I shot her a smirk.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
I sighed. “I do. What is the event for?”
Shrugging, she replied, “I have no clue. I’m just told when and where to show up.”
“Wow, Raine. Don’t let me see your true colors.”
She rolled her eyes and slipped off the bar stool. “Just remember, I need you to pose as my boyfriend who may or may not be close to asking me to marry him.”
“What!”
“I said may or may not. Now, it’s Wednesday night at the Four Seasons, and dinner will be promptly served at seven thirty. We need to be there about thirty to forty minutes earlier so we can mingle. You don’t have to pick me up. I’ll come here, and we can go together.”
“Trying your damned best to make it easy on me, aren’t you?”
“I owe you, Blake. And I’ll even turn a blind eye if you find a girl you want to hook up with while we’re there,” she replied, kissing me on the cheek before I walked her to the door.
I thought of Morgan and the way she had left earlier today. I’d acted like a jerk by not texting her back. Shit, I had no fucking clue what to do. She said she would call. She needed time. Should I push her or leave her be?
Spinning around, Raine placed her hand on my chest to stop me, then looked up at me through those long, fake eyelashes of hers. “I’m serious. I owe you.”
A part of me almost asked Raine for advice, then I thought better of it. She’d ask a million questions about who the girl was and try to analyze every detail. No, thank you.
“You’re right. You do owe me.”
She smiled. “Thank you for helping me out. You’re the only one I could think of who would do this with no strings attached.”
I winced. Her choice of words hit my battle wounds. She was right though. Raine and I were friends. Nothing more.
I opened the door, and Raine rushed out as quickly as she had rushed in, calling out, “Wednesday it is!”
Shutting the door, I raked my hand through my hair and made my way back to the kitchen, pouring another shot of whiskey.
My mind drifted back to earlier, when I’d met with Nash after leaving the hotel.
“A design firm. You and me. Let’s make this happen, Blake.”
His words rattled around in my head. Nash wanted me to leave my firm and start a new one with him. Go in as business partners. He trusted me and wanted me to go on this new adventure with him. And where I had been hours before that meeting? Having sex with his sister.
Sighing, I took my drink and sat on my leather sofa. I knew in the long run it would make me more money. But was I really wanting to design homes when I was designing skyscrapers all over the world? The bigger question was whether I could work alongside Nash knowing I had kept a secret from him. I thought I knew where Morgan and I were going earlier today, until I fucked it up with the stupid text message she’d read. Now I had no clue what in the hell was going on. The only thing I did know was that I had to tell Nash the truth. Either way, this wasn’t something I could keep from him. I was already holding on to enough secrets to last me a lifetime.
Taking out my phone, I sent Nash a text.
Me: Hey, I need to talk to you. When are you free for lunch or dinner?
He sent a text back almost instantly.
Nash: This week is insane. Can we do Thursday? Lunch?
Me: I’ll pick you up at 11.
Nash: I hope this is what I think it’s about. We could make this work, Blake. I know it. See ya Thursday.
I stared down at my phone before I stood. No matter how this turned out, I could lose a hell of a lot more than I wanted to admit.
Another text came through from a friend I explored caves with.
Rick: Dude, we found another tunnel that must have been washed out from the recent floods. You in for some caving?
A rush of excitement flowed through my body. Maybe this was exactly what I needed. A chance to forget everything and explore the unknown.
Me: Me. Fuck yes. Tell me when and where.
Rick: You free Wednesday?
I laughed.
Me: Make it early in the morning and I’m there. Have a function that night.
Rick: See you at six on Wednesday.
“HOW DO I look?” Raine asked, spinning around in a black evening dress.
“Nice.”
She frowned. “Nice? Blake, honestly, is that all you can give me?”
“Honestly? Yes, Raine, it is. I’m at a charity dinner pretending to be your boyfriend because you’re too chickenshit to tell your parents you were having an affair with a married man.”
