Chloe My job description said to manage Mr. Maddox's schedule. It didn't say buy breakup bracelets for the women he sleeps with every week. But here I was, on a Monday at 8 a.m., holding a little blue box from Cartier. The velvet was still warm from my palm. "Lane?" He didn't even look up from his laptop. The typing never stopped. "Did you send it?" Cole Maddox is a retired captain of the Chicago Vipers, now the billionaire owner. He is thirty-three, six-foot-four, grumpy, and convinced every woman in Chicago wants to marry him. Which is funny. Because I don't. Let me be clear about myself. My name is Chloe Lane. I'm twenty-six. I love my freedom, I love my job when he is not being an ass, and I love sex. Yes, you heard that right. Some people think I'm too much because of it. I don't give a damn what they think. I'm happy the way I am. My rules are simple. Never sleep with the same man twice. Never do relationships. Because all that is guaranteed in a relationship is heartbreak, and I swore I'd never let another man break my heart again. So yeah, I don't judge Cole for his weekly women. I judge him for being sloppy about it. "Blonde named Amber?" I asked. "No. Amber was last week. This week is Tiffany." He finally looked up. His gray eyes locked on mine. His hair was still damp from his morning skate, and his shirt was pulling tight across his shoulders. "Did Amber get the one from last week? Because she texted me seventeen times." I dropped the box on his desk. It landed with a soft thud. This was my life. I have a degree in PR and I make fifty-five thousand dollars a year, which is barely enough because every cent goes to my father's drugs and supporting my family, and here I was cleaning up his love life while mine stayed completely uncomplicated. I was about to say more when the door flew open without a knock. Three board members walked in as our eyes all snapped to the door. "Cole, we have a problem from Bauer." They went straight to the point. No greetings at all. This must be bad. Mark, one of them, dropped a file on top of the Cartier box. "They love the team but they hate your image. Quote: 'Maddox punches reporter. Maddox with three models in one weekend.' Their exact words: 'We want a family man to represent a family brand. If your image is not stable by Thanksgiving, we pull the fifty-million-dollar deal.'" I saw the color drain from Cole's face. He stood up, his chair scraping loud against the floor. "So what do you want me to do? Get married by Thursday?" "We want you to look stable," Mark said. "At least get a steady girlfriend." They didn't wait for a reply. They filed out, leaving the Bauer file on top of the Cartier box like a verdict. Cole kicked his desk. The Cartier box jumped. "Unbelievable. I don't have girlfriends." I'll agree with him on this. I don't have boyfriends either. "Chloe-" Then his phone rang on speaker, cutting him off. He groaned loudly. One ring and I knew exactly who it was. One thing I actually like about him is how he adores his mum. He could leave everything just to talk to her when she called. "Sweetie," his mum's voice filled the office, warm and loud, "are you coming to the lake house for Thanksgiving?" He dragged a hand through his damp hair. "I don't know, Mum, I can try to make up time." "Good, because if you come alone again, I invited Sarah. Linda's daughter. She is a dentist, has two cats, and is dying to meet you." I watched the big, bad hockey boss, the man who wasn't scared of a fight on the ice, freeze. Pure terror. I'm sure Sarah was his personal nightmare. He panicked. The words just blurted out. "I can't meet Sarah. I'm bringing a girlfriend." My eyes widened. My mouth fell open. I clapped a hand over it so fast my palm stung. He locked eyes with me. There was dead silence on the line. I'm sure his mum thought she had heard wrong, but then she screamed. "A girlfriend? You have a girlfriend?" I stared at him, wondering how the hell he was going to bail himself out of this mess. Not that it's my problem, but it's just so funny. Cole muted the phone. His eyes never left mine. He mouthed, "Help me." I pointed at myself, my eyebrows shooting up. _Me? Why on earth should I help you after everything?_ But then the thought hit me and refused to leave - ten thousand dollars, my sister's tuition due in two weeks, that email still sitting unread in my inbox because I couldn't afford to open it. This was actually a perfect opportunity, because all I had to do was pretend to be completely obsessed with this man just to save his fifty-million-dollar Bauer deal and get his mum off his back for Thanksgiving. I swallowed hard and mouthed the only terms that would make it worth it. "Ten thousand dollars and one week paid leave." He just stared at me for a second that felt like forever, then he unmuted the call. "Yes, Mum, her name is Chloe. Chloe Lane. You will meet her next week." "Oh, wonderful! I can't wait to meet her. I'm sure she is beautiful." My face burned. