by Lisa Wells
“Charlie can be pushy,” Kinley said. “She’s why I came back to Kansas City to host a book signing.”
“That I buy. Unlike the purple, dilly-doe-doe-thing-y. That, I did not buy.”
Kinley took her hair out of its bun. “I bought two. You can have one of them. Do you like being a company chef?”
Adeline jumped on the change of subject. “It’s a stepping stone on my five-year plan. If you’d held your book signing at a normal venue, I could have prepared a fantastic spread for the party.”
“I wanted you to come and have fun, not work.” Kinley wiggled a finger at her. “I bet the last stone in your five-year plan is to get married.”
Adeline wiggled a finger. Her middle finger. Not on purpose. It just popped out, sort of like inappropriate comments tended to blurt out whenever she opened her mouth. “You’d be betting wrong. It’s opening a French bakery.” She folded her middle finger back in.
Kinley pursed her lips. “Is marriage in there anywhere?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Love destroyed my mom and my childhood. Why would I take a chance at having the same bad taste in men as she did?”
Kinley’s forehead puckered.
Adeline could tell she was debating whether to argue her point or not. Eventually she shrugged and offered a genuine, if slightly drunken, smile. “I’m glad your career dreams are coming true.”
Adeline lifted her hair off her neck. She hated talking about herself. “I can’t believe you eloped to Las Vegas. That is so cliché.”
Kinley gave her a grin. “Speaking of marriage, and the fact you’re not searching for love, my brother needs a pretend fiancée.”
Adeline opened her mouth but shut it before she could blurt something inappropriate. And despite common agreement among those who knew Adeline, she did try to be appropriate. Try being the operative word. “Why? Is he ugly? Fat? Broke?”
Kinley giggled. “Ugly for sure. But that’s not why. His boss has some type of hang-up about promoting men who haven’t settled down.”
“That’s a load of crock,” Adeline sympathized.
“I know. And Jack’s worked too hard to lose out on partner because he doesn’t have a wife. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in the gig?”
Adeline stood. Hell. She hated to tell her no. But she clearly remembered stories Kinley had told her about her brother when they roomed together in college. According to Kinley, thanks to the death of their father who’d been on his way to see Jack play in his first Little League game, and a love gone wrong, the guy was all business and no fun. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you out, but my schedule is jammed at the moment.”
“Surely you have room for a little fluff in your five-year plan? It can’t all be work and no play.”
Adeline shook her head. “Part of my five-year plan includes keeping a promise to Dottie. And, given her health, I can’t afford to have extra fluff in my life.”
Kinley planted her hands in prayer position and batted her eyelashes. “Can’t you do both? For me?”
Adeline ignored the tug on her heart to say yes. She turned on the music and started dancing on the pole using the moves she’d just been taught. She could think clearer when moving. Actually, she did her best thinking when baking. But, there was no stove in sight. “Let’s continue this conversation tomorrow when we’re both sober.”
“Being sober is way overrated,” Kinley said. “Show me how to do that fireman twirly thing.”
Adeline walked around the pole to gain some momentum and then twirled, wrapping her legs around the pole, lifting them above her waistline and leaning her head back.
“You make that look so easy. Maggie has nothing on you.”
“It probably helps that I do yoga for relaxation. Getting my legs over my head is—”
The studio went dark.
Adeline tightened her grip. “Did you turn the lights off, Kin?”
“No.”
The sound of a man’s voice saying “Damn,” triggered loud screams from both women.
The lights came back on.
The screams went silent.
Adeline, still hanging upside down, glanced over her shoulder for Kinley and saw male shoes. Where was her purse? Where was Betsy—her pink Taser gun, a self-defense device Dottie had given Adeline before Adeline went off to college, and made her promise to never be caught without it. Adeline let go of the pole with one hand to push the hair out of her eyes and landed on the floor, head first.
Chapter Four
“Adie, are you okay?”
