From Best Friend to Fiancée

by Ellie Darkins

  CHAPTER THREE

  ‘WOW, YOU LOOK...’

  Lara stood by the door of her apartment, eyebrow raised as Jannes looked her up and down, waiting for him to finish his sentence. They really needed to get on their way to the wedding, but there was no way she was leaving until she had heard what Jannes thought.

  ‘...nice,’ he finished, and she rolled her eyes.

  Nice was the worst of all the compliments. She kind of wished that she’d not let him finish now.

  ‘You too,’ she replied with a smirk. ‘Shall we go?’

  Normally she would have invited him in. Let him lean his long limbs against the kitchen counter while she darted between her bedroom and bathroom, posting pictures of her getting ready, gathering up last-minute bits for her handbag, forgetting her credit card and having to run back for her lipstick.

  She was nervous about seeing her family, wanted to get it over and done with. That was what she told herself as she hustled Jannes out of the door. Nothing to do with not trusting herself to be alone in her apartment with him after that kiss. Everything would go back to normal after tonight. They would put this behind them and get back to slobbing around in lounge pants and watching bad TV together at the weekends. Back to maintaining their friendship over video calls while he went from training camp to training camp, around the world solo and back again.

  Soon, she’d be able to look at him and find him nice again. The way that she had before that kiss. Because, right now, nice didn’t seem to be doing him justice, and she wasn’t sure what could have changed that other than the kiss that they’d shared.

  The suit helped of course. Cut close to his shoulders, the waist and hips slender enough to make her jealous, but which she knew now were hardened muscle underneath. His shirt was pale blue, just enough of a hint of colour to do something to his eyes that made them hard to look away from. That made his skin and his hair glow. Really, sometimes it was very hard being his friend.

  She fluffed up her hair and locked the door behind her, checking her lift sharing app to make sure that the driver had found her apartment building. Or to give her eyes somewhere to look that wasn’t at Jannes.

  ‘So, anything I need to know before we go in there?’ Jannes asked in the car on the way to the ceremony at the groom’s parents’ manor out in the home counties.

  ‘Oh, you know...the usual: my jackass of a father. Secret second daughter—i.e. me—taken into the bosom of the “official” family when her mum received an eviction notice from the flat that she thought she owned and all was discovered. Step-family determined to make up for his shortcomings by being obsessively kind. Pip, the only child who always dreamed of having a sister, suddenly finding she had one all along and determined to love me.’

  Jannes was silent for a second as she collected herself. ‘Will he be there?’ he asked, his voice so gentle it threatened to spark tears.

  ‘Nope. Haven’t seen him for years. He sees some of the family but I’ve always managed to dodge him. Pip didn’t invite him; she knew I wouldn’t come if she did.’ And she wouldn’t care if she never saw him again. Which was convenient, really, considering that he seemed to feel the same way about her. ‘His mother will be. My grandmother, I suppose. Hard to think of her like that though when I spent most of my life being told that she was dead.’

  Jannes reached for her hand and squeezed it. She pulled it away before she could do something stupid like turn her palm to his and lace their fingers together. ‘I’m sorry today will be hard for you. I think you’re really brave for doing this.’

  ‘Brave. Stupid. What’s the difference?’ She forced a smile to her face, but knew that Jannes wouldn’t be fooled.

  ‘You’re a good sister, putting yourself through it for Pip. You must really care about her.’

  Lara shrugged, shifting her hand out of reach just as he reached for it. ‘They took us in. Kicked him out. I owe them.’

  Jannes nodded in agreement. Squeezed her hand again.

  The car slammed to a halt outside the gates to Pip’s fiancé’s family home, stopping her from doing anything stupid. ‘You sure you want to do this?’ he asked as she reached for the door handle.

  She forced a smile. ‘Nope, but we’re going to anyway.’

  ‘That’s my girl.’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  HIS GIRL.

