Pretend I'm YoursA Fake Marriage Romance

by Ella Miles

  Erick and Clive have returned with our drinks, and I take the margarita out of Erick’s hand and down it.

  I’m rewarded with shouts of excitement from both of the men.

  “Dance with me!”

  Erick starts dancing with me as Clive dances with Eden. I let Erick go further this time than I did the last time he was dancing with me. I let his hands touch all over the curves of my body as I move. Feeling every inch of me. His hands venture up higher to where my shirt is barely covering my chest.

  He hesitates, and I grab his hands and push them onto the curves of my breasts.

  Erick grins. “You’re the hottest woman I’ve ever danced with!”

  I give him a wicked grin and then shout into his ear as I look at Arlo still watching us, “I’m about to be the hottest woman you’ve slept with, too.”

  I pull away, and Erick’s face lights up. But I don’t care about him.

  Arlo looks even angrier than before. I’m sure he has no idea what I just whispered into Erick’s ear, but just the thought of me saying anything clearly pisses him off. It makes me want to take things even further.

  I’m drunk and sexually frustrated and obsessed. It doesn’t make for a very good combination.

  I see a table toward the front of the dance floor, and I pull Erick toward it. He follows like a puppy trailing after his owner.

  “Help me up!”

  His eyes light up as he grabs my hips and boosts me up onto the table.

  I start swaying my hips, and I dance wildly on top of the table. Everyone’s eyes fall on me. I don’t think about how this is breaking all the rules and that, at any second, an employee is going to come and ruin my fun. Instead, I just dance.

  I’m handed a shot by one of the guys next to me, and I drink it without thinking, letting the tequila quickly slip down my throat, not even feeling the burn.

  I wiggle my finger at Eden when she walks over, telling her to join me on the table.

  She smiles and then is helped up by two men. We seductively dance together, turning on every man in the room. If Arlo can still resist me after this, then he has more discipline than I’ve given him credit for.

  I don’t see Arlo anymore, but Erick is definitely more than into me. His hands are all over me as I move.

  I look down again, and I see Arlo standing in front of me. He doesn’t look angry, just unpleased. I don’t see any lust in his eyes, just a man on a mission. A man who is in complete control. I just wish I knew how to get him to give up that control.

  He holds out his hand to me. “Get down,” he says firmly without shouting.

  I don’t know how I hear him over the noise of the crowd and the music, but I do. I’m so connected to him that I just know what he is saying.

  “Why should I?” I ask as I up my dancing, grinding all over Eden.

  “Get down, Nina.”

  I grin with my eyes. “Only if you dance with me.”

  Arlo continues to hold his hand out to me.

  I take it, and he leads me away from the table and over to the dance floor.

  He starts dancing with me. His hands go to my hips, firmly holding me as we move together. He leads, and I have no choice but to follow. He’s a good dancer without even trying. His moves are smooth and seductive without coming across as desperate, like when I was dancing with Erick.

  We don’t speak. We just dance. It’s all I want to do all night. I just want to feel his strong hands on me, guiding me and promising that there is more to come.

  I feel safe. I feel special. I feel cared for.

  And, damn it, do I want Arlo to care for me all night long like he cared for me when he rescued me from the pool.

  “Hey, man, she’s my date,” Erick says drunkenly to Arlo.

  Arlo’s frown returns, his shoulders stiffen, and his eyes look dangerous as he slows our dancing and gives Erick his attention. “Well, she’s not yours anymore. She’s mine. Go find another woman to try your slick come-on lines with,” Arlo says.

  My heart races in my chest. Arlo called me his. And, although I don’t like the macho male need to claim me like a possession, I do like that he feels any claim over me. If I admit it to myself, I want to be Arlo’s. I want to be his to fuck. His to tease. His to even love. I want it all.

  But I can’t let Arlo win that easily. Not after everything he put me through this last week.

  “Excuse me,” I say, pushing back out of Arlo’s arms. “I am not yours any more than I am Erick’s. I’ll be deciding who I will dance with and who I will go home with tonight. You don’t get to decide that.”

