The Fake Engagement Favor

by Charlene Sands

  Gianna continued on, highlighting the most important aspects of her workshop using the PowerPoint graphs behind her. The stats cemented her research and laid the foundation for each of her topics.

  Midway through her course, she gave her students a ten-minute break. As she tidied up her notes, her colleague Timothy Bellamy walked over to her to congratulate her on the workshop so far, and on her engagement. She’d noticed him in the audience wearing a three-piece suite, listening intently. His praise meant something to her. She respected his opinion, but suddenly it dawned on her, that what she’d felt for him in the past was miniscule compared to the way she felt about Gage. Brilliant college professor versus sex god country rock star? Maybe that’s how others would look at it, but now Gage was so much more to her than that. And wasn’t that the biggest surprise of all?

  After her brief conversation with Timothy, Lily and Harper walked over to the podium. “You’re doing great,” Lily said. “And I’m actually learning some things I didn’t know.”

  “That’s good,” Gianna said, removing her glasses and wiping them with a cloth she kept handy. “So, I’m not boring you?”

  “Not at all,” Harper said. “The stats you showed are really fascinating. Who knew that, of the three, trust ranked highest in a relationship?”

  “I know, that stat rang out to me, too,” Lily said.

  “But I can see it,” Harper said. “When I lost Cade’s trust, everything else didn’t seem to matter. He was through with me. Luckily, he gave me a second chance. So I get it.”

  “Ten minutes is almost up,” Lily said, glancing at her watch. “What do you say after this we go out for a quick bite to eat?”

  “I’d love to, but what about Rose?” Gianna asked.

  “Cade’s home with her now,” Harper said. “They’re having dinner together.”

  “Okay, then. It’s a date. And thanks, girls, for coming tonight. It means a lot.”

  Gianna breezed through the rest of her presentation, the second half of her seminar smooth and flawless, with no technical difficulties. That was always a plus. She spent some time afterward speaking to students. Some had questions, others simply wanted to thank her for the “brilliant workshop.” The compliments gave recognition to her hard work.

  She met up with Lily and Harper, and the three of them walked out of the lecture hall together. With the seminar under her belt, she was eager to celebrate with the girls. Maybe have one sole drink of something fruity and delicious. Gage would approve. She could just hear him now, teasing her about it.

  Just then, news vans pulled up and men and women with cameras bounded out of them, snapping photos. Gianna had no idea what was happening; they all seemed to be in such a big rush. She glanced at Lily and Harper and they responded with an unknowing shrug. Baffled, they stood there frozen as the paparazzi swarmed her, sticking microphones in her face, shouting questions at her.

  “Professor, what do you have to say about your fiancé cheating on you?”

  “Did you know about his affair with Leah Marie?” someone shouted.

  “Have you seen the photo of them yet?” another one called out.

  Curious students walked up to the unfolding scene, and Gianna and her friends were suddenly surrounded by a sizable crowd.

  “Didn’t you just give a lecture on relationships, Professor?” a female reporter asked.

  The questions came in rapid succession, and Gianna had absolutely no clue what they were talking about. Harper, more astute on paparazzi tactics, pulled up a photo from social media on her phone. “Maybe this is what they’re talking about, honey.”

  The sympathy in Harper’s voice had her glancing at the photo, still stunned at the onslaught of questions. There were Gage and famous actress and leading lady Leah Marie in a lusty lip lock, two of the beautiful people coming together like a scene on a movie poster, leaving no room for doubt as to what was going on. Photos didn’t lie. Not this one, anyway. It was clear what Gage was doing.

  Blood left her face, her body shook and she wasn’t sure if she trembled only on the inside or if her shaking was visible to everyone. She didn’t much care. A knife sliced her heart in two, the pain and shock almost unbearable. Why had Gage called her last night and then again this morning? To make sure she’d play nice? To keep her appeased...and satisfied.

  Oh, God.

  Lily and Harper stood like soldiers beside her, flanking each side, but even their strength couldn’t bolster her. She wanted to sink into the ground, never to appear again.

  Why had Gage done this to her?

  Why couldn’t he have waited until their little charade was over?

  Why had he humiliated her this way?

  “It could be innocent, Gianna,” Harper whispered in her ear. “Stand your ground. Don’t assume anything until you speak with Gage.”

  Lily took her hand. “My brother wouldn’t do this. There’s got to be an explanation.”

  The image of Gage kissing Leah Marie wrecked her inside. But she had to answer the probing questions being tossed her way. The reporters would never leave her alone otherwise.

  Stick to the plan, her intellect told her. Don’t stray. Wait to speak with Gage. Harper and Lily encouraged her to do just that.

  “What do you have to say, Professor?” Another microphone was shoved in her face. She gritted her teeth. Why anyone would choose to go into a profession where your every move was scrutinized like this was beyond her. It only proved how different she and Gage were.

  Gianna stood tall. She mustered her courage, even as the knife twisted inside. “I trust my fiancé,” she told them. “Gage is a good man. And you’re all making too much out of this.”

  “So, you don’t think he’s cheating on you?”

  “No, I do not. It’s obvious he’s at a charity event. Trying to do some good.”

