Her Best Friend Fake Fiancé

by Kimberly Krey

  The show’s theme song had been replaced with Christmas music. She watched from the curtain’s edge, Zander at her side, and smiled at the shift in the overall mood of the crowd.

  Good, this was good. It was just what she and Grandma had been aiming for when they planned the special edition. Give the audience members and people at home a feel of Christmas.

  Her thoughts veered next to a few of the charities they’d be helping today. While researching the many organizations that applied, Betzy had been moved to tears by the compassion shown. People—normal, everyday people—had put their lives on hold and focused on making the world a better place. Many sacrificed greatly to do so.

  Shelters for the homeless were high among them, but there were also groups that focused on Christmas gifts for kids in foster facilities, companionship for the elderly, scholarship programs for the youth.

  Just recalling those causes gave Betzy pause for what she was about to do—steal the thunder of the evening with a complete sham.

  Stop, Betzy. You have the right to save face. After all, she’d worked as hard as any man in the industry to accomplish what she had over the years. Harder, since she was a woman. And look how it had come back to bite her.

  Not if she could avoid it.

  Milo Jazz, the show’s host, welcomed the crowd, his tone different from the exuberant one he usually started out with. James and Duke were, of course, waiting on the other side of the stage for the introductions to begin.

  While The Lion’s Den had held primetime, seasonal slots for years now, very few of those episodes were filmed live. Thank heavens for that.

  “Today we have a very special live edition of The Lion’s Den. One that will warm your heart just in time for Christmas. Let’s start with the king of the den, always up for an adventure, Mr. Duke Benton.”

  Duke headed onto the stage with a grin, his man bun perfectly in place.

  “You’re going to do great, sis,” Zander said from behind.

  Betzy tossed him a grin over her shoulder. Inwardly, she was nothing but nerves.

  “Thanks.” She glanced at the teleprompter as Milo continued. And what was this? It looked like there had been a change in Betzy’s intro.

  “And now for the sensible, the rational, the ultimate taker of the highroad, our lovable Betzy Benton.”

  The intro change had Grandma’s name all over it. Nice one. It’d become increasingly clear that the insightful woman was on to her, though she hadn’t come out and said so.

  Betzy’s face flushed hot as she walked onto the stage, tucked her hair behind one ear, and gave her signature wink to the camera. Only this time, she should have directed it to the crowd.

  That wink, though Sawyer didn’t know it, was for him each and every time. He had been the one to teach her to wink. He’d included the fact in his practice proposal to her, and Betzy would give anything to hear him say it all over again. Even if it was just for pretend. The truth was, the events he referred to were real, and it seemed that Sawyer treasured the memories as well.

  She hadn’t been able to see his seat from her spot behind the curtain, but now she could. He was sandwiched between Mom and his own mother, Kellianne, at the upper left corner of the audience. Grandma Lo was there too, seated beside Mom.

  Another flash of heat rushed up the front of her neck and pooled into her face. What was she doing? Was she crazy to really go through with such a plan? To expect Sawyer to actually propose to her on live TV a month after he’d been named most eligible bachelor, no less. People might know it was a ploy.

  James came out on cue, nodding at the crowd as he did. Boy, did he look happy. And he was. Betzy had noticed a big shift in him since he met Camila, and she was thrilled for him. Thrilled that he’d found the beginning to his happily ever after with such a great woman.

  But would her happy ending ever come? And if that ending couldn’t be with Sawyer, would she even want it with someone else?

  “And now for the lion with the loudest roar, the one who puts rude in shrewd, it’s Zander Benton.”

  Zander strode out, that famous smolder in check. In business, he was not one to reckon with, the audience knew that much. What they didn’t know was that, in his personal life, you’d rarely find a kinder human.

  The first contestants, a middle-aged couple, stepped onto the stage and explained the charity they’d organized over twelve years ago after losing a child to cancer. Unbeknownst to them, Zander had already selected them out of the bunch as one of his picks.

