Marrying his Brother: A Fake Fiance Romance

by Tia Siren

  I walked into my apartment and couldn’t help the sense of loss I felt. Amber wouldn’t be sitting on my couch or sleeping in my bed again. We’d had a good time together, but it was over. The best way to move past all the feelings that were trying to come to the surface was to move on. That was my plan. We would need to officially end our engagement, and then I was free to return to my old life, unencumbered.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Amber

  I couldn’t keep hiding from the world. Harry had called several times and then stopped. The first few texts he had sent explained that he’d lost his phone and how sorry he was he hadn’t called me. Then he stopped texting and calling. I had a feeling he had heard the news and probably spoken with William.

  When he texted this morning asking to meet for lunch, I knew I had to do it. I owed him an explanation. Our engagement may have been fake, but the stuff that happened at his place was very real. I felt horrible. William had also been calling and texting. I hadn’t answered him either. I needed time to think and figure out what I wanted.

  I knew I looked like hell. There was nothing to be done about it. I hadn’t been able to eat or sleep since William had dropped his bomb on me. My entire world had been turned inside out for the second time in a matter of weeks. I was a mess.

  I walked into the restaurant and gave my name. I was escorted to a private corner where Harry was already waiting.

  “Hi,” I said when I saw him.

  He gave me a stiff smile, stood, kissed me on the cheek, and then sat down. I could already feel the difference in his demeanor. He was polite, but not the warm and friendly man I knew he could be.

  “I ordered you a diet Coke,” he said.

  “Thank you,” I said, taking a drink of the dark liquid.

  We sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. I had no idea what to say. Seeing him had me twisted in even more knots. I was attracted to him in so many different ways than I was to his brother. Both men were gorgeous; there was no denying that. I wasn’t completely shallow, though. I could see beyond the similar blue eyes and dark hair they each had. Harry was so much more than he let on. I hated that he hid behind his bad-boy image and kept that part of himself from his family and the world. I had been privileged to see that softer side.

  “So, what’s going on? You kind of fell off the radar,” he said casually. “Something you want to tell me?” he asked sarcastically.

  I nodded. “I needed time to think.”

  “About William? About how you’re going to tell me to get lost?”

  I ignored the last bit. “I assume you know what happened?”

  He smirked. “William was kind enough to fill me in. I went by to see you yesterday. When I discovered you had taken the day off, he was all too eager to tell me why you had skipped out on work. He took great pleasure in letting me know why he had broken off his engagement as well. He also told me he told you why. William was a fountain of information yesterday. I guess that makes you one very happy woman.”

  I gulped down the lump in my throat. “He did tell me why. I don’t know that it makes me happy. Harry, I wanted to talk to you about this, but I wasn’t sure how.”

  “You’re ghosting me because he told you he loved you. I get it.”

  It was a statement, not a question. I thought I detected hurt in his voice, but I couldn’t know for sure. Harry was not an emotional guy. He didn’t say what was on his mind. Our whole engagement had been a ruse. It wasn’t like he had real feelings for me. I had to remind myself of that detail. The sex had been amazing, and it was clouding my judgment. I was feeling things that weren’t real. It was just sex. Harry was not the type of man a girl fell in love with. He wasn’t going to be settling down with one woman anytime soon.

  “I needed time to think,” I told him, not meeting his eyes. “I wasn’t trying to ghost you. I’m sorry,” I said sincerely.

  “Time to think about my brother?” he asked. “Time to think about your future with the great Mr. William Martin?”

  “That and us.”

  He smirked. “Us? Is there an us, Amber? Aren’t we just pretending to be engaged and fucking around to pass the time?”

  “Don’t say it like that. You know it isn’t like that!”

  He shrugged. “I don’t think I do. What has you thinking so hard? You know what you want. It’s the same thing you’ve wanted all along. I was a way to pass the time. You need to be satisfied by a real man, and I did that for you.”

  “Stop. You know it wasn’t like that. You know, this whole engagement nonsense—I think it’s time to call it off,” I said, barely above a whisper.

  He was quiet for a moment before he cleared his throat. “Because you’re going to try to have a relationship with my brother? I’m in the way?”

  “I don’t know that. I’m confused right now. I don’t know what I’m thinking or feeling,” I said. I groaned, finally looking up at him.

  “What are you confused about?”

  I took a deep breath and figured I had come this far, I might as well say what was on my mind. I knew he would never say it. Harry had not given me any hints as to how he really felt.

  “About you. Him. Me. I don’t know. All of it. This is so unexpected. I need to sort out my feelings,” I said, knowing I wasn’t making any sense.

  What I had wanted to say and what had actually come out of my mouth were very different things. I was afraid to say what I really felt. I had made that mistake once, very recently, and it had blown up in my face.

  He smirked. “You are out of your fucking mind if you think William is going to put a ring on your finger. He’s playing games. He is never going to marry you.”

  His bluntness surprised me. “You can’t know that.”

  He leaned forward, his presence suddenly filling the entire space. “I do know that. I also know you are too good for him. You deserve more than William and his stupid games. He is doing this because he doesn’t want you with me. He’s always hated me and been jealous. You’re falling for his bullshit.”