  “Wasn’t your seminar tonight about trust?”

  “Partly, yes,” she answered, keeping a straight face. “I have faith in Gage,” she said, her newfound acting chops on full display. “We trust each other.”

  Lily and Harper grabbed her by the arms and edged her away from the news reporters. They didn’t follow. They’d gotten what they wanted from her: her undying loyalty to Gage. A loyalty she no longer believed in. Once in the car, Lily floored it, getting them away from the vultures who’d love to eat her alive.

  * * *

  The first thing in the morning, Gage’s phone rang, waking him from a sweet dream about Gianna. When he picked up, Cade and Lily were on the line, giving him a tongue-lashing about something. It took him a minute to clear his head. “Wait, what?”

  “There’s a picture on the internet of you kissing Leah Marie, Gage,” Lily said. She was fuming. It’d been years since he’d heard that tone in his sister’s voice. “It looks bad. Real bad, and now it’s all over social media. I just sent you the picture. Take a look. Poor Gianna was ambushed outside her lecture hall last night by the paparazzi. It was awful and she’s shaken up, but trouper that she was, she defended you and your engagement.”

  Crap. It was the last thing he wanted to happen to her. “Okay, all right. I have no clue what’s going on. I’m coming right home. And listen, nothing happened with Leah Marie. I’m telling you straight.”

  “Well, don’t tell us. Tell Gianna. She’s upset. And that’s putting it mildly.”

  “I’ll talk to her. I’ll explain.”

  Gage got on the earliest flight he could, and on the way to the airport, his phone rang off the hook. He received dozens of text messages with inquiries about his “affair” with the famous actress and star of Sunday in Montana. Granted, the photo had been taken at a precise photo-op moment, where it appeared more fiery a kiss than it actually had been. Hell, the truth was, it had been a quick one-second peck on the mouth that had gotten blown completely out of proportion.

  On his flight
home, he read everything he could find on the internet about the incident, but what riled him the most was seeing video of Gianna being tormented by the paparazzi outside her lecture hall. Those bastards harassed her into making a comment. And, true to Gianna’s nature, she didn’t falter. She defended him with such powerful words that tears filled his eyes. She’d been perfect, said all the right things. But it galled him that she was put into that position.

  None of this should’ve happened. It was fake news at its most despicable, a publicity stunt that someone might’ve engineered, with stories on the internet and social media predicting doom for the newly engaged couple. His biggest concern was for Gianna, but she wasn’t answering his calls.

  And once he finally got home, he thought better of knocking on the guesthouse door. Instead, he used his key and entered the place. Gianna sat calmly at the kitchen table, drinking coffee.

  It was surreal, the calm that surrounded her. While she looked the picture of serenity, his nerves were jumping jackasses. He couldn’t control the trembling inside. He’d given concerts to tens of thousands, and yet this one woman, who refused to look at him, jarred his steely resolve.

  He moved closer, breathed in the scent of her, all girly soap and sweet shampoo. Her hair was up in its usual knot; she wore gray sweats and an equally drab tank top, her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. Yet she was beautiful, a woman who meant something to him.

  He took a seat facing her. Finally, she lifted her lids to him. Her sage-green eyes were filled with sorrow. It nearly busted him up inside. “Gianna, none of it is true. You know me. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

  “I don’t know if I know you at all, Gage.” She said it matter-of-factly. But her eyes betrayed her calm demeanor.

  “I don’t know who took that picture, but it was completely innocent. Leah is a flirt, and before I knew it, her lips were on mine. But the whole thing lasted no more than a second. I moved away from her, and she teased me about being whipped by my fiancée.” He cleared his throat. “Which I am.”

  Her brows furrowed.

  “I mean, she knows I’m...we’re engaged.”

  “But we’re not. It’s all fake, Gage. I feel like a total fraud.”

  “Listen, I hated that you had to go through what you did last night.” He reached for her hand, and she pulled it away. Okay, so she was pissed. “Those reporters should’ve never bothered you. It was really nothing.”

  “Nothing? I was humiliated in front of my students, Gage. In front of the world. I’d worked so hard... Never mind.” She sipped her coffee.

  “No, I know how hard you’ve worked these past few weeks. You’ve been amazing. You are amazing. And I’m sorry. But honestly, nothing like this is ever going to happen again. I promise.”

  “You can’t promise that, Gage. You’re a superstar. You’re under a microscope all the time. I said I’d help you and I don’t go back on my word, but I’m not going to subject myself to any more humiliation. We’re not going to live in this house together anymore.”

  He laughed, and she turned a sharp eye to him.

  “I mean it, Gage. We’ve been playing house, but that’s all ending as of today.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I want you to move out. You go back to live in the main house. We only see each other when there’s a planned event. I’ll bide my time and then we’ll break up quietly later in the year.”

  “No.” His heart began to pound hard against his chest. The loss stifled his breathing. She couldn’t be serious. “Gianna, you’re being unreasonable.”

  “No, Gage. I’m being logical. It’s the only way this is going to work between us.”

  “I wish you’d stop analyzing everything.”

