by Raquel Belle
That made her smile. “Maybe I can teach you how to make a few simple dishes.”
“That would be appreciated. Now, what do you need?”
More nervous than she was a few minutes ago, Jenna twisted her hands together. She cleared her throat and began, “You’d say we’re pretty good friends, right Adam? I mean, more than a few years have passed, but we’ve known each other for a while. We’re friends. And friends help each other out, right?”
Adam folded his arms across his chest and regarded her with a penetrating stare. They were face-to-face and standing too close together for Jenna’s comfort. Her eyes briefly dropped to his bare torso, and she was tempted to grab him.
“What do you need, Jenna? Just spit it out.”
“Okay. We’re both traveling home for the wedding together, so why not go … together?”
Adam cocked a brow. “We are already going together.”
Jenna let out a breath. “Oh, to hell with it. Adam, I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend for the week of Noah’s wedding.” It wasn’t her smoothest moment, but she got it out.
Silence hung between them for way too long. Adam gawked at her, until she started to shuffle from one foot to the other. “Adam?” She called his name tentatively. “Say something.”
“Hell no,” he declared with finality.
Jenna’s shoulders sagged. “That’s it? You’re not even going to ask why?”
“Nope.” He stalked off in the direction of the bathroom.
“Adam!”
He wheeled around, and she walked right into him, landing against his chest. Adam released a low groan and steadied her to hold her at arm’s length. “Jenna …”
“Sorry,” she whispered, red-faced.
With his hands on her shoulders, he stared down at her. “Jenna, I would do many things for you. Hell, I’d even say I would do anything for you, except that.” He was gone before she could gather her thoughts and explain why she needed such an outrageous favor.
The bathroom door closed, and she found herself going after him. When she burst into the bathroom, Adam was the in the process of removing his sweatpants. “Adam, come on, you didn’t even …”
Sweet baby Jesus. Jenna froze. Adam in only his boxers was a sight to behold. The bulge at his crotch was very noticeable and very impressive.
“What the fuck, Jenna?” he growled.
Realizing that she had barged in without so much as a knock, she sputtered, “Oh, God, I’m so sorry.” Backing out of the room, she gave her most beseeching pout, the one that never failed to wear Noah and her father down. “At least think about it while you shower?”
“No.”
“Please.”
He wiped a hand over his face. “Don’t do that. Don’t look at me like that.”
She pursed her lips to hide her knowing smile. She’d already worn him down. “We’ll have a discussion in a bit, then?”
“Jenna, get out.”
“So, that’s a yes?”
There was a smile threatening to emerge, but he managed to hold it back. “If you don’t get out, you’ll get an eye full.” He reached for the waistband of his boxers and began to push it over his hips.
Jenna’s eyes bulged, and she gasped and wheeled around. She slammed the door, and then leaned against it hot-faced, as her heart fluttered. “I’m such a prude.” She mentally kicked herself. Instead of making some equally suggestive comeback to counter Adam’s teasing, she’d scurried away like a virgin afraid of the sight of a naked man. A very beautiful naked man. Adam’s taunting laughter followed her down the hallway, and she scowled.
Chapter Seven
Adam
Adam found himself sitting across from Jenna, tapping his fingers on the table. Of course, he had given in and agreed to hear her out. Nobody denied Jenna anything when she gave that pout. Many times he had watched, amused, as she wore Noah down with the same, damn imploring pout. He was as much of a sucker as Noah was. Scowling, he watched her eat, hating that he wanted to kiss her each time she lifted the fork to her delectable lips.
“Ready to hear me out?”
“I wouldn’t be sitting here if I wasn’t. My curiosity got the better of me. I want to know what would possess you to come up with such a ludicrous idea.”
Jenna sighed and pushed the now empty takeout box aside. “First, thanks for dinner.”
“You’re welcome. Now spill.” He sat back, folded his arms across his chest and regarded Jenna with cool interest. When she pulled in a deep breath and folded her hands on the table, he lifted a brow. “Jenna …” He noticed the patches of pink in her cheeks, and his curiosity grew.