Adeline opened her eyes and saw Kinley’s brown-eyed, puppy-dog stare. Adeline moaned and reached for the front of her head. “What happened?” Damn it, her head hurt.
“My dumb brother snuck in and scared us, then you fell.”
“Brother?” Adeline lay sprawled on the dance floor on her back. In her sports bra and yoga pants.
“Are you okay, Red? I didn’t mean to startle you,” said a male voice.
Not just any male voice. A sexy as freaking hell male voice.
A warm-rush swept through Adeline, no doubt leaving her nipples hard and visible. “Shit.” She slapped her arm across her breasts and forced herself to turn her head and examine the man who belonged to the voice. “You’re not ugly.” Didn’t Kinley say he was ugly?
Kinley’s brother, the one with a voice that could make a woman forget her name, gave her a quizzical blink. “Excuse me?”
“Never mind.” Adeline’s head ached like a son-of-a bitch was squeezing it with pliers. “You turned off the lights and made me fall,” she said in a huffy voice as she sat up.
“Not on purpose, my arm just brushed against the switch while I watched you dance.”
“You were watching me dance?” Her pulse raced at the thought, and her cheeks grew warm. She was blushing. She wasn’t a blusher. Why was she blushing?
“Are you the pole-dancing instructor?” he asked, his gaze dipping to her breasts.
She waited until his gaze was back where it belonged. “Are you hoping I’ll dance on your pole?” Shit. Did she really just say that?
“Ewww,” Kinley said.
He glanced at Kinley with a raised eyebrow. “Friend of yours?”
Kinley touched her throat and laughed. “Jack, I’d like for you to meet Adie. She has a broken mouth filter. Adie, meet my brother, Jack.”
“Adie?” He rolled her name around on his tongue like it was vaguely familiar. Like a dessert you only get at Christmas dinner.
“You know…Adie,” Kinley said.
“Ohhhhh.” He nodded. “You’re Adie? College Adie? College roommate Adie?”
Why did he say it like that?
“The last I checked, guilty.” She cupped her head with her hands, touching the bump on her brow bone.
A memory of another time she’d woken up with a head injury slashed a path through her brain. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the scene. She put her hands on the floor and pushed up, intent on standing.
“What are you doing? Stop. Oh God. Your face just went white. Don’t you dare try to stand,” Kinley ordered. “You might have a concussion. How many fingers am I holding up?”
Adeline opened her eyes. “Three.” The memory is what made her go white, not the bump on her head, but she wasn’t about to explain the memory to anyone.
Kinley’s hand flew over her mouth.
“What?” Adeline asked. Had she grown an extra eye or something?
“Two. I held up two. We need to call an ambulance.”
Adeline pushed her bangs behind her ears. “Chill, drama queen. I know you held up two fingers,” she lied. The low lighting probably caused her to add the third finger.
Kinley crossed her arms. “Head injuries aren’t funny. Famous people die from them on ski slopes after they hit trees.”
Jack cleared his throat. That was his name…wasn’t it?
Both women glanced at him.
“She’s right. You should go to the emergency room and get checked.”
Adeline scooted around and leaned against the pole. “I’ll be fine. I’m not going to the hospital.” The last time she’d been in a hospital…well, that was the last time she’d been in a hospital. She wasn’t going back.
Jack sized her up like he might argue. Then he shrugged. “Suit yourself. You’re an adult.”
“Jack,” Kinley said between clenched teeth. “You should be on my side.”
He turned and glanced at Kinley. “Sis, you didn’t tell me your infamous roommate from college would be at your signing.”
“I’m pretty sure I did. You just weren’t listening.”
He turned back to Adeline. “Tell me, Adie, have you been in any bar fights lately?”
Adeline gave Kinley a three-watt stare. A hundred-wattage one would have hurt. “You told him about that?” One sorority against another sorority. Adeline belonged to neither, but she somehow ended up blamed for the St. Patrick’s Day brawl. Simply because she blurted to one posse of sorority sisters that they looked like a bunch of pink leprechauns. Which they did.
