It's Only Temporary: A Stand In Fake Fiancee Romance

by Iona Rose

  “It’s lovely,” I said although my mind was on what lay ahead rather than my beautiful surroundings.

  “It is. I like to come here for lunch to relax my brain. You know how high pressure our industry is. If you like, I can recommend you to be a member,” she said.

  I made noncommittal noises. I was not a golf person at all.

  The waiter came and brought us menus. Samantha didn’t open hers.

  “I’ll have a Caesar salad and a bottle of water please,” she said.

  I asked for a steak, my go to meal when I was in a new restaurant.

  “You should take better care of yourself. Red meat is not good for you,” she said mildly.

  When the waiter withdrew, she stared at me as if I was an interesting specimen in the lab. “Tell me about yourself.”

  I assumed it was an interview and told her about my education and experience. She nodded as I spoke and stared at me intently in a manner that was a little discomforting.

  “My instincts were correct. I think we’ll work well together,” she said. “You’ll be my right hand man.”

  My breath caught. “What about Marjorie?” I said. As ambitious as I was, the last thing I wanted was to take Marjorie’s job. She needed it more than I did.

  “I’ll give her a chance and keep her but I think her ideas are outdated,” Samantha said.

  The waiter brought our food and as we ate, we shifted topics to industry news. She was well read and very informed. The more time we spent together, I saw why she had gone as far as she had in her career. She was charming but more importantly she was a listener.

  She listened as if whatever you were saying was the most important thing she had ever heard.

  “I’d like to get to know you better,” she said when our plates were taken away. “I think you’re a fascinating man.”

  I was flattered, but also confused. Why the heck was she throwing sexy vibes my way? I was not available and even if I was, I didn’t do office romances and I definitely would not date a woman who was more than ten years older than me.

  We returned to the office and as we were about to part ways in the hallway, she took my hand and squeezed it in a very suggestive manner. If I had any doubts before, they were gone.

  I’d barely sit down, when a knock came on my door and Marjorie slipped in. She sat down and stared at me.

  “What’s going on? Lunch with the boss? Shouldn’t that be me? After all, I’m the one who runs this place.” Her voice was controlled but I could feel the anger behind her words.

  “She asked me for lunch and I couldn’t refuse, could I?” I said.

  “You could have suggested that she include me,” Marjorie said.

  “I was fighting for my job, Marjorie. There was no way I was going to say something like that. If she’d asked me to jump and touch the ceiling, I would have without a second thought.”

  Marjorie cracked a smile. “I get it, I suppose. What did you think of her? Did she say anything about me?”

  I couldn’t tell her what Samantha had said, it would make her anxious as hell. “No she didn’t. I don’t know what to think about her yet, all I know is that she knows her stuff. I think we’ll be just fine.”

  “You think so?” Marjorie said.

  I nodded. “I’m sure.”

  All that was bull. I was just as insecure about our future as she was but I’d made a decision not to worry about something that was out of my control.

  The next few days were weird with Samantha calling me into her office more than necessary and touching me in a manner I thought was uncomfortable. When Bianca asked me about the new owner, I told her everything else except how uncomfortable she was making me.

  I was relieved when the week came to an end. I was meeting the Mathew and Tony after work, which I was looking forward too.

  Just before I left the office, a knock came on my door and when I looked up, dismay came over me when I saw that it was Samantha. I plastered a fake welcoming smile on my face. I ran over possible things I might have done wrong and came up with nothing.

  She shut the door behind her and came and sat down. She tossed her blond hair to one side and crossed her legs. I shifted about in my chair. I was uncomfortable and yet she was the one in my turf.

  “So Connor, what are your plans for the weekend?” she said. “I was hoping that you would accompany me to dinner. I’m meeting with the team from CPA foundation.”

  My heart leaped at the mention of one of the largest foundations in the country and their marketing budget ran into hundreds of millions of dollars. I grinned at Samantha. “I’d love to come.”

  It would be a learning experience for me being at the heart of such talks, plus I wanted to see Samantha at work. I had admired her work for years. She had reached the pinnacle of her career and I guess the next step for her had been to have her own agency.

  I couldn’t wait to see how far we would go as a company. Five years from now, we would probably be cited as one of the largest agencies in the country.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said. “Text me your address and my driver will pick you up at six.”

  “I will.” I left the office and hurried to our usual meeting point.

  As I strolled, I couldn’t help feeling that we were on the verge of joining the big leagues and I was grateful to be along for the ride. I’d never been on any of the initial client meetings and this time, it wasn’t just any client. It was one of the most coveted accounts in the country.

  I wondered briefly why she had picked me. The natural and logical choice would have been Marjorie. But I wasn’t going to kick a gift horse in the mouth. I was just grateful for the opportunity.

  “Glad to see you’re back to your usual lateness habits,” Mathew said as I pulled out a chair and joined them.

  I grinned. “Evening fellows.”

  “Why do you look so happy?” Tony said. “Don’t you and Bianca ever fight? Kate and I are currently not on speaking terms.”

  I cocked my head to one side. “You know, we actually don’t. There’s nothing to fight about.”

