“When is your birthday?” Josie should know this kind of stuff. She also needed to get him a present, although she had no idea what to buy for someone like him.
“Valentine’s Day,” he said, looking a little embarrassed. “It’s the worst holiday to share a birthday with.”
Worst holiday? She kind of agreed with him. It was a horrible holiday unless you had a significant other to share it with. This year it was going to suck, even with Colin Wilde pretending to be her boyfriend. Scarlet was getting married on Valentine’s Day. “At least your birthday isn’t on Christmas.” Josie wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the chill. “I haven’t had a birthday present that didn’t double as a Christmas gift for a really long time.”
“You’re a Christmas baby?” he asked, giving her a sexy smirk. “That is rough.”
Josie shouldn’t complain. Her mother had made a big deal out of her birthday when she was alive. They always celebrated her birthday in the evening, but her father hadn’t carried on the tradition, especially after he married Monica.
“Sorry, but this year you’ll be spending your birthday with my crazy family. Scarlet is getting married on Valentine’s Day.”
“Well, I suppose they won’t ever forget their anniversary.”
“Neither will you,” Josie said dryly.
“Quite right,” Colin said with a low chuckle.
Josie liked his laugh. It softened his face and made him seem more like a regular guy instead of a celebrity. She studied him and felt a warmth surge through her when their eyes connected. “When are you going back to England?” she asked while wondering at the same time if she’d ever see him again after the wedding.
“I guess that all depends on what happens.” Colin stared at her steadily. “I’m hoping I’ll have another reason to stay.”
The way he was looking at her made her believe he was talking about her. Of course, he didn’t mean it that way. “Right. Your music.”
“Right.” One corner of his mouth edged up. “So, perhaps we should discuss our backstory? How we met and all that.”
Her face flushed, this time from embarrassment. At least his reason for wanting a fake fiancée was legit. Her excuse stemmed from pathetic pride. If he didn’t need her help, Josie would call the whole thing off right now. “I think we should say that Shelby introduced us since that’s actually true.”
He nodded his head. “When did we meet?”
She tried recalling what she’d told Scarlet when she’d asked her the same thing. “Four months ago?”
“And we’re engaged after only four months?” he asked.
A rush of blood heated Josie’s cheeks. Apparently, she wasn’t the kind of girl that inspired a man to propose in such a short amount of time. “Sorry.” She looked away from him. “I never thought I’d actually have to produce a real fiancé.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I’ve already tried the real thing, and it didn’t work out so well.”
“You’ve been engaged before?” he asked.
The tone of his voice held a hint of annoyance like he might be jealous. “Yes, but I broke it off last year.”
“Why?” he asked, still sounding slightly put out as if she’d cheated on him.
“Because I caught him making out with my stepsister.” It had actually been more than just a little make-out session, or at least it would’ve been if Josie hadn’t returned when she had.
Compassion filled his eyes. “Sorry about that.”
“I’m not.” She looked away again. “At least he cheated on me before we got married.” For some dumb reason, Josie’s eyes filled up with tears. She blinked a couple of times and sniffed. Crying would just add to her humiliation. Zane wasn’t worth crying over.
“I won’t cheat on you,” Colin said quietly as he stepped beside her. “I may have done some stupid things in the past, but I’m not a cheater.”
His shoulder brushed against hers, making her suck in a quick breath. Her body crackled with awareness as warmth spread through her. She didn’t know how to respond. She wasn’t even sure her voice would work, so she simply nodded her head. The live-streamed wedding would be a disaster if Josie didn’t learn to act normal around Colin.
“So, how did I propose?” He playfully nudged her arm, sending another heated round of tingling attraction.
Sidestepping away from him, her chest loosened a fraction, allowing her to take in a normal breath. She thought about Zane’s proposal, which technically wasn’t really a proposal. He’d only done it on a dare from one of his roommates.
“I don’t know.” She turned to face him. “Since you live in England and I live here, we could say you asked me on a face-to-face phone call?”
“That’s rather pathetic of me. I should hope I’d do a better job than that.”
His admission made her smile. “How would you propose?”
“I honestly don’t know.” The muscle in his jaw tightened as he studied her closely. “It wouldn’t be over the phone. Maybe we had a quiet dinner at your flat, and then I asked you just before leaving for home?”
She wasn’t sure why she felt disappointed with his unimaginative proposal. “Sure, that works.”
He continued to watch her as if trying to convince himself he really wanted to go through with the plan. Josie’s phone buzzed inside her pocket. She pulled it out and frowned when she saw it was her stepmother calling.
“Do you need to get that?” Colin asked.
“I’ll call her back.” She declined the call and typed a quick message to say she would call back soon. Her phone pinged, and a text message from Monica appeared on her screen.
Monica: Does your fiancé have any food allergies? The catering company needs to know within the hour.
Josie had no idea if her fiancé had any food allergies. She didn’t even know what kind of food he liked. Panic churned inside her stomach. She didn’t know anything about Colin Wilde other than what the media reported.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“It’s my stepmother.” Josie looked up at him. “Do you have any food allergies?”