  He played his part by announcing the funds he planned to contribute. He then went on to explain the life-changing arrangements he’d made with the help of other generous supporters in the area—a key element Grandma and all her wisdom insisted on. It doesn’t matter if our means are large or small, everyone should have the gift of making a difference.

  Milo turned the time over to sponsors. When the show picked up once more, the crowd-charming host would bring out James’ organization. Then Duke’s. And then Betzy’s would be up next.

  Followed by the proposal. She’d kept her eyes decidedly off the upper corner where Sawyer sat, but as their time approached, Betzy allowed her gaze to drift up to that magnetic spot in the crowd.

  Sawyer straightened in his seat, meeting her gaze in a blink, and gave her one distinct nod, determination in the tight set of his jaw. It’s on.

  Another burst of heat shoved through her chest. Life for both of them was about to change.

  Chapter 19

  “Can I see the ring?”

  The question, poised by Betzy’s mother Claudia, took Sawyer off guard. In minutes, once the production came back from commercial, he was supposed to head down the steps and onto the stage, get on one knee, and propose marriage to Betzy on live TV.

  Most of the audience members were up on their feet, following Milo’s dancing instruction while music boomed—a way of keeping everyone entertained during the break.

  Still, Sawyer was careful as he cupped the ring box in one hand. He kept it low on the seat, then pried it open to give Claudia a peek.

  Her brow lifted. A smile spread across her lips. And satisfaction rushed through Sawyer in a fast flash.

  “That’s perfect,” she said. “Did she pick it out, or did you?”

  “Betzy told me the cut she preferred. I took it from there.”

  The woman nodded. “It’s going well so far. The top three tabloids talked about your appearance at the auction. One scored a picture of you two at the vet, and another reported that you’d spent the week with her at the cabin. The groundwork has been laid.”

  “Right,” Sawyer agreed.

  “What about the proposal? Do you know what you’re going to say?”

  “Yep.”

  “Please tell me Betzy gave you the one she wrote up. You need to say it just as she wrote it.”

  Sawyer clenched his jaw shut for a blink. “She told me not to.”

  “Well, you can’t wing it on live TV.”

  “I’m not,” he assured.

  “Two more dance moves, then we’ll go live once again, friends,” Milo cheered.

  “Whatever you do,” Claudia said in a whisper, “just don’t draw attention to your childhood together. People will think you’re doing her a favor out of loyalty. We need them to think you’ve fallen in love with the real Betzy. The one they’re attacking in that article.”

  Irritation burned hot within him. He was in love with that Betzy. And Sawyer didn’t appreciate the last-minute bomb.

  Had Betzy put her up to this? They wanted a poised and proper proposal, did they? The kind they might get out of someone who’d been raised in money. Taught to keep up the good family name.

  Milo had the crowd take their seats as the countdown played over the big screen. The noise died down, the cameras zoomed in, and the host welcomed the viewers back at home.

  Adrenaline coursed through Sawyer hard enough to catapult him onto the stage in one cannon-like blast. From the corner of his eye,
he caught sight of his own leg bouncing. He stopped it quick and forced his next breath to slow through pursed lips.

  His mom, who sat on the opposite side of him, rested a hand over his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He glanced over in time to catch her encouraging smile, one that hadn’t quite broken through the tightening in her face.

  She was nervous too. Was she worried that he’d do something to upset her friendship with Claudia? Or that he was headed toward the inevitable heartbreak she’d warned him about?

  And then there was Claudia’s recent direction: avoid bringing up their history. Which was ridiculous since that’s where it all began. What her mother really wanted to avoid was his past. His roots. Where he came from.

  Fine. The woman wanted Betzy to have a proposal from the man in the magazine, New York’s most eligible bachelor? He could give them that easily enough.

  Betzy’s charity was next on the stage. The restless leg-bouncing came back, but Sawyer could hardly control it. The adrenaline coursing through him demanded an escape. He could feel the heat of Grandma Lo’s gaze, a plea for him to put all this to a halt. Sadly, he couldn’t comply.

