“What’s going on? Fajitas are ready.”
“They smell delicious,” I say, jumping up. “I never knew you were such a good cook.”
“Was that your mom on the phone? How is she doing?”
“She’s doing pretty well,” I say, spooning some chicken onto my tortilla. I can feel Max’s eyes on me, but I ignore him. Instead, I focus on the cheese and salsa for my fajita. Priorities, right?
“Sounded like she wanted something,” he prompts.
I chuckle. “She wants to meet you, actually.” I keep my eyes on my food. I can feel his gaze on me, and I finally drag my eyes over to him.
“You don’t seem too happy about that,” he grins.
“Are you?”
“Well, you are my fiancée.”
“Fake fiancée.”
“And you’ve met my parents, so it’s only fair that I would meet yours, too.”
My heart thumps and his eyes flash. I shake my head, finally letting myself laugh.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“What?” He says, turning to his own tortilla. It’s his turn to focus on the chicken as his lips twitch into a grin.
“You’re enjoying torturing me like this,” I laugh.
“Torture!”
“Yes, torture,” I say, wrapping my arms around his waist. “This was all just some elaborate ploy to get me to go out with you.”
“You caught me,” he laughs. He wraps his arms around me and presses his lips to mine. “I’d love to meet your mom. She sounds amazing. Just like you.”
“Smooth talker,” I laugh. A blush stains my cheeks as my heart does a backflip. Just like every other time he’s around.
So much for keeping things professional.
This is starting to feel way, way too real. But I’m not sure I’m mad about that. I don’t know how I feel, except that I’m happier with Max than I’ve been in a long time.
We eat our fajitas, and then I call my mother back. Max agrees to have her over at his place for dinner. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him gently. His tall, muscular frame feels so solid against me. He growls and I feel it vibrate through my chest, and he pulls me in with a grin.
We leave the dishes in the sink for a while—we’ve got better things to do.
The next day, I meet my mom at the entrance to Max’s apartment building. I try to keep my face neutral, but I can’t believe how much she’s changed in only a couple weeks. Thick, black bags mar the skin under her eyes, and her skin has a sallow, yellow color.
When she smiles, her skin stretches and wrinkles around her mouth and her eyes still sparkle with their old energy. She wraps her arms around me.
“You feel thin, Mom,” I say. “Have you lost weight?”
“These treatments make me lose my appetite,” she says. “It’s only been a couple weeks, but the thought of doing this for seven more weeks is a bit daunting.”
“Are you driving all the way here an all the way back every time you have an appointment?”
“What else would I do?” She laughs as I lead her towards the elevator. I press the button for the top floor and the doors open right away.
“Why don’t you stay at my place. I can stay with Max, so you’ll have the whole apartment to yourself. Just until this round of treatments are over.”
She smiles sadly, brushing the back of her hand over my cheek. “You’re so sweet, Naomi. You know I hate the city.”
“I don’t like you driving so much. Didn’t you say the nausea is getting worse?”
“I’m a grown woman,” my mother laughs. “I’ve taken care of myself for a lot longer than you have.”
I squeeze my mom’s hand as the elevator dings open and we step out onto Max’s floor. “I know, but…” I sigh. “Just let me help you.”
“I’m fine, honey.”
We walk into the apartment, and Max stands to greet us.
“Jackie! Uh, Mrs. Rose!” He smiles at my mother, taking a hesitant step forward as if he’s going to hug her. He reconsiders, sticking his hand out and nodding his chin.
My mom laughs.
Cute.
She swats his hand away and wraps her arms around his thick torso. Her head barely gets halfway up his chest, and she looks tiny and frail in his arms. He hugs her awkwardly, stepping back and clearing his throat.
“I made a roast chicken,” he proclaims, gesturing towards the oven. Mom glances at me, grinning.
“Sounds lovely,” my mom says. “And call me Jackie, please.” She smiles at him and then winks at me. My shoulders relax and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
By the time dinner is over, we’ve laughed and eaten until our stomachs are full and our eyelids are heavy. I notice my mother pushing the food around her plate as she eats even more slowly than usual. She looks absolutely exhausted. Max exchanges a glance with me, and clears his throat.
“Why don’t you stay at Naomi’s place tonight? I can drive you there, Naomi can follow with your car. Then if you want, you can head back to the country in the morning.”
My mom yawns, glancing at me and shaking her head. “Fine,” she laughs. “You’ve convinced me. I can’t see far enough to walk to your front door, let alone drive for two hours.”
I breathe a sigh of relief, smiling at Max as my heart grows in my chest. He read my mind—he’s considerate enough to realize what my mom is going through and is willing to help.
We drive Mom to my place and settle her in, and then I get into the passenger’s seat of Max’s car. I rest my head on his shoulder as we drive back to his place.
“My mom likes you,” I say as my eyes start to close.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Good,” he says, leaning his cheek against the top of my head. “I was nervous.”
I chuckle, taking a deep breath and lifting my head off his shoulder. I glance at Max’s face as heat spreads across my chest. I’m not used to all these feelings. It’s overwhelming and confusing, but it’s also nice. My hand finds his, and I give it a squeeze.
