“Yes. Kiss. Fiancés kiss. Or so I’ve heard. And seen in movies, read in books, etcetera.”
“Okay. Just admit it, you want me to kiss you.”
“Archer! You’re supposed to be here to help me, not make me more nervous!”
“The thought of kissing me makes you nervous?”
I blush furiously and angle a glare at my brother’s best friend. “Don’t you dare,” I hiss as we make our way to the front door of a lavish home.
“I didn’t do anything.” Archer smiles and clears his throat as I knock on the door. He fixes his tie and my deceiving little eyes track the lines of his crisp suit. It’s the same suit he wore when we danced that night just before Christmas.
I touched this suit. I’ve smelled it. I’ve let him hold me in it.
No! Bad Viv! Don’t think about—
“Hello!” A big, boisterous voice makes me jump and I tear my eyes off of Archer to give a polite smile to Cyrus Hansen, owner and CEO of Hansen Marketing, a.k.a. the man I need to impress.
“Hello, Mr. Hansen. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I extend my hand in his direction and give it a firm squeeze. I gesture to Archer. “This is my fiancé, Archer Moore.”
It feels weird to say the words aloud, but as I do, I realize I wouldn’t want anyone else to do this with me and smile proudly when Archer shakes the man’s hand and compliments him on his home.
“Come in, come in!” Cyrus seems like a nice enough man, from what I’ve heard, he’s an excellent boss to work for. If not a little old-fashioned.
He’s never discriminated against anyone but he does have a specific hiring method, one that’s proven to work considering most of his employees have only left his firm to start a new venture, I’ve never once heard a bad word about him or his company.
Aside from the fact that being “settled” helps you secure a job, I didn’t know how to feel about that.
But hey, it was giving me an opportunity to pretend that my real crush on my brother’s best friend was fake, so who was I to complain?
My mind immediately jumps to kissing Archer as we’re handed drinks and introduced around the room and I lick my lips at the thought. Of course, when I was a preteen, okay and a teenager. Fine! As an adult too! I’d dreamed of kissing Archer Moore.
I’m sure I’m not the only girl in our school that did.
But Archer held back when it came to getting close with people. As far as I knew, he’d only had one serious girlfriend and Enzo always said it wouldn’t last.
I never asked why.
We settle in with a couple around our age, the husband of the couple is the one who works in marketing and he and I discuss the different jobs we’ve done. When I mention Armani, he flinches and sighs, saying he’s sorry to hear I had to work for someone like that.
I suppose that’s the general consensus.
“Welcome, welcome everyone!” Cyrus’s voice pulls us out of our conversation and we turn our attention to Cyrus at the head of the room, beside him is a gorgeous woman who looks around his age but with a considerably better skin routine.
“I want to thank you all for being here tonight and taking a chance on Hansen Marketing. Hansen is a family. It’s how my Lillian and I started this company, to make a difference in our children’s lives and help others do the same with their businesses.”
Almost subconsciously, Archer reaches over and wraps his arm around my waist, I stiffen at first, unfamiliar with the hold when he leans down and whispers, “Relax. We have to look like a couple in love.”
I take a breath and let my muscles settle, hopefully removing the tension from my body. Archer kisses my head and my eyes flutter for a moment before I refocus on Cyrus’s words.
“We like to get to know each and every one of our employees on a personal level. We keep the firm small on purpose and only have about sixty employees now.” I raise a brow in surprise. Last I checked, Armani had over three hundred. “But we’re growing. Faster than we ever expected and because of that, we’re ready to add to our family.”
He raises his glass and looks me and the ten other candidates over, I keep a calm smile on my face, hoping my nerves aren’t bursting at the seams. “Let’s hope you all have what it takes!”
We cheers with him and resume our mingling.
I look around the room and notice all the happy couples, all in their finest cocktail wear and wonder if anyone else brought a fake date tonight.
Likely, they’re actually settled and not having to fake it to make it.