  I could feel his anger. I knew this side of Harry very well. It was his alpha male that came out quite often when we were alone in his bedroom. This was the Harry that wasn’t afraid to say exactly what was on his mind.

  “Don’t get angry,” I whispered.

  He shook his head. “I’m not angry at all. You’re acting like a silly schoolgirl. This is me telling you how wrong you are.”

  Now he was pissing me off. “I’m not acting childish. Why are you so upset by any of this, Harry?” I seethed. “It isn’t like we were anything more than a quick lay in your bed. We weren’t exclusive, right? You made that very clear from the beginning. Do you actually think I believed you when you said you lost your phone the other night? You don’t have to lie to me. You hooked up with some floozy in New York. I’m not surprised, but don’t lie to me.”

  He leaned back in his chair. “I’m not lying at all. I guess it doesn’t really matter what I was or wasn’t doing. You were kissing my brother. And for the record, it was never a quick lay.”

  My mouth fell open. “He told you?”

  “Yep, he told me. He took great pleasure in telling me. He also told me he knew our engagement was a joke. I suppose you told him that? Was it before or after you two were kissing?”

  “It wasn’t like that,” I said. I knew it was a weak defense. I had kissed William. I hadn’t stopped him. I had kissed him back like an idiot.

  “Whatever. It doesn’t really matter, does it? This is what you wanted. You wanted William. You’ve always wanted William. I thought I would help you out by helping you get over him. You never wanted to get over him. You were always going to be pining for him. He is going to use you and treat you like his dirty little secret, and you’re going to let him. I thought you were different than that. I thought you had more self-respect.”

  “Don’t you dare,” I whisper-shouted. “I’m not some stupid little girl. I know what I’m doing. You never wanted me.
You were using me to keep your inheritance. You get to look good for your family and keep your money while keeping up with your playboy ways. Please don’t try to act like any of this actually bothers you. Now you won’t have to worry about a fake fiancée cramping your style.”

  “You’re right. This whole thing was a mistake. I shouldn’t have wasted my time. I thought I was doing us both a favor. Now I see I was wrong. We’ll end it and never look back.”

  “Thank god. I can’t believe I ever let you talk me into this stupid idea,” I shot back.

  He nodded his head, took a drink of the soda in front of him, and then looked at me. I could see that quiet calm in his eyes.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to wait a couple days before we announce the end of our engagement. I don’t want to give my mother a stroke.”

  I reached for the ring on my finger. I didn’t want to wear the damn thing another second. “Here,” I said, handing it to him.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, looking down at the thing as if it were a snake.

  “I’m giving you your ring. I’m certainly not going to keep it. I know it literally cost a fortune.”

  “Keep it for now. Everyone needs to think we’re still engaged.”

  “I’ll tell them it’s getting cleaned,” I reasoned.

  He smirked. “I get it. You don’t want to wear it around William.”

  “It isn’t that at all. I don’t need your ring. We don’t need to sell the story.”

  “Of course you don’t need my ring. William will give you one twice as big. You don’t need the lesser brother’s baubles adorning your finger. Fine, give it to me,” he said, taking the ring and plopping it his jeans pocket.

  I stared in horror as he casually tossed around the expensive piece of jewelry. “Be careful. You don’t want to lose it. I’m sure the store will let you return it. I only had it a week.”

  “Doubtful. It’s a custom piece,” he said, waving the waiter over.

  “What?” I asked. “I didn’t know.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  He gave the waiter a hundred-dollar bill and told him he had decided not to eat lunch but to get the lady whatever she wanted.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed when the waiter walked away.

  “I’m leaving. I’ve got things to do, and I’m not in the mood to sit here and listen to you moon over my brother. I’ve done enough of that.” He stood and walked away.

  I sat there staring at his back as he walked out of the restaurant. I couldn’t fight the feeling that I had just made a big mistake. I felt horrible. The waiter came back and asked if I was ready to order. I shook my head and raced out of the restaurant, hoping to catch Harry. He was long gone.

  I looked down at my empty hand and immediately regretted giving him his ring back. I had liked wearing it. It had made me feel connected to him, even if it was all a game.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Harry

  This was why I avoided relationships. I didn’t like how I felt at the moment. She had me twisted in knots. I wasn’t sure when I had let myself get into this thing so deep. It had started out as a way to secure my future. Then we had sex. Then I wanted more sex. Then more of her and more sex. When she had agreed to my wacky idea, I had felt a kind of satisfaction, a weird comfort I had never experienced before.

  When we had been fake engaged and hanging out, I’d had no desire to run around or chase women. Hell, I hadn’t even gone to the bars or clubs in search of a woman. I only wanted to spend time with her. It had been a comfortable, although extremely brief, period of calm in my life. Then, she dumped my ass.

  I had spent all night trying to figure out what was wrong with me. When had I let myself develop feelings for the woman? They were feelings. I wasn’t sure exactly what they meant or if it was serious or something that would go away in a day or two. I was not the kind of guy that did feelings.

