I reached for my coffee cup and heard a sharp intake of breath. I worried I did something wrong. Sydney was staring at my hand with wide eyes. I looked to see if I spilled coffee on the pristine white tablecloth.
It was the ring she was staring at.
“Jameson?” she said in a high-pitched voice. “Do you have something to tell us?”
“Can you be more specific?” he asked casually and took a bite of bacon. He seemed to be enjoying himself way too much.
“It seems Paislee is wearing a ring on her finger. The finger. Either you’re dallying with a married woman or you’re engaged. I know you would not have married her without telling me.”
“No, we aren’t married. We’re engaged.”
His mother’s face would have been funny if it wasn’t so serious. “You’re what?”
Jay put his hand over mine. “We’re engaged. Surprise.”
There was a pregnant silence. No one moved or breathed, except Jay. He did not seem to notice the rest of us were caught in a paused moment of shock and terror on my part.
“Engaged!” his mother shrieked. “What? When? How?”
“I asked and she said yes,” he answered.
I was no longer hungry. I tried to smile at Sydney, but she was staring at me with her jaw hanging open. “Engaged!”
“Yes, dear, he said engaged,” Jack said. “You’ve been after him to settle down. It appears your words have sunk in.”
His dad seemed to be taking the news in stride. I liked him immediately. He had Jay’s warm brown eyes. “Thanks, Dad,” Jay said.
“When did you meet?” Sydney asked. “I was not aware there was a special someone in your life.”
“Recently,” Jay answered. That was something we had never discussed. It was a stupid oversight on our part.
“Is there a story? I want to be able to tell my friends how you met in a crowded room and knew immediately you were meant to be together.”
“No story, sorry.”
“That just won’t do. We need a beautiful story. I have the perfect idea!” She clapped her hands together and looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. I was terrified of the woman.
“No, Mom,” Jay said. “We’ve already met. Our story is established.”
“You’ll come to the Jamaica opening,” Sydney said and ignored her son. “We’ll have you in the perfect dress, something pretty and beachy. You two will meet and fall in love and then you’ll be engaged.”
“Too late,” Jay said.
“That sounds nice,” I told her.
“Not going to happen,” Jay said.
“Son, I think your mom is on to something,” Jack said. “People are going to be all over this story. It’s already gaining traction. We saw the picture of the two of you arriving at the gala. Our friends want to know why we didn’t tell them about your girlfriend.”
“Fiancée,” Jay corrected. “And you didn’t tell them because you didn’t know because it is not required for you to know every detail of my personal life.”
“We’re your parents,” Sydney chimed in. “We absolutely need to know these things.”
“Too late.”
“Jameson Harrow, do not be flippant,” his mother scolded.
“Paislee is here. She is wearing my ring. I think it’s a little too late to go back and change the story of how we met. People will know you are making it up. Like you said, we’ve already gone public.”
A pretty young woman waltzed into the room carrying a cup. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Julia, meet your brother’s fiancée,” Sydney snapped.
Julia looked at Jay and burst into laughter. “Yeah, right.”
He nodded, and Julia turned her gaze toward me. I felt myself blushing, but I held up my hand as proof. “Seriously,” I said.
She held up her hand for a high-five. “Good job! Congrats. I love your dress by the way. It’s very retro.”
“Thank you.” I didn’t tell her it was actually retro. I got it at a thrift store. It wasn’t designed to look old fashioned. It actually was old.
“Julia, can you please sit down?” Sydney scolded. “I was just telling Jameson that we need to arrange a meeting at the Jamaica opening.”
“And I was just telling Mom that you can’t close the barn door after the horses escape,” Jay replied.
I snorted and quickly covered my mouth and nose. “Sorry.”
Jay and his parents started talking over one another. I looked at Julia, who was staring at me with an amused expression. I decided I liked her. She was nice and seemed way more relaxed than her parents and her brother.
“We can announce the engagement then!” I heard his mother say as she threw up her hands.
“Deal,” Jay agreed.
“Wait, what?” I asked. I wasn’t paying attention and missed what had been agreed upon.
“We will announce our engagement in Jamaica,” he explained.
“Jamaica?” I repeated. My mouth was suddenly dry.
“Yes, Jamaica. We have an opening-night celebration. We’ll do it then.”
It was one thing to tell a couple of people about the fake engagement, but I was getting cold feet about making it official so publicly. “Oh.”
“I would like to be able tell people how the two of you met,” Sydney said. “We need a story to go with this engagement, considering this is all rather sudden.”
I took a drink of my coffee. “I think you can come up with a great story,” I said with a laugh. “Anything is better than telling them the truth.”
“Which is?” Sydney asked and leaned toward me.
“I slammed my car into his pretty little Lamborghini.”
It was the equivalent of a mic drop. I realized what I said about five seconds after the words left my mouth. They were all staring at me, including Jay.
Oops.
Chapter 17
Jameson
The cat was out of the bag now. We should have discussed the story. I was not great at this charade thing. I should have thought about the whole thing a little more. At this point, my parents were going to start suspecting something was up if I didn’t jump in to explain.