Jenna twiddled her thumbs and looked skyward. “My embarrassment knows no bounds.” Meeting his gaze, she confessed, “I can’t show up to Noah’s wedding without a date because he invited my ex-boyfriend.”
Seconds of silence ticked by as Adam stared at her. Jenna pursed her lips and blushed as she never had before. Adam cleared his throat lightly and shifted in his chair. One shoulder lifted. “So what if your ex will be at the wedding? I still don’t see why you would want to pretend we’re together.” He wasn’t going to do it. No way in hell. It was hard enough keeping his thoughts about Jenna chaste. But, to pretend that she was his? Would they have to hold hands? Kiss? What exactly did being her fake boyfriend entail? It was the worst idea ever.
Averting his gaze, she bit her lower lip, and Adam hissed an expletive under his breath. Watching the small white teeth sink into the plump flesh bordered on torture. Finally, throwing her hands in the air, Jenna let out a growl. “He dumped me. Okay? It took me by surprise. We were together for two years, and the whole time we were fine.” She paused. “Well, I thought we were. I had no idea that he was entertaining the idea of other women, women who were … the opposite of me. He just told me one day that I basically wasn’t good enough, and then he told me we were over. By the next day, he was out with some other woman.”
Jenna stared off into the distance as if reliving the moment. “I was stunned and confused.” Her eyes met his once again. They were wide and imploring. How was he supposed to deny her anything? Adam massaged the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh.
“Jenna, it isn’t a good idea …”
“I was humiliated, Adam. You know the town we grew up in, everybody knows everybody’s business. They all looked at me with such pity and some looked at me with suspicion no doubt wondering what I had done wrong because Bryce is such a great guy.” She rolled her eyes and made a sound of disgust. “The pretentious prick.”
Adam’s brows elevated. “Bryce? He sounds like a fucking douchebag.” He scowled, already hating this Bryce character who treated Jenna so poorly. Jenna’s giggles floated around him, and he sent her an inquiring look. “What?”
“That’s what Ashley said. You two are probably the only ones on my side,” she said. “He is an asshole, but he hides it very well.” She clasped her hands under chin. “That’s why you have to help me out, Adam. He has a girlfriend, you know. After everything he said to me, after the way he humiliated me, I can’t show up without a date. I mean, I would look even more pathetic. Come on, Adam. Are you really going to make me beg? What do I have to do here, get down on my knees?”
His eyes widened, and a tent immediately began to form at his crotch. His imagination ran wild with the visual that Jenna presented. He hoped she didn’t go around saying things like that to just any guy, especially guys with dirty minds like his. “Jenna, don’t say things like that. I beg you.”
She gave him a look of bewilderment. “Then tell me you’ll help me out. The way Bryce ended things was bad enough but to show up alone while he flaunts some bleached blonde with fake tits around? That’s just … I can’t go through the humiliation, Adam.”
Adam shook his head, as he studied Jenna. She was on the verge of a meltdown over some prick who probably wasn’t good enough for her to begin with. “Jenna, calm down. I’d like to help you out, really I would, but Noah would
kill me. I can’t pretend to be involved with you.”
Hope flitted across her face. “So you’d do it if Noah was alright with it? You’d be my pretend boyfriend for the week?”
“Sure,” Adam said. He knew there was no way Noah would agree to such foolery, so he was in the clear. He sat back smugly and smiled. “Of course.”
A wicked grin formed on her lips, and his smile dropped.
Uh oh.
“You leave Noah to me. He’ll go along with anything at this point. He owes me big time, and he knows it.”
Adam stifled a groan. “He won’t go along with it. It’ll be too awkward for him. And for me.”
Jenna studied him in silence, her light scowl deepening with each passing second. “God, Adam, is it really that inconceivable that you would date me?” There was unmistakable hurt flitting across her face. “I’m not even talking about dating for real, and you're disgusted.”