  Well, it was true enough for the next few hours, Jannes supposed, walking through the grounds with Lara’s hand in his. He’d half expected that they’d be hidden away in a corner, being unobtrusive, avoiding notice. He wasn’t sure why he would think that when three years of friendship with Lara had yet to produce a problem that she didn’t think was best tackled head-on with the volume turned up. She marched straight to her grandmother and kissed her dryly on the cheek before introducing him.

  ‘Elaine, this is my boyfriend, Jannes.’

  Warm hands clasped his as a kiss was pressed to his cheek.

  ‘I was just saying that it was about time you settled down,’ Lara’s grandmother said. ‘Now you two, come and sit by me and fill me in on your news.’

  ‘Ah—’ Jannes said.

  At the same time Lara replied, ‘We’re just going to grab a drink before Pip arrives. But we’ll definitely catch up with you later.’

  And then he was kissed by a series of aunts and cousins and assorted other strangers before being pushed into a chair near to the front of the assembled rows in the largest marquee and the chatter dropped to a hushed whisper.

  ‘You doing okay?’ he asked.

  She gave him a tight smile, and then Pip arrived, floating down the aisle in a powder-puff-pink dress. But Jannes’s eyes snapped back to Pip’s fiancé as he watched her, dumbstruck, grinning dopily. His expression—as if he couldn’t believe his luck—didn’t change the whole time they were exchanging their vows. It was a good look on him, Jannes decided, slightly envious of the satisfied glow that emanated from the happy couple.

  He risked a glance across at Lara, who was watching the proceedings with a fixed smile in place. He linked her fingers with his, trying not to notice how natural that had started to feel. They had done it only a few times since that first time in the park, but it just felt...right. This was why they had been so careful before—because they had both known that the attraction was there, because they both knew that this could be something more if they wanted it to be. And because he knew how much he didn’t want that to happen. He didn’t want to get closer to Lara, only to be afraid that she would leave him. He didn’t want to hurt her, pulling away because of that fear. Being just friends was safer for both of them.

  It was easy to see now that they had breached the buffer that had always been between them. How they had always been careful to avoid the accidental touches that sent sparks flying between them. Because now they had crossed that divide and seen—felt—what things were like on the other side, it was hard to remember how it had felt to not know. Harder to think about how they were meant to get back to a place where they were ignorant of this. And when he thought about that kiss...

  Well, mostly, he just didn’t think about that kiss, because, well, when he started it was too hard to stop. He’d have a flashback while he was waiting for pasta to cook and find himself half an hour later, staring at a glutinous mass of overcooked starch and wonder how he could lose time thinking about a simple kiss. A kiss that wasn’t even supposed to be the real thing. But had nonetheless shaken him to his bones in a way that no other kiss seemed to have ever managed.

  Speaking of kisses, the happy couple were now locking lips while somehow simultaneously giggling, and then passing back along the aisle, and he realised he’d missed the last ten minutes and the ceremony was over.

  Lara let out a long breath that made him wonder when she’d last inhaled, and he reached an arm around her shoulder in a way that he had meant to be friendly. But he hadn’t been counting on
the effect of the bare skin of his forearm—he’d rolled his sleeves up in the sweltering garden outside, and Lara had taken her jacket off—against the warm skin of Lara’s shoulders. Her jumpsuit had a complicated criss-cross of straps spanning her shoulder blades, revealing golden skin down to the small of her back. Which had never really been a part of the human body that had interested him before, but that he was finding hard to resist. Lara sat stiffly beside him, not leaning into him, and that should have been fine. This whole day was about Lara and if what she needed was this inch of clear space between his ribs and hers, then that was fine. That was what they were doing. It was completely out of order for him to be disappointed that she had passed up the opportunity to lean into him, just because he was curious about how good that might feel.

  This wasn’t about feeling. It was about appearances. And if an arm around her shoulder was all the situation required then that was all they would do.

  Lara gave herself a little shake and turned to him with a slightly more natural smile on her face.

  ‘Bar?’ she asked.

