by R. J. Groves
“I—”
Her mouth lingered open for a moment before she snapped it shut. No, anything she could think to say would probably only make it worse. She’d made him look like a cheating bastard in front of everyone at the party. Now, she’d practically implied that all he cared about was himself. She dropped her gaze to the floor, feeling his eyes boring into her, and swiped a tear away.
He cleared his throat. “You know, I think I might just … umm … take a taxi home.”
She glanced back up at him. “You don’t have to do that.”
“No, I do.” He was avoiding looking at her. “I can’t stay here.”
“But taxis are expensive, and home’s two and a half hours away.” Maybe she was clutching straws, maybe she didn’t want to leave things this way.
He shrugged, and when he finally looked at her, his eyes were cold. “I only care about myself, remember?” He did a mock bow. “Congratulations, Lacey. You got what you wanted.”
He didn’t wait for a response—not that she had one to give. She watched helplessly, her feet stuck to the floor, as he turned his back on her and headed in the general direction of their room, presumably to pack his bag. He was leaving. And it was her fault. Her fault they were even in this situation. Her fault that any tie between them was severed. Her fault the only guy she’d ever developed feelings for was walking out of her life. Would he stop coming to see her at work? Would he stop bringing the reports to her and email them like everyone else? Everything that she’d hated about him—she was going to miss it if he stopped.
She would miss him.
Chapter 8
This was possibly her favourite place in the world—her father’s study. Whenever she had to get away from something, sort out her thoughts, or work out what the hell she was going to do with her life, this was where it happened. She ran her fingers over the dark wood of his desk and sat in his chair—the chair that always made her feel safe, secure, as if she were in charge of her life. But now, it offered none of that comfort. It couldn’t patch things up between her and Adam. It couldn’t fix what had been broken. It couldn’t push them back together when they’d never been together to start with. All it offered was a place to hide while the party continued outside, the guests seemingly oblivious to the drama unfolding in front of them. A place where she could watch him as he left when the taxi came, and she’d be able to cry in peace. Lacey, who was never a crier, crying for something she never had.
She heard the study door nudge open and, after wiping her eyes dry, turned to see who it was. Patricia entered the room, closing the door behind her and moving around the desk to stand next to Lacey.
“Oh, honey,” she said, pulling Lacey into a hug, kissing the top of her head.
Her grandmother’s embrace made Lacey’s tears flow freely—something about having someone you care about comforting you when you were on the edge of breaking down.
“I’m sorry, Patricia,” she sobbed, tightening her arms around her grandmother’s waist. “I shouldn’t have brought him here. It was all a lie.”
“What are you talking about, child?” Patricia pulled Lacey back, nudging her chin up to look at her.
“I never had a boyfriend,” she confessed. “I only said I did so that everyone would stop pestering me about it. And you were so excited about meeting him, I freaked out.”
“So, you brought a friend to act as your boyfriend,” Patricia finished. “Why didn’t you just tell me the truth, Lacey?”
“I didn’t want to disappoint you,” she whispered, fresh tears rolling down her cheek.
“Sweetheart.” Patricia cupped her face between her hands. “You don’t have to pretend to be anything you’re not. You could never disappoint me. Boyfriend or no, I will always love you.”
Lacey rubbed her eyes with her fists. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I’ve really made a mess of things.”
Patricia rubbed Lacey’s back in smooth circular motions. Lacey stared out the window, feeling her body shake as the taxi pulled up at the end of the driveway and honked its horn. This was it. She was going to watch him walk out of her life. If he’d let her, she’d still illustrate his book and bring him coffee every day for two months—that was their deal. But outside of that, they would have nothing. The very thought broke her heart.
Patricia sighed. “It really is too bad. I could tell that man really liked you. And I know you have feelings for him, too.”
“It’s too late,” she whispered, hearing the front door open and close. “I’ve ruined things between us.”
“Honey, whatever it was, it can be forgiven if you give it a chance. Trust me—it’s never too late.”
She watched as Adam walked away from the house. He walked slowly, as though he didn’t want to do this. His shoulders were slightly slumped, and his feet dragged. He didn’t have the bounce in his step she’d grown accustomed to—the confident stride that had grown on her. When he got halfway down the driveway, he stopped and turned towards them, staring at her through the window. She could tell he’d seen her. He looked hurt, confused, as though he was fighting a battle of his own. His mouth dropped open as though he’d considered saying something, even though she wouldn’t have been able to hear it. Then, he dropped his gaze to the ground and turned away, walking towards the taxi again.
“There’s your chance,” Patricia said softly.
She hadn’t realised her breath had caught, or that she felt like she was detached from her body. Part of her told her to let him go, the rest of her told her she should hold on for dear life. And maybe she was in such a state, fighting the battle inside of her, that she couldn’t move. Her eyes welled up as he put his bag in the boot of the car and opened the back door. He glanced over at Lacey again—only briefly—before climbing into the car.
