Stand-In Saturday: (A standalone romcom. Book 2 in the Love For Days series)

by Kirsty Moseley

  I startle and look down at my screen: FaceTime video call from Theo. My heart gives an unexpected squeeze. As I answer it and his handsome face fills my screen, I beam a smile.

  “Hey!”

  He grins. “Hi. Now a good time?”

  “Course. You okay? You’d better not be calling to cancel on me.” My stomach clenches as I wait for his answer.

  I’m not prepared for this party if he’s not coming; he’s like a piece of battle armour I’m going to wear. My courage wrapped up in a hunky six-foot-two package. Plus, I also want to see him again. It’s only been twenty-seven hours since we said goodbye at the airport, and I already miss his jokes and his smile.

  “Not calling to cancel. Just calling to say hi.” He drops down onto his bed, sitting up against the headboard.

  He’s not wearing a shirt; I can see the skin and toned muscles across the tops of his shoulders. It makes my mouth water.

  “Are you naked?” Stupidly, I try to angle my head, so I can peek down to get a look at the good stuff.

  He chuckles. “No. Are you?” He moves his phone away and upwards, so I get a full-body shot, and I see he’s wearing a pair of soft-looking grey tracksuit bottoms. Nothing else. The V line and that small spattering of hair make me squirm on my feet.

  “No.” I shake my head and pan my screen, too, but just the top half, so he doesn’t see my massive granny knickers I sleep in when the weather is stifling.

  Aubrey struts into the kitchen behind me, heading to the fridge. “Ooh, if you’re making tea, can I have one, too, please, babe? One of those sleep teas that tastes like feet.” She glances over her shoulder, and her eyes widen. “Are you FaceTiming?” Her lips press together to suppress her squeal of delight as she walks over and places her hands on my shoulders, beaming at Theo. “Hey! We haven’t officially met. I’m the BFF. I’m sure you’ve heard all about me.” She sends him a wave, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

  Theo laughs and nods, shooting her his perfect, toothy smile. “I did. Hi, Aubrey. It’s nice to meet you.”

  A little thrill goes through me that he remembered her name. I like that he listens to me. Lucas never used to listen to me unless it had to do with work. He’d ignore things I told him and things I arranged or if it was someone’s birthday, and then he’d turn it around on me, blame me for not telling him in the first place. Theo listens to everything I say. I love it.

  “I heard all about you too,” Aubrey replies smugly.

  “Nothing good,” I playfully chime in, rolling my eyes, making our drinks.

  Aubrey chuckles wickedly. “I still can’t believe you made her dress up as Wonder Woman.”

  “Ah, Aubrey, don’t bring that up. She’ll start cursing me in Italian again.” Theo winces, and we all burst into laughter.

  Aubrey picks up her mug. “I’m gonna go to bed, let you two catch up. G’night.”

  “Good night,” Theo and I both say at the same time. When she’s gone, I take my tea and head to my room. “FYI, Aubrey likes you. She wants to date you if you’re interested?”

  Theo’s eyebrows knit together in a frown. “I’m not interested. I’ve got my eye on someone already.”

  My stomach squeezes for some unknown reason. Must be the sushi I ate at lunch. “Ah, but she’s married now.” I send him a knowing smile.

  “I wasn’t talking about Amy, Luce.”

  He’s met someone else? Ugh. The knowledge stings.

  We end up speaking for over an hour. I don’t even get to read my book. By the time we hang up, my battery is almost dead on my phone, and my eyes are heavy.

  I sleep well that night, dreaming about Theo’s smile and the way his breath blew across the top of my head as I snuggled in his arms. It’s the nicest dream I’ve had in years.

  My week passes incredibly quickly. Work is indeed busy, as I thought it would be. Some days, I barely have time to break for lunch. The best part about my week by far? Theo FaceTimes me twice more, and we end up chatting and laughing well into the night on both occasions. It’s nice, and when I hang up, it leaves me with a happy feeling simmering inside.

