Two weeks.
Two weeks of dodging Ryan's calls. Two weeks of watching clients ghost me. Two weeks of Mia threatening to expose Ryan on her blog while I beg her not to.
Two weeks of Adrian Knight's assistant leaving voicemails I delete without calling back.
"Zara, you're coming to dinner tonight."
My mother's voice isn't asking.
"Mom, I have a deadline…"
"You always have a deadline. This is important. A family friend wants to discuss a potential business opportunity with you."
I pause, paintbrush hovering over the fabric sample I'm working on. "What kind of business opportunity?"
"Interior design, what else? He's opening a new hotel chain and needs someone creative." She sounds pleased with herself. "I told him all about your work. He's very interested."
My chest tightens with hope I can't afford to feel. A hotel chain. Multiple projects. Exactly what I need to rebuild after losing Morrison.
"What's his name?"
"Does it matter? Just be at Lombardi's at seven. Wear something nice."
She hangs up before I can ask more questions.
Lombardi's. The Italian restaurant in Manhattan that costs more for one meal than my weekly grocery budget. Family friend with a hotel chain who wants to meet me specifically.
This feels too good to be true.
But I'm desperate enough not to care.
-----
I arrive at Lombardi's at 6:58, wearing my one professional dress that didn't cost three paychecks. Navy blue with a structured blazer.
The hostess greets me. "Ms. Bennett? Right this way."
She leads me past tables of people who belong here, to a private booth in the back.
My steps slow.
This doesn't look like a business dinner.
Adrian Knight sits in the booth, perfectly composed in a dark suit. His eyes meet mine, and something flickers across his face.
I stop walking.
"There's been a mistake," I say. "I'm supposed to meet…"
"A family friend," Adrian finishes. "About a business opportunity."
This is a setup. My mother set me up on a blind date with Adrian Knight.
Adrian stands. "Please. Sit."
"I should go."
"Or you could sit and let me explain before you run."
I sit.
"Let me guess," I say. "Your family arranged this too."
"My grandmother. She and your mother met at some charity luncheon." A slight smile touches his lips. "Apparently, we're both disappointing for being single."
A waiter appears. Adrian orders for both of us without asking. I'm too off balance to care.
When the waiter leaves, Adrian leans forward. "I didn't arrange this dinner. But I'm not surprised we're here."
"Why not?"
"Because my grandmother is strategic. And because I've been trying to contact you for two weeks."
"About what?"
"About Ryan Carter damaging your business. About you losing Morrison because of his rumors."
Heat floods my face. "How do you know about Morrison?"
"I make it my business to know things." He takes a sip of wine. "Especially when my employees sabotage someone's career."
"Ex employee?"
"As of yesterday, yes."
I blink. "You fired him."
"I don't tolerate that behavior." His voice is cold. "But firing him doesn't undo the damage to your reputation."
My hands clench in my lap under the table. "Is that why you wanted to meet? To tell me you fired Ryan? Consider me informed. Thanks."
I start to stand, but Adrian's next words stop me.
"I want to offer you a solution."
I sink back down slowly. "What kind of solution?"
He's quiet for a moment, choosing his words carefully.
"We're both here because our families won't leave us alone. And you're here because Ryan ruined your professional reputation." He pauses. "What if we could solve both problems?"
"I don't follow."
Adrian pulls out a folded paper. Sets it on the table between us.
"A contract. Six months. We appear to be in a relationship. Public appearances, social media, enough to convince our families and the gossip mill."
My brain struggles to process. "You want to fake date me."
"I want a mutually beneficial arrangement." He taps the paper. "I get my family off my back. You get your reputation restored. People see you with me, they forget Ryan's rumors. You're no longer the clingy ex. You're Adrian Knight's partner."
"For six months."
"Six months. Then we part ways. No mess, no drama, no feelings."
I stare at him. At this man who followed me into an elevator two weeks ago and told me I wasn't ordinary. Who just fired Ryan for spreading rumors about me. Who's now sitting here proposing the most insane thing I've ever heard.
"You're serious."
"Completely."
"We barely know each other."
"Which makes it perfect." Adrian's expression doesn't change. "No emotional entanglement. No risk of actual feelings complicating things. Just a simple business arrangement between two people who need something from each other."
The waiter returns with our food. I don't even look at it.
"Why me?" I ask when we're alone again. "You could have anyone. Why would you want to fake date someone who's…" I gesture vaguely at myself. "Ordinary?"
His jaw tightens. "You are not ordinary, Ms. Bennett. And that's exactly why this works."
"Explain."
He leans back, studying me. "You walked into that dinner two weeks ago and ended a relationship with more grace and dignity than most people manage in a lifetime. You didn't beg. Didn't cry. Didn't make excuses. You simply refused to accept being treated as less than you deserved." He pauses. "That's not ordinary. That's remarkable."
My throat tightens.
"And more importantly," he continues, "you have no interest in my money or my name beyond this arrangement. You won't try to make it real. You won't develop feelings and complicate things." His eyes meet mine. "You want your career back. I want my freedom. We can give each other exactly that."
I should say no. Should walk out and never look back. This is crazy.
But Adrian slides the contract across the table.
"Read it. Think about it. Call me when you decide."
I look down at the folded paper. My fingers itch to open it, to see what exactly he's proposing in legal terms.
"And if I say no?" I ask.
"Then we finish this very awkward blind date, go our separate ways, and you never hear from me again." He stands, dropping bills on the table that probably cost more than my rent. "But if you say yes…"
He lets the sentence hang there.
I watch him walk away, leaving me alone with a contract and a choice that could change everything.
My phone buzzes. Mia.
Mia: "How's the business dinner?"
I look at the contract. At the door Adrian just walked through. At my half eaten food that cost more than I make in a day.
Me: "It's complicated."
I pick up the contract with shaking hands.
Inside, written in clean legal prose, is an offer I can't afford to refuse and can't afford to accept.
Six months of pretending to be in love with Adrian Knight.
The question is: can I trust myself not to make it real?