by Ann King
FALLING FOR HER FAKE BOYFRIEND
Ann King
Copyright 2013 by Ann King
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you, God for all my blessings. To my wonderful son and husband for your unconditional love. With gratitude to my family and friends for your endless support.
FALLING FOR HER FAKE BOYFRIEND
“A sexy, hot romantic rendezvous!”
New Adult Contemporary/Erotic Romance: For Adults 18+
**Short Story (6,000-words)
Exposed.…
As if life isn’t complicated enough for Holly Jackson. Firstly, she’s struggling to finish college on limited funds, then her former guardian and aunt is calling her bluff on having a boyfriend—since in her aunt’s opinion, single girls are single because something is wrong with them. Period.
The proposal…
Ethan Rockwell cannot believe his luck when the cute neighbor from down the hall asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend—just for the weekend. Trouble is—there’s nothing pretence about his hot feelings for her. When Holly tells him she’ll return a favor to him, his mind is set on having a night of mind-blowing unforgettable passion. Will his sizzling attraction be too hot for her to handle?
1.
Holly’s fake boyfriend checklist:
Choose a name that’s believable and easy to remember. Check.
Make sure you have shared interests like vampire movies. Check.
Make sure that he lives in a town far away. Check.
Create a fake email account and send romantic emails to self. Check.
Get the fake-a-text app on iPhone and have a conversation with fake boyfriend to show family as proof of relationship. Check.
“Just tell her the truth,” Abigail told her friend Holly as they sat in Starbucks sipping coffee on campus.
“I wish it were that easy, Abby. I thought about that but I just can’t handle her treating me like a scum or defective human being. Besides it sounds better than it’s none of your freaking business auntie—can I get my educational allowance now please.”
“It’s that bad, huh?” Abigail almost choked on her coffee when she stifled a laugh.
“You’d better believe it. The S word is not to be mentioned in the Jackson household. I’m already the black sheep of the family thanks to my aunt. She never hid her resentment towards my mother and I know she doesn’t like me.”
It was not easy for Holly Jackson whose single mother died from pancreatic cancer a few years ago. It had been a devastating blow and so tragic. Just when her mother was getting her life back together and getting ready to move out of subsidized housing, she was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She’d been a heavy smoker thanks to her choice of coping mechanism for stress.
It was too late for her to be saved. Death was inevitable, the doctor had said. Her aunt Petra, her mother’s older and snobby sister took over and handled the insurance money that was left for Holly—only she also helped herself to a grand portion of it when most of it was for Holly’s education.
Holly couldn’t wait to move out and be on her own. She’d been so withdrawn after her mom’s death that her aunt had considered having her see a psychologist or stay in some group home out of town. Her mother had been rebellious as a teen and got pregnant with her before finishing high school.
Holly was so determined not to live that same life style. Her mother had been alienated from the family until her death. Finally when Petra took her in along with her three daughters, all whom are married except the one getting married next week, she felt uneasy around Holly and started picking on her, making suggestions that something was wrong with “that poor child.” Holly made sure she applied to college where she’d have to live on campus or near campus. Anything to get away and have some peace in her life until she’d figured out her life and where she was going. Sometimes emotional abuse was worse than physical abuse because the body heals quicker than the mind.
Three things were on Holly’s priority list:
1. She was not going to smoke like a chimney as her mom did.
2. She was not going to get knocked up before she was ready or fall for the wrong guy.
3. She was going to get a good education and a decent paying job, something her mother didn’t have. Besides, it wasn’t as if guys came knocking down her door anyway. At least not guys she was interested in.
“So now you have to come up with a plan to materialize your boyfriend you’d been telling her about?”
“Well yeah. It wasn’t as if I volunteered the information. I mean every time I visited, it was like; don’t you have a boyfriend yet? Accompanied with a look of disgust. Or how come you don’t have a boyfriend? What’s wrong with you? She even got Grandma worried about me. She even told my grandma she thinks I could be a lesbian.”
“Okay, so now being single means you’re gay?” Abigail shook her head and took another sip of her coffee.
“I’ve got enough worrying about like begging her for my own money. I wish mom had left it in my name and not grandma’s.”
“So wait a second. Shouldn’t your grandmother be your guardian then?”
“Yeah, but after her stroke and partial memory loss, Aunt Petra became her power of attorney and gained control of the insurance money.”
“Oh?” Abigail looked aghast.
Holly was so grateful to have a good friend like Abby on her side. She’d always validate her feelings and side with her. She was always cool and full of ideas.
“So you’ve been holding up the pretence of a boyfriend pretty well with your texting app and fake name and shit, now what?”
“Well, she’s insisting that I attend the wedding next Saturday, saying that it’s a family reunion and the anniversary of mom’s death. Like she really cares. Anyway, she told me to bring Alex?”
“Who’s Alex?”
“Fake boyfriend. I thought it was a good name at the time.”
