Marriage Made on Paper Read Free Page A

out of the deep sleep she’d been in was a shiver of excitement, and not a pang of annoyance, was disturbing on a lot of levels, all of which she was too tired to analyze in that moment.
    “It’s one in the morning, Gage.” Lily blinked against the blinding light radiating from the screen of her smart-phone. After four months in his employ, she should know better than to be surprised by a midnight phone call.
    “It’s nine a.m. in England.”
    “And we have a crisis on our hands?” She rolled over and brushed her hair out of her face, the cool sheets from the side of the bed that had been unoccupied chilling her slightly.
    “The sky isn’t falling, if that’s what you mean, but we have protesters lining the streets at our newest building site and I need a press release that will help cool things down.”
    “Now?”
    “Preferably before the mob tears down the foundation of our new hotel,” he bit out.
    Lily sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, pushing the button for speakerphone and bringingup the specs of the project up on the screen. “What’s the issue?”
    “Environmental impact.”
    She studied the report. “It’s a green build. Recycled materials are being used for as much of the hotel as possible, anything that isn’t is being purchased locally and it’s helping to stimulate local economy.”
    “Good. Put all of that in a press release and get it sent.”
    “Just a second. I was in bed. Asleep. Like a normal person,” she said, sleep depravation making her grumpy.
    She stood and made her way to her desk, which she had moved a mere foot away from her bed just for such occasions. Her laptop was still fired up, so she sat down, dashed off all of the necessary info and emailed it to Gage. “How’s that?”
    “Good,” he responded a few moments later. “What do you suggest? Written or verbal?”
    “Both. Call down there and see if you can speak to someone on the phone. I’ll contact the local news station. Then we’ll work on getting it into online editions of the papers today and print for tomorrow. That ought to defuse things, as much as possible anyway. They still might not be happy about the build in general, but if you show that you’re conscientious it should go a long way in smoothing things over, at least with the general public, which is really the best you can hope for.”
    “You really are good,” he said, that voice sending a little frisson of … something … through her again. She’d thought she would get used to him in the months since he’d walked into her office and hired her. In a lot of ways she had, but he still had the ability to throw her off balance if she wasn’t prepared for him.
    “I’m the best, Gage,” she said sharply, “don’t forget it.”
    “How can I? You never let me.”
    “I hope you mean in deed rather than word,” she said archly.
    “Take your pick.”
    “All right. I’m going to call some televisions stations and then I’m going back to bed.”
    “Fine, but I need you in the office by five.”
    She bit back a groan. “Of course.” It was likely he was already at the office. Between work and dalliances with supermodels she wasn’t sure if Gage Forrester ever slept.
    She hung up the phone and proceeded to make her phone calls before falling back into bed. She could get two good hours before she had to be in the office.
    And why did Gage’s voice seem to be echoing in her mind while she tried to drift off?
    She walked into Gage’s office at 4:59 a.m. with two industrial-sized cups of coffee. “Thought you might need a hit,” she said, setting the cup down in front of him.
    He looked up from his computer screen. Annoyingly, despite the five-o’clock shadow he was sporting he looked fresh and well-rested, while she knew she had puffy eyes that were just barely made to look normal by gobs of under-eye cream.
    “I definitely need a hit,” he said, picking up the cup and bringing it to his lips. She couldn’t help but