“We do,” I agreed.
“So we should wait. I'm not in any hurry. We've got a lot of opportunity ahead of us, and we really have to focus on nailing this collab video if it's going to do well.”
“Mm,” I agreed, and a grin spread over my face.
“What's this about?” he asked, reaching out and grabbing my chin. “This big cheesy grin?”
“I guess we're on the same page,” I explained, and broke out into a full-blown smile.
“Of course we are,” he smirked. “Didn't you get the memo? We're fated mates.”
He let go of my chin, pushed his lips against mine, and kissed me hard. I moaned in appreciation and smooched him until he practically passed out in my arms.
The next day was the first day of shooting for our collaborative video. I woke up before the alarm I'd set, but I should have expected as much. Tripp was my living, breathing, smoothie-making alarm. The sound of the blender blasted through the whole apartment and immediately shook me out of my dream, and as soon as it stopped, Tripp's morning singing kicked in.
I stumbled out of the bedroom and rubbed my eyes. Tripp was already in his workout outfit of deep green yoga shorts and an oversized hoodie – the type that I loved because it came down right at the middle of his ass. I loved seeing him busy in my kitchen, and it struck me that it felt like he'd never not been there when I woke up in the mornings.
He looked up as he switched off the blender and a huge smile broke across his face.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” he cooed, and began pouring out our drinks.
“Good morning,” I croaked, and smiled at him sleepily.
Tripp tapped out the last of the smoothie from the blender into a tall glass and handed it over the counter to me.
“Hm, this is very green,” I said, taking the glass and sniffing it suspiciously.
“Try it! You'll like it!” he sang. “You always like it.”
He was right, but I also always took my time to sniff it too. This one smelled all right... Maybe a little too vegetable-y... Maybe there was even a hint of cilantro… I took a cautious sip and incredible flavor exploded all over my tongue.
“Mm! This is the best yet,” I said and hungrily took a big sip. “What's going on in there?”
“Avocado,” he smiled.
“Fats, huh?” I beamed, licking my lips. My tummy rumbled in appreciation as I took another gulp.
“Mhm, I've been listening to your nutrition advice... As it turns out, it's possible that healthy fats might actually be kind of healthy,” he grinned, but didn't meet my
“Oh!” I laughed. “So I was right?”
“Hey, I didn't say that...” he giggled.
“Are you excited for today?”
“Yes!” he nodded quickly.
We decided to keep it simple. Which meant that it was crazy complicated, but way less complicated than we would have been if we hadn't reeled ourselves in.
“Are we still sure we want to use this space?” Tripp asked as he stood in the middle of my home gym with his hips kicked out to the side and his hands resting on his waist.
“Yeah, we are,” I said decidedly. “Your studio has terrible natural light and your home practice has no space for me to bring weights.”
“Mm, but it's just...” he trailed off. My body tensed with frustration but I took a deep breath and reminded myself that he was just nitpicking because he was nervous.
“Baby, we've been through this so many times,” I walked over to him and rested my hands on his shoulders. “We'll find a great space in the future, if this takes off. This is just our trial run, right?”
“Yeah, but what if it doesn't take off because of the set–” he started, and then started biting his fingernails. I took his hands gently in mine and brought them to my lips to kiss each tip.
“It's just a trial run. It's just for fun,” I smiled compassionately at him and watched as his face softened.
“Besides,” I said, “You don't really need this to work. If anything, it's a massive favor to me, right? So you should just have fun with it.”
“Yeah, I guess it's like, whatever. I'm just getting, like, your free labor in exchange for pretending to be your celebrity boyfriend,” he giggled, and gave me a grateful smile.
We got the recording equipment set up, lit the set, and at the last minute Tripp brought in a bunch of decorative pieces to “soften the scene” – a few bowls from my kitchen that kind of passed as vases. He even poured a bottle of sparkling water into an empty fish bowl, threw some herb leaves on top, and put it besides
“It's, like, organic,” he said, swishing it around and looking down at it. “Do you hate it?”