  When Saturday comes around, I have a strange mix of excitement and trepidation in my stomach. Part of me doesn’t want to go to the party and see the man who broke my heart; I don’t want to watch him parading around with his pert, skinny, young gym bunny while eating my parents’ food and drinking their wine. The other part of me does want to go. I desperately want to see Theo again. And if I must see Lucas, I want him to see me clinging to someone else. I want it to hurt him; even just the tiniest bit would suffice. He deserves it.

  Several times over the week, I’ve thought about cancelling and making up some excuse, pretend I’m ill with the flu and I can’t get out of bed, but each time, I think about how much it will mean to my dad to have me there. I’m his only child, and this party is a big deal for him. He’s been working hard his whole life, built up his business with his best friend from scratch, brick by brick, into the massive corporation it is today. He deserves to celebrate his achievements and retire. He and my mother plan on cruising around the world for the next couple of months, soaking up the sun and spending time together. This has always been their life plan.

  So, I don’t cancel. Instead, I spend Saturday with Aubrey in the salon, having my hair styled into a cute up-do with a few loose curls framing my face. I have my nails done and get waxed, plucked, and buffed, primping myself until I look in the mirror and an almost stranger looks back at me.

  The dress I chose for tonight is an off-the-shoulder red bodycon dress that falls just below the knee. It moulds around my shape, showing off everything, and I must admit, it makes my bum and cleavage look killer. Lucas will both love and hate that I’m wearing this dress. He’s only seen me in it once. I purchased it a year or so ago for a work dinner I was attending with him. When I walked out of our bedroom in it, he did a double take and then refused to let me leave the apartment, wearing it, because it was too provocative. He ordered me to change, citing I looked like a cheap escort and that I’d embarrass him if I walked in, wearing this. But before I could take it off, he frantically fucked me up against the wall. I want to remind him of that night. How he couldn’t resist me, how he gripped my hair and wrapped his hand around my throat and was almost manic as he told me I was never to wear anything this tight in front of other men, how no one got to look at me but him, how I was his and always would be.

  If ever there was a dress to get Lucas’s attention, this is it.

  I head to the bottom of my wardrobe and look at my shoes. I’ve picked out two pairs for tonight, both gold and strappy, but one of them has a sexy three-inch stiletto heel, and the other is a more conservative one-inch. I prefer higher shoes, always have. I’m a bit of a shoe snob. My dream is to one day own a pair of red bottoms, ridiculously tall, sexy ones I can barely walk in. I bend, my hand hovering over both pairs.

  The reason for my indecision? Lucas hates it when I wear heels. I’m five foot six, barefoot, so add in the heels, and that takes me to five-nine—only one inch shorter than my ex-fiancé. He loathed it and always said he preferred it when I looked smaller and daintier. Obviously, it was an ego thing, and he didn’t like me almost being his height. But for eight years, I only wore flats or a tiny heel to please him. Since we split, not only have I stocked my wardrobe with belly tops, but also some tall heels that make me feel good about myself. Confidence comes anyplace you find it, and mine is found in a pair of killer heels.

  I look back at myself in the mirror, my mind whirling. As the doorbell rings and I hear Aubrey shout that she’ll get it, I reach down and grab the stilettos. Sod it. Theo is so tall that even in these heels, I’ll barely come up past his chin. He always makes me feel small and dainty anyway. Screw Lucas. The whole point of tonight is, I’m supposed to be showing him that I’ve moved on and make him die with jealousy.

  I sit on the bed and put them on, fastening the straps around my ankles, taking deep breaths to try and calm
my nerves. I can hear Theo in the hallway, talking to Aubrey, and the sound of his voice makes me smile. I’ve missed him all week. Talking to him on FaceTime hasn’t taken the edge off. I can’t wait to see him again.

