The (Not So) Perfect Fiancé

by Dallen, Maggie

“I’m a terrible liar,” she blurted out. She’d said that already, but it bore repeating.

  “It’s not a live show,” Tyler said. “You’d be surprised what we can do with editing.”

  She tore her gaze from Cole’s face to look at Tyler. “You could manipulate the world into thinking I’m in love with a stranger?”

  The look they all gave her made her feel like she was twelve. “Oh.” She swallowed, that nausea back in full force at the overwhelming cynicism that was facing her. “Fine, but what about friends and family?” She crossed her arms protectively, hating the fact that she had to bare her soul to three complete strangers, but seeing no other alternative. “Having my fiancé ditch me two months before our wedding and right after moving to a new town, and—” She stopped herself with a hard swallow. As if she didn’t seem pathetic enough, she didn’t need to give them all the gory details—like how Brent didn’t even leave her a note. She’d thought he’d left early to work from the coffee shop in town until he’d sent her that text. Sorry, I just can’t. This is all too much too fast. I need time and space.

  They’d been using separate bedrooms until the wedding—she was old-fashioned like that—and she’d raced up to his room and thrown open the closet doors. Honestly she’d been desperately hoping his text was some sort of terrible joke—a cruel practical joke—but seeing an empty closet had brought home the reality of it all with a sick jolt.

  But they were waiting for her to continue and she wasn’t about to tell them all that. Only her brothers knew the details of the breakup, and she’d made them swear not to tell her parents. Oh, she’d told them the wedding was off—she’d had to tell everyone the wedding was off—but she didn’t want them to hate Brent forever. Because when he came back—and he would—she’d need them to embrace him as their son-in-law.

  Her brothers would likely never fully forgive him at this point, but that was just something she and Brent would have to live with. She tried to be forgiving and kind, but she was only human and she’d needed someone to lean on during those dark days following his desertion.

  Cole arched his brows and it was that rare sign of life that brought her back to the present. Where was she? Oh right. Explaining her pitiful situation. “Calling off the wedding was hard enough, I can’t go through any more humiliation. And if anyone found out that this was pretend…”

  I don’t think I’d survive.

  She didn’t say it aloud but she got the distinct impression that Cole heard those words anyway because his gaze softened, his grey eyes grew unbearably understanding.

  It was enough to make her throat close up with unshed tears all over again.

  “Would it be any less humiliating to have your breakup the center of a hit television show?” he asked.

  She opened her mouth and then shut it again quickly. Her mind was once again creating horrific images of what that episode would look like.

  Pathetic. She would look completely and utterly pathetic.

  “I can’t lie to my family,” she said.

  Cole gave a small nod. “We’d have to set some ground rules. There would be NDAs to sign.”

  “More papers,” she muttered under her breath.

  Was it her imagination or did Cole’s lips twitch up at the corners. It happened so quickly she almost missed it.

  “These papers would be to protect you,” he said. “And me.”

  He’d added that last part as an afterthought.

  “Why?”

  He frowned at her. “I just told you, the NDA’s would protect—”

  No, she said with a quick shake of her head. “Why would you do this?” For me. She cut off the last part, because really, how presumptuous? Even now her cheeks were starting to flush all over again as she came up with reasons why this might be in his best interests. Maybe he wanted some more exposure, and what better way than to be the focus of the show he’d been starring on for years? Or maybe he was trying to make someone jealous, or—

  “My reasons don’t matter.”

  She stiffened at his hard tone, at the sudden coldness in his eyes. He might as well have shoved a sign in front of his face saying ‘keep out.’

  “Okay then,” she muttered.

  “Okay?” Tyler echoed. “Does that mean you’ll do it?” He was practically buzzing with excitement, and that only served to ratchet up her nerves.

  “I—no—that wasn’t what I meant,” she said. “I just—I just—”

  They were all staring at her expectantly and she could feel panic clouding her brain. “I need time to think.”

