“We showed her a few, but Karen and I think Noah is the best choice.” Sweet Louise handed Chloe her crutches.
“They’ve told him to be a giant ass to me, so I’m hopeful.” Chloe tried scooting to the short edge of the L of her sectional, but friction between the fabric of her dress and the fabric of the sofa was making it slow going. Next sofa, she was going with leather.
“Let me help.” Pierce leaned over, placed his hands at her hips, and lifted her off the sofa like she weighed nothing. “I don’t know why you’re going to all this trouble for Hansen. He doesn’t deserve it.”
Pierce sounded mad. Why would he be mad?
“Thanks for the help up.” She used the crutches to get her balance.
Sweet Louise yanked on the back of Chloe’s hoodie dress. “Your dress rode up.”
“Oh, thanks.” Normally, she’d be embarrassed and stressed that she’d possibly mooned Pierce, but since he didn’t see her as anything but an obligation, he probably hadn’t noticed that her dress had ridden up.
Slowly, she made her way to her bedroom. “I’d love some help putting on some pants. I don’t know which ones will fit over the cast, but it would be nice to find some.”
Sweet Louise hovered just at her side. “I don’t know about getting anything over that cast. I think a dress would be a better choice.”
Hopefully, they could find something that wouldn’t embarrass Chloe in front of her maybe fake fiancé.
Chapter 9
Chloe was wearing tiny, black lace panties. He watched her turn to go down the hall. He ran his hand over his mouth to make sure there wasn’t any drool leaking out. Tiny, black lace panties. Did she always wear tiny underwear? Was she wearing the matching bra to go with it?
He closed his eyes and did his best to control the pounding of his heart. It was thumping like he’d spent the last hour running sprints. He thought about what it would be like for him to peel them off of her. His hard-on knocked against his zipper trying to get out.
He’d peeled off lots of panties, but he couldn’t remember them ever being as enticing as Chloe’s. Not only was he attracted to Chloe, but he liked her as a person. And he really liked hanging out with her. It was odd—he actually thought of her as a friend, but friendship wasn’t what he wanted from her.
What exactly did he want from her?
All he could think of was tiny, black lace panties.
He opened his eyes and stood. Pacing sounded really good right about now. He needed to stay by Chloe’s side all of the time because God only knew what Hansen would try with her. She was too good for him. She was smart and special and nice and … hot, really hot.
He couldn’t get the black lace panties out of his head.
Hansen better never see those panties, or any of Chloe’s panties, or her bras, or any part of her body from the neck to her knees. Knowing Hansen, the man was liable to be turned on by Chloe’s ankles. Pierce figured he should probably go ahead and scoop out Hansen’s eyeballs before they had the chance to see Chloe. Yeah, that was the safest plan. Surely Hansen would prefer no eyeballs to being dead, which was exactly what he would be if he laid a finger on Chloe.
Pierce paced to the front door and back again. He scrubbed his face with his hands. Now he was planning the murder of his best friend? He loved Hansen like a brother, but he would remove his eyes if they so much as roamed to her index finger. He needed to watch Hansen. The man was a womanizer.
“Are you ready?” Karen stepped into the living room.
“Ready for what?” He didn’t remember having anything planned for today.
“You have that interview with SportsCenter that we’ve been working on scheduling for the last two months.” Karen arched an eyebrow. “You were so excited that we actually got it on the books. Did you forget?”
“No.” Yes, he’d forgotten. His mind had been on nothing but Chloe since last night. He never forgot anything work related. Then again, he had sort of run over her with his car, so his mind was filled with only Chloe.
He opened the front door for Karen and then pulled out his keys and locked the door after them.
Karen arched an eyebrow. “Did she give you her key?”
“No. I found it in her former junk drawer.” He used his key fob to unlock his car.
“That’s all kinds of stalker-y. Maybe you should put the key back.” Her tone suggested that it wasn’t a question.