  Both men turn their attention to me. I can feel the anger pulsating off Arlo at the same time I can feel the testosterone and lust exuding off Erick. If I’m not careful, this night is going to end in a fight.

  “You’re not going home with Erick,” Arlo says calmly.

  “Oh, yeah? You don’t get to control me. I’ll go home with Erick if I want to,” I say sassily.

  Eden and her date walk over. “Wow, there is a lot of testosterone floating around right now.”

  I give her a look, and she shuts up, but it doesn’t stop her from undressing Arlo with her eyes. I hate that she and half of the class got to see him naked earlier.

  I dart my eyes back and forth between the two men. “I haven’t decided who I want tonight. Maybe I want you both. But, for now, Erick, get me a drink while I finish dancing with Arlo. Then, it will be your turn.”

  Erick studies us both for a second but then slowly walks off to the bar to go get me a drink.

  “Dance with me,” I say to Arlo.

  He doesn’t.

  “Dance with me,” I say again.

  “What are you doing, Nina?”

  “I’m trying to dance with you.”

  He shakes his head and still stands firmly, refusing to dance with me. I watch as Eden dances with Clive next to us.

  Why can’t this be easy, like with Eden? Why can’t I just dance with a guy and then go home and fuck him? Why does everything have to be so damn complicated?

  “What are you doing with Erick? You aren’t really going to go home with him. You aren’t going to let him fuck you. So, what are you doing with him?” He cocks his head to one side. “Are you trying to make me jealous?”

  I flip my hair over my shoulder and watch Arlo’s eyes follow my every movement. He might have a lot more experience than me at playing calm, cool, and collected, but he’s still a man. He still wants a hot woman like me when I’m dressed like this. He can’t completely hide his urges.

  “I’m either sleeping with you or Erick. I haven’t decided yet.”

  His lip twitches just a little. “I’m not sleeping with you.”

  I grin and shrug. “Well, that makes my decision easy. Erick, it is.”

  I turn to go find Erick at the bar, but Arlo pulls me back to him.

  “You aren’t sleeping with Erick either. You’re drunk. You and Eden just need to go home.”

  I laugh. “You don’t think I’ve fucked men while drunk before? You told me to go find a nice Italian man to fuck while I’m here. Sure, Erick isn’t Italian—he’s English, I think—but he’s hot, and he’ll do for tonight.”

  “You aren’t fucking him, Nina,” Arlo says firmly.

  I roll my eyes. “You aren’t the boss of me. I can fuck whoever I want, whenever I want.”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  He shakes his head.

  “The better question is, what are you doing here? You like me, and you want me, don’t you? That’s why you are here. You can’t stay away.”

  He pulls me closer to him. “No. I’m here because you need me. You’d get hurt if it wasn’t for me.”

  I laugh. “The only danger I’m in is getting my brains fucked out by Erick.”

  “I’m here to protect you; that’s it.”

  “I don’t believe you. You kissed me. You want me.”

  His eyes widen for just a second, and th
en he says, “That was a mistake.”

  “I don’t care what you say it was; it was the truth. You want me.” I glance over to where Erick has my drink sitting on the bar. I turn back to Arlo. “But, if you aren’t ready to admit that yet, then Erick, it is.”

  I walk over to Eden. “I’m going home with Erick. Stay safe,” I say to her.

  “I always do. You, too.”

  I nod and then start walking toward Erick, leaving Arlo alone on the dance floor. And then I see it. Erick slips something into my drink. I don’t think he did it with any of my previous drinks. If he did, I don’t feel anything, and it must not be very strong, but he definitely did it now.

  I suck in a breath. Arlo was right. Erick is dangerous.

  Still, I keep walking toward Erick as I try to decide what my next move will be.

  “Why are you hanging out with a Carini?” Erick asks.

  “I’m not. He approached me. I only know him from when he gave us a tour of his place and from the lecture tonight.”

