The Perfect Fake Date--A best friends to lovers romance by Naima Simone

Author:Naima Simone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-10-18T12:49:26+00:00

Nine

Kenan stepped off the elevator onto the fifteenth floor of the downtown office building. Silence greeted him, as did the familiar offices of Rhodes Realty. On a Saturday morning, no employees sat at the desks, the phones didn’t ring and the hum of voices didn’t fill the air. He would’ve thought it odd to be summoned to his family’s business by his brother on a weekend if Kenan wasn’t aware that five-day workweeks didn’t apply to his brother or parents. When a deal called, they answered. Kenan had adopted the same work ethic. Although his father might not believe that Kenan had actually inherited something from him.

Exhaling a breath that seemed to echo in the empty offices, he scrubbed a hand over his head. Not only did he have to face his brother possessing the knowledge that Gavin wanted the woman Kenan had just been balls-deep inside, but now he also had to face his ghosts.

It’d been months since he’d visited this place that used to be his second home. Not because it contained painful memories. No, he didn’t feel as if he would be welcomed. Not when he’d abandoned the company for Farrell. At least that’s how his family defined it. Which only increased his curiosity over this mysterious request from Gavin. That curiosity hadn’t been the only thing that had driven Kenan from his house, though.

Eve had.

Or, rather, thoughts of Eve. Because when he woke that morning after a night of the hottest sex he’d ever had, she’d disappeared. He’d reached for her again and touched cold, empty sheets. Any remnants of sleep had evaporated then, and in the hours since, he’d been vacillating between calling her and demanding to know why she’d crept out like a guilty thief, and avoiding his phone in case she did call. Hearing her voice and discovering she regretted the night before...

Yeah, ignorance was indeed bliss.

Giving his head a shake, he focused on his brother’s closed office door. A vise tightened around his ribs as he glanced to his left and the door that once held his nameplate. It didn’t any longer. That shouldn’t have had pain spiking in her chest. But it did.

Hell, he’d been erased.

Clenching his jaw, he strode toward his brother’s office. With a perfunctory knock, he opened the door.

“Hey, Gavin. What’s all this—” He slammed to a halt, noting the other two people sitting in the chairs in front of his brother’s desk. “Mom. Dad.” He frowned as Gavin straightened from his perch on the furniture. “This is...unexpected. What’s going on? Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong.” Gavin waved him inside. “Come on in.”

Then why all the secrecy? Why do I feel like I’m being ambushed? The demands burned his tongue, but he doused them as his parents stood. Wariness sidled through him, but so did a cautious joy. He loved his family, and this strain on their relationship, this separation of the last eight months, had been a punishment. A punishment for a crime he hadn’t committed.

Tucking aside

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