“Shit girl, you really dug yourself in deep this time. Now you’ve gotta find a guy named Alex and drag his ass down to Brooklyn next weekend.”
Holly sighed. A lump climbed in her throat. Shit, why hadn’t she told her aunt it was none of her business or accept the pity and degrading comments and comparisons with her “normal” daughters. She drew in a deep breath. Telling her aunt that he was sick or that he would be out of town next Saturday was not going to help. Besides, her aunt was already dubious of her claim.
Her cousin had even joked that she’d be an old spinster and nothing more because she repelled men like insect repellent. Again that withdrawn-something-must-be-seriously-wrong-with-her label that Aunt Petra had fixed on her when she was a fifteen year old orphan. My, how eight years gone by so fast.
“Girl, don’t look so down now. There is a way out.”
“There is?” Holly looked dubious.
“Yes, girl. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Just ask a guy to pretend to be your man for that weekend. End of discussion. Then you can pretend to dump him afterwards.”
“What? Holly that would be taking deceit a little too far don’t you think?”
“Got a better idea, hun? No, wait. Just tell her that you’d been faking having a boyfriend because you didn’t want her all up in your business and therefore you can’t bring him because he exists only in your
mind.”
“Okay, fine. I…” Holly froze when a gorgeous tall guy walked through the glass door of the café. It was him! The swoon-worthy guy that lived in her building. Her hot neighbor down the hall.
Shit!
Her heart raced in her chest and heat surged through her veins to the point where she thought she would be scorched inside. God, why did he have that effect on her whenever she saw him. It was crazy. The whole butterflies springing in her belly and her sex pulsing.
No man had ever had that effect on her—and she never got that close to him. In the elevator was about it, the tasty fresh scent of his aftershave.
Whenever she bumped into him in the building on her way from class, he was always coming from the gym, freshly showered with silky semi-wet hair. He looked irresistible, sinfully sexy.
Right now he was wearing a white t-shirt with displayed his strong muscled arms and his broad shoulders. She could tell his abs were firm and ripped under that shirt. Holly licked her lips as embarrassment surged through her and dried her saliva.
Ethan was swoon-worthy hot but so out of her league. Just a personal fantasy that would never come to see the light of day.
Just then Abigail’s eyes followed Holly’s gaze. When she turned her head back to look at Holly, she grinned. “Ooh, he’s hot.”
“Yeah, I think his name is Ethan. He lives in my building down the hall.”
“You know him? And you haven’t jumped his bones, because…?”
Holly rolled her eyes. “Is that all you can think about Abby?”
“Hell yeah! When a guy like that comes along…hey, why don’t you ask him?”
“What? To be my fake boyfriend? Are you crazy? I could never do that.”
“Why not?” Abigail raised a brow.
“He’d think I’m crazy or desperate for one thing. What if he has a girlfriend?”
“Hey, I’m not suggesting you date him for real. Just put it this way, ask him if you could exchange favors.”
“Favors? Like what kind of favors?”
“I don’t know. Do his dishes for the month. Iron his clothes…think of something. Make it sound casual like it’s just a small inconvenient thing to please your family. And tell him you’ve broken up with your real ex but didn’t want to let them down. Tell them it’s a cultural thing.”
“Huh? Why would I say that?”
“Haven’t you heard that in some cultures women are under pressure to produce a boyfriend to let their families know they are thinking of marriage at some point? In fact, there are rent-a-boyfriend agencies in places like China.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“I kid you not.”
“Shit, he’s looking this way.”
“Ask him.”
“Can’t,” Holly whispered as she held her head down trying to avoid his gaze. Her heart pounded hard in her throat. Butterflies exploded in her belly. He was sexy as hell. She’d never seen a man so drop-dead gorgeous before Ethan. She just couldn’t strike up a conversation with him not even if she tried.
Then…after Ethan paid for his latte he turned around and walked out of the store…and out of Holly’s life.
“Well, you know what they say? Opportunities are never lost, someone will take the one you missed,” Abigail spewed as she took another sip of her coffee before placing the cup back on the table.
“Abby! You’re supposed to be my friend,” Holly growled.
“What’s the point when you never take my advice? You know he was trying to make eye contact with you, right?”
“Fine!” Holly huffed, “I’ll do it. I’ll ask him if he could come with me next weekend as my fake boyfriend.”
“When?” Abigail cocked a brow sounding dubious.
“W-w-well tonight. Yes, that’s right. Tonight after my bio lab.”
“Okaaaay,” Abigail smirked. “Fifty bucks says you won’t.”
“You kidding me? We’re on. Just have my money ready.”
The two girls laughed to themselves. Holly really needed an ice-breaking feeling to calm her nerves. Nothing like making light of the situation just in case it all blows up in her face. That way her dignity may still be intact. Maybe.
Later that evening, Holly found herself outside Apartment 14A. Ethan’s apartment.