  William was a dick. I knew he was only doing this because he wanted to screw me over. He didn’t love Amber. He wasn’t going to marry her. She was a fool to believe he would. I had tried to tell her. It had probably not been the best approach, but I had been pissed. She was going to get hurt, and I didn’t want that for her.

  My mom had called earlier and wanted me to talk with my dad. Apparently, he was going off the deep end over the whole William thing. It was only a little ironic that I was the one who was supposed to swoop in and help my dad. My mom had guaranteed me William would not be there. She didn’t ask why I wanted to know. That was going to be an entirely different conversation if William and Amber decided to make their relationship public. I did not want to be anywhere near that conversation. I would be hiding out on some tropical beach when that bombshell went off.

  “Fuck!” I shouted inside the safety of my car. I hated the idea of William touching her, kissing her, making her cry out with an orgasm. That was my job. I wanted to be the one who swallowed her cries when she came.

  When I finally got to my parents’ house, I was in a shit mood. I was not interested in making daddy dearest feel better about his favorite son fucking him over. I blamed him for the mess as much as I blamed William. Both my parents had pressured him to marry Tiffany, and it had blown up in their faces. It was their incessant need for him to be the perfect man and then the perfect husband.

  “Hello, Mother,” I said, walking into the dining room where she was enjoying a cup of tea.

  “Oh, Harry. I’m so glad you came by. Your father is in a terrible mood. The Warners are not handling the breakup well. They are spreading all kinds of rumors and allegations about us! Can you believe that?” she shrieked. “William has a case of cold feet. They’re acting as if he left her at the altar.”

  I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. “They’re angry. Can you blame them? They thought they were unloading their daughter and now they’re stuck with her again.”

  “Well, we’re not thrilled, but they don’t need to be so ungracious about the situation. They are threatening to destroy our reputation. Harry, they could hurt us financially. We have to do something!”

  “Mom, I don’t know what I can do. You know I know little about the company. The family business is not my thing. I don’t know what can I do to help,” I said, regretting my choice to come to the house.

  “Please, go to talk to your father. He’s in his office.”

  “Fine. I will, but you know this will all blow over. Everything will settle down. Dad will smooth talk everyone and it will be okay,” I assured her.

  I headed to the east wing of the massive house in search of my dad. I found him in his office in the midst of a heated argument over the phone. I waited until he slammed it down on his desk.

  “I can’t believe this! What the hell is wrong with your brother?” he shouted at me.

  “He doesn’t love her,” I said matter-of-factly. “They weren’t engaged all that long. I think it was rushed.”

  “So? What does that matter? They got along well enough. He could have worked out their differences once they were married.”

  I laughed. “Most people work out their problems before they get married. They don’t get married knowing they have unresolved issues.”

  My dad shrugged. “He knew the stakes. He understood how important it was for this marriage to happen. We would have had an ironclad prenup in place. Even if they had separated or divorced in a couple years, it would have been better than this.”

  I released a long breath. “Well, maybe he wanted something different. This isn’t the end of the world.”

  “Like what?” He was still standing, looking me straight in the eye. “Do you know something? Do you know why he would do something so rash?”

  “I don’t know anything. I know he was stressed.”

  “This is so unlike him. He’s always done what he’s had to. He’s always toed the line.”

  “Maybe he’s tired of toeing the line,” I replied. “Maybe he needs a break.”

  My dad looked at
me and then took a step back and really looked at me. It was the way he was looking at me, as if he were seeing me for the first time, that made me nervous.

  “Dad?” I asked, suddenly worried about him.

  “What about you?” he asked.

  I raised an eyebrow. “What about me?”

  “You can’t really love that girl you’re with—Amber or whatever her name is. You rushed into this whole engagement thing. I assume you only did it because your brother was engaged. You’ll work. Yes!” he said, suddenly grinning.

  “Or maybe I did it because you told me if I didn’t find someone to marry within a few months, you would cut off my allowance,” I quipped.

  He waved a hand through the air as if that had all been a misunderstanding.

  “So, you aren’t really hung up on her? You don’t love her. That’s good. Great, really.”

  “What are you getting at, Dad?” I asked, suddenly on edge.

  “Break off your engagement and ask Tiffany to marry you. It will solve all our problems.”

  I stared at him for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. “Sure, Dad. That’s a great idea. Let me jump into a marriage with a woman I don’t really know and of what I do know, I don’t like.”

  He folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not joking.”

  I stopped laughing. “You’re serious? No way. Uh-huh.”

  He nodded. “Yes, I’m very serious. The Warners don’t care which brother marries their daughter. They only want a Martin. You’re a Martin. You’re good looking. She’s two years younger than you,” he listed off. “You two would make a handsome couple.”

  I laughed. “Well, I’m glad you acknowledge that I’m a Martin. I don’t think Tiffany would be pleased to be passed around from one brother to the next. She doesn’t like me, Dad.”

  “Who cares? You can be charming enough. Charm her,” he insisted. “I mean, how do you get all those other women in your bed? You must have something women like.”