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. "I'll make her pie. I'm sure your sister will be thrilled..." "Love you, Mum. See you next week," he said and hung up. He walked around his desk. Now he was so close I could smell his expensive cologne - something clean and sharp, like winter and money. It made my pulse jump. "You want to be my girlfriend?" he said with a smirk. All I wanted to do was wipe that stupid smirk right off his face and take back my words. I've always been competent. I won't let just his closeness distract me. "Fake girlfriend," I said, lifting my chin. "We smile for your mum and for the Bauer photographer. We come home, we break up, you save your deal, I get my money. Period." I said it all at once, like I had already planned it in my head. He crossed his arms, looking me up and down. That look men get when they think they know what kind of girl I am. He was so close I could see the little white scar on his bottom lip from playing hockey. "My rules are simple. Rule one: never fall in love for real. Rule two: I don't sleep with the same man twice and I never do relationships, and that same goes for you, so don't worry, boss, I'm not going to fall in love with you," I said with all the confidence I had. "Rule three..." "Rule three is mine," he interrupted. His smirk vanished. For the first time that morning, he looked completely serious. "You'll find out at the lake house."

Chloe "Rule number three is mine," he interrupted. I took a sharp breath. "No other man touches you while you're mine. Not even Jake, the rookie who stares at you every chance he gets." I shook my head. His possessive words sent a strange vibration through me, but I rolled my eyes to hide it. "Look, Chloe. I know you sleep with different men, and-" My cheeks flushed. I clenched my hands into fists. "Where the hell are you going with this? Because the last time I checked, you were no better than me." His expression hardened. "You will watch your tone around me. I am still your boss." His voice was cold, yet something about it sent warmth through me. I folded my arms across my chest and noticed his gaze drop before returning to my face. "What if I want to back out?" He stopped just inches away. I could smell his expensive cologne, and suddenly the space between us felt too small. "Chloe," he said, his voice dropping. "Bauer pulls fifty million if I don't look like a family man by Thanksgiving. My mother is sixty-eight and wants grandchildren. You need the money, and I need a girlfriend who isn't going to fall in love with me." He listed the facts as if I didn't already know them. Then he ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "The whole point is you put your... hunger on hold for five days. I don't do love, and neither do you. But I don't want my mother hearing about you sleeping with someone else while we're together. And if Bauer catches you with Jake, we both lose everything. Do we have a deal?" A thousand thoughts raced through my mind. Ten thousand dollars. My savings wouldn't cover my sister's tuition, and my salary barely covered rent, bills, and groceries for my family. My father wasn't strong enough to work regularly anymore. I bit my lip. "Deal." *** The next day, my hands trembled as I sat in the back of Cole's Mercedes. Before I left the office yesterday, he'd handed me his black credit card and told me to buy whatever I needed to look like his girlfriend. He gave me a check for ten thousand dollars too. I paid my sister's tuition before I could change my mind. Now, sitting beside him, I tried to remember every detail of our rehearsed story. "My mother will ask how we met," he said. "You tell her we met at a charity gala. You spilled wine on me, I forgave you, we've been dating for three months. You love hockey and everything that has to do with me." He went through the story again, as if we hadn't practiced it all day yesterday. Finally, the car stopped in front of a beautiful lake house. The driver looked for a parking spot among several cars already there. Most of Cole's relatives had arrived. "Stay here," Cole said. The driver opened his door, and Cole stepped out. A moment later, he came around to my side and opened my door himself. My palms grew sweaty. "We need to make a good first impression," he said. I rolled my eyes but took his hand as he helped me out. I could feel his eyes on me from the moment I'd stepped out of my apartment that morning. "Is he going to tell your mother we're fake?" I asked, tilting my head toward the driver. Cole smiled. "No, he won't." "Action," he said. I immediately wrapped my arm around his. Laughter echoed from inside the house. I blew out a deep breath, trying to calm my shaking hands. Cole pressed the doorbell. A woman in her late fifties opened