This is it. Could be the most humiliating day of my life but here goes for nothing...
She drew in a deep breath and knocked.
She had tried on a dozen outfits earlier, not sure of what to wear. Then she received phone consultation from Abigail the fashion princess and decided to wear a simple snug fitting jeans short –not a Daisy Dukes, but something more casual and a crisp baby blue t-shirt with the words Destiny written on it. Simple and ambiguous at the same time.
She really didn’t want to wear a corny design or rude message to give the wrong impression of herself. She also avoided her Let’s Stay Green shirt to avoid giving the impression that she was a nerd—which in a way, she was.
She waited. And waited. Nothing. Not a sound. Was he in the shower or something?
“Right. This must be a sign. Bad idea, Holly,” she whispered under her breath as she turned around to walk back to her apartment..
Ethan heard the door knock but had just gotten out of the shower. Once he’d finished drying he slung on his boxers and a pair of jeans and made his way over to the door.
He opened it to find no one there. Then he looked down the long hallway and saw her.
Isn’t that the cute chick that lives down the hall?
God, she had the finest ass, he thought to himself watching her wiggle her way towards her apartment. Just looking at her from the back view made heat surge through his body and his cock hard like a rock in moments. He’d always thought she was kind of cute and shy. Not like the other girls on campus. She seemed modest and always had her nose in her books.
He’d noticed her coming in late from her job and the light on in her apartment from the outside made him wonder if she always pulled an all-nighter when she studied. He’d never seen her around at the campus parties or clubs. But he did eye her in the café sitting with a coffee and a friend. She’d made no eye contact with him so he’d just shrugged and walked away.
Most girls threw themselves shamelessly at his feet and flirted with him around the clock. Hooking up with his cell number which they’d gotten probably illegally from one of their friends who works at the gym as a membership clerk.
But this chick Holly, if he could remember correctly, was hot and she didn’t act like it. He’d heard someone call her that once so he assumed that was her real name. They’d always bumped into each other on the stairwell or elevator or on campus but made no formal introduction beyond talking about the weather or how huge the campus was when she was lost going to her class.
He wondered if she had knocked and called out to her. “Hey, did you just knock?” he said in a low voice and she froze on the spot. That was weird. Slowly she turned around, chewing on her sexy lips. God, that did it. His dick jumped. There was just something about her that he found captivating. Something about her that pleased his body.
“So you want me to pretend to be your fake boyfriend for your cousin’s wedding,” he said to Holly in a low sexy voice that sent pleasant shivers down her spine.
Damn! He was hot as hell. It should be illegal to be that good looking and oh, his abs, his biceps. Shit! This tall delicious man was the epitome of excellent physical health. She was salivating and it didn’t help her concentration much when he was inches from her half naked. His muscular body exposed from the hips up. Broad shoulders and narrow hips—there was something about that combination that made her pulse race.
Holly had just explained to him the whole situation and as her friend Abigail had advised, she made it sound like a no-big-deal situation. People don’t like desperate. They tend to look away. Kind of like the bank. I you need a loan from them, better let them believe you really don’t need it, if you want to secure it. If that made a
ny sense at all.
Holly was acutely aware of his sinfully sexy dark eyes penetrating her, surveying her body, her face as he pondered what to say next to this outrageous proposal. Then a grin of amusement touched the corner of his luscious lips and she felt a sense of relief. Maybe he didn’t think she was stark crazy at all.
“I know the feeling. I’ve got family just like you have. Always up in your business.”
“Thanks. Glad you know how it is sometimes.”
“Can I get you anything?” he said as he went over to his open kitchen area.
“Sure. I’ll just have a glass of water, thanks,” Holly murmured, her heart beating hard and fast in her chest. Could she really go through with this? What must he think of her? But he didn’t actually agree to anything yet, she reminded herself.
She leaned into the comfortable leather couch and looked around his gorgeous apartment. What a huge difference from her little barely furnished dull place. He seemed to have expensive leather furniture and a huge Flat Screen TV covering almost the entire wall with a futuristic looking sound system
And all kinds of trophies and awards on his display shelf.
“So, how is it that a girl as…cute as you doesn’t have a boyfriend?” he murmured as he handed her a tall glass of fresh spring water from a bottle. Tingles erupted in her stomach when his smooth tanned hand brushed hers. It was like electricity. A powerful magnetic surge that shot through her veins.
“W-well, I just don’t have the time right now. Studies and everything…my job, you know. Just want to keep my life simple right now.”
“I get it. Don’t blame you.”
He wasn’t a man of many words, Holly noticed. But he had a captivating aura about him.
“Got a lot of awards,” she said, “all from sports.”
He grinned. A dimple appeared on his smooth cheek and she thought she was going to melt. God, he looked so boyishly sexy. His slight stubble gave him that bad boy look, yet his eyes danced when he laughed.