  ‘Bar,’ Jannes agreed, keeping his arm around her shoulders as they walked towards one of the smaller marquees—just for the sake of authenticity, of course.

  ‘Just so I know,’ Jannes asked, as she ordered a beer for him and a bottle of wine for herself, ‘is the drinking going to be in any way in moderation? No judgement either way.’

  ‘Absolutely not,’ Lara said, pouring herself a large glass and tucking the bottle under her arm as they went to find a seat outside. ‘I’m counting on you to make sure I get home later without making too much of a tit of myself.’

  ‘Babysitting duty. Got it.’

  She frowned at that. ‘Less babysitter. More...wingman.’

  ‘Isn’t a wingman meant to help you get laid?’ he asked. ‘That might undermine our story a little.’

  She waved his concern away with a hand. ‘You just have to help me find you, then. You’re my hook-up.’

  ‘I thought I was your boyfriend,’ he said, laughing at how quickly Lara had got flushed and silly with the wine.

  ‘Right. Otherwise known as a guaranteed hook-up.’

  Jannes rolled his eyes. ‘You’re so romantic.’

  ‘You’re not with me for hearts and flowers. I don’t really go in for that.’

  ‘Oh, really?’ He regarded her carefully, trying to keep his expression neutral. ‘What am I with you for?’

  ‘The wild sex and Instagram freebies.’

  He felt his face warm and knew it must be flushing red. His only hope was that he had caught enough sun this summer that his tan would hide it a little.

  ‘I’ve embarrassed you!’ Lara said with a small squeal of delight and smacked a kiss on his cheek. ‘That’s adorable.’

  ‘Don’t call me adorable. You’re insufferable.’

  ‘I never said today was going to be easy.’

  ‘You never told me that you were going to be the hardest part.’ But he smiled, because even when she was being insufferable he had more fun with her than he knew how to have with anyone else.

  ‘Sorry,’ Lara said with a smile and a gulp of wine that suggested she wasn’t, in the least.

  ‘Here,’ he said, handing her a glass of water, condensation beading the glass.

  ‘Spoilsport,’ she said with a frown. ‘Some wingman you are.’

  ‘I’m not slowing you down, sötnos. But you’ll thank me for the hydration in the morning.’

  ‘Fine.’ She drank half the glass in one go, and he found himself unreasonably intrigued by the line of her neck as she tipped her head back to drink. ‘And don’t speak Swedish to me. You know I think you’re cute when you do that.’

  As she handed back the glass, cheers and applause rippled through the garden and he turned to see Pip and her husband in the doorway, fresh from having their photos taken and ready to party with their guests.

  Pip made a beeline for Lara and wrapped her in a tight hug. He saw how Lara stiffened in the presence of her half-sister, and he slid his arm around her waist and squeezed gently, making sure Lara knew he was there for her if she needed him. He leaned in to kiss Pip on the cheek too—they had met a couple of times—and shook hands with the groom.

  ‘Congratulations,’ he said, covering for Lara’s awkward silence. ‘It was a lovely ceremony.’

  ‘It was short,’ Pip said with a laugh. ‘I’m impatient, and it makes you popular with the guests. And we’re not the only ones who need congratulating. It looks like you two have news for us too!’ She looked pointedly at where Jannes’s arm was still resting on Lara’s hip. ‘I always said there was something between you two. I’m glad you finally worked it out. We all wondered how long it would take you.’

  ‘All?’ Lara said, hiding a laugh. ‘You should have said something. Maybe it wouldn’t have taken us so long.’ Jannes resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Lara couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease, even when no one but the two of them were in on the joke.

  ‘We’re keeping you from your guests,’ Jannes said tactfully as the conversation petered out and a crowd gathered around Pip and her new husband. ‘I don’t want to be accused of monopolising you.’

  ‘You’re right, but I’m going to want to hear all about it later,’ Pip said with another hug for her sister. ‘You guys look great together,’ she said. Adding, ‘Look after her. She’s special,’ with a mock stern look at Jannes before she turned away from the crush of well-wishers.

