After a few minutes of enjoying the company of some of my oldest friends, I excused myself to go and get another drink and that’s when it happened. I pushed up from my chair, turned and walked straight into someone else, almost spilling their full glass of merlot over the both of us.
“Excuse me, I’m so sorry,” I muttered in apology.
“It’s fine,” a familiar voice assured me. Curiosity overwhelmed me and I looked up to see the bright blue eyes of an old friend: Robin Bratton, my high school girlfriend. She was the very first girl I ever dated and though we decided we were better off as friends in the end, she still had a small place in my heart.
“Robin, I can’t believe it’s you,” I said with a smile. “It’s been ten years and it doesn’t look like you’ve aged even a day!” I lied cheerfully.
She laughed and tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. I noticed that it was streaked with white, something she clearly didn’t care enough to cover, and it was something we both had in common. How time had changed us all. “You always were a flatterer, Spencer,” she replied, “but thank you anyway. I’m glad to see you again, it’s been far too long.”
“You too, Robin,” I replied.
“What have you been up to these days anyway?” she asked with a raise of one eyebrow. “I bumped into your sister the other day and she said it’s rare for you to come back to Halston except for the occasional Christmas or birthday.”
I sighed and swirled the glass I had in my hand. “Well, that should all change now,” I admitted with a wry smile. “I’ve made some lucky investments over the years and I’m kinda officially retired. Well, it was largely thanks to a patent I developed years ago, but since then, my money has just been making money. Now, I’m coming back to Halston to consider investment opportunities.”
Robin scoffs. “You always had a good head on your shoulders, Spencer Reid,” she said before gesturing to a nearby table. “Come sit with me and we can catch up! It’ll be nice to have you back in Idaho.”
I nodded and followed her over to a small wooden table. We began to reminisce about our past and I definitely had one too many drinks because when Robin steered the conversation to our love lives, I didn’t change the subject like I did with everyone else. For once, I was honest.
“I was in a serious relationship a few years ago now with a beautiful woman named Katya,” I confessed, sipping at the dry, tangy whisky in my hand. “But we never married and eventually we both realized that we wanted different things and… Well, it’s been about six or seven years now since we’ve broken up. There’s not been anyone else since which is probably a good thing.”
“Why is that?” Robin queried.
“Well, after my engineering breakthrough began to cause cash to start rolling in, it brought out the unpleasant side in a lot of people I know. Money really does seem to be the root of all evil, at least for some people. You can never really tell who wants you for you or for the money until it’s too late. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust anyone again,” I admitted.
Robin nodded and took another sip of her red wine. “I can imagine. I mean, I don’t have the kind of money that you do – nowhere near, in fact – but I’ve seen what money can do to people… It brings out the worst in us! I don’t envy you that, Spencer. It must be tough.”
I nodded in response, unable to formulate a proper response because my mind was stuck on the one thing that I’d wanted these past five years that my money couldn’t get me. The memory of that incredible evening I spent with that young waitress in Boise named Rylee played over and over in my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about the girl who had given me her virginity so willingly and with such hunger that I had since been left desperate for more of her. I’d barely known her. I’d even been hesitant to fuck her at first, but… she was so sweet and warm I hadn’t been able to resist. And now, all I’d been left with was the ghost of her lips pressed against mine, the memory of her warmth wrapped around my cock as I plunged deep inside her, and the sweet, breathy whimpers she made as I pleasured her.
My face heated and I could feel my dick swelling in my pants. I was definitely letting the alcohol get to me, so I put my glass back down on the table and pushed it away, willing my erection to fade before someone noticed. Leaving Rylee behind had to have been one of the biggest mistakes I’d ever made and yet I couldn’t bring myself to regret it. The next day when I’d been planning to return to the coffee shop and speak to her again, I was called away to Chicago by my lawyer to meet with an investor interested in the patent for my new agricultural machinery. That meeting had been the one that had led to the manufacture of the device and the millions of dollars gathering interest in one of my many bank accounts.