“Curry,” he said, looking as uncomfortable as she felt. “I don’t care for broccoli, but that’s not an allergy.”
“I don’t like it either,” she said, wrinkling her nose. At least they had that in common. “Anything else you don’t like?” she asked.
“Blood pudding.”
“I have no idea what that is, but it sounds disgusting,” Josie said with a smile. She quickly texted the answer to Monica. Seconds later, her phone pinged another text, requesting Colin’s measurements for a tux. She’d never intended for the farce to go this far, but it was too late to back out now. Besides, Colin needed this as much as she did, if not more.
“Um, in case I forgot to mention it, you’re one of the groomsmen.” She lifted her face to look at him. “You don’t happen to know your measurements for a tux, do you?”
“No, but I did rent a suit in Nashville. I’ll check with the shop to see if they have the measurements on file.” He glanced at his watch. “They closed at five, so I’ll have to ring them in the morning.”
“Okay, thank you,” she said before typing a reply to Monica. She waited to see if her stepmother had any more questions and was relieved when nothing else came through.
“I know your birthday is December twenty-fifth,” Colin said when she looked back up at him. “But how old are you?”
“Twenty-four.” She knew he was older than her but had no idea how much. “What about you?”
“I’ll be twenty-eight.” He studied her through his dark lashes. “Did you attend university? How long have you worked for Mrs. Dalton?”
“Yes, I graduated from Mercer University two years ago with a degree in marketing. I started working for Shelby a few months later.” She was grateful he didn’t question her career choice like her family and friends had. “What about you?” she asked. “Did you go to college?”
The muscle in his cheek flexed befor
e he looked away from her. “No,” he said in a low voice. “I would’ve liked to though.”
She sensed he didn’t want to discuss it further, but it was clear they knew so little about each other. “Maybe we should come up with a basic list about ourselves.”
“All right.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and let out a long breath. “It is a bit overwhelming, isn’t it?”
“A bit,” Josie agreed, feeling completely overwhelmed. She needed some alone time. She suspected he did too. She wanted to go back to her apartment, but knew Shelby would never allow that. Not with the paramedic’s edict that someone was with her during the night to wake her up every couple of hours.
It suddenly occurred to her that they never finished their defining the relationship talk. Although she couldn’t imagine he’d want to push her for the kind of intimacy reserved for marriage, she wanted to make sure he knew where she stood on the matter.
“Just to be clear,” she said, unable to look him directly in the eye. “We won’t be sharing a room or a bed.”
He was quiet for so long that she was forced to look at him. A small smile played at his mouth. “I figured as much.” He lifted a questioning brow. “But kissing is allowed, right?”
Josie’s entire body flushed hot, making her bones feel like rubber. She grabbed onto the back of a chair to steady herself. “I suppose so,” she said, wishing her mouth wasn’t so dry.
Holding her gaze, he slowly closed the distance between them. “You don’t sound very sure about that.”
Maybe that’s because she wasn’t sure, especially if he planned on kissing her right now. She wasn’t ready for that. Her head started to spin when he drew close enough to catch the scent of his yummy cologne. They were playing a dangerous game of charades that involved real feelings. Feelings that could morph into something so much more, at least on her end.
“For now,” he said, stretching out his fingers with his palm facing up, “let’s practice holding hands.”
Josie’s head started pounding, making a swooshing sound that mimicked her rapid pulse rate. “Um, okay,” she said with a tiny squeak in her voice. She wished she would have been gifted with a talent for acting. So far, the only acting she’d managed was to act like an idiot. Tentatively, she placed her palm against his. Her skin tingled as heat threaded its way through her body, tying her to him in a way she couldn’t define.
“See,” Colin said, curling his fingers around her hand, “this isn’t so bad.”
Feeling too breathless to speak, Josie nodded her head again. No, holding his hand wasn’t bad at all. In fact, she rather enjoyed it.
Then Colin had to go and steal her moment when he leaned in close. “Perhaps, we’ll work our way up to kissing by tonight, hmm?”
Josie knew he was teasing her. Still, her tummy dropped as if she were riding one of the giant rollercoasters at the Six Flags amusement park. “Okay, good practice.” She let go of his hand and looked at her watch. “We should go back inside. I need to show you to your room so you can get settled.”
His lips twitched, and he nodded his head. “Lead the way,” he said, walking with her to the French doors. He pulled the door open for her and nodded for her to go in front of him. However, he didn’t step back, leaving a small space between his body and the open doorway for her to go through.
Josie didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so she sucked in her tummy and edged past him. There were parts of her body she couldn’t make smaller, and she barely skimmed past him without making contact. Crossing the threshold, she made herself walk at a slow pace, although her mind screamed for her to make a run for it.
Colin followed her inside and moved to stand in front of her. Still reeling from the close contact, Josie stared at his shoes, and then her gaze slowly traveled over him until she stopped on his incredibly handsome face. A sexy smirk tipped the corners of his mouth, making her heart race even faster. The air in the room grew thick and humid like a hot summer day in August. Josie swayed on her feet.
“I think I need to sit down,” she said, holding onto the back of a chair to keep from fainting again.
