“Hey, it’s not my fault your boss has no manners. The point is, I kept his interest. The guy loves me.”

Ugh, unfortunately true.

“It seems to me if you want this guy to keep you around, then the way to do that is to pay me the two thousand dollars a week to be your fake boyfriend. He wants me around and where you go, I go, right?”

I stumbled to a halt, the anger mixing with frustration because I knew there was logic in his proposal. He was absolutely correct. And I hated it. “I don’t know you from Adam.”

The muscle in his jaw ticked. “Like you know my brother from Adam? Or is the difference that he has a degree and I’m an uneducated meathead who runs a gym?”

Why did he deliberately try to see the worst in me? “You are very prejudiced.”

Rhys’s expression darkened. “Tinker Bell, like you said, you don’t fucking know me.”

“Don’t curse at me.” I crossed my arms over my chest, refusing to be intimidated by him even though my legs were shaking a little at the idea of agreeing to his proposal. “I’m hardly going to hire a guy who hates me because I grew up with money.”

He exhaled heavily, his earlier tension seeming to dissolve. “Tinker Bell,” he said, his tone softer, “I don’t fucking know you either. How can I hate you?”

Tinker Bell. Is that how he saw me? Tiny, spoiled, and ill-tempered? Ouch. Wrinkling my nose, I began walking again. “Don’t call me Tinker Bell.”

“Do we have a deal?” Rhys persisted as he fell into step beside me again.

I cut him a look. “Why do you want to do this?”

There went that muscle in his jaw again. Tick, tick, ticking. “I need the money,” he bit out.

As if that was something to be ashamed of?

Still, Dean needed the money because he was unemployed. Why did an ex-professional boxer who owned a gym need money? I wouldn’t be involved in anything nefarious. I said as much to him.

He grimaced. “It’s nothing criminal. Jesus Christ. All the money I earned boxing went to my family, to Dean’s education, and other shit they needed. Now the gym isn’t doing great and the extra cash could help inject some new life into it.”

“You paid for your brother’s college education?”

He grunted; I took that as confirmation.

The anger inside me simmered a little. A guy who spent his earnings on his little brother’s education couldn’t be all bad, right? It was actually kind of sweet.

I considered him. “If we do this, I’ll need you to be flexible with your schedule. You must be able to attend events and dinners at the drop of a hat. That was the deal with Dean.”