by Jolie Day
“Tell me about it,” I murmured.
“What do you mean?” He stared at me questioningly.
“Let’s just say, we grew up in the same circles, and I know all about the gossip vultures. My family usually stayed out of the limelight, but people talked, nonetheless. Like when my mom died.” I shook my head. “I’ll do everything I can to stop them from finding out about my dad’s issues with the IRS.”
Miles nodded his understanding and looked ahead at the water again. “I see.” Then he frowned slightly, mischief in his expression. “So, when I said you’d benefit from being photographed with me, it was really the opposite. If I’m photographed with you, I’d be the one with bragging rights, huh? Little Miss Rose Taylor, the talk of the town.”
I laughed and smacked his shoulder. “Yes! Although, since both my parents are gone, there isn’t much pressure on me to act accordingly or to attend all the big NYC events. But then again, since I’ll be attending these types of events with you for the next few months, we’ll need to lay low.”
“I’m fine with lying low. Lying low is my second name.”
He watched me as I began reading through the contract.
It was concise. Basically, it stated that I’d have to be his live-in girlfriend for a time, “until Mr. Humphries determines the situation fit, according to circumstances” so the contract’s words, and then to become his fiancée. I’d need to attend a minimum of five family events over the period of the six months. Once the time had ended, I’d be a free woman and given the outstanding five hundred thousand dollars. However, I’d need to wait at least three months before I was allowed to start seeing another man officially—in order to keep the ruse believable, my words, not the contract’s.
It was odd to sign the papers. I wanted to feel insulted and angry about signing my life away, even for a few months, and for giving in to this in the first place. But I knew that I’d agreed to it, and it was merely business.
I did have questions, though. “Miles, why is this only a six-month deal?”
“What, you want to live with me longer?” he teased.
“Hardly.” I shook my head at him. “I’m just wondering how the next six months will change anything between you and your father. I know about the trust opening on your twenty-seventh birthday, which is weird on its own, but what will happen when your dad realizes you were just taking him for a ride? Doesn’t that worry you?”
“My father was twenty-seven years old when he got married and had his first child, my brother, Oliver. So, he believes that’s a fair amount of time for us to grow up and get our lives going, and that’s how he set up the trust funds. But what he doesn’t understand is that times have changed. I don’t need to get married now, hell, I don’t even want to. But if that’s what he needs to see to release my funds, then I’ll have to play along to keep him off my back.”
“So, once you’re twenty-seven—”
“Once I’m twenty-seven, and I’ve taken ownership, he can’t touch it anymore.”
“What if he finds out it’s a ruse?”
“He won’t find out. I’m hoping he won’t find out.” Miles tilted his head and winked at me. “We’ll have to make it work, and then we’ll have to stage some kind of public breakup scene.”
“Okay… I get it,” I said, nodding. “But, we have to agree to some boundaries.”
Miles turned his whole body to face me now, giving me a “here we go” smile. “Such as?” he asked.
“Well, in the interest of keeping up the ruse, you have to stop going out with other women. If you get caught with your pants down again, my name will officially be trashed as well.” I glared at him, letting him know I was serious.
He sighed sarcastically. “Fine. If I must.”
“You must!” I almost slapped his arm for real. He could be such a child at times.
“Rose, relax. It’s a given. I’ve got no intention to go out with anybody except you. I’m not a cheater, and I’m sure as hell not starting that with my fake girlfriend or fake fiancée. I’m set to make this happen, to make it as believable as possible. All the way. I need this to work.”
“As believable as possible? But nothing physical or anything sexual can happen between us.”
“Sure. Do you want to put it on paper?” He looked at me calmly, his eyes full of charm. “It won’t be a problem to have my lawyer include that, but I definitely won’t stop you if you’re looking for some of this.”
He stood and flexed his arms, Johnny Bravo style.
