Her Super-Secret Rebound Boyfriend

by Kerri Carpenter

  The gym was applauding again. They must have read another raffle winner’s name.

  “What do you say?” Luke asked.

  Okay, so he hadn’t been kidding about his proposal.

  “Let me get this right. You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend at your family’s reunion?”

  He nodded. “I know it sounds crazy, but you’d really be doing me a favor. Besides, it’s only for one day.”

  Lola shuffled the basket of books from one arm to the other so she could wipe her palms against her borrowed dress. “You want me to lie.”

  The you’ve-gotta-be-kidding-me look he offered her brought Lola right back down to Earth. “Okay, so perhaps I’ve already been doing some lying. But, honestly, I’m not a liar by nature.”

  “Trust me, I can see that.”

  “And lying to your family on top of it. I mean, what if they find out?” Or worse, what if someone got hurt? Lola certainly knew how much a lie could cause pain.

  Luke grinned, and Lola had to work extra hard to keep her legs strong so she didn’t slide to the floor in a puddle of mush. Mush? More like lust.

  “They won’t find out,” he said, confidence in his voice, his stance, his aura. Damn, that was appealing.

  “Luke, don’t get me wrong. I’ve enjoyed talking with you tonight and spilling an old-school dessert on you and stuff, but we don’t know each other at all.”

  He nodded, as if her words made sense.

  “Furthermore,” she went on, “what if someone in your family asks for details or brings up something about you that I, as your pretend girlfriend, should know?” She snapped her fingers. “The jig will be up like that.”

  “I see your point. But…” he said, drawing out the word as he held a hand up, “there’s a simple solution.”

  She started chewing on one of her recently polished fingernails, a nervous habit she despised. “There is?”

  “Sure. I’m going to give you a crash course in all things Luke Erickson.”

  Lola couldn’t help herself. She eyed him, starting from his feet, up his long, long legs, over that amazing body—with the stained shirt—and all the way to his insanely handsome face. He had the. Best. Lips. Period. She couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to kiss them.

  Lick them.

  Bite them.

  “Hey, you okay? You’re swaying,” he said.

  Yikes. Lola quickly pulled herself together. “Um, sorry. A little too much spinach and artichoke dip earlier. Must have been spiked, ha ha. Anyway, as much as I would um, enjoy, a crash course in you, I don’t know that I have time this week.”

  “Come on, Lola. What about Monday night? No one ever does anything on Monday night. I’ll buy you dinner. Anywhere you want.”

  “I play bocce on Monday nights.”

  Luke blinked. “Bocce? Did you just say bocce?”

  She nodded. “Sure. Bocce is this Italian game where you throw different colored balls and try to get as close as you can to the—”

  “I know what bocce is. Well, sort of. I wasn’t aware that anyone under the age of seventy played it.”

  “Oh sure. A lot of people do. I’m in a bocce league.”

  He chuckled. He’d heard of softball leagues, soccer leagues, even kickball leagues. “There are bocce leagues? Are you serious?”

  “As a heart attack. Well, we’re kind of this rogue league. There’s an actual league here in the D.C.-area that plays down on the National Mall, but they are soooo stuffy and serious. A bunch of us were fed up with the rules so we started our own league. We play over in this small park in Alexandria. They refurbished the park recently and put in a bocce court. It’s near that Mexican restaurant. You know the one that has the patio seating with the light-up peppers?”

  He shook his head. “I can’t wrap my head around a bunch of girls playing bocce.”

  “Every Monday night.”

  “Let me get this straight. You’re a high school reunion-crashing librarian who plays in a renegade bocce league and covets Jane Austen books?”

  Was that strange? Coming out of his mouth it did seem kind of weird she supposed.

  “Lola McBride, you keep getting more and more interesting by the second.”

  “Really?”

  He stepped closer. “Really.”

  She wanted to acquiesce and go to his family reunion with him. But she was realizing that it was only to spend more time with him.

  Her phone vibrated. Juggling the basket of books, she retrieved it from her purse. She glanced down and saw a text message from Frankie.