My mother’s expression said it all. “You did what?” she said.
Paislee looked at me. I shrugged, telling her she might as well tell the story. Her cheeks were bright red. I knew she was embarrassed. I put my hand on hers and gently squeezed. That seemed to work. She turned back to look at my mother.
“I was on my way home from work and reached for something in the passenger seat. I ran a red light and smashed into Jay’s car.”
“What?” my mother asked with horror. “Are you okay?”
“I was fine,” I told her. “Paislee was hurt.”
My mother looked at her with concern. “You were hurt?”
“I had a concussion.”
“Oh my gosh,” Julia said with concern. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“And that’s how you met?” my mother asked her.
Paislee looked at me and smiled. “I vaguely remember the accident. I do remember coming to at one point and seeing Jay. I don’t remember much after that until I woke up. The moment I opened my eyes in the hospital, it was Jay’s face I saw.”
“He was at the hospital with you?” Julia asked.
She was treading in dangerous waters. “Yes, I don’t have family and the hospital couldn’t find a next of kin to notify. Jay was sweet enough to stay with me. In fact, he rode in the ambulance to the hospital with me. I still remember when I looked into those warm brown eyes. It was the sweetest moment.”
I believed her story. Hearing her tell it like that was surprising. Judging by the looks on my family’s faces, they were eating it up. Now, the tricky part was making sure the timetable didn’t get revealed. That part needed to stay vague.
“What made you want to ride with the woman who plowed into your car?” Julia asked.
“I saw her unconscious in
her car. She had a little cut on her head, blood in her hair. I pounded on the window, and when she opened her eyes for the briefest second, I just felt something I couldn’t explain. She looked like she needed a friend. When the cops tried to tell me I wasn’t allowed in the ambulance, I used the family name.”
“The doctor said I couldn’t be home alone,” Paislee said and picked up the story. “I did not want to stay another night in the hospital. Jay picked up on my distress and offered to let me stay at his place.”
My mother’s brow arched. “Oh, he did, did he?”
“In the guest bedroom,” I said quickly.
“He was so sweet. He woke me up every two hours. I know he barely got any rest himself.”
My mom was now looking at me. I knew that look. It was the same way she looked at me when I said or did something nice for her. She actually had a twinkle in her eye. “He did that?” she asked as she looked at me.
“Yes, he did,” Paislee said with just the right amount of admiration.
“Good job, son,” my father said. “I’m proud you stepped up.”
“Trust me, I got the better end of the deal.”
“You are such a romantic!” Julia exclaimed. “I had no idea!”
I shrugged and took a bite of my French toast. “I can’t reveal all my secrets.”
Paislee finally picked up her fork and took a bite. I was glad she was feeling more at ease. She told our story with ease. She sold it. “I guess you can say the rest is history,” Paislee said with a laugh. “I knew the moment I opened my eyes in the hospital that he was the man I was going to marry.”
Julia fanned a hand in front of her face. “I’m going to cry!”
“It is a sweet story,” my mother agreed.
“He’s a good man,” Paislee said and looked at me with adoration in her eyes. I had to remind myself it was fake. She was putting on a show. She didn’t actually feel that way about me.
But damn, if that adoration were real, I would count myself a lucky man.
“I’m so glad it worked out for you both,” my mother said. “Tell us all about yourself.”
This was going to be tricky. “There isn’t a lot to tell. I was orphaned when I was two. My parents didn’t have any relatives to take me in. I was raised in a Catholic orphanage.”
“Oh my god,” Julia gasped.
I barely heard her. I was hanging on every word Paislee said. I didn’t know her story and was anxious to hear it.
“Oh, my goodness,” my mother said with a pout. “That must have been terrible. I can’t believe you weren’t adopted. You’re a beautiful young lady.”
Paislee laughed. “Thank you. I was difficult as a child.”
“How so?” I asked before remembering I was supposed to know this stuff already.
“I was always on the go. I never quite checked all the boxes. Every birthday, I knew it was more and more unlikely I would be adopted. I reached a point when I gave up and decided I didn’t want to be adopted. I petitioned the state to be my own person at seventeen and I never looked back.”
My family and I were all staring at her. I couldn’t believe she’d been all alone in the world. I didn’t always get along with my family, but I couldn’t imagine not having them.
My mother patted Paislee’s arm. “I guess it’s a good thing Jameson found you.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I’m glad he found me as well. Although technically, I think I found him.”
“Now, I love your story,” my mom started.
I groaned. I knew her too well. There was a huge but coming. “Don’t,” I said.
“Stop. Your story is cute, but don’t you think it would be far more romantic if we could say you guys met at the gala or, say, the Jamaica opening? We could advertise the new hotel as a romantic destination. We’ll have a little blurb with your engagement photo in it. If the owner fell in love, why can’t our guests?”
“No. It’s too late. We’ve already been outed.”
“It’s not too late. There weren’t that many people at the gala. No one knew you were engaged. At least that’s not what I’ve heard.”