“Disgusted?” he asked. That was a word that he would never use in a sentence when speaking of Jenna. “I assure you, that I’m not disgusted by the thought of dating you for pretend or for real. You’re very attractive, and I’m sure very datable, but you’re Noah’s sister.”
“I’m very much aware,” she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. She let out a long sigh, her shoulders sagging in defeat. “You don’t get it, Adam. If I have to face my ex who pretty much told me I was boring, alone, while he flaunts around some new girl who has everything I obviously don’t, I think the humiliation might kill me. I’ve never heard of anyone actually dying of embarrassment but I think I might be the first. I feel so stupid making such a big deal over seeing Bryce again, but I can’t help the way I feel.”
Adam held back another groan. He was going to do it. Whether Noah agreed to the farce or not, he was going to do it, and simply because he wanted Jenna’s dejected expression and air of defeat to go away. If it were anyone else, he wouldn’t risk his friendship with his best friend.
But it was Jenna.
He wiped his face and huffed. “If Noah is cool with it, fine. I’ll do it.” It was only one week of pretending in her ex’s presence. How hard could it be to keep his hands to himself? There was no way he’d keep his mind out of the gutter, but he wouldn’t dare touch Jenna. Well, he hoped not.
Her head lifted, and her face lit up. “You will? Thank you so much, Adam. I’ll give Noah a heads up, so he doesn’t freak out. Don’t worry! Noah will be fine, and I’ll get around my parents questioning. They’ll be so busy running around before the wedding, that they probably won’t even notice if I stick my tongue down your throat right in front of them.”
Adam swallowed hard and attempted to keep the visual that Jenna’s words conjured at bay. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He hadn’t even thought about what her parents might think about them showing up and announcing that they were a couple.
“I can tell what you’re thinking, Adam, for once.”
“Oh, really?”
She nodded, solemnly. “You’re usually annoyingly unreadable, but at this moment I can tell you’re worried about what mom and dad will think.”
He smiled. It had been ingrained in him from a young age to hide almost everything he felt behind an unbothered facade. It was a result of the toxic home environment he grew up in. “I’m sorry for annoying you, and you’re right; I am concerned about what your parents might think.” He sighed. Maybe Mr. Benson would land him a right hook.
“As I said, don’t worry about them. If they notice anything in the midst of all of the excitement, I’ll figure something out.”
Adam lifted a brow. “How exactly did we happen, Jenna? I have to at least know what to tell folks when they ask about us.”
Jenna pursed her lips and gave him a long look before responding, with a shrug, “The instant you showed up at my door, we hit it off.”
“I see,” he said.
“Uh huh, and by the time we get home we’ll have been dating for two weeks and we’re just seeing where things lead.” Jenna let out a giggle and sat straighter. “This crazy idea is already kind of fun. Ashley was right.”
“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned Ashley. Who is she?”
“Oh. My best friend. I met her when I had first moved here.”
“Ah, you see? As your boyfriend, I should know these things.”
“We’ve only been together for a couple of weeks, Adam. You won’t have to know that much about me.”
Adam shook his head, an impious grin curving his lips. “Tell me, Jenna. In our two weeks of dating and seeing where things lead, will we have slept together yet? I need to know so I can gauge the level of PDA that I need to put out.” He accomplished exactly what he had set out to do. Color slowly seeped into Jenna’s cheeks until they were burning scarlet. Adam’s grin widened. He didn’t know why he took such pleasure in watching Jenna blush. Maybe it was because he didn’t see it often, or maybe it was because he was secretly pleased that he had that effect on her.
“S-slept together?” she asked. “Already? Gee, Adam what type of women do you usually date?”
A brow shot up, and as always, because he couldn’t help it, his eyes did a slow sweep of her. “None like you.” One, he didn’t date. Two, the women he fooled around with certainly weren’t the blushing type. That reminder put a damper on his newfound willingness to go along with Jenna’s ludicrous plan. She was way too good for him, too pure. Even pretending to be her boyfriend made him feel like he was corrupting her in some way. It was illogical, but that was how he felt.