I realized that Robin was still waiting for me to say something and I shook my head slightly, shaking thoughts of the beautiful, blonde-haired and blue-eyed girl from my memory. “Anyway, enough about me. What about you, Robin? Are you seeing anyone?”
The question made my old friend sigh. “Well, I was married as you might remember from our last reunion,” she began, “but things didn’t work out and we divorced a few years ago now. I don’t regret anything. I have my beautiful daughter and we shared some wonderful memories together, but now I’m single and… Well, at my age, Spencer, the dating pool is already pretty limited and then living in Boise certainly doesn’t help matters… Especially when I’ve seen most of what’s available and I’m not interested.”
“Well, there’s nothing wrong with being single,” I interjected, empathizing with her.
“Normally, I’d agree with you, Spencer, but lately…” She trailed off and I could tell that there was something on her mind.
“What is it?” I pressed. “Come on, Robin. You know you can tell me! Hell, I might even be able to help you. Especially if it’s a money problem.” We both let out a small huff of laughter and Robin even rolled her eyes a little.
“Well…” She lowered her voice. “My boss recently got divorced from his wife and he’s made a few not-so-subtle hints about taking me out for dinner. You know me, Spencer. I’m the type of woman who always says what’s on her mind, but when it comes to Archie, I’m not sure he’s going to take no for an answer. I need my job and I really don’t want things to turn out badly for either of us. The last thing I want is for someone to get hurt!”
I was nodding along with what she’s saying. I could understand her plight and all of a sudden, an idea struck me and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. In hindsight, I definitely should have laid off the whiskey. “I have an idea of how I can help,” I said.
Robin’s eyes lit up. “Oh, really? What do you think I should do?”
I leaned in with a smile. “Well, since I’m going to be in town anyway, why don’t I just be your pretend boyfriend!” The smile on my face got even wider as I explained my plan. “It won’t be hard to believe. We’re old friends, we even used to date! We can just tell people we reconnected at the reunion and then you won’t have to worry about your boss anymore! He can’t expect you to go on a date with him when you’re already involved with someone!”
Robin looked like she was thinking things over. She was fiddling with one of the rings on her finger. “Why on Earth would you want to do that?” she asked after a beat of silence. “I know you must have better things to be getting up to than pretending to be my boyfriend of all things.”
I just shrugged. “Retirement is nice and all, but it does get pretty dull. This… Well, this could be fun,” I told her with a mischievous smile and a teasing wink. Besides, it would get all those gold-digging socialites off my back that had popped up ever since word spread about my newfound wealth.
Robin shoved my shoulder playfully. “Fine, fine,” she agreed with a shrug. “I can’t think of any better ideas. Why don’t you stop by my house tomorrow for dinner and we can work out the details?”
I nodded. “As you wish, my love.”
Robin pretended to gag and we both burst into fits of ineb
riated giggles.
2
Rylee
The bright afternoon sun was shining through the window and warming my hands where they were busy chopping onions and peeling potatoes as I prepared dinner for me and my mom. Sunday dinners were usually my favorite night of the week. It was the only day my mom, Jayden, and I were guaranteed to have an evening together, but today Jayden was having a playdate around his new friend’s house, Steven from pre-school. It was weird to not have to prepare a small plate of dinner for him or have to mash up his potatoes for him so he’d actually eat them. Still, spending time with my mom would be lovely. I was looking forward to it, especially since she had been busy last night at her high school reunion.
Just as I’d checked the chicken was cooking nicely, I heard the front door slam. “Hello!” my mom called as she bustled through the house and into the kitchen to greet me. “Oh, darling, you’ve started dinner already? Aren’t you an angel!” She walked straight up to me and hugged me before pulling back and tucking a stray strand of my blonde hair away from my face. “How are you doing today?”
“I’m okay, Mom,” I told her with a shrug. “Just missing Jayden a little.” It was no surprise. I spent every day with my son and even being apart from him for a little while was strange, though I knew it was healthy for both of us. I shook my head and looked back at my mom. “How are you anyway? Did you have a nice time last night?”
