The Business Proposal

Chapter Eleven

Ivy fiddled with the long red skirt she'd chosen to wear, whilst she sat across the car from Ethan.

"Calm down. You'll be fine." Ethan's tone was soothing, but it didn't stop her stomach from rolling over unhappily.

She jumped when he reached over and grabbed her hand. She turned to him with a questioning look only to see him glance at her with a smirk on his face. Huffing slightly, she tried not to let the feel of his hand on hers set her heart racing.

"So what's our story? Like how did this happen." She waved her free hand between them whilst watching him. "Since I'm assuming you don't want them to know about our arrangement."

His smile slipped and his forehead crinkled in concentration.

"Only my brother is aware of our deal and I'd prefer to keep it that way."

Her eyebrows rose when he mentioned his brother. She took him for the type not to talk to anyone about his problems.

Ethan still seemed to be in deep thought, so she amused herself by just watching the scenery go by.

"We can say we met at the charity event you hosted at the Eventim Apollo but we kept our relationship private because of our positions." He smiled at her stunned face as her eyes flashed open.

"How did you know about that?"

Although she could only see half of his face, the crinkles around his eyes showed he was smiling.

"You wound me, Ivy." He chuckled to himself. "Guess I'm easy to forget." He turned to wink at her and squeezed her hand.

"I don't remember you being there," she apologized, trying to remember that night but knowing there had been too many guests to talk to all of them.

"Don't worry about it, but that's the simplest explanation."

He was right, but there were still a few giant holes in this story.

"And what about your other girlfriends? If we've been seeing each other for six months that kind of assumes a bit of exclusivity." She pointed out to him, but Ethan just continued to smile.

"I've never taken anyone home to meet my family. And besides, I've been a bit too busy lately to indulge in many dates."

She didn't need to know about some of his more casual hookups in the last six months, but it was unlikely those few women would cause issues. He was being truthful when he'd told her he hadn't had time to date.

He'd been working on a recent hotel project in Bali, which had kept him more than busy the last few months. The hotel had only opened three weeks previously and was already showing to be a promising success.

He turned his attention back to Ivy as she thought over his words.

"And what about the recent magazine article with those two women?" She tried to keep the accusation out of her voice. Choosing not to focus on the fact she was the first woman he'd taken home.

Ethan laughed at her. "Surely you know better than to read what's in those trashy magazines."

But Ivy shook her head.

Yes, they were trashy and far fetched. But there was always still a grain of truth to them, even if it was covered in blown up stories.

"So you didn't sleep with those women?" She quirked her eyebrows up at him, noticing how he stilled at her question.

Letting go of her hand he quickly changed gears, seeming impatient to get to his family, or away from this conversation she wondered. But before she could miss his hand too much, it returned to hers.