Tonight felt very real. Maybe the more we say we’re getting married, the more it feels like we will. What happens when this month is up?
Max squeezes my hand back, smiling at me. His eyes are soft and tender, and he looks at me for a long moment before turning back to the road. He lifts my fingers up to his mouth and kisses them softly as I lean back against the head rest.
Chapter 27 - Max
Before I know it, the month is up. I wake up on the morning of the last contracted day of our agreement and turn around in bed to see Naomi sleeping. I brush a strand of hair off her face. She groans, shifting over towards me and laying her cheek on my chest. I wrap my arm around her and sigh, staring at the ceiling.
I’m not ready for this to be over.
I’m not ready to wake up on my own, or to tell the world that Naomi and I aren’t together anymore. Over the past couple weeks, this has felt very, very real.
Too real.
It feels normal to call her my fiancée. It feels normal to hold her hand in public, and to kiss her temple. Going out on dates isn’t an act—I really do like getting to know her. I love spending time with her. I love waking up to her in bed beside me.
She takes a deep breath and opens her eyes, looking up at me and smiling.
“Morning,” she says.
“Morning, beautiful.”
I kiss her forehead, and she snuggles into me.
“You okay?” She asks, looking up at me again. She runs her fingers back and forth across my chest.
“Yeah, why?” I answer. How did she know I was upset?
“You seem tense.”
I swallow. “Today’s the last day of the contract,” I answer. She leans her cheek against my chest again and her fingers stop moving.
“Oh,” she says. “That went by quickly. I hadn’t realized it had been a month already.”
“Will you… I want… would you consider renewin
g the contract for another month?”
She stiffens, and then turns to look at me. Her eyes are wide and she swallows, rolling over onto her back and slipping her hand into mine.
“Yes,” she replies slowly. “But I just… It feels wrong to take your money.”
“I think it’s best if we stick to the contract. I know you were worried about things getting messy, but the easiest way is to just go forward with it. It’ll get messier if we don’t stick with the terms. Both of us, I mean. No matter what is going on between us. Trust me,” I say. “The money isn’t a big deal.”
“Maybe not to you,” she says with a strangled voice. “But to me and my mom it is.”
My chest squeezes. Damn it.
“I know, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that—”
“It’s okay. I get it. I’ll take your money,” she says, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up. My eyes drift down to her bare ass and a blade of heat passes through me.
I know she’s upset, but I can’t help how my body reacts to the sight of her. She rubs her arms with her hands, shivering. Then, she shrugs into a bathrobe, still not turning to look at me.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Uh-oh.
“Naomi?”
“I’m fine, Max,” she says. “I need to get to work.”
“I don’t understand, I thought that you’d be happy to be getting more money. I don’t—”
“It’s not just about money, Max,” she says, finally looking me in the eye. “But I’ll take your money. I don’t really have the luxury of saying no.” She sighs, grabbing a towel from the chair and draping it over her arm. Her cheeks are flushed and her hair is messy, but her eyes are bright when she looks at me.
“This is just a really confusing situation. I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t.”
I stand up out of bed, walking to her and wrapping my arms around her. I pull her close, running my thumb over her pout and tilting her chin up.
“I’m not pretending.”
“So why go on with this stupid contract? I mean, it’s not stupid. And we’re not actually engaged, and of course I need the money, I just…”
She takes a deep breath.
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”
I chuckle, pulling her closer to me. “Naomi,” I say gently. She lifts her eyes up to me and a bolt of lightening passes through my chest. “This is real,” I say. It comes out as a whisper. My heartbeat is roaring in my ears and I can hardly hear myself speak.
Her mouth drops open and she nods, her eyes filling with tears.
“It is?”
“Isn’t it?”
She starts laughing, shaking her head and pulling away from me. “We are the worst at communicating,” she laughs. “How about you just give me a shitload of money and I’ll keep pretending to be your fiancée and we can keep dating—or whatever—and then we can revisit this in another month.”
A grin spreads over my lips and I nod. “Deal.”
By the time we’re both ready for work, the awkwardness has passed. I kiss her goodbye on the sidewalk in front of my building.
“I’m taking my mom to her treatment tonight, so I’ll be home a bit late,” she says. Her mom has ended up staying at her apartment full-time, and I’m enjoying Naomi staying at my place. At first, we justified it as keeping up appearances of being engaged, but I think both of us just wanted to spend the time together.
I nod. “Sounds good.” I kiss her again. “See you tonight.”
“Love you,” she says as she starts to turn away, and then her eyes widen. “I mean. God. Sorry. I don’t… I didn’t… Shit.” She shakes her head, staring at the sidewalk next to my foot. “This is what I mean by things being confusing! How am I supposed to pretend to be in love with you all the time in public? And then we act like we’re together in private and I just don’t know what I’m supposed to say, and—”
She only stops talking when I crush my lips against hers. I can feel her pulse hammering as hard as mine is. She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me feverishly until we pull away, panting. I rest my forehead against hers, swaying gently from side to side.
