Fake Bride: A Fake Marriage Billionaire Romance (Forbidden First Times Book 2)

by Summers, Sofia T

  Laird glared at me. “That’s not going to work, you know. Trying to be all cute.”

  “You sure about that?” I asked. “Besides, I bet you’re hungry too.”

  Laird paused, as if he was running a mental check with his stomach, then groaned again. “All right, all right, let’s get something.” He rolled over and stood, grabbing my hand and yanking me out of bed with him.

  “Hey, I said you go and get something,” I whispered as he dragged me through the apartment.

  “You have to help,” Laird whispered back.

  We raided the fridge for some meat, cheese, bread, and mustard, making quick sandwiches and eating them over the counter. Laird kind of wanted to leave out a mess to annoy Liam in the morning, but I insisted on cleaning it up first. It was fun, and soft, just leaning against each other like this, eating sandwiches we’d made like we were ten years old, sneaking around in the dark.

  After we ate we crept back into bed, and Laird surprised me by pulling me right into his arms. We weren’t having sex, and we weren’t really married, so there was no reason for him to do that. No reason for him to be so close to me. It wasn’t like anyone was going to walk in—not even Liam’s brotherly antics would have him barging in on us. At least, I didn’t think so.

  He’s just sleepy, I told myself as I curled into his arms, basking in his warmth, in the safe feeling that I got with him. Don’t overthink it, just enjoy it while it lasts.

  When I woke up again, the sun was shining in through the curtains, and I was alone in bed.

  I sat up, yawning, feeling a lot more refreshed and—thank God—not jet-lagged. I could hear talking from downstairs, not enough to make out words but to hear the warm, relaxed tone of voices, and I quickly sorted through my suitcase to find some clean clothes to put on.

  Once I was presentable, I went downstairs to find my boss-slash-fake-husband-slash-sort-of-friends-with-benefits.

  Ugh, my life had gotten complicated.

  Laird was downstairs with Liam, arguing with him over the best kind of coffee. Alana was sitting at the table sipping tea—the moment she saw me she gave me a clear help me look, and I had to stifle a laugh. I had a feeling this wasn’t the first time the two brothers had gone at it over this subject.

  “What the fuck is wrong with just regular old coffee? Sure, maybe yours tastes a bit better but it’s not worth all this bloody nonsense!” Liam was saying.

  Laird looked like Liam was disowning his child.

  “Um, boys?” I said, clearing my throat.

  Both men looked at me, and I waved, feeling a bit sheepish now that I’d interrupted them.

  Laird grinned and walked over, dropping a kiss onto the top of my head. I tried not to completely melt from it. “Yes?”

  “You promised me we could finally pick out my dress for the wedding, remember?” I looked over at Alana, knowing she’d have my back on this one. “He kept saying that it would be fine and I shouldn’t worry about it but we go up to the wedding tomorrow.”

  Alana leveled a rather terrifying glare at Laird. “Of course he’ll take you. I’ll come too.”

  “I think I have uh… meeting to go to,” Liam said, obviously lying. He winked at me, though, as if to let me know that he didn’t have anything against me.

  “Liam doesn’t really care about fashion,” Alana explained. “Which was why he was always wearing the most boring suits to the NBA banquets and press conferences until I came along.”

  Liam gave her a warm, grateful smile, and my heart felt like someone had pricked it with a hot needle. I wanted someone to look at me like that, full of affection and love. No, all right, not just anyone—I wanted Laird to look at me like that. I knew that Laird cared about me, clearly, but I doubted he had feelings of… of romance, for me, the way that I was definitely feeling for him.

  I was so screwed.

  Laird, Alana and I finished getting ready and headed out for the shops. There were a lot of lovely places to try out, and Laird was determined to spoil me. Since we had to keep up the married charade in front of Alana, I couldn’t protest as easily as I could before when it was just the two of us. Laird realized that, the sly bastard, and kept grinning as he guided me into the best (and most expensive) shops.