Raine stared at me. “How foolish of me to think you might give me a compliment because we’re friends. And what in the world happened to you? You have a huge bump on your forehead.”
“I went caving this morning.”
Her mouth gaped open. “You’re still doing that crazy stuff? Why do you take that risk?”
Chuckling, I shook my head and looked around. “I like the thrill of it. Keeps my mind off of other things.”
Caving was something my therapist had suggested after my mother had passed away and I was dealing with all the anger and guilt. It was a way for me to push myself hard. A way to forget.
“Blake?” Raine asked, snapping her fingers in front of me.
Groaning, I shook my head. “Sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“No kidding. What is wrong with you, anyway? You haven’t been acting like your normal self. You haven’t made one sexually inappropriate comment about me or any woman we’ve seen walking in here. Are you sick?”
“Something like that.”
She paused and then looked up at me. “Holy crap, Blake Greene, have you met someone?”
“Not now, Raine.”
We walked around the ballroom, her arm hooked over mine as she smiled while people greeted us.
“How are you, Mr. and Mrs. Willfore? It’s so nice to see you,” Raine said with a fake grin. An older couple nodded their heads, and the gentleman smiled at me. He looked familiar.
Raine grabbed onto my arm tighter as we walked farther into the room.
“I’m not letting this go. You will spill the beans about who she is,” Raine said. “Okay, so my parents will ask how long we have been dating.”
“Three minutes?”
In a hushed voice, Raine said, “Ha-ha. Blake, please, I need you to play along. My mother has been riding my ass about settling down. She has threatened to take me out of her will if I don’t stop playing the field.”
“Raine, you honestly can’t tell your mother you are not seeing a man? Why can’t we be friends who went to college together? Maybe your boyfriend, Ryan, was busy this evening. Maybe he is at home, having make-up sex with his wife.”
She pinched me, and I laughed.
“If you do this for me, I will owe you. Besides, my folks know you. They’ve met you. It won’t be uncomfortable, and it will be more believable if I’m with you.”
“God, I hate playing games. This is just for tonight, right? I’m not going to have to show up for family dinners, am I?” I asked.
Raine chuckled. “No. I’ll tell them we broke up. Things just weren’t working out. You know, the whole ‘we’re better as friends than lovers’ bit. And let’s say we’ve been dating for three months. That’s how long I was with Ryan. She knows I was with a guy.”
I sighed. “Great. My first long-term relationship isn’t even a real one,” I said, glancing around the room. I glimpsed Raine’s parents at the same time she did.
“There’s Mom and Dad. Come on.”
I nearly tripped over my own two feet when I saw who they were talking to. Panic raced through my entire body as I scanned the ballroom.
“Raine, what type of charity is this dinner for?”
With a plastered-on smile, Raine pulled me closer to her parents as she answered. “The Austin Builders Association. Daddy is the president.”
“Fuck me,” I whispered as she dragged me closer to the group of people straight ahead of us.
If I thought I had messed up with Morgan the other day, things were about to get even messier.
“WOW! YOU LOOK beautiful.”
Glancing up, I met Rich’s gaze in the mirror. “Thank you. And thank you for coming with me to this thing. I know how much you hate them. I couldn’t bear to go alone, though. I texted someone else earlier this morning, but he never texted me back.”
“I will try to not let that insult me.”
I smiled and gave him a playful push on the shoulder. When I had texted Blake earlier to ask if he wanted to go to the dinner with me tonight, I knew it was a big step. With my parents and Nash being there, we would be letting everyone know there was something between us. When he never responded, I had my answer. It was my fault for pushing him away. I was so angry with myself, but I was even angrier that Blake hadn’t even had the decency to text me back.
Rich looked me up and down. Not in a lustful way, but more in appreciation. Rich and I had dated off and on after Mike passed away. He was my rebound guy. The guy who helped me through the tough times when all I wanted to do was hide.
He clucked his tongue and spun me around with a whistle. “I find it very hard to believe you couldn’t find a date, Morgan. Look at you. You’re beautiful.”