  Angie and I had fought constantly. I tried to recall what we usually fought about and came up with zero. It was petty stuff but with Bianca we don’t have petty stuff to fight about.

  “Lucky bastard!” Tony muttered as the waiter came to take my order.

  “You sounded pretty desperate yesterday to meet with us today,” Mathew said when the waiter left.

  “Yes,” I said. “Now I’m not sure what to think.” I told them about Samantha and the way she’d been behaving as if she’s seducing me but after her invitation, I thought I might have read her wrong.

  Tony laughed. “She’s still seducing you buddy, she’s just upped it to another level.”

  “A level you can’t resist,” Mathew added.

  “She figured you weren’t falling for her charms and went to the one place where she was bound to get your attention. Your work. She knows you’re an ambitious fucker, so she gave you bait and guess what you did? You bit it. Hard,” Tony said.

  “Fuck.” They were right. I’d been so flattered that she’d picked me that I hadn’t stopped to consider whether she had an ulterior motive. “I don’t get why she picked me though.” There are so many other men she could hit on. Men who are more handsome and more charming than me.

  “That is definitely a puzzle,” Tony said and rolled his eyes. “I hope you haven’t told Bianca. That would be a dumb move. You don’t want to deal with an insecure or jealous girlfriend.”

  “What should I do? I can’t cancel the dinner! I really want to meet that client,” I said.

  “Who said anything about cancelling the dinner? String her along,” Tony said.

  “You’re walking a tight string,” Mathew said solemnly. “You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. For once, I agree with Tony. String her along until she gets tired and moves on to a more willing prey.”

  I raised my eyebrows. Prey? A minute later,
it dawned on me that Mathew was right. I was indeed prey to Samantha. I wondered how many times she had played that game. I took a sip of my cold beer.

  “I hate to lie to Bianca,” I said.

  “This is one instance where you may have to,” Mathew said. “It’ll stress her unnecessarily. What matters is that you don’t cross the lines.”

  “I have no intentions of crossing any lines. It’s not my style,” I said.

  Still, I wasn’t feeling comfortable about the whole thing. “I hope I’m wrong and she’s not interested in me that way.”

  Bianca

  I’d had the cast for so long that it felt like I was about to lose an old friend. My sister and I sat in the cast room waiting for the technician who was going to saw it off. I wished Connor was with me and then instantly felt bad as soon as that thought was out.

  Eva had left her work in the studio to come with me. It had been a long morning. Apparently, getting a cast removed is not a fast procedure. I’ve already had an x-ray done, and being examined by the doctor who declared it ready to be removed.

  My phone vibrated from my handbag and I reached for it. I smiled. It was from Connor.

  Connor: Hi beautiful, is the deed done yet?

  Me: Not yet but close.

  Connor: Remember your promise?

  Me: You bet.

  Connor: It’s a date. I’ll pick you up at six.

  Me: Sounds good.

  Connor: See you later beautiful.

  Everything was working out so well. Eva and I were busy at work with the orders coming in fast and furiously. I was booked solid with custom orders for the next four months and we still had to keep making our signature pieces.

  Jen had been right in her prediction of how popular our pieces would be with her clients. It was a fun exciting time for our company and I couldn’t wait for the cast to be off to enable me to get even more done.

  “You’re smiling.”

  “I’m meeting Connor tonight and I’m looking forward to it.”

  “I’m glad you’re having so much fun. You deserve it,” she said.

  She patted her belly, something I’d noticed she’d started doing a lot lately. It made me smile to imagine my niece or nephew nestled in there. “Are you feeling anything at all?” I asked her.

  Eva grinned. “She’s the size of a bean, anything I feel is totally my imagination.”

  We laughed.

  “Names?”

  “I’m only just coming around to the idea of a baby in my belly. We haven’t talked about names yet,” Eva said, a vulnerable look on her features.

  I reached out to squeeze her hand. “You’ll be a wonderful mom. The kind that’s always hugging their child.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Don’t forget I’m coming with you guys to the ultrasound day after tomorrow. Are you sure it’s okay?”

  Eva had asked me to accompany her and Jeremy to her first ultrasound. I’d worried that Jeremy might find it too much of an intrusion on my part.

  “Of course it’s okay. We’re twins. We do the important stuff together,” Eva said. “Jeremy knows and expects it.”

  The technician came into the waiting room and asked me to go in. I grinned at Eva. “This is it. I can’t believe I’ll soon be rid of this dreaded thing.”

  “It’ll be weird to see you without it,” she said as she followed me into the cast room.

  The technician got me comfortable with my leg with the cast lifted up onto a stool. He was gentle as he explained to me the process. I just wanted the damn thing off. I’d missed my leg.

  “I’m going to cut one side lengthwise and do the same on the other side,” he said and took a saw.

  Eva had once broken her arm when we were kids so we pretty much knew the process. Soon the room was filled with the jarring noise from the electrical saw.

  In minutes he had sawed both sides and was peeling the cast off my leg. I closed my eyes and reveled in the feeling of my leg being free. The technician made me do a few exercises and asked me to keep doing them at home.