“Yes, I did! But I’ll tell you more about it at dinner which actually leads me to my next point… We’re going to be having a guest!” my mom explained, looking cheerier than I’d seen her in a while. I wondered what was going on, but I knew better than to pry it out of her—she’d tell me when she was ready.
“Must be some guest,” I commented, noting her happy mood. “Who is it?”
“Oh, just an old friend from high school, darling,” she said. “He’s going to be back in town for a while and I told him about all that business with Mr. Jenkins and he said he would help me to get him to back off a little. So, I invited him to dinner so we can talk about it and to thank him for helping. You did make too much food like usual, didn’t you, Rylee?”
I nodded before her words caught up with me and I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. What on Earth did she mean? “Wait, how is he going to get your boss off your back?” I questioned while setting out three plates on the dinner table and then placing cutlery down beside them.
My mom sent me a devilish smile that I knew usually meant she was up to no good and I rolled my eyes kindly. I really hoped she wasn’t going to get herself into any trouble. I wasn’t used to drama and I enjoyed having a nice, peaceful life here in this small town. I didn’t want that to get disrupted.
“The plan is for my friend to pose as my boyfriend for a little while, just long enough to get Mr. Jenkins to think I’m taken and voila, problem solved!” She grinned over at me, her blue eyes sparkling in excitement and I couldn’t help but get a bad feeling about this whole plan.
“Mom, you shouldn’t have to have a fake boyfriend just to get a guy to leave you alone,” I told her, feeling overprotective.
“Oh, baby, I know. But you know how important this job is to me. If I lose it, we might not be able to keep up the repayments on the mortgage and then…” She trailed off and I could tell that the subject was a really difficult one for her, so I decided to let it go even if I was a little skeptical.
“Well, it sounds like an interesting plan, Mom. I hope it goes well,” I said with a reassuring smile. I turned to carry on tidying up the kitchen after myself.
“Thanks, Rylee,” she replied and gave me another hug before retiring upstairs to put away the things she had bought on her shopping trip.
By the time she came back down the stairs, dinner was almost ready and the doorbell rang. I had the oven door open and I was turning over some of the vegetables to check how they were cooking, so I called to my mom, “Mom, can you get the door?”
“Yes, dear!” came her reply. I heard her footsteps down the stairs and then the sound of the door opening. Muffled greetings sounded from the hallway and although I could tell our dinner guest was clearly a man, there wasn’t much more I could distinguish other than that.
While my mom sorted out our guest, I pulled everything out of the oven and began putting it into dishes ready to serve. I put cutlery on the table along with napkins and began to set the dishes on the table. Feeling satisfied that everything was ready, I smiled and began to untie my apron.
“Rylee! Our guest is here!” my mom called as she came back through from the hallway. “This is Spencer, Spencer Reid. He’s one of my oldest friends!”
I turned around ready with one of my fake customer service smiles when I realized who was standing there. Spencer. The man who I’d fucked in my old work place! The man I’d lost my virginity to! The man who was the father of my child… I couldn’t believe my eyes. I felt like I was going to pass out from shock or something. My eyes widened and my mouth gaped at the sight of him. Before my mom could twig, however, I quickly straightened myself up and put on a brave face again.
“Oh, Spencer, it’s nice to meet you,” I said with a small, tight-lipped smile before turning away and hoping to avoid his gaze for most of the evening.
“Likewise,” was all he said and I didn’t know whether that meant he felt just as awkward as I did or that he wasn’t interested in catching up with the girl he’d knocked up all those years ago. Except, he didn’t know that he’d knocked me up. We didn’t exchange numbers or last names. I had no way of contacting him and since he never came back to the coffee shop again…
I tried to push away all the thoughts that were racing through my head and instead, I took my usual seat at the table and began serving food onto my own plate. I kept my eyes on the table the entire time and tried to ignore the way that Spencer’s husky, deep voice made my heart race and the way my knees trembled every time we accidentally made eye contact.