“Go, Lacey,” Patricia urged, nudging her to get out of the seat. “Go get what you want.”
Maybe it was the push she needed. Maybe she was so incapable of fighting for what she wanted that she needed someone to tell her to do it. Maybe it was her grandmother’s faith in her that fuelled her with energy and adrenaline. But she knew, as her feet pounded against the ground while she ran as quickly as she could, letting the doors close themselves, that she had no idea what she was doing, or what the hell she was going to say. She just knew she couldn’t let this chance slip through her fingers like the rest.
By the time she’d reached the spot where Adam had stopped to look at her, the taxi started moving. But she urged her feet to move faster. If she could catch up to it, she could stop it. She could demand he hear whatever she had to say. She raced towards the car, all kinds of desperation surging through her. And just when she thought the taxi wasn’t going to stop, it halted. She stood at the end of the driveway, watching the car—hoping. And then, the back door opened.
Adam climbed out, his eyes on her. She felt the tears threatening again—God, what had he done to her? She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. He took a step towards her, and she felt her feet do the same. Then, their pace quickened until they met in the middle. He pulled her into his arms, and she held him tight.
“I’m so sorry, Adam,” she sobbed into his chest. “I shouldn’t have slapped you. I shouldn’t have said those things.”
“Lacey,” he said, his voice rolling over her like satin. He pulled her back, urging her to look at him.
“No, I have to say this,” she continued. “You’re too good a thing, and when it started to feel real, I freaked out.”
“Lacey—”
“I was scared, Adam, and I shouldn’t have let it out on you. I’m not good at … this … and—”
Her thought was cut mid-sentence by his lips pressing against hers. She didn’t hesitate like she did with the last one. For once, she knew what she wanted. She wanted him. She needed him. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, and he wrapped his around the small of her back, pulling her closer to him. His tongue teased her lips and she parted them, meet
ing his tongue with her own. He tasted sweet and minty and something she couldn’t describe that sent a warmth spreading to her core. Their desperate kiss soon slowed down. She could feel him swaying their bodies side to side and he broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers. She sighed at the loss she felt by not having his lips on hers, but she breathed him in.
“So, you’ll give me another chance?” she whispered.
“Mmm, under one condition,” he said, rubbing his nose against hers. “You’re still illustrating my book, and the next one, like you promised.” She couldn’t fight the smile spreading across her face. “Oh, and you still owe me a coffee every morning for two months. Just because our circumstances have changed, doesn’t mean you get out of our deal.”
Her body shook with the laugh that was swelling to the surface. Seeing the smile on his face made the warmth continue spreading throughout her body.
“All right.”
“And every night is ours,” he continued. “I want to be able to take you on spontaneous dates whenever we feel like it. And you’ll let me pay for your meals without putting up a fight.”
“Oh, that might be a bit difficult,” she teased, wiggling her body against his. “But I’ll try my best.”
“Also, no more slapping me in front of people.”
She pulled back, searching his eyes. “But I’m allowed to slap you elsewhere?” she questioned, raising her eyebrow.
That mischievous grin she’d grown attached to slid onto his face, his eyes dancing. “If you’re into that kind of thing,” he teased.
“Oh, really?” she said smoothly. She’d never been much good at flirting, but it was starting to feel natural with him.
“Mhmm,” he said, pulling her close again and kissing her.
“Deal,” she whispered.
“Deal.”
She snuggled against him again, her head turned towards the house. Patricia was sitting on the office chair, smiling at them through the window. She looked … proud. Lacey mouthed thank you, and Patricia nodded her head in response. Maybe bringing Adam home wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
΅ ΅ ΅
Lacey placed the cup on his desk. “Your coffee,” she said. “And I should probably remind you, this is the last one.”
“But I’d gotten used to it,” Adam teased, his eyes flashing.
He stood from his chair and moved around the desk to stand in front of her, their bodies inches apart. It had been two months since the weekend she’d taken him home, and his closeness and his touch still made her hairs stand on end and her body feel alive.
“So, since it’s the last one, do I get something special with it?” He placed his hands on the small of her back, nudging her hips against his.
She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and tilted her head to the side. “What did you have in mind?”
His eyebrow flicked upwards and his grin widened. “I’m sure I could think of something,” he said, pressing his lips against hers.
It was a chaste kiss—it’s what they agreed on for while they were at work. But the way that his lips lingered against hers still made electricity pulse through her body—a feeling that she hoped they would never lose.
“Thank you for the coffee,” he said, releasing her, and taking a sip from the cup.
“You know,” she said, smiling. “Emily’s got a birthday party coming up.”
“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow. “Who do you plan on taking as your boyfriend this time?”
“I was thinking I might just have to take my real one.”
THE END
From the author
Thank you for purchasing The Boyfriend Application! I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I would be extremely grateful to hear what you thought of it—please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads so that I can continue to provide more stories for you to read.