  Deciding to forgo a handbag so I don’t have to carry it all night, I shove my bank card into the back of my phone case and find my lipstick before heading out of the room. Theo has his back to me.

  Aubrey sees me though, and her eyes go wide. “Damn, girl, if you were on a red carpet, you’d even give Blake Lively a run for her money.”

  I chuckle, but my eyes are firmly on Theo’s back. As he turns, my breath catches. He’s in a black suit and a crisp white shirt, which he’s left unbuttoned at the throat so a tiny sliver of tanned chest peeks out from the top. It fits him to perfection, and I feel a little internal swoon threaten to break free. I gulp as my desire for him makes my palms sweaty.

  Damn. Panty-melt central. Clean-up on aisle two!

  Theo’s eyebrows shoot up as he sees me. He raises his hands and laces his fingers together behind his head, blowing out a big breath, his eyes going wide. “Fuck,” he growls.

  I can honestly say that in all the years Lucas and I were together, there was never a moment in our relationship when I looked at Lucas and thought about pinning him down to the floor and ravaging him until we both passed out. I fancied him; don’t get me wrong. He’s a good-looking man, and he has a commanding presence about him that not only makes him a great businessman, but also gives him that attractive, masterful edge (just ask his personal trainer).

  But Theo …

  I sigh dreamily and step closer to him. “Jeez, you look so handsome.”

  Unable to control myself, I reach out and touch the lapel of his jacket, smoothing down his shirt as an excuse to feel the hardness of his chest against my fingertips. He smells intoxicating and edible. I want to lean in and press my face into the side of his neck, inhale so deeply that my lungs burst. My head is fuzzy with desire.

  “You should model. I could arrange a photoshoot for you; we could put you on some book covers. They’d be instant bestsellers.”

  They’d sell a million copies if he were on the cover. I’d snap one up without reading the blurb just so I could have it on my bedside cabinet and it be the last thing I saw before I went to sleep.

  Theo doesn’t smile at my suggestion. In fact, he doesn’t even look like he heard me as he drags his eyes down my body—from the top of my head to the tips of my shoes and back again. When his eyes meet mine, his pupils are blown.

  “Lucie …” He huffs out another breath, and I chew on my lip, waiting to see if he suggests I change, tells me I look like a classless escort. “You look …”

  I wince and wait.

  “Beautiful.” His voice is almost a whisper as he steps closer to me, reaching out to curl his fingers around my hip. “So. Fucking. Beautiful.” He breaks up each word for emphasis, shaking his head as his other hand moves up to cup my neck. He pulls me against his hard body.

  Beautiful? My insides clench, and embarrassingly, I feel tears prickle at my eyes because of his compliment. It’s so in contrast to the last time I wore this dress that my heart gives a pitiful whimper.

  My hands come up, resting on his hard chest as I feel slightly wobbly. His thumb tracing across my jawline makes goose bumps break out on my skin and my nipples pebble. When he makes a low moan in the back of his throat, I clench my thighs to relieve the ache that throbs in my core in response.

  Why am I so attracted to this man? It’s unfair!

  Aubrey clearing her throat drags me out of the fog of desire I’m lost in. I blink as if coming out of a daze and swallow awkwardly, stepping back as heat sears across my cheeks.

  “You want me to take a picture of you two?” she offers.

  I nod dumbly as I look back at my best friend, seeing her massive grin. Her eyes twinkle with excitement as she pulls out her phone. Stepping back to Theo’s side, I feel a little thrill as his arm loops around my waist. I look up to see he’s looking at me at the same time; we smile at each other, and heat blooms in my belly.

  When Aubrey’s got the photo she wants, she clasps her hands together and eases past us. “Well, you two have fun together. I won’t wait up.” She disappears into the living room after sending me a wink and a mouthed, Oh my God, behind Theo’s back.

  I look back at Theo and smile shyly. “Are you all set? How’s your hotel?”

  He texted me earlier to say he was all checked in and asked if he needed to bring wine or anything to the party.