“No. I’m not going to do some stupid cheesy story for press.”
“Just imagine it. She’s dressed in a floral sundress with little makeup on and a sun-kissed look. You’re at the bar getting a fruity coconut drink and happen to look up and see this beautiful woman laughing with her friends. She’s got a drink in her hand as well. You watch as she puts the straw to her mouth. When she looks up, your eyes meet. It’s an instant attraction and you are drawn to each other across the crowded dance floor.”
Paislee choked. Julia giggled. My father smiled and nodded.
“No,” I said firmly. “That’s a fantasy. We live in the real world. Our story is just as romantic.”
“What do you think, Paislee?” my mother asked.
I shot my mother a glare. That was not fair. She was playing dirty now.
Paislee shrugged uncomfortably. “Um, it’s nice. I mean, it’s something you would expect to see in a romantic movie.”
“Exactly!” my mother said and slapped her hand on the table. “It’s a beautiful story.”
“You’re implying our story isn’t,” I said.
She wrinkled her nose. “Well, it’s more tragic than romantic.”
“She didn’t die,” I shot back.
“Jameson,” my father scolded.
“Well, it wasn’t like anyone got seriously hurt, except my Lambo. She said it was tragic.”
“It could have been,” Julia said. She flashed me a grin. She was purposely siding with my mother just to be a pain in the ass.
“But it wasn’t,” I said.
“Jameson, we have an opportunity here. Don’t you want to be able to tell your story at your engagement party?”
“Are you suggesting we can’t tell our story?”
My mother groaned and rolled her eyes. “One of you could have been killed. One of you broke the law. That’s not the story you want to tell your children.”
Paislee choked and reached for her juice. I gently patted her on the back. “Mom, please don’t start on the kid thing. We’ve only just got engaged. You’re going to scare her away.”
“Well, I hope you’ve had that discussion,” she said in a prim voice. She looked at Paislee. I knew that look. It was her serious, you-will-do-what-I-say look. “Paislee, do you want children?”
“Mom!”
“I do,” Paislee answered before I could pull it back. It was like a speeding train. There was no stopping it now.
My mom’s face lit up. “Great! Fabulous!”
The look of satisfaction on my mother’s face said it all. She was doing a happy dance on the inside. She had won.
“Can we eat our breakfast?” I grumbled.
“So, Paislee,” Julia said. “Jamaica is pretty great. The hotel is beautiful. Have you ever been to Jamaica?”
“No,” she said.
“Then you’re going to love it. I’ll show you the fun spots.”
Paislee smiled. “I’d like that.”
I was outnumbered. They were going to have her in Jamaica whether I wanted it or not. Julia was grinning like an idiot. She knew she had won. There was no way I could tell Paislee no. Fortunately, now that my mother had decided our future, we got to eat breakfast.
The whole time, my mother prattled on about Jamaica and the plans for the grand opening, but I barely heard her. All I could think about was getting Paislee a passport. I wasn’t sure how I would explain her inability to leave the country because she didn’t have a passport.
So far, they didn’t know everything about her background. I knew they wouldn’t stick their noses too high in the air because she wasn’t technically of our social circle, but it would definitely cause some issues.
I wasn’t really prepared to have her in Jamaica. It was going to change everything. I was going to the opening as an engaged man. That was weird to think about.
“B
reakfast was amazing,” Paislee said.
My mom waved a hand. “I’ll pass your compliments to the cook.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t cook, sweetie,” she said with a laugh. “Do you?”
Paislee shrugged. “I can follow a recipe.”
I was glad she was keeping things vague. Once we got in the car, we were going to have a long conversation. If she was going to be in Jamaica with my family, we needed to get our stories straight. If my family found out this was all bullshit, they would be furious. My mother would be hurt. I couldn’t do that to her.
My plan was kind of half-cocked. I should have thought it through more. I could practically hear Ashton in the back of my mind bitching at me for jumping without thinking. He would be right. I didn’t think it through. I got a wild idea, and I ran with it. I didn’t stop to think about it or give myself time to reconsider.
I just hoped it didn’t come back to bite me in the ass.
Chapter 18
Paislee
I didn’t start breathing normally until we were tucked in his car and out the second gate on our way back to the city. I released the breath in one long woosh. “That was intense.”
“It was. I should have prepared you more.”
My fingers twirled the ring on my left hand. The ring felt heavier the longer I wore it. It was a reminder of the lie I was a part of.
His family was nice, and I felt terribly guilty about lying to them. I did understand what he meant about his mom being a little on the domineering side, but I could see it was only because she loved him.
“We should have gotten our stories straight,” I corrected.
“You’re right. What are you doing the rest of the day? Do you work?”
“No, I’m off today.”
“Can you come back to my place for a bit? We can give each other a rundown of who we are and solidify our story a bit. You did great back there by the way.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you. She caught me off guard. I’m not a great liar. I hate lying.”
“It wasn’t even a lie. You stuck to the truth and it worked.”
Pay Up Hot Stuff: A Billionaire Fake Fiancée Romance Page 11