Want to hear more?
I currently have more books in the pipeline to be released in the near future!
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Other books from R. J. Groves
Romance Novellas
Writing You (An Unlikely Romance)
Two Babies Too Many
Second Chance
Romance Novels
Jilted Brides series
Finding a Bride (Book One)
Written in the Sand (Book Two) — Coming Soon
Cities of the World series
In Paris (Book One)
The Irish Maiden (Book Two) — Coming Soon
Young Adult Romance
To Fall For You
For a full list of publications, check out my Amazon Author Page.
Did you enjoy The Boyfriend Application? You might enjoy Second Chance! Read on for a taster!
Second Chance (excerpt)
“Dad, we’re going to be late!”
Dan blinked his eyes open, cringing from the glaring beam of sunlight shining through the window and stared at the freckled face in front of him, the moss-green eyes filled with urgency.
“What time is it?” he mumbled, flinching when his blanket was ruthlessly torn away.
“Almost eight.”
The moss-green eyes were staring at him again. Katie looked just like her mother—from her rounded eyes to the chocolate-brown of her hair. That is, when her mother’s hair wasn’t dyed a yellow-blonde. He was fortunate to have seen her beauty before she started latching on to the trends and it didn’t bother him that Katie resembled her so much. He just hoped that she wouldn’t follow in her footsteps.
“Are you coming?” Katie asked, her voice ringing in his ears.
He jumped out of bed, the reality of the time finally catching up to him, grabbed his jeans and shirt and headed towards the bathroom.
“I have to get to work,” he said.
“Not before you take me to school,” Katie replied, pouring some cereal into a bowl.
“What’s wrong with the bus?” he asked, stopping in his tracks.
She pointed to the window just in time for Dan to see the large school bus driving past their house. He sighed, resigned to the fact that he would be late to work. Maybe he could make up for it at the end of the day or cut his lunch short. He just knew that he couldn’t afford to get on his boss’s bad side—it was hard enough convincing Julian to take him on since he was a full-time single parent.
It hadn’t been easy—or cheap—making sure that Katie was getting the education she needed, clothes that fit, food to eat and a roof over her head, but he worked hard, and she never went without. Sending her to the local public school saved on private tuition fees, but the hefty cost of after-school care certainly made up for it. If it were up to him, he would only work between school hours. But working from eight-thirty in the morning until five, sometimes six, in the afternoon wasn’t negotiable with his work if he wanted to have his weekends off.
He nodded, pointing at the bowl in Katie’s hand. “Fine, but eat quickly and get ready for school because we need to be gone in ten minutes.”
“You’re the one that made us late!” she retorted.
“Ten minutes,” he repeated.
But he knew that she was right—he shouldn’t have snoozed his alarm that last time. He should know by now that his alarm can only be snoozed four times before it turns itself off.
΅ ΅ ΅
“Focus.”
“We do this every day,” Katie whined. “Can’t we do something different?”
Dan rolled the car to a stop at the traffic light. “We do this so that you can be the smartest kid in your class.”
“I’m already the smartest kid in my class,” she said, shrugging.
“Doesn’t matter,” he replied. “You would hate to stop practising and find that everyone else gets ahead of you. This is the last word of the day.
Now, spell it.”
“I-T.”
“Katie!”
“Fine,” Katie replied, throwing her head back against the seat. “F-O-C-U-S. Happy?”
“Yes, I am.”
The light turned green and they drove in silence for a few minutes, Dan checking the time as often as he could. If they could get through the damn traffic and get a good run through with the lights, he might make it to work on time. Just. But he wasn’t holding his hopes up.
He was starting to worry about Katie—she was developing an attitude and giving him sass. He hoped that it wasn’t because he had to put her in after-school care or because he was the only family she had. After all, she was the only family he had and it could be hard on him, particularly since he hadn’t had time for any kind of relationship with anyone after Tina. It hadn’t bothered him at first—looking after Katie had kept him busy enough. But it was as though he blinked and she was in the second grade and he hadn’t even been on a date in all seven years of her life. In fact, he had steered clear of any potential relationship.
He thought it was a good idea to solely focus on Katie instead of his love life for all those years. But now, he wasn’t so sure that the lack of female influence on Katie had been helpful for her. After all, there were some things that only a motherly figure could help a young girl through and Katie was steadily approaching that age.
“Now, remember that you have to go to after-school care this afternoon,” Dan said.
“Do I have to?” Katie whined.
“Yes, you do,” he said. “We’ve been through this, Katie. I don’t have any choice but to work late.”
“But I don’t like after-school care,” Katie said, her head drooping. “I wish school went for longer so that I didn’t have to go. At least school is fun.”
“What’s fun about school?” Dan asked before he could stop himself. “I mean, what do you like about it?”
Katie shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “I only like it when Miss Clayton is there. It’s not fun when she isn’t. She was only a substitute teacher last term, but now we have her all the time.”