“What if the door is locked and she falls and hits her head? How will I get into her house to help her?” He shook his head. “It’s not stalker-y to care so much about a person that you want to make sure they are okay.”
“Said every stalker ever.” Karen unlocked her car. “We should ride together. And we’re taking my car. I’m not riding with you in that stupid little tin can.”
“Let’s take two separate cars.” There was no way he was riding with her. First, she drove like a little old lady who didn’t really have anywhere to be; and second, if he drove, then he controlled the timetable. That way he could get back to Chloe as soon as possible.
“Don’t be silly. We’re riding together. It’s a waste to take two cars to the same place.” Karen waited at the driver’s side for him to open her door.
“Since when are you so fossil-fuel conscious? You drive a Cadillac Escalade.” How bad would it be for him to gently nudge her out of the way and slide behind the wheel? That wasn’t going to happen, because she wouldn’t stand for it, and she was the mom he’d always wanted.
He sighed. “Fine.” He didn’t mean to sound like a ten-year-old who’d been sent off to brush his teeth after he’d lied about already brushing them.
“This will give us some good one-on-one time.” Karen slid behind the wheel.
“That sounds dangerous.” He closed her door and got into the passenger’s side. It was like being chauffeured around by his mom. “If you’re planning on finally having the birds and bees talk with me, Ryan explained it to me years ago.” He turned to her and grinned. “I’ve taken it to heart and continue to experiment with new versions of the birds and bees as often as I can.”
“No bullshit. You have feelings for Chloe.” She pulled away from the curb.
“No … I … that’s not …” He couldn’t seem to get a complete sentence to come out of his mouth. His cheeks burned.
Her brown eyes turned huge and horrified. “Are you blushing?”
“No.” His voice went all high and squeaky.
“You are.” The horror on her face intensified. “Stop it. It’s like watching the Terminator ballet dance or Mary Poppins pistol whip a hobo. You and blushing are two things that don’t go together.”
“I can’t help that it’s nine hundred degrees in here. Why the hell do you even have the heat on? It’s April in Texas.” He mashed the button on the passenger temperature control.
“Watch your language.” If she hadn’t had both hands on the wheel, he knew she would have smacked him on the back of the head. She’d learned that from Sweet Louise. Sometimes he wished he’d never introduced them.
“You just said ‘bullshit.’” He mashed himself against the passenger’s window in case she decided to take one hand off the wheel to smack him.
“Yes, but I’m an adult …” She glanced over at him. “Damn, that doesn’t work anymore.” She sighed. “Well, I’m not about to be interviewed on SportsCenter. You can’t cuss on a family program.”
“Like every red-blooded American family doesn’t cuss.” He sat upright. “Besides, you can say ‘hell’ now on TV. Even the Christian stations use the word ‘hell.’”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, but they are talking about people going to hell, which is exactly where you’re going if you don’t admit that you have feelings for Chloe.”
Damn, she’d rejected his subject change.
“I feel bad for her.” It was a cop-out, and they both knew it.
“Why? She doesn’t feel bad for herself.” Karen kept her hands at ten and two and her eyes on
the road.
“I hurt her and she took the blame for it.” It was weak, and he knew Karen would see right through it.
“That’s stupid and you know it.” Yep, she was sharp. For the first time, he was regretting hiring her. To be honest, he’d hired her after she got laid off from a software company. He’d wanted to make sure that she and her husband, Jerry, could stay on track for retirement. But she’d turned out to be a genius at scheduling his life and handling everything so that all he had to do was show up to things and play football.
“I feel responsible for her and I like hanging out with her.” That was as far as he was willing to go right now.
“That doesn’t happen often.” She kept her eyes on the road.
“I know. I can’t wait to see what comes out of her mouth next.” He smiled to himself. He couldn’t help it, she made him smile.
Twenty minutes later, Karen pulled into his assigned parking space at Lone Star Stadium.