  The audience began to cheer suddenly, alerting Sawyer to the happenings on stage. Betzy stood up to accept an embrace from the guest she planned to sponsor.

  Sawyer put his hands together as well, offering a preemptive prayer to the heavens. Forgive me. But I love her.

  And suddenly he was up on his feet.

  Taking the shallow steps toward the front of the stage.

  He locked eyes with Milo through the chaos and crowd. It’s time.

  “And what is this?” the host said after ushering their latest guest backstage. He patted his sweater vest theatrically before looking over the crowd in feigned confusion. “Did I lose a cue card? Are we doing something…” At this point, just as planned, a guy from the stage crew brought Sawyer a mic.

  Sawyer tested it with a tap, then brought it to his lips. “You didn’t miss a cue card,” he assured. “But if you don’t mind, I’ve got something I’d like to do.”

  Betzy had taken a seat in her chair once more. Sawyer approached it with short steps as a hush fell over the crowd. His pulse echoed in his ears as he stood before her.

  Slowly then, Sawyer lowered himself to one knee.

  Whispered chatter, mixed with oohs and ahs, buzzed throughout the crowd.

  A Benton-worthy man, he reminded himself as Claudia’s words shot back to his mind. Sawyer gulped through the tightness in his chest, then reached out and took hold of her hand.

  “Betzy,” he started. From across the studio, she’d appeared calm and poised, but as he sandwiched her small hand in his, Sawyer saw that she was trembling.

  She met his gaze, her eyes brimming with a reservation that gave him pause. He kept his focus fixed on her face, watching as her lips parted the slightest bit.

  His heart clanked hard out of beat. Was she about to stop things? Somehow signal him to call the whole thing off?

  Only she didn’t. She simply glanced over the crowd, moistened her lips, and set those piercing blue eyes back on him. He squeezed her hand, and reveled in the appearance of those dimples in her cheeks.

  That smile.

  The energy darting through him shifted at once. Betzy’s hand stopped trembling in his grip. This was what they needed. A reminder of what the two shared, a connection that existed, audience or no.

  He’d conjured a bland proposal that might have satisfied her mom, the audience members, and naysayers alike. But those weren’t the words he wanted to speak.

  Sawyer had worked most of his life to be worthy of this moment, and he wasn’t about to hide where he came from. Where he had been. And the fact that he’d loved this girl from clear back when.

  “When I was eight years old, I fell for the cutest girl. She liked math, which I thought was weird. She liked fast cars, which I thought was awesome. And she also liked me, which I thought made perfect sense.”

  Betzy giggled, dabbing a fingertip to the corner of her eye as moisture built there.

  “And now, twenty years later, I’m in love with that same girl, only she’s kind of different too. She has a head for business, which is as cool as it is intimidating. She has a heart for others, so big she can’t hide it even when she tries. And somehow…” He shook his head, daring himself to speak what he wanted to say. “Somehow she likes me too—the son of her childhood housemaid—which I realize now doesn’t make any sense.”

  Murmurs broke out over the crowd.

  “But that’s what makes it right,” he explained. “That’s what makes what we have…real. It never made sense for us to be together, but I miss you every day that we’re apart.”

  He tugged the ring box from his pocket and flicked it open. Cameras he’d forgotten were there came close to zoom in on the diamond, one fit for a queen.

  “I don’t want us to live apart anymore. I want to start a life together. The one we always dreamed of. So, Betzy Benton, will you do me the honor of becoming my bride?”

  A blanket of pin-drop silence fell over the crowd.

  He felt exposed once the words were all out. Naked in front of the world. Sure, the proposal was part of the plan, but he’d never expected it to feel so real.

  Betzy dabbed the corners of her eyes, shifted and stood to her feet, then nodded before the word escaped her lips. “Yes,” she finally said.

