Lucy Monroe - Satisfaction Guaranteed

“Well done,” Maude said.

Beth looked up. “Excuse me?”

“You handled the testosterone brigade with just the right amount of authority. An admin has to establish her boundaries and let the suits know where she stands from the get-go.”

“I agree,” Beth said, certain that Maude would have no issues with that aspect of her job.

By the end of the day, she was confident the older woman wouldn’t have any problems, period. She was an absolute dynamo and Beth felt better about leaving than she had since agreeing to the assignment. Maude even finalized her travel arrangements to Portland International Airport. She booked a seat for Ethan on her father’s instructions as well, though Beth didn’t understand why he was accompanying her to the interview.

She asked about it immediately after arriving at his apartment that night. It was actually the entire ground floor of a three-story brick house on the outskirts of the city on a street lined with trees and pristine sidewalks, though the neighborhood was older. He had chosen a similar color scheme to hers, but with a very different overriding theme. The influence of his home state was subtle, but unmistakable. His dark chocolate leather furniture and solid wood tables had a western feel that was both stylish and comfortable.

He had few knickknacks and almost no artwork on the walls, and yet the living area did not feel sanitized, simply uncluttered.

He hung her jacket in his entry closet as he answered her question. “Your dad and I decided I would play the possessive boyfriend.”

He came back into the living room, where she sat at one end of the long sofa. He was wearing the same dark jeans he’d had on earlier, but he’d put on a snug-fitting Henley with them and taken off his boots and socks. His feet were very masculine. And dark. Like he’d been barefoot in the sun a lot. He hadn’t gotten that way in D.C. But she knew his extreme sports took him south frequently.

He poured her a glass of wine from the bottle chilling in a bucket on his big, square coffee table. “I’ll call you several times a day, show up to take you to lunch almost every day, drive you to work, and pick you up. That sort of thing. It will give me a chance to be on-site more than I would otherwise and will establish a precedent for you staying in pretty constant contact with me.”

She took a sip of the wine. It was a Riesling and the tangy sweetness slid over her tongue with familiar pleasure. “Mmm. This is my favorite kind of wine.”

“I know.”

“You do?” She didn’t remember telling him. “I didn’t think we’d discussed culinary preferences last night. Though we probably should have.”

“We’ve known each other for two years, Beth. My knowledge of you is not limited to what we discussed yesterday.”

“Of course.” She just thought he hadn’t noticed. “Do you think Prescott will buy the overly possessive boyfriend bit?”

Ethan shook his head, his expression remonstrative. “I’m good at my job, Beth. I’ll be very convincing as the jealous, possessive boyfriend. Trust me.”

Suddenly the events of the morning started to make more sense. “You and Dad talked about this yesterday, didn’t you?”

“Yes, why?”

“You were getting into character,” she mused, both relieved and somewhat deflated at the same time.

“What are you talking about?”

“This morning. When you were going all macho primitive with Alan. That was all about you being in character.” She took another sip of wine and tried to squelch even the tiniest niggle of disappointment at the realization.

Ethan leaned back on the sofa and put his bare feet up on the coffee table. “You don’t see me as the macho, primitive type?”

“Macho yes, primitive no.”

He did that thing with his eyebrow, lifting one in silent inquiry. “Hmmm…”

She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He shifted a little and her gaze traveled down his body involuntarily. Muscles bulged against the black denim on his thighs, but those bare feet snagged her attention and held on. It felt intimate, sitting there like that. Was that because of last night, or because there was something personal about seeing a man’s feet? Maybe if they lived in Hawaii, or even Southern California, it wouldn’t feel like this. But D.C. was not a barefoot town. Far from it. Which made this little scenario feel intimate…just like the night before.

Had she really flashed him with her panties?

She’d lost her mind, but that was better than losing her heart. And she wasn’t convinced that organ was invulnerable.

“And if I told you that I don’t consider it primitive to tell the man who stood you up at the altar three years ago to mind his own business?”

She licked her lips and forced herself to meet his eyes again. He was watching her with another indecipherable look.

Still, whatever he said, she knew that wasn’t Ethan’s normal modus operandi. She just shook her head in answer and said, “I’m a little worried about this whole playacting thing.”

“It’s not all an act now is it?”

She didn’t want to talk about that at this particular moment. “I mean this new thing…I don’t think I’m going to be able to respond naturally to the possessive boyfriend type. It’s likely to embarrass and maybe even annoy me and I don’t know if I can hide that.”

“Don’t bother trying. Both reactions will just make you appear more real to the perp.”

“I don’t know…”

“Trust me, Sunshine. I know what I’m talking about. The possessive boyfriend bit is going to explain your job changes, too…all of them.”

“How?”

“We’ve been together for two years-the closer we stick to the truth, the easier the deception will be to carry out-and you quit your job investment counseling to take a position that gave you more time with me. Now I want you to move across country with me, so I can explore my artistic muse on the West Coast. In this scenario, I like the idea of you working part-time because it makes you even more accessible.”

Turning to face Ethan, she slipped off her shoes and then curled her feet under her on the sofa. “Any woman who puts up with that sort of possessiveness needs a lesson in assertiveness.”

“Are you saying you’d never compromise your lifestyle for someone you love?”

“Would you?”

“Yes.” He shrugged. “I plan to play the annoying, in your face, needy boyfriend who hides that need behind arrogance. And no, I wouldn’t normally be that way. But I believe that there are a lot of relationships that would do better if one or both people learned to compromise.”

“Did your parents…for each other?”

“All the time. They still do. And they taught us all to compromise for the family. It isn’t always easy, but it works and we may live several states apart, but we’re still close.”

“I like that.” In fact, to her way of thinking, it sounded like Heaven.

“They’d like you, too, Beth. Mama especially. She likes a feisty woman.”

“You think I’m feisty?”

“A total firecracker. You try to hide it with your quiet ways, but you’re damn good at getting your way and you don’t play emotionally manipulative games to do it either.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve known you for two years.”

“You’ve worked with me, that’s not the same as knowing me.”

“I’ve watched you, baby. I know you.”

He was starting with the “baby” thing again. She wasn’t going to survive it. Or at least, her good intentions weren’t. “If you knew me so well, why didn’t you know it was going to seriously peeve me if you made allusions to last night in front of Alan and my dad?”