I swallowed hard as I glanced down at the satin gown I had on. It hugged my body like a glove. The only other stitch of clothing I had on was a thin satin thong. I would keep that bit of information to myself.
“Thank you. Truth be told I sort of forgot about this dinner until this morning when my mother called to remind me. I didn’t have time to look for a proper date.”
“Proper date? You are trying to hurt my ego this evening, aren’t you?”
Smiling, I reached up and kissed his cheek. “I’m not. I swear. Are you ready to go? I don’t want to get there too late.”
Rich held out his arm for me, and we started out the door.
“Betty doesn’t mind me stealing you for the night?”
He chuckled and replied, “Nah. She’s working on a new design for a client of hers.”
“She’s okay with us going out? I mean, with our past and all?”
“She is. She knows you and I dated, but she also knows we’re friends, and I help my friends when asked. I don’t think she’s worried.”
“Oh my gosh!” I gasped as we walked out to a limo. “What did you do?”
He shrugged. “I promised you once I would pick you up for a date in a limo, but I never followed through. Now I am.”
Turning to him, I smiled. “But this isn’t a real date.”
“It’s close enough. I know how hard this time of year is for you. I wanted to do this for you.”
My eyes burned with tears. How crazy was it that my ex-boyfriend was posing as my date to a charity dinner posing when his real girlfriend was at home? Why did it feel like everything in my life was back-ass-ward?
“Maybe I shouldn’t go.”
“Nonsense, get into the car. Nobody there will be surprised to see us together. No one will ask questions.”
Nodding, I slipped into the car. He was right. My parents knew Rich. Nash knew Rich. It wouldn’t be a big deal if we showed up at the dinner together. We had been off and on for a while now. Everyone knew we were still friends. The only one I had to worry about was Kaelynn. She had asked me about Blake yesterday, and I had managed to change the subject when I saw the cutest outfit for a baby. The one thing about Kaelynn lately was that she was like a dog seeing a squirrel when it came to baby things. It was easy to shift her focus when I needed to.
Rich made small talk as the limo drove to the hotel.
“How’s work going?”
“Really well. I’m slowly building up my patients. Some days are harder than others. But I really feel like I’m making a difference.”
“That’s amazing, Morgan. I’m so proud of you.”
I grinned. “Yeah, I’m happy it’s going well enough to pay the bills. Some cases are tough, though. They don’t want to talk, and I can see their hurt in their paintings. I feel helpless sometimes.”
He reached for my hand. “You know if you ever need anyone to talk to, I’m here for you.”
I squeezed his hand and replied, “I know. And thank you.”
After a few moments of silence, he spoke again. “So what is this event for?”
“It’s a charity event for a Habitat for Humanity project that the Austin Builders Association does every year. I’ve been pretty involved, and with Dad and Nash being on the Austin Builder’s board, I have to go. Honestly, I’ve been going to the Austin Builder Association’s balls almost every year.”
He smiled. Rich had gone to a few Habitat for Humanity projects with me. “I still say you’re the only woman I’ve ever met that can swing a hammer and use a saw.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. It felt good to laugh. I hadn’t really felt myself feel much of anything since Saturday when I walked out of that hotel room, leaving Blake behind.
Soon we were pulling up to the front of the Four Seasons Hotel. The limo pulled up and let us out. Rich said something to the driver before he took my arm, and we made our way through the hotel and into the grand ballroom.
“How much are the plates at this thing?” Rich asked as we walked into the ballroom.
“It’s all based on donations, but some of Austin’s wealthier people are invited. I’ve seen donations as much as five thousand a plate.”
“What?”
I laughed. “Yep. The rich like to out-donate the rich.”
As we walked into the ballroom, I glanced around, searching for Nash and Kaelynn or anyone I might know. I knew the family hosting the dinner. Tina and Scott Franklin and their daughter, Raine.