“Who am I to tell you how to decorate a set?” I replied as I .
“Uh, you're my collaborator, so it's important that you like it.”
“I love it.”
“You're a liar!” he hissed.
I laughed and admitted, “I don't care about it, and if it makes you happy, then it may as well stay.”
“Hm...” he considered, and then cheerfully said, “That works.”
Tripp got set up on his mat and I stood beside him, trying to find the right amount of space to leave between his arm and mine. We hadn't really decided on how honest we should be about our relationship upfront, but we didn't want to hide it, either. As soon as we pressed record, my stomach did flips and I felt myself panicking – it felt like I'd never been in front of a camera before. Luckily, Tripp really did have incredible stage presence, and he dove into it was nothing at all.
“Hey, angels, it's Tripp! I'm here with my very, very good friend, workout buddy, and fellow fitness star, Decker – you probably know him from his channel, and if you don't, uh, you should so click that link and subscribe. He's a real deal sports medicine practitioner and today he's going to help us correct our posture and perform stretches in a safe and super-effective way,” he trilled at the camera, and I felt myself melting at how easy he made it look. For once, I wasn't intimidated – I was just impressed.
“Let's get started,” I said, and gave the camera a simple grin.
We ran through the most common yoga poses that Tripp performed on his channel and I explained to the camera what each pose was supposed to be doing to the anatomy.
“See how the back leg isn't taking any weight at all?” I asked the camera as Tripp held a poorly performed Warrior II pose – a kind of sideways lunge with his arms spread out like wings. “If you're doing this pose, be sure to press down into that back foot – watch as the knee tightens and the quad engages when Tripp holds the pose.”
I put my hand on Tripp's leg and saw how tiny goosebumps broke out around the space where my fingertips touched, but I was sure the camera wouldn't pick up these tiny signs that he was enjoying my touch.
“If he was doing this warrior pose wrong –” I said, and pushed his leg back into the wrong position, “Well, you can literally see how it pulls on the muscle and this tendon here.”
I ran my hand over the side of his knee and heard him let out a nearly imperceptible squeak.
“This muscle and this joint shouldn't have to bear the extra weight,” I said, smoothing my hand over his leg and moving him back into proper alignment. He let out a soft moan and I couldn't help but smile to myself. I cleared my throat and wrapped it up, “So make sure that the back foot is pressed down firmly at all times to avoid extra strain on your knees, quads and ankles. Great job, Tripp.”
“Thanks for the corrections, Deck,” he grinned as he lowered his arms and stepped out of the pose. He shot me a smile and my heart fluttered, before we both turned back to the camera. “It's important to keep the proper form that Decker showed us, not just for safety but also to help the prana energy flow from the ground up through the body, and out through the fingertips. It can help to breathe into that back foot, to keep your attention there, and to activate the energy lines that flow from the toes to the hands.”
I was shocked to find that, for once, I k
ind of understood what Tripp was talking about. I nodded in agreement, and smiled to myself about how we'd learned so much from each other.
“All right, hunnies, thanks for tuning in!” Tripp cooed to the camera with his biggest, brightest smile. He threw his arms around my shoulders and sang, “Don't forget to check out this Decker superstar and his incredible channel, smash that Like button and hit subscribe! Peace out!”
All of a sudden he pressed his lips against mine and gave me a wet, sloppy kiss.
“Tripp!” I laughed. “I thought we agreed to keep our relationship off camera!”
“Oh my god, sorry, I couldn't hold it in any longer! You've been so damn hot this whole time. I love hearing you talk anatomy,” he purred. “We can edit it out. Maybe keep it for our own private collection...”
He wiggled his eyebrows and I barked out a laugh before scooping him up in my arms and laying a hard and heavy kiss on him.