  “That’s what I do, Gage. That’s why you and I don’t work. We’re complete opposites. We both know how this will end. It’s better this way. I’m not going to be your bed buddy anymore.”

  “My...what?” Was that what she thought? Well, hell. He’d never thought of her that way. Not once.

  “You heard me.”

  “I heard you, but I don’t believe it. I, uh, what we had together is something special. I thought you felt the same way. I thought...”

  “This is hard for me.” Gianna gazed down at the table. “Won’t you just go?”

  “You’re kicking me out of my own house?”

  She sucked in a breath and eyed him carefully. “You’re right. It is your house. If you don’t want to go, then I will. I’ll move back to my apartment.”

  “Hell no. Don’t do that. I don’t want you to leave.”

  Gage blinked several times. He couldn’t let her go. She needed to be here. He had to see her every day. It dawned on him how important she’d become in his life. But she had him over a barrel. He didn’t want what they had to end, but he also didn’t want her to leave. She’d put her foot down, and he had to allow her to step all over him. Or else lose her for good.

  “I’ll go. But before I do, I should thank you for sticking up for me, for us. It probably wasn’t easy, but you held your own with those reporters. You kept your part of the deal. And I’m grateful.”

  “At least there’s that. I’m loyal, like a silly little puppy.” Gianna rose from the table and walked out of the kitchen, leaving him sitting there alone.

  Good God.

  He’d never been in love before, but if this was what it felt like, it sucked.

  * * *

  Gage sat on his bed in the main house, his unpacked suitcase beside him.

  His mother stood by the threshold studying him. “You’ve moved back in?”

  He hung his head. “That’s what it looks like.”

  “That kiss made the morning news.”

  “I didn’t kiss Leah. She kissed me. And it was over in a second, Mom. Someone snapped a picture to make it look way worse than it was. I didn’t think anything of it until Cade and Lily ripped me a new one this morning.”

  “So Gianna kicked you out?”

  He flinched. “That’s one way of putting it.”

  “You’re not used to women standing up for themselves.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I have eyes, son. I see how the two of you look at each other. You care for her. You may even love her.”

  Gage ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know, Mom. I’ve never been in love before.”

  His mother walked over and sat down on the edge of his bed. “You know I think Gianna is special. I made you promise not to hurt her. But I don’t think you kept that promise.”

  “Things just happened, Mom. I’m no saint, but hurting her is the last thing I want to do. So she asked me to leave, and I did.”

  “If you can honestly be happy letting her go, then do it. And both of you will be better for it. But if you have strong feelings for her, do something about it, Gage. Lily tells me there’s a professor at the university who’s interested in her.”

  “There is?” Jealousy ripped straight through him. Thinking of Gianna with another man tore him to shreds. He’d never considered she’d have someone waiting for her after this debacle was over. “Apparently, he was at the seminar. Lily saw him talking to her. It’s nothing concrete, and it was just beginning to happen before you stepped in and asked her for the biggest favor of her lifetime.”

  “She never said.”

  “She wouldn’t. And besides, I think she fell for someone else. Someone worthy of her love.”

  “Mom, if you’re scolding me, you’re doing a piss-poor job.”

  “I only want my children to be happy.”

  “She’s done with me.”

  His mom shook her head, giving him her I-know-better smile. “I disagree. You’ve been selfish with her, Gage, but you can fix it. I think she’s waiting for you to make a move, to prove to her that you car
e.”

  “I can’t toss her over my shoulder and drag her away like a caveman.”

  “No, but you could be her knight in shining armor for a change. Think of all the times she’s rescued you.”

  He nodded. His mother was right. “How do I do that?”

  “You’re smart enough to figure it out, Gage. I have faith in you.”

  He pushed his hands through his hair. He was a mess, missing Gianna so badly it physically hurt. His head ached, and his stomach was in knots.

  “I’ll be going now,” she said, standing. “You have some thinking to do.”

  Gage stared at her retreat and sighed.

  What was it with women walking out on him lately?

  * * *

  Gianna sat down at the dinner table with the Tremaines. It was the first time in two days she’d seen Gage, and she was dead set against allowing her heartache to show in front of the rest of his family. She’d already been humiliated enough, and she needed to be here, to show them she was doing fine. She’d managed to find time to spend with Rose during the day when Gage was out of the house. So far, her plan was working. She’d avoided him until tonight.

  It only made sense that she should dine with his family. She wasn’t going to let what had happened between them destroy her other relationships. She trusted them; they had her back. She’d trusted Gage, too, but look where that had gotten her.

  “I’m excited for the wedding,” Lily said. “Just another couple of weeks and it’ll be here.”

  “Me, too,” Harper said. “I can’t wait, but I’m a little frazzled with all the plans. Luckily for us, Gianna has offered to help out.”

  “That’s lovely, dear,” Rose said, giving her an approving nod.

  “Lily, are you bringing a plus-one? You haven’t said so yet,” Harper said.

  “Me?” Lily asked. “Uh, well, I’m not sure. I might.”

  “I’m sure Nathan would love to take you,” Rose said. “As friends, of course.”

  Color rose on Lily’s face. “Nathan has a girlfriend.”