“I finalized the questions SportsCenter is going to ask and emailed them to you last night. I don’t suppose you’ve reviewed them?” Karen put the Escalade in park and turned off the engine.
“Um … no.” This morning, football hadn’t been on his mind.
“Don’t worry. It’s just about last season, and the NFL Draft, and how you think the team will shape up for this season. They’re going to ask you the standard stuff, but if I were you, I’d be prepared for some questions about Chloe. Since you’re all over social media, there’s bound to be some mention of her.” Karen pulled a tube of lipstick out of her purse and flipped the visor mirror down and traced her lips.
He hadn’t given much thought as to how to handle the social media situation. “I’m inclined to tell them the truth about last night. I don’t like Chloe taking the blame.”
“Chloe’s right. If you tell the media that you two were out on a date, this will never go away. My advice is to make sure everyone knows that she’s okay and that she’s not your sister.” She slipped the lipstick back into her purse.
Yes, he definitely wanted the world to know that Chloe wasn’t his sister.
“I like Chloe and I think she’s good for you.” Karen smiled brightly. “Please don’t hurt her.”
“I won’t. You don’t need to worry about her falling in love with me. She doesn’t see me that way.” He hated that. He wanted her to see him as a man who was interested in her.
“Do I need to worry about her hurting you?” Karen was all protective mom.
“No, you know me. I bore easily.” He forced his facial muscles into a smile. For the first time in a long time, he felt vulnerable. He hated that. Chloe could hurt him.
Two hours later, the interview was finally wrapping up. He’d smiled and laughed and pulled the humble routine, but so far, no one had asked about Chloe. He guessed that SportsCenter viewers weren’t quite the same market as TMZ or Page Six.
“Now to the question on everyone’s mind, is your sister okay?” Jenny Shawl looked up at him from under her lashes. She knew he didn’t have a sister. They might have gone out a couple of times, and he might have stopped returning her texts, and she might have hated him ever since. She wasn’t exactly the best person to do an impartial interview, but during these last couple of hours she’d been nothing but professional.
“Chloe’s fine.” He’d said her name. He could have kicked himself. Now the world knew her first name, and someone would figure out who she was. “She’s not my sister. We’re just close friends.”
“What really happened to Chloe?” Jenny’s professional demeanor was cracking.
He needed to tell the truth. “It was an accident. Chloe was stepping out of the car and I took my foot off the clutch. The car rolled back and her foot was caught between the curb and the car. She has three broken bones in her foot.”
There was no way in hell he was letting Chloe take the blame. He just couldn’t live with himself if he did.
“How long have you two known each other?” It seemed to not have occurred to Jenny that he and Chloe had been on a date.
“It feels like I’ve known her forever.” It really did.
“You and I have known each other for quite a while, and I’ve never heard you talk about her.” Jenny wasn’t going to let this drop.
“I like to keep my private life private. Chloe’s a close friend. She enjoys her privacy. I respect that.” He might have slipped up and used Chloe’s name, but this wasn’t his first interview; he knew how to play the game.
“Please give Chloe my sincerest wishes for her speedy recovery. I know our viewers are worried about her. I hope she feels better soon.” Jenny smiled into the camera. “That’s all the time we have.” She turned back to Pierce. “Thank you for your time.”
Someone called, “Cut.”
The camera’s red light went off.
“I don’t suppose you’re going to give me Chloe’s last name so I can send her some flowers?” Jenny laughed to herself. “Old friend … you’ve got to be kidding me.”
He wasn’t about to take the bait.
He held out his hand in the universal we’re-done handshake. “Thanks for the interview.”
She glanced down at his hand but didn’t shake it. “I guess drinks are out of the question.”
“I’ve got to go check on Chloe.” He pulled his hand back since it looked like she had no intention of shaking it.
“I know she’s your girlfriend. You should go ahead and admit it.” Jenny’s eyes were reptilian slits. “You were on a date with her.”
Still not taking the bait, he waved. “I’ll see you later.”