Of course, they’d assumed she was a member of the other sorority.
And then someone spilled a drink on one of the leprechauns. It may or may not have been Adeline.
Kinley cleared her throat. “I—”
“Red, didn’t my little sister ever tell you she can’t keep a secret?” Jack said, interrupting Kinley. “Hell, she can’t keep her own secrets let alone someone else’s. Just ask her husband.”
Adeline twisted and used the pole to pull herself, hand-over-hand, into a standing position. “I go by Adie or Adeline. Not Red.”
Kinley pulled out a chair. “Sit.” She sounded as bossy as Charlie.
Adeline sat.
Kinley turned to her brother. “I’ve explained to Adeline that you are in need of a pretend fiancée.”
Jack groaned. “Sis, I told you I can find one on my own.”
“Why would you go looking for one when there’s a perfectly normal and nice woman sitting in front of you? Now, you two talk while I go see if there’s some ice in the kitchen.” Kinley took off, leaving them alone.
Adeline eye-balled Jack.
Jack gave her a gentle smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t let my sister browbeat you into anything.” He pulled up a chair and sat in front of her. Adeline tried to control her breathing in an attempt to keep her breasts from heaving in a come-hither manner, but it was useless. Something about this man’s voice drove her to the brink.
His thumb lightly grazed over her cheek, before he gently touched her brow.
She winced.
“You’re going to have a headache tomorrow,” he said, his warm breath whispering against her temple.
She resisted an urge to trace her face where he’d touched. Was he trying to cast a spell on her? “With those powers of observation, your momma should have called you Einstein.”
He chuckled. “And the woman has a healthy helping of spice to go with her dollop of nice.” He held up two fingers. “Follow my fingers.” He moved them from side to side.
Adeline followed, reminding herself she had goals. A distraction wasn’t on her laminated to-do list.
Jack made her follow his fingers three more times and then stopped. A pulse beat in his cheek as he stared intently into her eyes.
Was he going to kiss her? Was that a step in assessing head injuries these days? Adeline’s tongue darted out to lick her lips. You know…just in case.
“You should never be a man’s pretend fiancée. Only his real fiancée,” he said in a low whisper, before he sat back in his chair and broke off their gaze.
She’d been so mesmerized by his eyes she’d forgotten he was in need of a fake engagement. Which, really, if her head wasn’t so muddled she might be able to process this whole problem he had and why Kinley was so animated over it. “If I had to choose, I’d prefer pretend over real, because, you know, real is forever,” she replied honestly, reaching for her T-shirt and slipping it on. The guy made her uncomfortable. Not in a creepy way. But more of a girly way.
He tilted his head. “What’s wrong with forever?” he asked a little too seriously.
Adeline’s attention hyper-focused on Jack. Dark hair was visible beneath the hat. His nice square jaw clean shaved. And a high-priced suit draped his frame to perfection. He looked like the business men and women she prepared exquisite lunches for every day at Ads R Us. Respectable. Responsible. Reputable. Except for a scar. A small jagged mark tucked away in the plane of one cheek. “Of all people, I’d think you would understand what I meant by that,” Adeline murmured. “Weren’t you left at the altar once?” Damn. I shouldn’t have said that. Was the head injury making her even more of a blurter than normal? Crap.
“I was.”
“Why do you need this arrangement?” Adie didn’t know if it was the conversation or the lump on her head that had her struggling to understand.
“For my job. I have goals. It’s important to me.”
Adie understood goals. Work.
“Apparently,” Jack continued, “only people in ‘secure relationships’ qualify for advancement in my company.”
“Sounds like a form of discrimination…”
“Right? I should sue.” He smiled.
Adie was momentarily blinded. That smile was…nice.
The unwelcome flash from a picture being taken startled them both, pulling them out of what felt like a moment. “Why are you taking pictures?” she asked Kinley.