  That guy is crazy hot. Go for it! #REBOUND

  She put her phone in airplane mode. Then she looked up at Luke.

  “I have a question. Why do you need to bring a girlfriend to your family reunion?”

  “I have three sisters, who are triplets by the way. They’ve been pestering me since the day they were born.”

  Wow, three siblings. Jealousy traveled up Lola’s spine at the thought of having sisters. Or siblings. Or anyone.

  “The last couple of years the three of them, along with my wonderful, but very intrusive, mother have taken it upon themselves to badger me to death. They want me to settle down and start a family.”

  She noticed that he didn’t mention a dad in this scenario. “What about your father?”

  He shook his head. His gaze cast down to the floor.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I don’t have a dad, either.”

  Or a mother. Or siblings, grandparents, or cousins. She should be used to it by now, but as usual, the thought made her want to cry. She gulped down a big breath and steadied herself. She’d had a mother and father, a very loving parental unit. Until the accident took her dad and cancer claimed her mom a couple years after that.

  Not for the first time in her life, she wondered what it would be like to have a big, meddling family. Tons of people to spend holidays with, baking cookies and doing gift exchanges. Sunday dinners with lots of noise and food and laughter. Sure would beat Chinese takeout for one.

  Any time one of her friends complained about their nosy family, she wanted to shake them. Didn’t they see how lucky they were? Lola would give anything for a family, intrusive and interfering or not. But as usual, she knew she couldn’t blurt that out to a stranger. Hell, she barely talked about it with Frankie.

  “Can’t you just tell your family to butt out?” she asked Luke.

  Maybe she did want to spend more time with this hottie and get to know him better, but he was asking her to lie to his family. To his sisters and mother. The thought made her stomach roll. Crashing this reunion aside, Lola simply didn’t condone lying. Even when it was coming from a good place, being untruthful caused damage. She knew that better than anyone.

  “Asking wouldn’t even make a dent with them.” He laughed, but only for a moment before growing serious. “The truth is, I hate disappointing them. I don’t want to settle down, but I also don’t want to see that look of dissatisfaction on my mom’s face when I walk through the door alone.” He coughed into his fist, and his voice grew quieter. “My mom has done so much for me over the years.”

  True love and respect for his mother shone in his eyes, and that was her undoing. Even if going along with his plan went against her better judgment.

  “Fine,” she whispered.

  “What was that?” Hope filled his eyes.

  “I said okay, I’ll do it.”

  “Yes! Lola, thank you so much. You will not regret this.”

  “I regret it already.”

  With that, he pulled her into a tight hug, crushing the basket of books as he did. He smelled amazing. Whatever kind of cologne he wore just about set her mouth watering. Not to mention the feel of his arms around her was amazing. She felt safe and cocooned.

  Oh, she was definitely going to regret this.

  She broke off the hug and took a large step backward. “Maybe we should exchange numbers.”

  Luke pulled out his phone. Just as Lo
la finished keying in her number, she heard a commotion. She turned in the direction of the sound as Frankie called her name, who was rushing toward her.

  “Lola!” She waved as she hustled over.

  “Frankie, hey, this is Luke. Luke, my roommate Frankie.”

  Luke shook Frankie’s hand. “Ah, the orchestrator of tonight’s evil plot.”

  Lola sighed. “I honestly don’t know why I’m friends with her at this point.”

  Luke leaned over and whispered softly, “I’m glad you are. We wouldn’t have met otherwise.”

  Luke’s words warmed her heart. She felt the struggle to keep from blushing. How many times had her cheeks reddened tonight?

  Frankie nodded. “Speaking of my evil plot, we’re busted.”

  Unused to getting in trouble for anything ever, Lola gasped. “What?”

  “Our cover’s blown. We gotta roll.” Frankie turned to Luke. “Although, it was so nice to meet you.” She batted her eyelashes in the most obvious way. Lola had to physically work from rolling her eyes. “I hope you had fun with my friend.”

  “It’s definitely been enlightening. And I look forward to seeing your friend later this week.”