  She held her breath in the silence that followed, and then finally Tyler nodded. “That’s fair.” He tilted his head down, his gaze a gentle warning. “We don’t have long, though. We need to start filming next week and there’s work to do to prepare.”

  She nodded. “I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

  Tyler gave her his business card with his phone number, and told her at which hotel they’d be staying. Honestly, she could have guessed, it was the only fancy hotel in Friar Hollow.

  “Tomorrow,” he said as the three of them backed away.

  Once again, she got the feeling he was issuing a warning.

  Cole’s eyes didn’t quite meet hers before he turned away, and she found herself wishing he’d say something else. Give her some clue as to why he’d offered and what this ruse would entail. But before she could even formulate a good question, the three men were back in their van and taking off. The moment they left her driveway the other vans on the street pulled away too, making her wonder just how many cameras had been on her while she’d been solely focused on Cole Harding.

  Oh, and Tyler and that camera guy, too.

  But mainly Cole Harding. The man she’d been watching and marveling over in some capacity or another for nearly a decade. The man who’d just offered to be her fake fiancé to save her pride.

  But why?

  The question nagged at her, but she shook it off as she wearily climbed the steps to her deck and let herself into her house. Her beautiful, charming, rustic, desperately-in-need-of-repairs house.

  Her empty, lonely house.

  When in doubt, her mother always told her to write a pros and cons list. Rather than letting herself dwell in misery, she did just that. Pulling out a scratch pad and pen from the junk drawer, she drew a line down the sheet of paper and listed out her options—to have her breakup be the subject of an episode, or have the episode be about her fake relationship with a bona fide TV star.

  She thought about trying to get out of the episode but dismissed it. She’d made her bed, so to speak. And besides, to try and get out of this contract would mean hiring a lawyer, which she couldn’t afford. On the bright side, being the star of this episode would mean getting all the repair work done, which she also couldn’t afford.

  So, there was that.

  She found herself giving the notepad a small smile. See? Now there was the silver lining she’d needed. Now, it just came down to how she wanted to get through this mess that she’d created. As a pitifully rejected bride or as the fiancé of the show’s leading man?

  In the end, she didn’t even need the list. The answer was a no-brainer.

  Chapter Five

  Cole had clearly taken a giant stride from normal, sane human to raving lunatic in the course of one day.

  What about a fake fiancé? What about me?

  He’d lost it. He’d completely and totally lost it. Later that night he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he’d just proposed to a stranger.

  Well, not really.

  But also, that was basically what he’d done. He took a sip of his beer as Tyler finished up a call with the head office. No doubt about it. Everyone loved the idea.

  Adored it, really.

  The only thing better than heartbreak was their favorite TV star getting hitched. The rankings would be through the roof, according to Langston Reeves.

  Cole ran a hand over his face, grateful for the f
act that he hadn’t actually had to see the executive producer’s glee. For years now the head honchos at the network had been trying to get him to do more publicity, to talk about his private life in order to gain more viewers. They couldn’t force him to do it, of course, but they’d nudged none too gently. They might have come up with a way to push him into it if it wasn’t for the fact that a few of the executives believed Cole’s private nature gave him an ‘air of mystery’—their words, not his.

  For years he’d managed to keep his private life out of the show, and now… Now, what had he done? He’d handed over his pride on a platter. Years of guarding his privacy down the drain because he couldn’t stand to see that woman squirm.

  He sighed. Of all the times to develop a sense of empathy, it had to be today.

  Cole listened to Tyler wrapping up the latest call as he checked his emails on his laptop to see if there were any from Abby. His sister’s emails were the only ones he’d read tonight. He wasn’t super close with the rest of his family—the end of his football career had meant the end of him and his father having anything to talk about. He checked in with his mother once a week but he had a feeling the strain between him and his dad had affected their conversations. They felt forced, and more often than not he ended up answering questions that her friends from her yoga class asked her to pass along about the show. Half the time he felt like he was being interviewed by his own mother. His younger sister Abby was the only family member who stayed in touch on a regular basis, usually through text or email.