  Whoever ended up actually married to Laird someday was going to be a lucky woman. He wasn’t the type of person to show off his wealth with parties, or a huge fancy house, or extravagant spending. That I’d figured out pretty quickly. But he was a very generous person, and that extended especially to his friends and family. He really enjoyed spoiling them.

  I wouldn’t have minded nearly so much if I’d felt that I’d earned it. But I was already getting paid a huge amount of money from him. I couldn’t feel good about him spending even more on me.

  Alana took us to this one boutique she loved. “I just know that we’ll find something for you here.”

  I just hoped that I wasn’t going to upstage the bride at this rate.

  It was a spring wedding, and so even though it was still a bit chilly at times in Ireland in April, I wanted to wear a pastel, something springy and not too dark or bright in color. At last, I spotted a beautiful lilac colored gown, one that had a bit of a Grecian look to it, with a high waist and flowing layers on the skirt. When I tried it on, it showed off my arms well, and flowed properly around my curves, and the wide ‘v’ of the straps also showed off my breasts pretty well, if I did say so myself.

  “What do you think?” I asked, stepping out to show it off to Alana and Laird.

  Laird’s mouth fell open a little and I could see even from this distance the way that his eyes went dark. He looked in awe, but also starving—starving to put his hands and mouth on me. I suppressed a shiver. He made me feel like a teenager all over again with how much I wanted him. If we’d been alone and he’d pressed me back into the dressing room and told me he was going to fuck me, I would’ve said yes please sir.

  “Oh, definitely that one,” Alana said, grinning. “You look stunning. That’s the one.”

  “Yeah,” Laird agreed. His voice was hoarse, and he had to clear it after that. “That one, I agree.”

  We had been at this all day, and I was relieved that we had finally settled on a dress. And I really liked this one. I knew that long after I was finished with this charade, long after Laird had moved on and I’d had to work on mending my broken heart, I’d still be wearing this dress to every fancy occasion and thinking of him with fondness. I didn’t even freak out at the price tag, although normally it would’ve given me a heart attack.

  “Let’s grab some dinner,” Alana suggested once Laird had paid for the dress. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m starved.”

  Now that she’d said it, I realized that I was starving as well. I nodded and Laird grinned. “All right, let’s get a spot to eat then.”

  Throughout the dinner Laird was just casually touching me, his arm around my shoulders or his hand landing on my knee, not in a sexual way, just like he wanted to touch me and he wasn’t stopping himself. Was he really that good of an actor? Or did he genuinely want me like that?

  It’s just sexual, I warned myself. Laird was clearly sexually attracted to me. I couldn’t deny that. But that didn’t mean he was falling for me the way I’d fallen (and was still falling) for him. I felt like this well had no bottom, like Alice down the rabbit hole.

  By the time we got back to Liam and Alana’s, I just wanted to be alone. I couldn’t handle Laird acting like this when I feared he didn’t feel the same as I did. Pretending to be the sweet, loving wife when it was both so close to what I wanted and so far from the truth was more draining than I had anticipated.

  “I think I’m just going to go up to bed,” I said when we got back.

  “You all right?” Laird asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” I smiled reassuringly when he reached out and squeezed my hand. “Just tired after walking around all day and trying on all those dresses.”

  “Okay, love.” He k
issed me on the cheek. “I’m going to have a drink with Liam but I’ll be up later. You just rest.”

  I almost wanted to cry, strangely enough. He was being so kind to me, so thoughtful, because that was the kind of person Laird was. I felt like it was wrong of me to receive that affection, when I wanted more of it—when I wanted it to be romantic, for real.

  Perhaps it was best that I was going to bed. Hopefully I would feel less oddly melancholy when I woke up, and I could continue this charade without wanting to throw up.

  20

  Laird

  Liam and I had a relaxed drink while Alana went to answer some emails and take care of work-related things. Proper Irish whisky, with that sweet burn down my throat. There was nothing like it.

  “She’s good for you,” Liam told me once we finished. “I mean that, Laird. I’m happy for you.”