The playful look on Colin’s face morphed into concern. “Hang on,” he said, gripping her arm to steady her as he guided her to sit down on the loveseat. “Do I need to call for help?”
“No, I’m just a little dizzy.” She drew in a shaky breath and immediately regretted it. The man smelled so good. “But a drink of water would probably help.”
“Right.” He moved away from her and headed for the door. “I’ll see what I can find.”
Josie could really use a few minutes to collect herself, but if Colin went in search of water, then he might run into Cora. And Cora would ask questions, none of which Colin could answer.
“Wait,” she said. “There’s a mini-fridge built into the desk.”
Colin retraced his steps and located the hidden fridge. After getting her a bottle of water, he twisted the cap off. “Here you go, love,” he said, handing the bottle to her.
Oh boy, his British accent was another thing Josie needed to get used to. Although she knew that calling her “love” didn’t mean anything—it was like a Southerner calling someone sweetheart—hearing it come from his perfect lips sounded so amazing.
“Thanks,” Josie said. Her hand shook as she raised the bottle to her mouth and took a long drink. She’d almost guzzled the entire contents when her phone chimed an incoming text. It pinged two more times as she set the water bottle down and fished her phone from her pocket. Without looking, she knew it was from Scarlet. Sending multiple texts was her usual MO like if she sent them one sentence at a time, it was more meaningful.
Scarlet: Do not ignore this text.
Scarlet: The producer for Nashville Informed is asking for some pictures of you and your fiancé.
Scarlet: You have until tomorrow to get them to me.
Josie sighed heavily and rested her head back against the cushion of the loveseat. She seriously doubted the request for the photos was from the producer, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Scarlet would be relentless about getting the non-existent photos, so fighting it was futile.
“Everything okay?” Colin asked.
“Just peachy,” Josie mumbled.
“So, that’s a no?” he asked with amusement.
Lifting her head, she looked him directly in the eyes. “I hope you’re not camera-shy because we have less than twenty-four hours to come up with believable pictures of us for Nashville Informed.”
Chapter 6
Colin
The next morning, Colin stepped out of the steamy shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. Crossing the wood floor, he opened the closet in the luxurious guest room he’d been given as his temporary quarters. It was nicer than some of the five-star hotels he’d stayed in when on tour with Wild Card.
A newly ironed shirt hung in the closet, thanks to his host’s thoughtfulness. Mrs. Dalton had sent her housekeeper to his room to iron a shirt for him while he showered. Had he known someone else would view the contents of his suitcase, Colin would’ve taken more care packing it. He’d shoved everything inside in a rush to make the flight home with Mrs. Dalton and her husband.
After drying off, he pulled the shirt from the hanger and put it on, rolling the cuffs to his forearm. He found his jeans neatly folded in his suitcase. The housekeeper had also tidied up the contents of his luggage.
Moving in front of the mirror, he ran his hand through his hair. It was a little longer on top than he usually liked it. At least the hair product he’d purchased when he arrived in America didn’t make his hair appear stiff.
Hoping Shelby approved of the dark gray shirt, he grabbed another shirt from his suitcase and put it on a hanger. Then he picked up his shoes and padded across the floor in his socks. This rule about no shoes in the house was slightly inconvenient but he wouldn’t complain. The Daltons were the very epitome of Southern hospitality, making him feel like a long lost relativ
e rather than a complete stranger.
Opening the door, he picked up his guitar case and stepped into the hall. Checking the time on his watch, he glanced down the hallway to where Josie’s room was. She’d said she only needed an hour to get ready for the impromptu photo shoot. Once Mrs. Dalton had learned about the request for photos from Josie’s stepsister, the woman wasted no time in orchestrating the production. While Josie hadn’t come out and said it, everyone knew the real reason Scarlet had asked for the pictures was that she wanted photographic proof Josie and Colin were actually a couple.
As Colin headed for Josie’s room, he hoped she hadn’t finished early and left him behind. He wasn’t entirely sure where to go without getting lost. They were supposed to meet Shelby right now for a few candid photos before venturing out on their own for selfies. Colin wasn’t sure how believable the images would be, especially if Josie couldn’t relax. His presence rattled her, and it was quite adorable the way she blushed whenever she looked at him.
Getting close enough for the intimate pictures might prove to be too much for Josie. Of course, Colin wasn’t immune to her. He just knew how to hide his reactions better. Touching her created a mixture of heat and fire that burned through Colin like the fuse on a stick of dynamite. He had a feeling that kissing her was going to rock his world with an explosion as grand as the finale of London’s New Year’s firework show.
He supposed if Josie found his nearness too challenging and uncomfortable, he could suggest they were the type of couple that never displayed affection in public. He was British, after all.
Anticipation at seeing Josie again tightened in his gut as he lightly tapped his knuckles against her door. He felt an energy surge through him as if someone had removed a filter from a lens to let light in. He couldn’t ever remember having this kind of connection with a girl before. It went beyond attraction. It was like he’d found a missing piece to his soul that he hadn’t known was absent.
Moonlighting with the British Rock Star: A Georgia Moon Romance Page 5