“I told you, Naomi. This is real.” I kiss the tip of her nose. “I think… I love you too.”
“Oh,” she says, and then she bites her lip and smiles. “Okay. So I’ll see you tonight?”
“See you tonight.”
I watch her walk away before getting into my car. I can’t keep the smile from my face until I get to the office and see my father waiting for me. He’s sitting in my office, his fingers tented in front of his chest as he waits for me.
I drop my briefcase on my desk and nod to him. “Hello,” I say. “To what do I owe the honor? I didn’t know you were in town. How’s the acquisition going?”
“The acquisition is on track, and the board has approved you as the new director of the international division.” He says curtly.
I sit down, waving my assistant away as she pokes her head through the door. She closes it softly and I turn my attention back to my dad.
“So that’s a good thing,” I respond. It almost sounds like a question. The way my father’s face looks, it doesn’t seem like a good thing at all.
He sighs, pulling a folder out of his briefcase and placing it on my desk.
“It would be a good thing, except for that.”
“What’s this?” I flip the folder open.
“Your little fiancée isn’t who she says she is.”
My stomach drops like a rock, and once again my pulse is thundering in my ears. This time, it’s not from happiness, though. I feel like I might throw up.
I look at my father. His lips are set in a thin, grim line, and his eyebrows are drawn together. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, son,” he says. “I could tell you liked her.”
Chapter 28 - Naomi
“How’s Maxie doing these days?” My mom says as the nurse hooks her up to the IV. I sit back in my chair, glancing at my phone’s blank screen. I frown before putting it away. I haven’t heard from Max all day, which is unusual.
Typically he’d text me at least once during the day—even just a funny picture or a couple words about his day. I’ve sent him a message and he hasn’t replied yet.
Was he freaked out by the whole ‘I love you’ thing?
I know I am, kind of. It just blurted out of me, I couldn’t help it.
He’s probably just busy.
My mother is staring at me expectantly, so I force a smile on my face. “Call him Max, please, Mom,” I laugh. “Maxie sounds like maxi-pad.”
“I’ll call him whatever I want to call him,” she huffs as she watches the nurse hook her up to a bag of medication. “Thank you, Cheryl. You found a vein easily today, didn’t you?”
“You’re nice and veiny, Jackie,” the nurse laughs. “We all fight to be the ones to hook you up.” She gestures to the other nurses and my mother smiles proudly, smoothing her hands on her lap. She leans back in her chair, breathing deeply and looking at me.
“You never answered my question. How’s Max doing?”
“He’s good,” I say. “Busy with work, as usual. Him and his football buddies are going to go to the game on Sunday.”
“That will be nice,” she replies. I put my hand over hers, stroking it gently. Her skin is paper-thin, and I hate how sunken her cheeks are. At least she doesn’t have to drive for hours to get here anymore.
I sit with her until the treatment is over, and then I help her into the wheelchair.
“It’s so silly that I have to do this. I can walk!”
“Hospital policy,” I say. “Just enjoy the ride.” We walk in silence towards the exit. “I noticed you got some art supplies,” I say. “Have you been painting?”
“Yes, but you can’t peek at it,” my mom says, reaching up and squeezing my hand on the wheelchair. “It’s a wedding pr
esent for you and Maxie.”
A dagger slides into my heart.
It’s one thing for Max and I to be confused. It’s another thing entirely to be getting my Mom’s hopes up. A wedding present? I didn’t think she’d be happy with me getting married at all.
“You’ve always told me to never get married. What’s going on?”
“Maybe my brush with mortality is making me sentimental,” she says, and I can hear the grin in her voice. Then she sighs and turns her head to try to look at me as I push her down the stark white hospital hallways. “I’m happy for you, Naomi. Max is wonderful.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat, nodding.
“Yeah,” I say. “He is.”
By the time my mom is back at my apartment, I check my phone for what feels like the thousandth time. Still nothing from Max. I dial his number on my way out and frown when it goes straight to voicemail.
This definitely isn’t normal.
Has something happened to him? I don’t have any of his friends’ phone numbers, and it would probably be a bit of an overreaction to call them when I haven’t heard from him in a couple hours.
Instead, I just get in my car and head towards his place. I’m sure he’ll be there, greeting me with a big hug and a kiss. Still, a niggling feeling at the base of my skull makes me uneasy. Something doesn’t feel right.
I check my phone again. I go into my social media applications, and see that he’s online. I send him a quick message.
He sees it, but doesn’t answer.
My heart thumps.
What’s going on?
Maybe saying the ‘L’ word really did freak him out this morning. Am I going to go home to a serious ‘talk’? What am I walking into?
I resist the urge to send another message. Is he mad at me?
My hands are shaking. I take a deep breath. My mind is going into a panic vortex, and I need to just stop worrying. Max is fine, we’re fine, I’ll go home and everything will be okay.
I dial Ariana’s number and put her on through the car’s hands-free setting.
“Well hello, stranger,” she says as she answers. “Long time no talk.”
Engaged to Mr. Right: A Fake Marriage Romance (Mr. Right Series Book 1) Page 12