Kinley crossed into the room and held out her phone. “Look how good you two look together!” She turned to her brother. “My idea can work, Jack. I was just telling Adie, it would be a small favor…”
Adie looked from one to the other. “Isn’t there like a website for something like this?”
Jack laughed. “Yes. Actually there is.”
Adeline relaxed. “There you go. Problem solved.”
Kinley shook her head hard. Clearly, she disagreed. “Jack, you’re going to have to drive Adie home.”
“Why?” Adeline asked, her heart skipping a few beats.
Kinley looked exasperated. “Because you might have a concussion. You can’t drive.”
“I took a cab here; I’ll take a cab home.”
“Absolutely not,” Kinley declared. When had she gotten so bossy? “If you have a concussion, you’re not allowed to be alone. Jack, you’re going to have to keep her awake or keep an eye on her breathing while she sleeps.”
Jack snapped to attention. “Why can’t you go home with her? She’s your friend.”
“Ian’s picking me up.” She glanced at her phone. “In fact, he’s waiting out front.”
Before Adeline or Jack could respond, she was gone.
“I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself. I—”
Jack surprised her by placing a hand under her chin, causing the rest of her words to stick in the back of her throat. He tilted her head and stared into her eyes. “Has anyone ever resorted to kissing you to silence you?”
…
Jack lowered his hand, surprised to discover his fingers were tingling.
“You want to kiss me?” Adie asked him, her eyes wide.
Jack was as surprised by the words that came out of his mouth as she apparently was. But, yeah, he did. Not that he was going to admit that. Yet. “I want you to acknowledge you need someone. In this moment, it’s me since my little sister bailed.”
Adie gave him a wide-eyed look. “I’ve found my life goes smoother when I don’t acknowledge I need someone.”
Her response tugged at something inside of him. “Adie, would you do me the honor of allowing me to take care of you tonight?” It was, after all, his fault she had a head injury. It was the least he could do. “And, please, don’t worry about Kinley’s idea. I wouldn’t expect anyone to sign on for this crazy charade.” He started to say Kinley’s crazy idea, but it was him who’d told his mentor he had a wom
an in his life. Kinley just came up with a plan to find said woman.
Adie stared intently at him. Her blue eyes reminded him of the very finest sapphires. The kind you find at Tiffany. “I’ll accept your offer but not because I need you to babysit me.”
His heart jerked. Damn if he didn’t find himself wanting her to need him for something. “Then why?” Was it possible she was considering saying yes to the craziest plan ever?
She lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Because you have a cute ass.” The moment the words came out, she gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth.
He laughed. “You think my ass is cute?” God knew, he thought her ass was fan-damn-tastic.
Chapter Five
Adeline tried to laugh. “Sorry. I’m not always in complete control of things that come out of my mouth.”
“You don’t hear me complaining,” Jack said, opening the door that led out of the studio and into the hallway. He waited for her to walk through and then close the door behind them. “Do you want to lean on me?”
“I’m fine.” Adeline felt wobbly, not sure if it was because Jack made her feel off-balanced or because of her head. The hallway in front of her looked never ending. But she was determined to walk down it without Jack’s strong body offering her support.
Without fair warning, a memory-bubble burst open, and her feet slowed to a shuffle. This hall was narrow like the one she’d been pulled down at the age of five.
The woman pulling her had been an overworked, underpaid, social worker. She’d come to Adeline’s school and took her from her kindergarten class. On the scary ride to the foster-care building, the woman informed Adeline she would be getting a new place to live. And a new mom to live with.
A cold tingle trickled down her spine. She rubbed her ear against her shoulder to rid herself of it.
As she reached the door at the end of the hallway, Adeline stuffed away the memory and pulled her brain back into the present. “See, I told you I was fine.”
“Tell that to your face. You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Jack said, a line appearing between his brows. He took her hand and held tight when she went to tug it away. “My car is this way.”