  No emails tonight. He snapped the laptop shut. Probably for the best. He was already trying to figure out how he’d tell her and his parents about this fake relationship. He’d already thought through who he’d tell and who he wouldn’t. In his mind, the decision had been made…for better or for worse.

  Sure, they still had to hear from Callie, but once she thought this through, the answer was a no-brainer.

  For her.

  The decision made sense for her. For him?

  He took another sip of beer. This made zero sense for him. The last thing he wanted was more attention from the press, and he’d never wanted the spotlight on his personal life, not since…

  Well, not since he’d found himself in an alarmingly similar situation to Callie.

  Maybe that was why he’d done it. He’d recognized the pain, the aftershock that came from being hurt by someone you thought loved you above all others. He knew better than anyone how much worse it would be for her if she ended up having that pain and betrayal splashed all over the airwaves.

  He’d been hoping that she’d be the kind of person Tyler had depicted—someone more concerned with fame than pride—but one look at her face when she’d learned what they’d planned to do and it had been painfully clear that Tyler’s guess had been totally off base. Callie’s responses couldn’t have been more genuine—even when she seemed to be trying to keep her emotions in check, everything she was feeling was written all over her face.

  The woman was an open book, and seeing her panic at what the network planned to do—what he was going to do…

  Cole might not have called the shots, but he was the face of the show—he couldn’t avoid responsibility for what the show did and did not do and still take their paychecks. So yeah, he’d felt like a heel when she’d looked at them with those big brown eyes.

  Everything about her had seemed innocent, and sweet, and…trusting. Informing her that they were going to abuse that trust by using her personal tragedy against her? He might as well have been told to kick a puppy.

  It just hadn’t been right.

  “That’s our thought exactly, sir,” Tyler was saying with far too much enthusiasm.

  Cole had listened to his friend pitch the idea a handful of times now, and each time felt like a nail being hammered into his coffin. As Cole listened to Tyler answering questions about the logistics now, how they’d have to spin this new relationship in the press…it occurred to him that Tyler sounded just as certain as Cole that Callie would say yes.

  Why? They’d left her no other choice.

  Cole groaned as he slunk down in his chair. He wished Tyler would get off the phone already, or at least take this call to his own room. Tyler had come to Cole’s room to regroup and re-strategize, but then the calls had started and they never seemed to end.

  Cole had enough of business for the day. Where was that PA with their dinners, anyways?

  He flipped open the laptop again and this time he opened his work email. He wasn’t even entirely sure what he was looking for until he found it. There, in one of twenty emails Tyler had sent him since leaving Callie earlier that afternoon, was the file he was looking for.

  The audition tape.

  His finger hovered over the mousepad. He was supposed to be done with work for the day, but he hadn’t been able to get Callie out of his mind ever since they’d left her. Maybe because she’d fought him on the idea—it hadn’t even occurred to him that she would fight the idea. And why had she fought it?

  Because she didn’t want to lie.

  Maybe this job truly had made him jaded, or maybe it was the combination of his ex leaving him when he’d lost his football deal… Either way, he hadn’t realized just how cynical he’d become until he was faced with her.

  Callie.

  Now he found himself looking for answers. Who was this woman and what on earth had compelled her to hand over all her personal privacy rights to the network?

  He shook his head as he stared at his finger and then finally clicked play. He hadn’t even realized that Tyler had gotten off the call until he joined Cole, hovering over his chair.

  “Man, she’s beautiful,” Tyler said.

  Cole didn’t look away from the screen. He couldn’t. Callie was stunning, but he could have told Tyler that hours ago. From the first moment they saw her when she was standing there in her driveway, with no makeup and her hair up in a ponytail—he’d been struck dumb by her beauty. But he knew what Tyler meant—she’d gotten dressed up for the audition, her hair in long loose waves, her face made up with a minimal amount of makeup, but enough to make her plump lips look even more seductive and her dark eyes look so big a guy could drown in them.