We took the next month to edit the footage, which was longer than either of us had ever spent on one video, but Tripp was anxious to make it perfect and I saw no reason to rush it either. He'd come over to my house almost every day, wearing cuter and cuter winter-wear, oversized sweaters, oversized scarfs, and oversized coats. As he stood in my doorway, I'd brush off the snowflakes that clung to his hair and shoulders, and then unwrap him like a present until he was stripped down to his soft long-sleeved t-shirts and casual yoga pants. He'd bound into my apartment like a deer, snuggle up on my couch, flip open the laptop and pat the space next to him to invite me to come and work with him. Every single time, without fail, my heart surged in my chest and I felt ecstatic to take my place beside him.
I loved having him at home with me every day, and it started to really bother me when it was time for him to leave in the evenings. I often stood at the door after he closed it, just staring at the space where he had just been, and wondering if I should chase after him, hold him close to me, and beg him to move in with me. I prayed for snowstorms that would lock down the roads and keep him overnight, but he usually just shifted and ran home anyway. I knew I needed to talk to him about it, but I didn't know how – we were fated mates, but things were moving along in their own time. I didn't want to push it. If I pushed it, it might break.
Even though it was an incredibly adorable scene, we did cut out the smooches from the video. But within an hour of posting the final production to Tripp's channel, comments from his viewers were already rolling in at record speed –
Um, wtf? you two have such amazing chemistry!
You can't tell me these two aren't a THING. Or else they should be...
OTP!!! OTP!!!
We cuddled up in my bed and watched on the laptop as more and more of the fan comments poured in. Tripp giggled hysterically, covering his mouth with his sweater-covered fists and practically vibrating off the bed. I couldn't do anything but grin and squeeze him close to me. I watched as my own subscriber count skyrocketed and more direct comments poured in on our collaboration video.
Are you two a thing or what?!
Ugh, seriously, I really want to know what's going on with Tripp & Decker!
Is it Tradecker or Deckipp? Ugh, both names kind of suck sorry
Where did you meet Decker??? Is he single???
“Okay, I'm declaring this a big success,” Tripp said, and beamed up at me with a huge toothy smile.
“Agreed,” I nodded, and kissed his forehead.
“We need to do a follow-up.”
“Like, another posture correction tutorial?”
“I'm thinking more of a Q and A...” he suggested. “I mean, if you would be open to talking about your real life on camera?”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My channel is pretty much just professional stuff, with only a little bit of personal opinion... Sometimes a personal comment...”
“Mm, I know... I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to change that, your brand is awesome as it is. But we could get more personal on my channel together? If you... want?” he asked, his voice wavering at the end.
“Like, just keep mine purely sports medicine, but talk about personal stuff on yours?” I clarified, stalling for time as I considered what life might be like if I put all of myself out there on the internet.
“Yeah... I mean... if that's something you'd like to do?”
“I don't know if I'm ready to put all of myself out there on the internet,” I said honestly.
“Well, no, you're not – no one is. No one should put all of themselves out there.”
“But your channel seems so...” I trailed off, not knowing which words to use that wouldn't offend him.
“Tell-all?” he offered, and laughed as I nodded with a slight grimace on my face. “Listen, that shit is totally scripted and curated. It's an art to make it look candid. If you want to do this, we will spend a whole lot of time deciding what boundaries we want to put up and how to maintain them.”
“Hm,” I said, chewing on my bottom lip and considering it.
“It's totally up to you,” he emphasized. “We can either tell the world about us, or we can keep it totally secret.”
I looked down at Tripp and met his eyes. His expression was completely neutral, but I caught a glimmer of sadness deep in his eyes. My wolf nudged me to hold him closer, and I suddenly felt a sense of bravery – and completely certainty.
“I want everyone to know that you're my mate,” I said.
A bright smile broke across his face. “I want everyone to know that you're my mate!” he squealed, and planted a quick kiss on my cheek.