  “That’s what I like to hear. Oh shit,” Frankie said, eyeing the door they entered through earlier.

  Lola and Luke both turned and saw one of the women who had been manning the table with the nametags, and she didn’t look happy. Her hands were on her hips as she did a sweep of the gym. Frankie grabbed Lola’s arm.

  “Hold those books tights. Let’s make a run for it. We can use that side door.”

  “Oh right.” Lola smiled at Luke, who was already starting to laugh. “Um, bye Luke. See ya soon.”

  They made their way to the side of the gym and out the door into the humid June air. Even at night, the temperature was high and the humidity higher. It was going to be a hot summer in the D.C.-area.

  An image of Luke flashed into her mind, and she bit her lip.

  “I’ll get us an Uber,” Frankie said as they crossed the parking lot. “So…how was the hottie?”

  “Great actually.”

  Frankie threw her fist into the air. “Victory. See, I told you all you had to do was follow The Golden Girls and you would be golden. Never doubt Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia.”

  “Oh please.” Lola was fighting the urge to remove her heels.

  “You scoff and yet, I heard Hottie McHotterson say he would see you later this week. I smell a rebound fling.”

  Lola stopped, causing Frankie to pull up as well. “What?” Frankie asked.

  “Luke is way more than simply a rebound fling.” She paused dramatically, excited to watch Frankie’s eyes bug out of her face.

  “He’s my rebound boyfriend.”

  Chapter Three

  “Fasten your seatbelt, slut puppy. This ain’t gonna be no cake walk!”

  -Sophia Petrillo

  “Lola has a rebound boyfriend. A super-secret rebound boyfriend,” Frankie announced to their group of friends assembled for their weekly bocce game.

  Lola sighed, even as the rest of her friends oohed and aahed and moved closer for more details. “It’s just a secret from his family. Besides, it’s not real,” she said. “We’re only pretending.”

  “That’s why I said super-secret,” Frankie said.

  “Is he hot?” Katie asked.

  “Ohmigod,” Frankie said, fanning herself with her hand. “So effing hot. He looks like a movie star. Or a cowboy. Or a cowboy movie star. He’s tall and built, and oh-so-yummy.”

  “Then why is he pretend?” Olivia wondered out loud. “Why don’t you take the super-secret out of your relationship and just get with him?”

  “Because I lied to him, and then he asked me to lie again. I hate lying.”

  Frankie sighed dramatically. “We all know your penchant for the truth. But honestly, Lola, we barely stretched the truth.”

  Lola snagged one of the light beers from their cooler bag, covertly popped the top, and poured it into a red solo cup. They weren’t technically allowed to drink in this park, but what was a game of rogue bocce without some beer?

  “I used a fake name.”

  “I always use a fake name when I meet guys in bars,” Olivia said.

  “This was different,” Lola said. “We dressed up and pretended to be other people. In public.”

  “Huh?” Olivia asked.

  “Frankie and I crashed Kennedy High’s ten-year reunion on Saturday night.” She filled them in on how she won the coveted Jane Austen basket and how she was supposed to attend his family reunion in exchange for his silence.

  “That’s awesome,” Hannah said.

  Katie jumped up. “They did that on an episode of The Golden Girls.”

  “Exactly,” Frankie said emphatically. “Thank you.”

  “Frankie had this crazy idea that I needed to have a little rebound fling.”

  “Crazy?” Frankie huffed. “Um, hello, it worked. You met Luke, and now you have your rebound.”

  Lola rolled her eyes. “Whatever. The chance of me seeing Luke again is slim to none.”

  Celeste, who was the keeper of the balls for their bocce game, looked up from her crouched position on the ground where she was setting up the game. “What are you talking about? Didn’t you just say you’re going to his family reunion?”

  Lola shook her head. “It’s not like that’s going to happen. I’m sure he was just making conversation.”

  Frankie picked up one of the red balls. “We’ll be Team Christmas this week,” she said. That meant her team would throw the red and green balls. “You and Luke exchanged numbers.”