  I wondered what he would think when he got the news of my ‘divorce’. I had a sneaking suspicion that my whole bloody family would blame me for the divorce and would be disappointed in me, and wouldn’t ever let me live it down.

  Ah, well. It was my own fault for choosing such a lovely, wonderful woman to play at being my wife. Maybe I should’ve picked a more annoying, self-centered person, so that my family all breathed a sigh of relief when I told them about the fake divorce.

  Before I could say anything—not that I was even sure what to say—my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and groaned. “Ma n’ Da,” I told Liam, the old names we used to give them when we were talking about them as a pair when we were kids.

  Liam raised his now-empty glass towards me. “Cheers,” he said sarcastically, winking.

  “Yeah, fuck you too.” I answered the call. “Mum, how’s it going?”

  “Have you landed? Are you with Liam?”

  “Yeah, Mum, it’s all good here. We’re just settling in and we’ll be up for the wedding tomorrow.”

  “Oh, lovely.” My mother paused. “You know Laird that it’s really ridiculous that you haven’t spoken to us this whole time. It was just a silly little thing…”

  “You lied and told everyone that I was married, Mum, that’s not a little thing. Can you imagine how it would’ve been if I’d showed up without a wife to the wedding? I’d never hear the end of it. Nobody would believe me that I wasn’t married, they trust you more than they trust me, for some bloody reason.”

  “But if you would just find someone…”

  “If I do or don’t find someone it’s because I’m ready, Mum, not because you forced me into it. It would serve you right if I didn’t get married ever because of that. What if I just had string after string of lovers until you died?”

  I was joking, but it had a bit of bite to it. I didn’t like how my parents were pressuring me and how they had meddled in my life and lied about me. Now I was doing this, partially to get everyone off my back and partially to get back at them.

  “Well, that’s not what you’re doing, is it?”

  “You’ll see what I’m doing tomorrow,” I replied cryptically. “But you can’t ever lie about me again, Mum. You’ve put me in a rather bad place, it’s bloody difficult. And I know Da was in on it too so you can tell him the same. It’s embarrassed me and made me look bad in front of the family if I show up and say I’m not married. Or it makes you look bad, which I don’t want either, you understand me? It’s not a little thing. And I don’t appreciate the meddling. I’ll get married when I meet the right person and I feel that it’s the right time.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Mum replied. “It’s such a stupid quarrel, Laird.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way. I hope you change your mind.”

  “Well. Whatever you might feel about us right now, we’re excited to see you tomorrow. We do love you and we just want you to be happy.”

  “I know, Mum, I know. That’s what makes it extra frustrating for me. I get to decide if I’m happy with how my life is. Not you. Maybe I would be happier if I found someone, but that’s for me to decide. And I won’t be happy if I’m forced to be with someone just because you want me to.”

  Liam, who was unashamedly listening in to all of this, the bastard, gave me an encouraging thumbs up. I glared at him. Liam just grinned.

  “You know I’m twelve minutes older than you are,” I hissed at him, covering the phone with my hand so that Mum couldn’t hear me.

  Liam just stuck his tongue out at me.

  “Getting married or not getting married will be my choice,” I finished up. “And it won’t be because you or anyone else decided it was best for me. It’ll be because I met someone, and I fell in love with them.”

  Like I was falling in love with Trudie. But I couldn’t let her know that. How could she possibly feel like she could give me an honest answer when I was paying her to play the part of my wife? No, it would be… the area of consent on it was too fuzzy. I couldn’t do that to her. I had to keep my feelings to myself. No matter how tempting it was to just blurt it all out.

  “All right, whatever you say,” Mum replied. She did sound chastened. “We look forward to seeing you tomorrow, love. Sleep well.”

  “Ach, you too Mum. Give my love to Da.”

  I hung up and looked at Liam, who shrugged. “I’m sorry if my whole marriage with Alana put the pressure on you.”

  “Hey, it’s not your fault that you fell in love. I couldn’t blame you for that. When you know, you know.”

  “So you didn’t tell them you’re married?”

  “No, I want it to be a surprise—married or not my point still stands and I want them to understand that before they find out about Trudie.”

