“I know it’s stupid,” she admitted. “I know Scandal Boy is just a mean little troll, and I should be mature and take the high road. But it’s all people are talking about in my Instagram comments. The conjecture about why none of my posts ever mention a man. Half of them think I’m a closeted lesbian, and I’m okay with that. But the other half are speculating I’m some sort of relationship pariah. One theorized that I had shark teeth for a vagina.”

“Oh God,” Clarke said, rolling onto his back and covering his ears. “What I wouldn’t give to unhear that.”

“And I know it’s just Instagram,” she pressed on, ignoring him. “And it’s not real life, except it is for me. That’s my job, and it’s one I love.”

He turned his head back toward her, searching her face. “And being ‘engaged’ will help?”

“Just for a little while,” she said. “Social media has a ridiculously short shelf life. They’ll be onto some other target in a few days, and we can break things off amicably, like we always do.”

She poked his muscled shoulder with a finger. “Please? It’s just a few days you’ll have to keep it zipped up and pretend to be wildly in love with me, and then you can go back to sowing wild oats.”

“What?”

“Sleeping with every woman in Manhattan,” she clarified.

He pointed at his heart. “Wounded.”

“I’m not judging. I have full respect for your bachelor brand. I just need your help. Just for a week or so? People think my vagina is made of teeth, Clarke.”

Clarke continued to study her for a moment, his dark golden gaze thoughtful. Then he reached out and slapped her hip. “Get up.”

When she didn’t move fast enough, he jumped to his feet and hauled her up himself. “First, we need some ground rules. If we do this, the word vagina is officially banned.”

She lit up. “Wait, you’ll do it?”

“I’m going take a quick shower, then we’ll head out.”

“Head out to where?” she called after him as he sauntered toward the master bathroom.

He turned around and grinned as he walked backward down the hall. “Gotta go shop for a big-ass diamond ring for my wife-to-be.”

Chapter Three

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10

How many karats does it take to reverse a curse and hold on to a man? A certain Madison Avenue influencer is apparently trying to find out…

—@ScandalBoyNYC

I forgot how scary your parents’ house is,” Audrey muttered, leaning in to look at the door knocker on the West’s 80th Street residence. “Is that a lion? With its mouth open?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Audrey,” Clarke said, opening the door. “That’s not a lion. It’s clearly the spitting image of my mother.”