“I wouldn’t sleep with a guy after just two weeks of dating, Adam.” She frowned, and her eyes dropped to his chest, as her face flushed a little brighter. “Well, I don’t usually do things like that but …”
Adam’s eyes flew up to land on her flushed face. He stared at her for a moment, noting the way her teeth sank into her lower lip—in that way that made him want to haul her across the table and devour her mouth—and the way her long lashes dipped to hide her eyes. Was Jenna implying that he was an exception? Clenching his jaw, he resisted the urge to jump up, grab her, throw her over his shoulder, and march to her bedroom. The entire scenario of what he desperately wanted to do played out in his mind, as he gazed at her. He shook his head. It wasn’t going to happen.
Standing abruptly, he nearly sent his chair flying, but he steadied the piece of furniture. He could barely look at Jenna for fear of giving in to his primal urges, but he caught a glimpse of her shocked expression. “I’m going to get some sleep. Maybe by tomorrow, you’ll see how unnecessary this insane plan of yours is.”
Her brows dipped into a scowl, but he was gone before she could say a word in response. Adam, sexually frustrated, and hating himself for wanting what he couldn’t have, muttered a string of expletives as he marched to the living room. He didn’t need sleep. What he needed was to lock himself in the bathroom and whack off to get rid of his increasingly painful erection.
Chapter Eight
Jenna
Jenna spotted Adam easily among the group that walked into the bar. He stood out in every way and she wasn’t the only who noticed. He received more than one appreciative look from females and if she wasn’t mistaken, at least one male, sitting at the bar. Adam stopped and swept the room until his eyes landed on her and her heart gave a little offbeat kick. She gave him a small smile and waved. She continued to gaze his way, totally forgetting that someone sat beside her.
“Wipe the drool off the corner of your mouth, you tramp.” Ashley’s voice rang with amusement. Her eyes, too, lingered on the male specimen making his way toward him.
Jenna blinked and then snorted. She wouldn’t even bother denying that she’d been blatantly staring with longing at Adam. There might even really be a bit of drool on her mouth. “At least now you see for yourself why my childhood crush was revived the second I saw him,” she murmured.
Ashley agreed with a nod. “How have you had that in your apartment for days and haven’t jumped into the sack wi
th him yet?” She plopped her chin on her hand and admired Adam’s long strides across the room. “He’s so...perfect.”
“Down girl,” Jenna laughed. “He’s mine. At least for a week.”
Ashley blinked. “What?”
“That’s the surprise I had for you.”
“Wait, he isn’t the surprise? I thought you invited me here so I could get an eye full of who is quite possibly the most beautiful man on the planet.”
Snickering, Jenna rolled her eyes. “Well, I did want you to meet him but the surprise is, drum roll please...you’re looking at my boyfriend for a week. Fake boyfriend,” she added.
Ashley’s jaw slackened. “Jenna, No,” she gasped.
“What? You said I should do something crazy for once. So, I asked Adam to be my date to the wedding. What’s the problem?” Jenna was confused. She thought Ashley would high five her for the brilliant solution to her ‘dateless for the wedding’ problem.
Before Ashley could explain her horror, Adam arrived. “Ladies, I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
Jenna had called him to invite him out for drinks before they hit the road the next day. She self-consciously adjusted the collar of her work jacket when Adam’s eyes landed on her. She should have stopped home first to slip into something less stuffy. Maybe he would find her too boring and proper like everyone else. “Uh, no. We got here about ten minutes ago.”
Adam grinned and turned to Ashley. Extending a hand he gave her a smile that Jenna was sure made Ashley’s panties slip just a little—if not completely—off. “You must be Ashley.”
Ashley shook his hand enthusiastically. “And you must be Adam. A pleasure to meet you. My God, you’re even more good-looking than I imagined.”
Adam’s rumble of laughter turned several heads in their direction—mostly curious female ones. Jenna found herself holding her breath and watching Adam’s and Ashley’s interaction. Jealousy reared its ugly head. She never made Adam laugh like that.
“Thanks. I like you already.”