  “You need to stay away from him, Nina. His whole family is considered royalty in this town but not for good reasons. They live above the law and do things that destroy anyone who owes them anything. Most are never seen again, and those that are go mad.”

  I frown as I take in the new information. “Don’t worry; I won’t ever owe Arlo anything.”

  Erick studies me, not sure if he believes me. But it doesn’t matter if I’m telling the truth or not. Arlo has made it perfectly clear that I will never be in his debt. That he won’t ever let me even when I should be.

  “Does that mean you are choosing me over that asshole?”

  I shrug. “Maybe.”

  Erick smiles and then picks up the two shot glasses of tequila. He hands me the glass that he slipped something into.

  I take the glass out of his hand.

  He raises his glass. “To choosing the right guy who is going to rock your world tonight.”

  I raise my glass to his, planning on just dumping the contents over my shoulder when he downs his drink.

  “Nina!” Arlo shouts at me over the crowd.

  I turn and look at him trying to work his way through the crowd that is thick, making it impossible for him to quickly get to me.

  “Don’t!” he half-commands and half-begs.

  I look back to Erick whose smile is faltering and then back to Arlo. Arlo knows. He saw Erick slip something into my drink. He knows that, if I drink this shot, I’m going to be drugged with God-knows-what substance that I’m sure will give Erick complete control over me.

  I absolutely should not drink this shot. I’m not going to drink this shot.

  But I like seeing the worry in Arlo’s eyes. He cares about me. I don’t know exactly what other feelings he has for me, but I know one thing. Arlo doesn’t want me to get hurt. He won’t let me get hurt. He proved that the first time he saved me.

  If I take this shot, he’ll protect me. He’ll save me.

  My heart beats wildly in my chest as the plan forms in my head. If I drink it, Erick will try to drag me away before Arlo can get to me. But Arlo is only twenty feet away. He can get to us before anything bad happens to me.

  And, if Arlo saves me, then I will owe him. I’ll be in his debt, and I’ll finally get to repay him with sex and find out the truth behind all the mysterious whispers about his family that the townspeople talk about.

  I’ll get exactly what I want.

  Only one question remains. If I drink this, will Arlo actually save me?

  I study everything about him. The way he is pushing people out of the way in an uncontrollable and savage way to get to me faster. The tightness of his jaw as he focuses on stopping me. The desperation in his eyes as he inches closer to me. But the one thing that convinces me above everything is the emotion and pain dripping off his voice when he yelled for me.

  I could be wrong. I could drink this, and Arlo might not give a shit about me. He could let Erick do whatever he wanted to me. If I drink this, Erick could rape me. He could kill me.

  “Don’t, Nina!” Arlo shouts again, begging me with everything that he has for me not to do this. Please, he mouths.

  I suck in a breath. Arlo will save me.

  This is the most reckless thing I’ve ever done. I’ve been obsessed with countless men, but I’ve never risked my life for a man on quite this level before.

  But I do it anyway.

  I throw the shot back in my throat while I look Arlo dead in the eyes and plead for him to save me.

  8

  Nina

  I open my eyes, but it still feels like I’m asleep. It’s dark. The pitch black kind. In-the-middle-of-the-night, in-the-middle-of-nowhere dark.

  I try to sit up, but I immediately fall back down onto the dirt floor. The pain in my head is dizzying. I’ve never felt anything like it before. I grab my head with both hands, trying to remember what happened that made me feel this bad.

  It’s all a haze. I remember Eden. I remember strange boys. I remember dancing. And Arlo. There was something important that happened with Arlo.

  Pain. It’s all I feel right now, making it impossible to sort out everything floating around in my head.

  My head is pounding. My whole body aches. My stomach is queasy.

  I’m naked. I don’t have any clothing. Not my bra, not my panties, not an oversize shirt to cover me. There is just nothing.

  I was raped.