“I don’t see Nash and Kaelynn anywhere,” I said, lifting on the toes of my high heels.
“Is that your parents over there?” Rich asked, pointing to the left.
As I scanned in the direction he was pointing, my breath caught in my throat. Blake was standing next to my parents, talking to Tina and Scott with his arm around Raine. Scanning through my memory, I tried to think of Raine ever mentioning Blake.
Was Blake here with her? As her . . . date? For the love of all things, this was not happening to me again. It was like Tucker and Charlie’s dinner all over again.
I tried like hell to push the jealous feeling that was creeping in away. Blake had said nothing was going on with Rose. Maybe that was the case with Raine? My head spun as I stared at his arm around Raine.
“Hey, don’t you look beautiful.”
The sound of Nash’s voice caused me to jump. Turning, I saw him and Kaelynn.
“Hey. Hi. Sorry I’m late.”
Nash reached his hand out and shook Rich’s hand. “Y’all back on?”
Rich and I both laughed. “No. He has a girlfriend and offered me a pity date so I didn’t have to come alone.”
Nash grinned. “Rich, you remember Kaelynn?”
“Yes. We met at Morgan’s birthday party.”
“It’s nice seeing you again, Rich. How have you been?” Kaelynn asked.
“Doing really well. I hear congratulations are in order for y’all. Morgan said you were engaged.”
Nash beamed, as did Kaelynn. I was sure her pregnancy also had something to do with her glow.
“Yes, we are.”
I glanced back over my shoulder to see where Blake was. He was talking to Raine’s parents, his arm still around her waist. The way she ran her hand up and down his back slowly made my insides turn cold as ice.
“Well, it looks like Raine has finally found the one.”
My mother’s voice jerked my eyes off of Blake and to my parents, who were now standing in front of us. I hadn’t even seen them walking up.
Nash glanced around my folks and laughed. “Blake and Raine? You’re wrong about that, Mom. They’ve been friends since college.”
My breathing picked up. Blake knew Raine. Friends. College.
Shrugging, my mother went on. “According to Raine, they’ve been dating for a few months now.”
It felt like someone had dropped a brick in my stomach. “Wh-what?”
I hated that my voice sounded shaky. Kaelynn, Nash, and Rich looked at me as if that one stumbled word had opened the hole in my chest, exposing everything.
Nash frowned and looked from me to our mother. “Blake mentioned being hung up on a girl, but I highly doubt it’s Raine.” He looked back at me.
“Blake didn’t deny he was seeing her,” my mother went on. “According to Tina, they’re pretty serious.”
Nash rubbed his jaw. If I hadn’t known better, I would swear he was angry. “I mean, I guess I can see it. They messed around—I mean, they were close in college.”
“They dated in college?”
Kaelynn had asked what I wanted to ask.
“If you want to call it that,” Nash said with a smirk.
My father scoffed. “The boy doesn’t seem the least bit interested in her, if you ask me. He kept glancing around the room as if he were looking for someone else. If I were a betting man, I’d say he was taken with someone else and is on Raine’s arm just to keep her pestering mother off her back. As a matter of fact, he asked me if you were here this evening, Morgan.”
When my father’s gaze met mine, I froze. I didn’t dare take a breath. He couldn’t know. There was absolutely no way he could know what had happened between Blake and me.
Rich must have felt me stiffen next to him. He wrapped his arm around my waist and leaned down, his mouth against my ear.
“Are you okay?”
“I need a drink,” I whispered back.
My mother clapped her hands as if to say the conversation was moving on. “Let’s head to the table. Dinner will be served soon.”
As my mother and father walked off, Kaelynn and Rich both stepped in front of me, blocking me from walking.
“Morgan, what is going on? You were white as a ghost when your father mentioned Blake asking about you,” Kaelynn asked.
“Not right now, Kaelynn. Can we talk later?”
Rich looked back at Blake. “Morgan, are you . . . with Blake?”
Adore Me ~ Kelly Elliott Page 10