His biceps bulged, and his T-shirt lifted slightly, revealing a bit of lower ab skin, along with that sexy trail of hair. So freaking hot… He chuckled as I shook my head at him, giving him my classic eye roll, combined with my death stare.
Boy, was I in trouble.
Big trouble. With a capital B.
13
MILES
Things were going as well as they could, given we were discussing a business deal involving her acting as my fake fiancée. I felt Rose was calmer than she’d ever been around me, and I was enjoying it. The sight of her in the dusk light was mesmerizing. Her long brown hair blew wild and free in the wind. I realized I’d never seen her as calm as she was now—contemplative, with a spark of excitement in her eyes.
“Okay, next issue,” she said. “We need to come up with our ‘how we met’ story.”
“Let’s keep it as close to facts as possible,” I suggested.
Rose turned to look at me. “Oh, hey Dad! Meet the girl with whom I’ve been having a full-on apartment war. I kept her up every night having loud sex until she finally gave in.” Pulling a fake smile, she was enthusiastically sarcastic. I was beginning to like this girl.
“We can start with what happened last night,” I suggested. “You’re my neighbor, and I came across you crying in the front entrance. We almost got stuck in the damn elevator, then I brought over a bottle of wine to console you.” I shrugged my shoulders. “And the rest is history.”
“Console me?” she asked. “Would your dad even buy that?”
“Hey, I can be human all right.”
“Sometimes.”
“You didn’t enjoy my hug?” I rumbled.
She almost gasped. Her sarcastic smile warped into a warm one, but she quickly changed the subject. “Okay, so we met, spent some time together. Were you gentleman enough to ask me out on a date after that?”
“I was. I took you out on a bike ride.” I slid my eyes sideways toward my bike standing behind us. “And we watched the sunset at the pier.”
“While we got to know each other better.”
“See? The story is writing itself.”
“Okay, that sounds like me, too,” she said brightly. “And I fell for you, because…? Hypothetically, I mean.”
“Of course.” I knew she was hoping for a solid, serious answer. “It can only be one thing, undoubtedly. You were stunned by my earth-shattering wit. My ‘ne plus ultra’ intelligence,” I said and tapped two fingers against my forehead. The Latin phrase “ne plus ultra” meant “no more beyond, ultimate, peak”—it was a little piece of wisdom I got from Dad.
“Oh, undoubtedly.”
“And because you loved those elevator rides with me.”
She pushed me away by the shoulder. “Be serious. Why did I fall for you?”
“I think that’s something you have to answer. Not me. You’re the one hypothetically falling for me, so, you tell me why.”
“All right. Putting me on the spot, aren’t you?”
“Yep.”
Rose considered her answer. “Easy,” she finally said. “I fell for you because you were there for me, even though I didn’t want it. You didn’t take no for an answer. You stuck with me. You made me smile. I don’t have family or a lot of true friends… You were the one to get me to open up about my thoughts. You really listened to my worries and my hopes, and I opened up to you and trusted you. That helped me, a lot.”
Huh. I stared at her for a moment, disbel
ieving. Her answer seemed so real. Was that how she really felt? Don’t get me wrong, I liked what she said. That I made her smile. That she opened up to me. That she trusted me.
Did I actually get something right for once, without even intending to?
Rose looked back at me when I was silent. “Miles. It’s just a fake reason. I have to make something up, and that sounds the most plausible, considering how we supposedly met.”
Fuck.
I shook my head, trying to hide my dismay and reminding myself that this was all, in fact, hypothetical. To others, it needed to seem real, but I needed to remember it wasn’t. I couldn’t fall for my own fucking idea.
Rose conjured her next question for me. “And why did you fall for me?”
“Hypothetically, you mean?”
“Yes, hypothetically.” She turned to me, obviously expecting this question to be a difficult one. “Why did fun loving Miles Humphries give up all his excitement and freedom to settle down with a good girl like me? Surely your father will ask something like that.”