the door. I recognized her. She wasn't Cole's mother. I'd met her before at the office. "My boy!" she exclaimed, pulling Cole into a hug. Then she turned to me. "Your mother is dying to meet Chloe. She hasn't stopped talking about you two." "Oh, here she is!" Cole's mother rushed toward me the moment we stepped inside. Her face lit up with joy as she pulled me into a hug. "Oh, my goodness!" I chuckled as she squeezed me tighter. When she finally pulled away, she held my shoulders and looked me over. "You're even more beautiful in person. You must be Chloe. You have no idea how happy I am to finally meet you." Cole chuckled beside me. "Come here, sweetheart." She took my hand and led me farther into the house. I turned toward Cole, silently begging him to save me. His jaw tightened, and I almost laughed. His mother hadn't even acknowledged him since she'd seen me. "Everyone, meet Chloe!" she announced excitedly. "You two are already married in my head. You can call me Tasha." "Mom," Cole said from behind us. My heart ached at how happy she looked. Seeing her joy made our lie feel even worse. Then I stiffened as Cole placed his hand on the small of my back. It fit there so naturally, as if he'd done it a thousand times before. "Don't scare her off by talking about marriage," he said, his voice warm with amusement for everyone to hear, "we've only been dating for three months." The lie sounded so natural coming from him, and he looked down at me with a softness I hadn't expected, so for a moment I almost believed he meant it. "Okay, enough, lovebirds!" His mother chimed in. "This is the first girl you've brought home since..." She paused and waved her hand, leaving the sentence unfinished. I turned toward Cole and his jaw tightened, and something flickered in his eyes, quick and dark like pain, because whatever his mother had almost said had clearly hit a nerve. He recovered quickly. "Come on, Chloe, we're one big family." Tasha pulled me away from Cole again and began introducing me to everyone, while the women hugged me warmly and the men shook my hand, and I smiled until my cheeks hurt. Then my mouth fell open. Standing by the fireplace in a Chicago Vipers hoodie, holding a beer, with messy blonde hair and bright blue eyes and a sunshine smile, was Jake Sterling. The rookie Cole had drafted last year, the fastest skater on the team, the guy who'd been leaving protein bars on my desk for months trying to get my attention. I was relieved I'd never given in, because dating a player would have been career suicide. "Chloe, come over here, look who came, Jake, my boy!" I looked at Jake, then back at Cole. Cole froze beside me, his hand on my back going completely rigid. "Jake," he said, his voice so cold it sent a chill down my spine despite the warm house, "what are you doing here?"

Chloe Jake grinned at me, completely ignoring Cole like he wasn't even standing there. "Your mom invited me, old man, same as every year." My mouth fell open before I could stop it. 'Old man?' Cole's mother smacked his arm lightly. "Don't be rude, Jake." Then she turned to me with that warm, easy smile that made you want to tell her everything. "Chloe, honey, Jake doesn't have any family in Chicago, he's a foster kid, and ever since we drafted him at nineteen he's spent every Thanksgiving with us, so he's like Cole's little brother, isn't that sweet?" "Oh, I see," I said, still trying to process everything while trying to look normal. Jake walked straight toward me, ignoring Cole's hand on my waist completely, and his eyes never left mine. "Mom told me Cole would be coming with his girlfriend and her name was Chloe, and I knew right away it was you." Before I could respond, he pulled me into a hug that lasted a second too long. I knew Jake liked me, he'd never been shy about showing it, and apparently he wasn't planning to start now. Behind me, Cole's hand tightened around my waist. "Jake, that's enough." The entire room fell silent.  Before I could even react, Cole stepped between us and his chest formed a solid wall in front of me.  He leaned closer to my ear, close enough that his breath brushed my skin. "Remember rule three." His voice was so low that a warm shiver ran through me before I could stop it. Then he turned toward Jake. "Stay away from my girlfriend, Sterling, that's an order from your boss." Cole's mother clapped her hands together. "Oh, boys, stop fighting!" Before I could come up with a word, the sound of footsteps on the stairs caught everyone's attention, and with every step my heart beat harder against my ribs. A tattooed man with gray eyes came into view, and his gaze swept over me in a way that made me instantly uncomfortable. 'No.' My palms grew sweaty and my stomach dropped. He was the bar owner I'd spent one night with two months ago, I'd left the morning after without even saying goodbye. His face changed as he recognized me, and a slow smirk spread across his lips. A cold shiver ran down my spine and I couldn't even move. 