  It all comes flooding back to me. I took the shot. I passed out. Erick raped me. Arlo didn’t save me. I made a gigantic mistake. And, now, I just have to hope that I can escape before he kills me.

  I push through the pounding in my head and the ache all over my body and manage to sit up. It’s incredibly dark, and I have no idea where the door is to make my escape. It doesn’t help that my head is spinning the longer I sit up.

  “Drink.” A cup is thrust in front of me, seemingly out of nowhere.

  I’m not going to be drugged again. I’m not going to let him rape me again. Not so easily. Not without a fight.

  I push the cup away and force myself up. I start running in the opposite direction of the cup. There has to be an exit somewhere.

  “Nina, stop,” I hear Arlo’s voice command.

  I stop.

  My heart stops beating. I stop breathing.

  I wasn’t raped. At least, not by Erick.

  I turn slowly and can faintly make out Arlo walking toward me with a cup in his hand.

  “It’s just water. Drink. It will make your head stop aching.”

  I take the cup out of his hand and drink until every last drop of water is gone.

  “Sit down.”

  I slowly sit back down on the dirt ground. I lean against the cold stone wall for support. Arlo does the same, sitting down next to me.

  “Where’s Eden?”

  “She’s safe. My driver took her home.”

  I take a deep breath and let my shoulders relax. I believe him when he says that she is safe. She’s the only person in my world that matters. I can’t lose her.

  “Why am I naked?” I ask.

  “You don’t get to ask any stupid questions. Not after what you did last night.”

  Instant anger overtakes any rational thoughts. “I sure as hell get to ask any damn question that I want! You got me into this fucking mess! If it wasn’t for you, I would never have taken any drugs.”

  “I got you into this mess? You have got to be fucking kidding me! I told you not to drink it. You didn’t listen to me. You disobeyed me.”

  “I’m not an idiot! I knew that he’d spiked the drink with something.”

  “Then, why did you drink it? That sounds pretty idiotic to me!”

  “I wasn’t going to drink it. I was just going to make him think I did. But then you had to get all bossy and demanding, showing that you cared about me.”

  “You think I care about you?” He laughs. “Oh, man, Nina. Your worldview is definitely wrong. I don’t care about you. But acting like
royalty in this town has its disadvantages. I couldn’t have a club full of people see you get drugged and disappear with a man without me interfering and saving you. One of the main reasons my family maintains so much power in this town is because we protect the town. Sorry that I was desperate not to have to spend my whole night fighting to keep you safe from some loser.”

  “Erick didn’t rape me?”

  “Of course he didn’t rape you.”

  I clear my throat and then whisper, “Did you rape me?”

  He laughs.

  “It’s not funny. Did you rape me?”

  He continues laughing, like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard. “No, Nina, I didn’t rape you. I don’t have to. You were willing to risk your life to try to get me to notice you. You’ve practically thrown yourself at me every chance you’ve gotten. I don’t need to rape you in order to have my way with you.”

  “Then, why am I naked?”

  Arlo sighs. “Because you threw up on yourself countless times as the drugs took effect and were leaving your system. I thought it would be easier to hose you down if you were naked.”

  I frown. “You could have left my underwear on.”

  He rolls his eyes. “I could have. But then what enjoyment would that have brought me? I thought it was my reward—to finally see you naked after saving your life and taking care of you all night.”

  “I’m in your debt now,” I say with a small smile on my face.

  “I want to wipe that damn smile off your face. You could have died last night, Nina. You did die last night. I had to perform CPR at one point because you weren’t breathing on your own. Whatever that asshole Erick gave you was strong shit. You would have died if it wasn’t for me.”

  “But you did save me.”

  He runs his hand through his hair. “I’ve never met a woman so frustrating as you, Nina. I want to punish you so that you will never do something so stupid again in your life, but I’m not convinced you will learn your lesson.”

  The pain in my head is gone. My body is flush and warm with thoughts of Arlo. I have to have him. And I don’t care what words he says. He cares about me. He can lie to himself all he wants.

  “Punish me.”