  The crowd’s reaction rivaled that of a NASCAR win by Mario Andretti himself. Sawyer straightened to his feet, pulled Betzy into his arms, and reveled in the warmth and comfort of her there. He brought his lips to her ear, whispered through the noise of the crowd.

  “I love you.”

  Betzy’s grasp loosened enough for her to lean back and face him. She studied him for a blink. Her eyes flickered to the nearby cameras, and then back to him.

  “I love you, too.”

  A chaotic thrill pushed through his insides, louder than the applause. It’s all for the cameras, he reminded himself. The audience cheered some more as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

  Sawyer leaned in to seal it with a kiss. Short, and painfully sweet. It was likely the last time their lips would touch.

  Music picked up, and suddenly Milo was closing the segment, asking viewers to support their local charities, and wishing all a merry Christmas.

  The proposal had gone off perfect, at least from Sawyer’s perspective, but Milo’s words brought with him a sober realization. It was almost Christmas. Soon Sawyer would board a flight and go back to the life he’d planned on leaving behind.

  As Sawyer joined the Bentons in waving to the audience, Betzy looped her arm through his and cuddled up to him. And though he tried to avoid it, his gaze drifted up to the corner where some very important women stood.

  Mom’s face was covered with tears, but they didn’t mask the concern. Claudia on the other hand, was a woman trained in the art of composure. Chin lifted, eyes barely glistening with tears, and a pleased smile on her face. If Betzy’s mom was ticked off at him, and she definitely was, she knew how to mask it.

  And then came a woman who was equally angry with him. The one Sawyer did not want to meet eyes with, yet he did it all the same. Lorraine Benton looked nearly as poised as Claudia. Yet as she clapped, waved back to the stage, and kept a grip on that unwavering grin, he caught the barely perceptible shake of her head.

  A hot streak of fear shot through him as he realized just how real this was. He’d just proposed to Betzy on live TV, there was no taking it back. Sadly, the engagement itself was fake all the same.

  Talk about an emotional storm. Hope clashing with doubt. Disappointment replacing moments of bliss. Love persisting through the deepest ache.

  And now, as the countdown ended in the live production, one prominent question cried out in Sawyer’s mind.

  What did I get myself into?

  Chapter 20

  Betzy pressed her hands to her temples. If she clenched her eyes tight enough, maybe
the horrible sight before her would disappear.

  She’d made a mistake. Oh, had she ever made a mistake. Betzy had undermined Daisy Shay and what she was capable of, and now she would pay a price—the front-page news had made sure of it.

  “I told you this was a bad idea,” Grandma said to Mom, confirming that she’d been onto them all along.

  “You didn’t have anything better,” Mom snapped.

  A hand rubbed along Betzy’s shoulder a moment before Camila spoke up. “Do you want anything? Coffee? A box of tissues?”

  “A sledgehammer,” Rachel suggested.

  Sledgehammer? “For what?” Betzy pulled her hands from her face to peer up at her friend who, like the rest of the women, was gathered around her kitchen table for an emergency meeting. One that started at 5:30 in the morning after Grandma Lo stumbled onto her porch to collect her newspaper.

  Rachel shrugged. “To get out your aggression?”

  “I forgot that the Shays have family in the newspaper business too,” Mom grumbled.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t torture yourself with this anymore,” Camila suggested. Her sister-in-law proceeded to pin the corner of the newspaper between her finger and thumb, but Betzy flattened her hand over it.

  “It’s six in the morning,” Betzy said. “I think I should be able to torture myself until…” She glanced at the clock on the microwave. “Noon.”

  She hovered over the paper once more. There, screaming from the front page, were three damning words in bold print: It’s a Sham!

  Below, pictures of their engagement showed just what it referred to. She glanced over the images with a heavy sigh. Sawyer was on one knee in the first picture.

  Her heart ached anew.

  Next was a picture of the two embracing after he’d asked her to marry him.

  What a moment that had been.