I laughed, “Okay, let's do this... But we can't take a month to edit it, people are going to lose interest by then.”
“I mean, you're wrong – they're going to be hooked on this gossip for months – but you're also right. Let's capitalize on this and get it out, asap,” he bounced in his seat.
We recorded the video the very next day, after Tripp made me do a cucumber face mask with him and reorganized my living room so that the best light from the balcony windows hit the couches where we were going to sit. I was reluctant at first to shift anything around, but I had to admit that the whole place looked and felt a lot nicer after he put his touches on it.
We picked a bunch of questions from the comments section of our workout collaboration video, and answered them one at a time, together.
“Hi, hunnies, it's Tripp! I'm here with my very, very, very good friend, Decker... You might remember him from the last video – click here – where he showed us how to do a perfect Warrior II pose by demonstrating on me. He really did a good job of adjusting my body...”
I couldn't help but let out a short chuckle.
“You all had a lot of questions about that lil video,” he went on. “So we're here to answer the top questions that y’all asked us about what we've got going on here.”
I smiled at the camera and said, “Question number one that you all asked– what exactly is going on here?”
Tripp turned to look at me and we beamed at each other.
I turned back to the camera and answered, “We're deeply in love.”
Tripp squealed and clapped his hands, then wrapped his arms around my neck and pressed a firm kiss against my cheek. “Question number two – where did I find this beautiful man? Well, I met Decker in high school, where he hated me.”
“Because he pranked me, every single day of high school,” I explained to the camera.
Tripp went on, “But we recently got together because...” he trailed off and raised his eyebrows at me.
“Because,” I took a deep breath and told the camera the truth. “I needed a gorgeous, successful man on my arm to convince my parents that I was doing all right at life. And who better than Tripp? Seriously – I couldn't have asked for anyone better. He's charming, funny, incredibly brave... and obviously gorgeous. No wonder I fell in love with him the moment we spent any time together.”
There was a long pause, and I suddenly became nervous about too
much screen silence. I glanced over at Tripp and did a double-take when I saw tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Oh, baby!” I smiled and pulled him into a tight hug.
“I'm fine,” he sobbed, wiping his face with his sweater-paws and smiling at the camera, “I'm fine! I'm so in love, oh my god!”
Not surprising to either of us, our Q&A video was a viral hit. We got millions of views, millions of comments, and a huge demand for us to make a vlog channel of our relationship. I'd been shocked by how easy it was to tell the camera about our relationship in the Q&A episode – and how exciting and actually fun it had been – but it took a few weeks for me to warm up to the idea of doing something even more personal.
It was Christmas Eve, and Tripp had insisted that I get a tree and let him decorate it – or, more accurately, tell me which decorations to hang and where. Halfway through the exercise, he finally got off the couch and pushed me aside, grabbed the tinsel out of my hand, and showed me how to throw it over the branches “with a flourish”.
“See?” he said, motioning to how he’d thrown the tinsel just so.
“No, I don’t see,” I replied honestly.
“Oh my god,” he groaned and rolled his eyes. “Get out of my way, I'm going to finish up.”
“All right!” I said, laughing and backing away. “I'll be back in a moment.”
I ran into the bedroom and scurried through my underwear drawer, grabbed my camera off the dresser, and checked its batteries.
“Baby! Come in here, I'm about to put the star on top! Get a picture!”
I switched on the camera and whispered, “Tripp's about to put the star on the tree, let's go watch.”
I walked back into the living room and filmed as Tripp clambered up onto a dining chair, balanced on one foot and kicked his leg back as he daintily positioned the glowing plastic star on top of the beautifully decorated tree.
“Gorgeous!” he cheered and clapped, then turned to me and asked, “Did you get the shot?”
“Uh huh, I got it,” I grinned, and kept rolling. “Come down here, I want to give you an early gift.”
Claimed By My Pretend Boyfriend: Blackwater Pack Book Six Page 16