  Jannes looked down at Lara and saw that the hand holding her wine was shaking slightly. Her shoulders were set in a stiff line, and the smile on her face was threatening to slide into a grimace.

  ‘Hey,’ Jannes said, turning Lara’s face up to his and then wrapping her in a hug. ‘You did well. Really well. Pip was so happy to see you here.’ He held her tighter still, until he felt the shaking stop. ‘Better?’ he asked, looking down at the top of her head. Her forehead was pressed against his chest and, before he could think too hard about it, he dropped a kiss to her hair and brought up one hand to cup the nape of her neck.

  He wasn’t even sure that this was what she had meant, when she’d asked him to pretend to be her boyfriend. That was meant to be for show. To satisfy the curiosity of her family. But holding her like this—this wasn’t for show. This was because she needed him, and when it came to Lara he didn’t know how to say no to her. And now that the usual boundaries between them had been bulldozed by that kiss, here they were, in the middle of a family wedding, with her head on his chest and his fingers in her hair, learning the texture of it, the feel of it slipping through his fingers as she took a long shuddering breath.

  When she looked up the strain had gone from her expression. Instead there was something there he recognised from that day in the park, right before they’d kissed. His hand was still tangled in her hair, hers still rested lightly on his hips. Looking into her eyes, he could see that she was thinking about it too, and when her tongue darted out to moisten parted lips he knew she was tempted. Or she was acting, playing a part. He was here to play a part too, and he leaned down to brush a gentle kiss to her lips.

  ‘Lara!’

  She broke away at the sound of her name and Jannes looked up to see Pip’s mother and her new partner brandishing a bottle of champagne and a handful of glasses.

  ‘We’re so thrilled you’re here,’ Gloria, Pip’s mother, said, kissing Lara on both cheeks and then leaning back to get a good look at her. ‘You’re looking incredible,’ she said, and then glanced up at Jannes. ‘And you must be Jannes. I’ve heard so much about you. Thank you for coming.’

  ‘Thanks for having me,’ he said, smiling and shaking hands and silently cursing that they’d been interrupted. And then wanted to kick himself for the selfish thought. He wasn’t supposed to care whether or not he was kissing Lara. This was meant to be play-acting.

 
He reminded himself of that as he made small talk with Lara and her family, his hand resting on the small of her back, as if he wasn’t thoroughly distracted by the thought of all that golden skin under the criss-crosses of her jumpsuit.

  * * *

  He was good. Oh, he was really good. She had to remind herself of that. Remind herself not to let herself get dizzy from the warm, lazy circles Jannes was rubbing at the small of her back. He was being supportive. And kind. And he was kissing her and touching her because that was exactly what she’d asked him to do—to pretend to be her boyfriend and to make it convincing... There was nothing personal in the feel of his skin on hers. Even in the way that his lips brushed hers.

  Thank God they had talked about this. She didn’t have to think about her feelings. About what feelings Jannes might or might not be having. Here, of all places, among these people, she needed that certainty. Having talked with Jannes beforehand about what they were doing, the fake boyfriend was the only solution.

  She’d spent her childhood adoring someone who had lied to her every time he had opened his mouth and spoken to her. Every ‘I love you’ that had come from his lips was worthless. She wasn’t going to spend her adulthood repeating those mistakes. And if that meant agreeing in advance that a relationship was a lie, rather than waiting and hoping and then just finding out later, then that was what she would do. What would Jannes think if she told him that? she wondered. If she confessed that she wanted him, but only if they were pretending. Would he settle for that? If that was all that she could give him?

  She leaned into Jannes’s side, breathing freely again as she watched her stepmother move away, making her way through the assembled guests, kissing cheeks and directing wait staff with trays of champagne and spreading her good mood throughout the crowds.

  ‘You going to finish the bottle now?’ Jannes asked, watching her watching Pip’s mother and sensing her mood.

  ‘Oh, yeah.’

  ‘Then we should go and find you some carbs.’