“So, how do you propose we convince Archie that our ‘relationship’ is serious?” my mom asked Spencer as she cut up a piece of chicken on her plate. “After all, I don’t think he’ll be convinced so easily. I know what he’s like and once he’s set his mind to something, he’s like a dog with a bone!”
I dropped my fork and it clattered loud against the ceramic plate beneath. I was so shocked because I’d completely forgotten what Spencer was doing here. He was supposed to pretend he was my mom’s boyfriend.
My mom’s boyfriend.
Oh God, I think I’m going to be sick. This was so, so fucked up. It was bad enough that Spencer reappeared after five years of radio silence, but now, I was going to have to watch my mom parade him around on her arm?!
“Well, how about I take you on a date to the little French restaurant in the middle of town? What’s it called?” Spencer began, tapping his finger to his chin as he tried to summon a distant thought.
“Les Petit Gourmet?” my mom said with an excited glint in her eye. “Well, that sounds like a great idea! Not only will I get to eat some of my favorite food, but everyone knows Archie used to take his ex-wife there too, so the staff know him and it’s sure to get the word back to him!”
Just hearing them planning it all was enough to put me off my food. I moved the potatoes around on my plate while I thought about Jayden and the fact that his father – the man I never thought I’d ever see again – was sitting across from me. Jayden had never had any kind of father figure before. I’d never even dated anyone after Spencer. I was too busy freaking out about the pregnancy and then dropping out of college and then looking after the baby!
Oh God, what the hell am I meant to tell him?! It’s only a matter of time before Spencer finds out and puts two and two together…
While I was wrapped up in my own thoughts, my mom and Spencer seemed to iron out the details of their plan and finish eating. “Oh, Rylee, are you feeling unwell?” my mom asked as she collected my plate. “You aren’t dieting, are you?”
; “No, I’m okay, Mom. I just wasn’t very hungry,” I assured her.
“Well, I do hope that’s true. You’re far too beautiful and young to be worrying about your weight!”
“Okay, well let me know if you’re hungry later. I can whip you up one of those tuna melts you always loved when you were younger.” My mom gave me a kiss on the head before collecting the rest of the dishes and returning to the kitchen to begin cleaning up, leaving me and Spencer alone for the first time.
Before I even realized it, Spencer had walked over to me and asked me in a quiet whisper, “Can I talk to you?”
I nodded simply. I could barely form coherent thoughts in my head, let alone argue with him. He took me gently by the arm and led me away from the table. “I can’t believe it’s you!” he began, looking all over me like I was a spectacular mirage in the desert. “I never… Well, I never thought I’d even see you again! I had no idea you were Robin’s daughter!”
“I didn’t know you were from Halston either,” I said, searching for something to say. “What a small world, huh?”
He seemed to notice my awkwardness and the excitement in his eyes dulled a little to confusion. “What were you doing in Boise?” he asked.
“I was at college there at the time,” I explained, swallowing down a thick lump in my throat. I didn’t add that I had to drop out so I could move back home and raise my son—no, our son.
Oh God.
“Well, no matter the reason, I’m so happy that I’ve been able to find you again,” Spencer told me and I couldn’t help it. My heart fluttered and I felt my cheeks warm. I had so been hoping to see him again, if only for one more passion-filled night of pleasure, but I couldn’t do it again. I couldn’t let myself get sucked in just for him to disappear for another five years. Besides, he’s meant to be fake-dating my mom!
“I haven’t stopped thinking about you since that night we spent together,” Spencer told me in a sultry voice, moving a little closer to me than was really polite. I felt so many questions on the tip of my tongue even though I felt the exact same way. Why didn’t he come back to see me if that was true? Why did he not call the coffee shop and ask for me? Why did he completely ghost me?
Mommy's Boyfriend (Be My Boyfriend Book 1) Page 2