Boyfriend for Hire!

"Do you ever look at your phone?"

Savannah peered over her glasses, her gaze tracing the path of sweaty, exposed biceps, purposefully ignoring the face they belonged to. His loud stomping down the hallway and dramatic busting into her office had already put her on high alert.

If he only knew he was the last person she wanted to see that morning, he'd steer clear of her. We're talking the Sun to Pluto kind of distance.

That morning, the boss had given her a harsh scolding for bringing up the notion of Ryan and his team's removal from the Briggs & advertising project (for the umpteenth time).

His being there now wasn't just rubbing salt in her wounds— it was wickedly grating on her nerves.

Savannah kept typing away on her PC, pointedly ignoring her visitor with barely concealed disgust.

"Did you know it's scientifically proven you can talk with your mouth even with your hands busy?"

Savannah paused, closed her eyes to restrain herself from cursing, and then side-eyed him.

Ryan pulled back, folding his big arms with exaggerated flair, forcing her eyes to stay on him longer than she'd like. His face, precisely. For someone with such undeniably handsome features, his snarky personality didn't quite match the rest of his aesthetics.

"What do you want?"

"I thought you knew what I wanted," Ryan said casually. "I'm here to talk."

Therein lay the problem: when had he ever come into her space just to talk? She knew him well enough—much too well—to fall for that stunt.

"I'll have you know you do not own such privileges," Savannah said without looking up at him.

"You bet I do," Ryan said with a tongue click. "We're even teaming up on a project now. You expect us to pilot that work as mutes?"

"And what's so wrong with that?"

Ryan gave a half-smirk, which Savannah would admit made him annoyingly attractive.

"Please leave. I'm busy. If you don't, I'm going to leave."

"You say that while already intending to leave yourself," Ryan said.

He wasn't wrong. Savannah quickly put a stack of papers into a file and dashed out in a heartbeat with just her PC in hand.

It wouldn't be the first time she'd walked out on him, but today, there was something incredibly satisfying about her footsteps echoing as she stormed off.

Moreover, she had work to do.

If she couldn't convince Matt with mere word of mouth alone that she could flawlessly execute the Ad for Briggs &, she would show him actual results. With barely an hour left until recess, her goal was simple: wrap up the designs and barge into Matt's office one last time that morning. She'd force him to look through them if it came to that.

_

"So, your little protest boomeranged on you just like that?" Holly asked, blowing on her hot coffee. "The boss didn't give in to your demands?"

"Unfortunately so," Savannah said, biting her lip. "He's hell-bent on having Ryan work this gig with me."

"But how bad is it if you just caved and agreed to work with Ryan on this? I mean, it would only be this one time," Holly said after a moment's pause.

Savannah let her eyes wander around the cozy cafeteria, glancing at the other employees happily munching on their lunches. She, on the other hand, had zero appetite. Not with Holly playing the role of an even more significant pain than Matthew's "your design is crap" speech.

"Hey, did you hear what I asked now, or are you just not listening?"

"Why should I? You're not exactly making much sense," Savannah voiced with contained calmness.

She was so over everyone butting in all the time and making her look bad that all she wanted to do was ditch work, go home, and curl up in bed.

"Sorry," Holly said, genuinely apologetic. "But did Matt say your designs were literal trash?"

What did it matter how he said it? Savannah didn't have the energy to get into it. "The point is, he looked through my designs, then told me to go run them by Ryan as if I'd done a shitty job not worthy of mention."

She still had no idea how to deal with that. How was she supposed to face Ryan after storming out on him before? Not that her boss would know, though.

"Hey, Vee." Holly's voice came on suspiciously soft. "How badly did you piss off Ryan? He's been staring at us from over there—well, at you, in particular—as if he's got something to say."

Savannah waved her off dismissively. "He's probably just thinking of ways to get back at me for snubbing him before. Pay him no mind and enjoy your lunch."

"Oh." Holly's eyes widened. "Is that what it is?"

Savannah hummed, unbothered.

"But are you sure you didn't do anything else to get him more mad? Because with the way he's glaring at you—oh, shit!"

"Oh, shit?" Savannah sat up straight.

"Yes, shit," Holly's voice went a little high up. "He's walking right toward us."

"What, already?"

Holly nodded frantically, her eyes wide in disbelief.

Savannah's pulse immediately went dry as sudden tension washed over her.

"How… how close is he now?" she managed, her voice tight.

"Vee, he's almost here—like right now."

Shit.

Savannah squinched her eyes firmly shut as if her brain could somehow will him to disappear. Of course, it didn't work, not with his warm and annoyingly close breath tickling her neck.

"I accept."

Accept what? Savannah blinked her eyes open, her brows furrowing in confusion. What was he accepting?

"I just said I'd do it."

Do what exactly?

"Um, Vee," Holly said, heavily amused, kicking her legs under the table. "You might want to turn around for this."

Turn around for what? Savannah found herself stubbornly trying to decode the reason behind Holly's excitement but failing. She decidedly spun herself to see what the fuss was all about. Her heart sank to the floor.

"Ryan, what are you doing?" She cooed in a way that belied her frustration over what he had done.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

Ryan unboxed something slight and sparkling, then dropped to one knee.

Savannah lost her balance, her knees instantly giving way. She fell down hard on her back. Well, almost. Ryan caught her by the waist before she could even hit the ground.

"I don't know whether to take your excitement to mean you're happy I proposed," Ryan said, looking intently into her soul with devilishly blue eyes.

Savannah was drawn into their depths for a solid minute before suddenly remembering the position they were in. With Ryan's back facing the rest of the canteen, everyone there would think they were a couple—cuddling. Not a pretty picture.

"Get off me," she whispered, annoyed at her own desire to keep things courteous all while boiling inside.

"Why? Not one of your favorite positions?" Ryan teased, though he let her go all the same. "Or did you find a suitable date for your sister's wedding already?"

Was she imagining things, or did he sound pretty pained just now? Savannah shook those thoughts out of her head and focused on what mattered. How does he know about my boyfriend hunt?

She scrambled to yank her phone out of her bag as if on cue. Ignoring the notifications flooding in, she dove straight into her social media. And there it was: the one picture she'd somehow forgotten to delete. The one that confirmed Ryan knew it was her who'd been desperately trolling for a boyfriend. The whole world probably knew by now.

Perfect.