It sounded a bit as if the last sentence was an addition—an afterthought, to mask her own curiosity. I didn’t have to think too long.
“Easy,” I said, without hesitation. “Because you’re a woman of class. You’re more sophisticated and intelligent than any other woman I’ve ever met.” I was serious, it wasn’t made up. Rose felt it. I saw her brown eyes deepening their gaze into mine. “And, of course, because you’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.”
I gave her a confirming nod, to let her know I was dead serious. I wasn’t playing.
She gave me an “Is he serious?” look, or was it an “Is he fucking with me?” look? I couldn’t really tell. All I knew, she was the cutest I’d ever seen her.
“How’s that?” I asked when she didn’t say anything.
“Okay. Good answer,” she replied, all cool, looking away and acting as if my reply was an act.
Oh, I get it. She was embarrassed. Now I knew damn well what was going on. She wondered if I was telling the truth.
“You’re wondering if I’m telling the truth, right?” I asked.
“I am not. I’ve already moved on,” she said. “Actually,” she dragged the word out, “I was wondering what will be our pet names for each other?”
“I’ll call you Sweet Cheeks.”
“Oh, that was quick. Why Sweet Cheeks?”
“Because your cheeks turn a pretty pink when you blush.”
She looked slightly embarrassed, but then her eyes lit up. “And I’ll call you Peanut. Or Huggy Bear,” she said, all sassy. Her eyes were laughing. “Or Ducky.” She beamed.
“No,” I grumbled. “Don’t you dare.”
She was full on cackling now. “You don’t like it? Why not? It’s so cute.”
“Don’t. You. Dare,” I repeated.
“Okay. Okay. I was just kidding, Miles. What should I call you?”
“Tiger. Sexy. Or Stud. Shooter. Or, if you must—King D.”
She snorted. “I can’t call you any of that in front of your parents.”
“Well, think of something. Something a man would like. Not Ducky. Run it by me before you actually use it. My turn. When was the first time we had sex?”
Rose faced me in shock, “No one will ask that!”
“Someone could,” I said. “You underestimate my family. They know me very well. I’m a man with many needs. Surely the tabloids must have made that patently clear, even if it’s not exactly something we’ve discussed on the way to church on Sunday.” I grimaced when I used the word tabloids.
The wind had started to pick up around us, and the air temperature was dropping.
“My brother Oliver might ask,” I continued, still on the topic. “Or my friend Damon. Wait, no, he’s too serious to ask that kind of question. Also, by the way, I told Damon this whole thing is fake. He’s my best buddy. He’s in the play, but Oliver has no idea we’re only pretending, so he might ask that just to fuck with me.”
“Still,” she said. “I highly doubt anyone will ask me that.”
“But, if anybody does ask, we’re in trouble.”
“Nobody will ask. What else?”
“What’s your favorite position?”
She slapped my arm. “You’re not taking this seriously. Nobody will ask that, either.”
“I’m taking this plenty seriously.” After a beat, I continued. “What about, when was the first time we kissed?”
Her eyes dropped down to my lips and lingered, maybe a little too long. She paused for a second, then said, “How about, right here, on the pier, on our first date. As the sun set.”
Huh, I liked that.
Wait. Was that a signal?
Because if it was, I’m fucking going to lean in. The sun was setting. Actually, it was almost done setting. Hurry up, dick-bag. Her eyes jumped back up to mine, all mesmerized. She seemed more breathy.
It was a signal.
Instinctively, I leaned in closer to her.
I already saw myself kissing her. Vividly. Unforgivingly. Ruthlessly. What kind of kisser was Rose? Not that I hadn’t wondered before, after our hug. And before the hug. She had such full and soft-looking lips. Ah, she’d do so many nice things with those lips. My head dipped to the side, and I was only an inch from her mouth.
My nose almost touched hers, almost.
“No kissing!” she blurted. “Remember? Nothing physical.”
