allow myself the pleasure of tasting her lips. She’s so damn addictive.

She pulls away before I’m ready, but I know it would be definitely crossing the line to fuck her in front of an audience even though my cock is growing stiff in my slacks. That’s a sexual harassment lawsuit just waiting to happen.

Margo saunters away, giving her hips an extra swish as she heads toward her desk, and it causes me to smile. That naughty little minx knows how to play her part very well indeed. Hell, if she keeps that up, I might just begin to buy into it.

It’s unusually quiet in the office, and I turn my attention back to the front office staff who are all frozen in place with their mouths agape. That’s enough of a show for them.

“What are you all looking at? Back to work,” I order, and they all instantly go back to pretending to be in a huge rush.

I stalk past them all, and then come to a halt when I find myself at Margo’s desk. “Good work, Mrs. King.”

She smiles. “Let me know if they need an encore to buy it.”

I shake my head before turning toward my office. “I think we’ve stunned them enough for one day.”

I try to stay busy for the rest of the day by finalizing a few small deals I’ve been working on. When it’s nearly lunchtime, there’s a quick knock on my door before Jack comes striding in.

He has a huge grin on his face, so I know that he’s pleased to hear that people are buying into the little act with Margo. “You son-of-a-bitch. You’ve done it. People actually believe that you and Margo are in love. I never thought you’d be able to get her to go along with it.”

I lean back in my chair and my lips pull up at one corner. “Come on, Jack. You’re acting like you’ve just met me. You know I can close any deal. This thing with Margo is nothing but another deal.”

He plops down in the chair in front my desk. “So if this is just a deal, it means that you’ve promised her something.”

This was the part of my plan that I dreaded explaining to Jack, but I knew it had to be done. I stand up and then smooth my tie down before heading over to the bar. I flip two glasses over and pull the glass cork from the crystal decanter before pouring the scotch.

“Shit,” Jack mutters as he pushes himself up from the chair. “If you’re pouring the liquor before one, I know you’re about to break some bad news to me. Please tell me that you didn’t give in to her demands and promise her something completely unreasonable.”