'Please, God, don't let him be Cole's brother.' "Chloe, meet my son Luke," Cole's mother said with a bright smile.  My mind went completely blank and I could still see her talking but her words sounded distant, like bubbles popping underwater. There was no way. I'd slept with Cole's brother. My heart hammered against my ribs and this had to be karma coming for me. "Hey, pretty." Luke's voice pulled me back to the present and he extended his hand, waiting for me to shake it. I swallowed hard and tried to move, but I couldn't. "That's enough." Cole's voice was cold and final, and he stared at his brother with his jaw clenched tight. But Luke only smirked. "Hey, big bro, I'm harmless." He flashed a smile that could make any woman forget her own name, but his eyes remained fixed on me. "Chloe is tired and needs to rest," Cole said, and his tone was so cold.  "Alright, bro." Luke raised his hands in surrender, but his gaze lingered on me a second too long. My stomach sank as I noticed the way everyone in the family looked between us, curious and confused. Cole's grip on my waist remained firm as he led me out of the living room and toward the bedroom we'd be sharing, and of course he wasn't stupid because he knew something had happened between Luke and me. The moment we entered the bedroom, Cole locked the door behind us. I jumped. "Why did you lock it?" He turned toward me, his eyes stone-cold and unreadable, the kind of cold that makes the air in the room feel thinner. "Because my brother was staring at you like he already knew what you sounded like," he said as he walked toward me, slow and deliberate, one step and then another until there was no space left between us. I backed away without thinking until my back hit the wooden wall with a soft thud and there was nowhere else to go. "Cole..." I whispered, but my voice didn't sound like mine. "How many times?" he asked, his voice low and tight, like the words cost him something to say. "What?" My eyes widened as I locked eyes with him, trying to read what was anger and what was something else entirely. "How many times did you sleep with him, once, twice, in his bar, in his bed?" The questions came out too fast, like he'd been holding them since he saw Luke's face. "Jeez, Cole, what the-" "Answer me!" His voice rattled through me, not just loud but raw, and the wall shook a little behind my back. "It was once," I said, my eyes searching his face because I couldn't understand what could make him act like a caveman when all of this was fake and we both knew it. "Once," he repeated, as if he were tasting the word, letting it sit on his tongue and deciding whether he believed it. His hand came up slowly, not touching me yet, but caging me against the wall, his arm braced beside my head so close I could feel the heat coming off his skin. "Did you know his name? Did you scream his name?" he asked quietly, his eyes dropping to my lips before coming back up. "Cole, stop." "Did he touch you like this?" His hand finally landed on my waist, firm and possessive, his palm hot through the thin fabric of my dress as his fingers pressed into my skin. "Did he hold you like you belonged to him?" That was it. That was the height of it all, the line he shouldn't have crossed. Right then, all I could feel was the heat and anger shooting through me at once, rising from my stomach up to my throat, because who did he think he was to ask me that when this whole thing between us was fake. "He didn't hold me like I belonged to him because I don't belong to anyone!" I snapped, my voice shaking with more anger than I knew I had in me. I placed my hand against his hard chest and shoved him with everything I had, and he stumbled back one step, his eyes wide, and I could see the shock all over his face, as if he couldn't believe I'd actually pushed him. "It's none of your business," I said, my voice shaking despite me. "That was before your stupid fake contract, before your fucking rule three, you hired me to pretend to be your girlfriend, you didn't hire me to interrogate me about my body." A heavy silence settled between us, and outside the window the frozen lake cracked loud enough to make us both flinch. Cole looked at the spot where I'd shoved him, then back at me, his jaw so tight it looked painful. "You're right," he finally said, his voice low and rough. "It's not my business who you slept with before." He ran a hand through his hair and stepped back, giving me space for the first time since we entered the room, and the distance felt colder than his anger. But something told me the problem wasn't going to end there. Because Cole Maddox might have agreed that my past wasn't his business. His reaction to Luke had already told me he wasn't going to find it easy to forget.