“Kissing isn’t ‘being physical,’ it’s just kissing,” I rasped in a low voice, my head still in the position I left it in, an inch away from those lips that just begged to be kissed.
“I insist. No kissing.” She turned her head, showing she was serious, and one of her hands pushed my chest backward.
Shit.
Shrugging my shoulders, I stood straight. “Okay then. But if you change your mind later, that ship has sailed.”
“Well, bon voyage!”
“Also, if we have to kiss in front of them, it’ll be awkward. We’ve got to kiss eventually, making us official. Show them that we’re a thing, that we’re used to kissing. We should train.”
“I thought that ship had sailed.”
“It has, but the train’s still at the station. Changed your mind? You wanna—jump on?”
“Nobody will expect us to kiss. And if they do, I’ll say I have a cold sore.”
A cold sore? I looked at her, my gaze jumped back to her lips, wondering if she was fucking with me, “Please, say anything but that,” I warned.
She glanced at me, eyes full of amusement. “Why?”
“Everybody will stare at your lips and see that you have none.”
“It’ll be hidden under my lipstick.”
“You aren’t wearing any.”
“Now I’m not. When we go out, I just might. I got a red one.”
Oh, I know. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.
There was no way to win this argument.
“All right, shall we head back?” I asked. “It’ll get cold really fucking fast once the sun’s down. Let’s get the rest of our story straight over the next few days. There’s still plenty of time.”
She nodded in agreement, and we headed back to my bike. I gave her my bandana and made sure her leather jacket was buttoned up well. Then, I put mine back on.
She was quiet. Maybe she felt disappointed that I hadn’t kissed her. Well, she should. It would’ve been a hell of a kiss. With tongue. Lots of tongue. And maybe, an un-accidental devilish tit-feel, ha-ha.
I was having way too much fun.
Anyway.
If she was disappointed, she tried her best to hide it.
Once we were back on my bike again, I felt Rose’s warm body pressed against my back, a bit tighter than before. I could feel that she was now slightly shakier as we rode, but I knew that she trusted me.
All I knew, it wasn’t from the cold. Was it still the kiss? Did the non-kiss upset her that much? Rose sure lived up to her name, she needed t
o learn to relax more. It wasn’t a big deal. All she needed to do was ask. Her lips—those kissable, lush, rosy lips.
She held onto my waist tightly, and I wasn’t sure if she realized, but her legs were pressing harder against my thighs than before. Sure enough, my dick jerked in response. Those long legs of hers under those jeans were basically all around me, and I wished I could stop the bike and pull her all around onto my lap, grab her body and “let her jump on board.” I was ready to strip her down and take her like the wild animal inside me demanded. Shit. Shifting uncomfortably, I felt her tits rubbing against my back. Okay, with us wearing thick leather jackets and all, my imagination was clearly going wild, but who cared. Ah, fuck. Me. I cared. Now it was even worse.
For the rest of the ride home, I tried my best to keep my mind from running to all the dirty places it was all too eager to run to. What was her favorite position?
Back at home, and after a quick elevator ride up, in which Rose somehow seemed adorably embarrassed—so she was thinking of that missed kiss chance—she headed for her door.
“Good night, Miles.”
“Where are you going?” I asked her.
She turned back around. “Hmm?”
“Don’t you want to choose your new room, Sweet Cheeks?” I asked, opening my front door invitingly.
14
MILES
Not gonna lie, it was an excuse.
Really, I just didn’t want the night to end. I was having actual fun with her, and if her mood was going to swing back to its usual pattern of death stares, eye-rolls, sighs, and rub-outs, I’d better get in as much of tonight as I could.
Rose paused for a moment, then nodded yes.
“But not for long,” she said, “I still have some work to do for the animal shelter. And, most importantly, I haven’t had enough Daisy-time today.”
“Animal shelter?”
“I volunteer for a cat rescue center. With flyers, marketing, and also the more boring paperwork. It’s where I found Daisy, or—rather—where she found me.”