  Unlike the shorts and tank top today, she sported a little sundress in the video—nothing revealing, but sexy nonetheless in the way it moved against her as she walked. Her fiancé must have been filming because she was the one talking most of the time, and she was…hypnotic.

  The smile that didn’t stop with her lips—it spread to light up her eyes, her face, her whole being. That he hadn’t seen firsthand today, and he found himself feeling almost desperate to see that smile in person.

  “She never would have been picked if her fiancé hadn’t dumped her,” Tyler said.

  Cole grunted his agreement. While he might have been transfixed by the video, he knew she wasn’t what the show’s first-round researchers were looking for in their applicants. They needed people who ‘popped’—that was their associate producer’s term, not his. The AP was in charge of narrowing down the candidates, and while she called it ‘popping,’ Cole called it showboating.

  The AP and her team found the applicants with the most outrageous character traits and over-the-top personalities. Couples who’d provide comic relief or sex appeal…or sometimes both.

  While Callie might have lit up the screen with that smile, she was way too normal for the show’s liking. Too normal, and way too genuine.

  He found himself grimacing as he acknowledged Tyler’s comment. This poor girl never would have been picked if she hadn’t tried to do the right thing by calling to inform them that there had been a change in her situation.

  “Was I really that bad?” Callie’s voice in the room behind them had Colt starting in his chair, swiveling around to face the door as Tyler jumped backwards.

  “Callie!” Tyler said quickly.

  Callie wasn’t looking at him. She wasn’t looking at Cole either. She was staring at the s
creen, her pretty features pinched and her lips wobbling in a way that had Cole coming out of his seat to go to her. “What are you doing here?”

  That wasn’t exactly the welcome he’d intended but he’d been too flustered to monitor himself. He felt weirdly guilty at having been caught watching her.

  She waved a hand behind her as she handed over a white takeout bag. Her gaze was still on the monitor. “I, uh…I ran into your assistant out there and he told me to come on up.”

  Cole made a mental note to kill the PA in question. He set the bag on the counter and gestured for Tyler to turn off the video. “Are you hungry? We ordered plenty.”

  She ignored him, addressing Tyler instead. “No, don’t turn it off.” She gave them a small smile. “Please.” Then she crossed over and took the chair that Cole had just vacated. “It’s just that it feels like forever since we made this.” Her eyes were riveted to the screen which meant that Cole’s gaze was riveted to her. What was she thinking? What was she feeling?

  Better question, why did he care?

  Because he was watching her so closely, he saw the flinch when her fiancé came into the shot. Cole found himself looking between her and the screen, trying to see what she was seeing and how she was taking it.

  The fiancé was short by Cole’s standards, he was about the same height as Callie. His smile was just as big but far less genuine.

  Cole felt his own lips turning up in a sneer of instant dislike. Next to Callie he looked like a paper cutout—flimsy and bland.

  And then it was over. The video ended with the two of them in front of the house with big smiles and their arms wrapped around one another. Just like the final scene of one of their episodes.

  Ugh. It was enough to make a guy sick.

  After a long tense silence in which he and Tyler exchanged a meaningful look—the kind that said, what now? Or maybe, Who’s going to comfort this chick if she starts to cry?—Callie was the one to break the silence. “Well,” she said on a long exhale. “That was…unpleasant.”

  “Sorry,” Cole mumbled. For what? He wasn’t sure. Watching her video was part of his job—he almost always checked out the videos beforehand just to get a sense of the renovation project coming up. Was he apologizing for spying on her life? Because let’s face it, that’s what he was doing. He already had a good sense of what condition her house was in. Or maybe he’d just meant, sorry you had to see your lame ex?