  “Right, but he’s not going to call or anything. I mean, he didn’t text me yesterday. More than likely he’s forgotten all about it. He probably had one too many drinks that night.”

  Part of this statement was wishful thinking on Lola’s part. She’d never done anything so impulsive as crashing a reunion before. To go a step further and pretend to be someone’s girlfriend was insane, especially for someone she barely knew. No matter how hot he was.

  And, man, was Luke Erickson hot. Against her will, she’d thought about him for the rest of the weekend and most of today. She adjusted her glasses and remembered his smile. It had almost brought her to her knees. Then there was his body. When she’d tried to help him clean up his shirt, her hands had paused on his rock-hard pecs. It had taken everything inside her not to continue feeling him up. But none of that mattered. She was more likely to crash another reunion than see Luke again.

  “You really don’t think you’re going to hear from him?” Frankie asked.

  “No,” she said, exasperated. She loved Frankie, but the girl never let it go.

  “Are you sure?”

  She aimed a hard, no-nonsense stare in Frankie’s direction. “Yes,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “What would you say to him if you did?”

  Lola wanted to strangle her best friend. She stood up and faced her group of friends with one hand on her hip and the other holding onto her cup of beer. “What do you want me to say? The truth? Oh Luke, you’re the hottest guy I’ve ever seen and I would absolutely love to pretend to be your girlfriend.”

  “Now that’s what I like to hear.”

  Lola spun around so fast, her beer sloshed over the edge of the cup, dampening her light-blue tank top, and she almost fell over. When she saw Luke standing there looking like sex on a stick, she wished she had fallen—fallen into a deep, dark pit where she could hide for the rest of her life. She peeked over her shoulder at Frankie who seemed very pleased with herself. She winked at Lola.

  Lola would kill her later.

  “Ohmigod,” she squeaked out. “Luke. Uh, what are you doing here?”

  “You told me you and your friends play bocce here on Mondays, and I work not too far over in Old Town. But let’s get back to that declaration you just made.” He grinned.

  Lola’s cheeks felt like they were on fire
.

  “Hey, Luke,” Frankie called. “Want a beer?”

  “Sure,” he replied. “I’ve never seen a rogue bocce game, so I thought I would come check it out. Actually, I’ve never seen a regular bocce game come to think of it.” He accepted the red solo cup from Frankie. “Thanks. So how do you guys play?”

  “It’s super simple,” Hannah said. “We throw out the pallina first.”

  “The what?” Luke asked.

  “It’s that little white ball,” Katie said. “Then we start throwing the colored balls. Essentially, whoever gets closest to the pallina, wins.”

  “Seems simple enough,” Luke said.

  “It’s harder than it looks, especially because our court is a little uneven. But that’s part of the fun. So is the beer.” Frankie tapped her cup to Luke’s and smiled. “Want to play?”

  “Good call,” Celeste said. “Our friend Summer couldn’t make it tonight, so the teams are uneven.”

  Did her friends really just ask hottie Luke to play bocce with them?

  Lanette, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. “You can be part of Team Ikea with Katie, Celeste, and Lola, of course.”

  “Team Ikea?”

  Olivia laughed. “Yeah, you guys are blue and yellow. Like Sweden.”

  “Like Ikea.” Luke nodded. “Funny.”

  As they gathered up the balls and filled up their solo cups with beer, Frankie grabbed Lola’s arm and whispered to her, “This is fabulous.”

  “It’s awkward,” Lola hissed back.

  “What are you talking about? This is the perfect opportunity for you to bond with your pretend boyfriend. Show him how you work the balls.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

  Lola shoved her friend. “You’re disgusting.”

  “But you love me anyway.” With that, Frankie made her way toward her team.

  Lola sighed and grabbed two balls from the ground. She crossed to Luke. “Here are your blue balls.”

  She froze. Kill me now. She did not just say that. Lola closed her eyes tight and wished for a major do-over. But the sound of Luke’s husky laughter brought her right back to reality. She peeked through her lids, but she was still standing in the middle of the bocce court.

  “You continue to amuse me, Lola McBride.”