  Liam nodded. “Makes sense. I think you’re right, for what it’s worth. But I’m glad that you did find someone. You’ve always been a soft touch, Laird, you deserve someone who gives it right back to you.”

  “Thanks.” That was possibly one of the most heartfelt things Liam had ever said to me. “I’m glad you’ve got someone too, Liam.”

  I wondered, as I went up to the bedroom, how Liam would feel once the divorce was in place. For the first time, I felt genuinely and truly bad for Liam for not knowing the truth, for not realizing that it was a deception. I considered, briefly, bringing him into it… but the potential for a blow-up was too great at this point. I had to keep going.

  As I’d secretly hoped, Trudie wasn’t asleep. She propped herself up as I walked in, smiling softly. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” She looked so beautiful, all rumpled on the bed like that, her hair a bit messy now, wearing soft pastel pink pajamas.

  “You know,” I observed as I climbed into bed, nudging her legs open and sliding between them, “it would be rather… unusual for a newly-married couple not to have wild sex. Liam would be suspicious if he didn’t hear anything.”

  Trudie snorted. “I think that might be the most ridiculous excuse for sex I’ve ever heard.” But she wrapped her arms around me and let me slide my hands under her clothes. “You’re lucky I find you so attractive.”

  Then, to my surprise, she pushed me down onto the bed and swung her leg over, straddling me so that she was now on top. “And, even more lucky for you, there’s something I’ve been wanting to do.”

  All of the breath was punched out of me as Trudie moved down, yanking at my pants until my cock was exposed. Holy fuck.

  I had never expected anything from Trudie. If she never wanted to blow me, I was fine with that. I didn’t know exactly what was in her past, but she had been so skittish about being touched at first, I never wanted to push anything. But this—well, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a fantasy of mine.

  Trudie gave me a look that was pure sin, licked her lips, and then bent down, licking at my cock, getting it nice and wet.

  Fuck. My head fell back against the pillows and I had to struggle to breathe carefully in through my nose. Despite my joking, I didn’t want to disturb Liam and Alana too much. I didn’t want to be rude.

  But oh God, fuck, holy buggering fuck—Tru
die was going to town. She was eager, didn’t seem to really have any particular technique, just figuring out how I responded to different things, what I liked. When she finally sucked me down I forced myself to look back up, and prop myself up high enough to watch her. She looked so hot like this, her lips wrapped around my cock, her head bobbing up and down, oh Jesus.

  I tentatively slid my hand into her hair, and Trudie pulled off me. “I like that,” she said. “You can tug a little harder, if you want, I like it.”

  This woman was truly going to bloody well kill me.

  I tightened my grip in her hair as she sucked me down again, her tongue sliding up the underside, then working underneath the foreskin, tugging at it a bit with her teeth, swirling around the head. My hips rocked up subtly, and Trudie moaned her approval. I did it again, harder, and soon I had a rhythm going, hitching my hips up again and again until I was fucking her mouth. Trudie was making these obscene encouraging noises, sounding like she was getting off too—and then I looked down between her legs and I realized that was exactly what she was doing. She was fucking herself on her fingers. It was so hot for her to blow me, she was fucking herself because of it.

  That did it. I couldn’t possibly hold out any longer after that, and I spilled down her throat. Trudie sucked down as much of it as she could, swallowing, but some still leaked out the corners of her mouth. It was the hottest bloody thing I’d ever seen.

  I yanked her back up to me, kissing her, and slid my fingers into her, next to her own, fucking her hard with them. Trudie moaned and shoved her hips down again and again as I rubbed her clit mercilessly until she sobbed my name and came all over my fingers.

  Holy fuck. “Do you have any idea,” I breathed against her lips, “what you do to me? How gorgeous you are?” I had never been turned on like this before, had never felt this connection with someone this deeply before.

  Trudie smiled at me breathlessly, her eyes practically glowing, and she looked so delighted with herself, but also so shy, that I could hardly believe this was the same woman who’d just shamelessly blown me and gotten off on it.