He walked out of the room and wanted to ring his own neck. Chloe had an anxiety disorder that made meeting new people difficult. Thanks to him, she was about to have reporters camped out on her doorstep.
Chapter 10
Chloe eased back onto her sofa and propped up her foot. She and Sweet Louise had managed to squeeze her cast through a pair of yoga pants, and she was also wearing a dark-green silk, oversized shirt. She had on makeup and her hair was at least dry as it flowed down her back in frizzy waves. Her hair was too wavy to be straight and too straight to be wavy.
The doorbell rang.
She started to get up, but Sweet Louise put a hand on her thigh. “Stay. I’ll get the door. Don’t be nervous. Noah’s a great guy.”
Chloe tried not to think about the fact that Noah’s nickname was Handsome Hansen. Why couldn’t he have been Noah the Narwhal or Needle-Nose Noah? Or what about Homely Hansen? That would have worked.
Sweet Louise opened the door. Sunlight streamed in, backlighting a six-foot-tall, blond Adonis.
Well, crap. He was even better looking in person. This wasn’t going to work.
“Noah, thanks for coming over.” Sweet Louise stepped aside and let him in.
“I wasn’t sure I understood your text. You need me to be someone’s fake fiancé for the day, and I’m supposed to be mean to them?” He glanced at Chloe. “I think spell-check messed something up.”
“No, I need you to be Chloe’s fake fiancé for the next couple of months.” Sweet Louise put her arm around Noah and led him to the sofa. “Chloe, this is Noah. Noah, this is Chloe.”
He smiled and three dimples popped out. God should have a two-dimple limit when creating gorgeous men. Noah held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Meet you nice.” Yep, this wasn’t going to work. Chloe tried to make her hand move to shake his, but her brain was so busy making sure that actual words came out of her mouth that it didn’t have any extra room for additional processing.
She managed to glance at Sweet Louise. “Nice-ing to him have here.”
“Does she have a head injury?” He looked concerned. “I thought it was just her foot.”
Sweet Louise shook her head. “Quick, say something mean to her.”
Slowly, he turned to look at Sweet Louise. “Clearly, she has a head injury. I’m not going to say something mean to her. That’s awful.”<
br />
“Disorders … anxiety.” Chloe yelled out the second word like she had Tourette Syndrome.
“You have to say something mean to her so she won’t like you. She has trouble talking to handsome men.” Sweet Louise patted his arm. “Go ahead. Let her have it.”
“If she doesn’t like me, then how are we going to pretend to be engaged?” He looked around. “Am I missing something here?”
“I’ll let her explain, but first you have to be rude.” Sweet Louise nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Okay.” He looked anything but okay. “Okay … um … your haircut is completely wrong for your face shape.”
“Really, that’s all you’ve got?” Sweet Louise elbowed him. “You can do better than that.”
He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
“She’s a huge Dallas Cowboys fan.” Sweet Louise pointed to Chloe. “Let her have it.”
“Your haircut is wrong for your face shape and you have terrible taste in football teams.” He glared down at Chloe.
“I guess that’s all he’s got.” Sweet Louise rolled her eyes. “This is a nightmare.”
“What? I’m at a loss.” Noah looked really uncomfortable. He held up an index finger. “Okay, wait. That cast makes your ankle look fat?”
“That would have worked if you hadn’t asked it like a question.” Sweet Louise shook her head. “You’re the worst rude person I’ve ever seen.”
Chloe couldn’t help it. She busted out laughing. It was hilarious. This gorgeous man was doing his best to not be charming, but it was still thoroughly charming. She laughed so hard that tears ran down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I’m over the nervous anxiety. It’s just too funny. He can’t be mean even when he tries.”
She held out her hand. “I’m Chloe, and I hope you’ll agree to be my fake fiancé.”
He shook her hand. “I can’t wait to hear why you need a fake fiancé.”
Sage Advice Page 8