  “Take it easy for a few days,” he said. “Just as you would when you had the cast. Avoid any impact activities.”

  I wondered if sex counted as an impact activity.

  “No hanky-panky today,” Eva said as we walked out of the clinic.

  “Hanky-panky?” I said.

  “You did say you were going to Connor’s today, right?”

  I didn’t care about the teasing, I was too happy to have my leg back even though it was gross to look at. For one, I had lost muscle but the technician had said that all it took was two weeks of inactivity for the muscles to start shrinking.

  My skin had taken on an ugly pale color but that would go back to normal with time. I just hoped looking at it wouldn’t turn Connor off.

  Outside, we grabbed an Uber back to my apartment and to work. I willed the hours to go by fast so that I could see Connor.

  After my bath, I picked a short dress but changed my mind when I remembered the state of my leg. I settled for a maxi dress but it was still nice to know that I didn’t have to lug that cast around. I was still walking with the crutches and would continue to do so for another week.

  I couldn’t wait to see Connor’s apartment. I’d tried to imagine how his home looked and failed. With men, you just never knew. He could be the neatest person when it came to his dress code but his home be a mess.

  I was ready and waiting for Connor in the living room at quarter to six. My stomach rolled with butterflies as if I was about to go on my first date. The bell rang and I was about to jump to my feet when I remembered the technician’s words of caution to take it easy.

  I flung the door open and Connor stood there staring at me. I lifted my dress to show him my castless leg.

  “Look at that,” he said in admiration.

  “It looks weird but that will change with time,” I said, suddenly insecure about the appearance of my leg.

  “Nonsense!” He took a step forward and hugged me, lifting my feet off the ground. “It looks perfect.”

  Warmth flooded me. I’d never thought I’d ever meet a man who would be blind to my faults. It was a good feeling. A feeling I never wanted to lose.

  “I’m ready,” I said when he gently put me back down. “I just need to grab my crutches.”

  “I’ll get them for you,” he said.

  “I have to use them for a week and then I’ll be truly free,” I said to Connor when he brought them to me.

  “Makes sense.”

  “And no impactful movements,” I said, shooting him a pointed stare.

  “I have no idea what you’re trying to insinuate. My plans for the evening are dinner with my woman and a night spent cuddling in bed,” Connor said.

  I laughed and then stopped short when it dawned on me, what he had said. “Dinner? I thought we were going straight to your place.”

  He looked me up and down as the elevator doors shut. “When you’re dressed like that? No way am I taking you straight home. Besides we need to celebrate getting that cast off.”

  An Uber was waiting for us downstairs and Connor held my crutches while I entered. I loved that he was such a gentleman. It made me feel special and … loved.

  “How do you feel?” Connor asked me on the drive to the restaurant.

  I grinned. “I feel like a new person. That thing took a lot of energy to carry around.”

  I told him about the process of getting the cast removed.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to hold your hand,” he said.

  “You were there when I got it done and I was in pain. This was nothing.”

  We got to the restaurant and after paying the driver we made our way to the entrance. Connor had a reservation and we were shown to a nice table for two.

  “It’s nice to arrange my leg how I want it,” I said.

  “Small pleasures that we overlook when we’re well,” Connor said.

  The server came and handed us two menus. We ga
ve our order for food and water and settled back to relax. When I looked at Connor, I still got surprised that I’d somehow landed myself such a great guy. The kind of guy other girls found but not me.

  “Are you okay?” he said. “You look so deep in thought.”

  “I couldn’t be better. I was thinking how lucky I am to have you,” I said without an ounce of self-consciousness.

  “I’m the lucky one,” he said. “I never thought I would ever find the woman that I love so quickly.”

  All air left my lungs. My surprise must have shown on my face.

  “I don’t joke around Bianca and neither would I string a woman along, wasting her time and mine. I’ve fallen in love with you and I want you for keeps.”

  It was a little frightening to hear him express himself so confidently. His feelings were intense and so were mine but I wasn’t ready to express mine so openly.

  “Hey, no pressure. You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said with a chuckle.

  I tried to laugh but it came out like a soft bark. Luckily, the server brought our drinks and when he left, the moment had passed.

  I asked him about his work and the new boss.

  “She’s pretty good at her job,” Connor said. “I’m feeling lucky to be in a position where I’m learning so much.”

  “It’s great,” I said. “I just feel sorry for Marjorie. She’s not getting any action, is she?”

  A guilty look came over Connor’s features. “I asked Samantha about that and hinted to her that she should involve Marjorie more. She promised she would.”

  “That’s nice,” I said and listened as Connor continued heaping praise on his new boss.

  I’ll be honest. I did feel a pang of something, despite knowing it was a professional relationship and Connor would never cross the line. I reminded myself of how loyal Connor had been when he and Angie had been dating. I had never seen him flirt with a woman at the cocktail bar.

  That’s the kind of man he was. I doubted that Miss Samantha Price’s intentions were all noble but I wasn’t going to share my thoughts with Connor. He would definitely be offended that I would question his integrity and he would be right.