  “Hotel is fine. It’s only five minutes away.”

  “You really do look so handsome, Theo. God, you’re gonna make Lucas shit a brick when we walk in together.” I grin, imagining the jealous expression on his face.

  Theo’s eyes tighten as he smiles weakly and looks down at his feet while he stuffs his hands into his pockets. “Okay, so what’s the plan for tonight? What do you want me to do?”

  I don’t really have a plan. Operation Make Lucas Sick As a Pig is basically me just winging it in a gorgeous dress with a hot guy at my side. I think about it and then shrug one shoulder. “Well, I want to make Lucas eat his heart out. I want him to miss me so much that he falls at my feet and tells me what an idiot he is and how he can’t live without me.”

  Theo looks incredible. He is definitely the one to make Lucas jealous and to show people I’ve moved on and moved up—even though my heart still hurts.

  “I want you to look at me like you adore me, like you can’t keep your hands off me and you want to rip my clothes off,” I finish.

  I turn and bend, fiddling with my shoe strap that I didn’t fasten properly in my haste to see him. When I stand and glance back, I see Theo’s eyes are on my bum, his jaw is tight, and his bottom lip is rolled into his mouth. His gaze travels the length of my body so slowly that it makes me squirm on my feet. He’s looking at me like he wants to eat me, and he’s doing that eye-fucking thing again. The heat of his gaze seems to set my insides on fire as I remember how mind-numbingly good being with him is.

  I grin and nod. Oh yeah, that’ll do it. I point to his face. “Yes! Just like that. Have you been practising? That’s perfect. Save it for when we get there though, okay?” I pat his chest, not wanting him to use that bad boy up too quickly.

  He lets out a strangled laugh, and his eyes drop to his feet as he rubs at his forehead with his fingers. “Look at you like I want to rip your clothes off? I think I can manage that. Let’s do this then.”

  nineteen

  Theo

  I’m going to die before this night is over.

  That dress … fuck!

  My brain has melted. I can barely form a coherent sentence. The sexy red material hugs every inch of her, showing off her curves, the dip of her waist, her pert bum. Dear God, that bum! I gulp, swallowing down my inappropriate desire for her as I reach up and rake my hand through my hair, just for something to keep my hands busy with so I don’t reach out and grab it.

  She looks a vision tonight. Hot, beautiful, sexy, classy. She makes my mouth water. I have the hottest date ever. The trouble is … this dress, the perfectly styled hair, the utterly breathtaking gorgeousness … it isn’t for me tonight. It’s for Lucas. This is all for him. She told me she wanted to look so smoking hot that he died from jealousy; well, I have a feeling she’s going to get her wish.

  And I hate that thought.

  “The Uber’s here,” Lucie says, looking down at her phone.

  I nod, and we shout our goodbyes to Aubrey and head downstairs to meet the car.

  “Would you mind putting these in your pocket? I didn’t want to bring a bag with me tonight.” Lucie looks over at me hopefully as she holds out a phone and lipstick tube.

  “Sure.” I stuff her possessions in my pocket, loving that she asked. That’s the type of thing a boyfriend usually does. I know I shouldn’t take pleasure from it, but I do.

  Unable to resist touching her as we walk down the steps and out into
the warm evening air, I set my hand on the small of her back. As soon as I do, my hormones spike again. The tiniest, barest touch, and she sets me on fire. I’m not sure what her trick is. She’s like an aphrodisiac.

  Once we’re settled in the back seat, I shove my hand into my pocket and bring out Jared’s black tie I brought with me. I wasn’t sure of the dress code tonight, how posh she actually meant, so I figured I’d give her the choice. “I brought this. I didn’t know how dressed up you wanted me.”

  Shaking her head, she puts her hand over mine and pushes it back down towards my pocket again, giving me a weak smile. “You look perfect. No tie.”

  I nod and put it away, noticing how tense she is. Her posture is stiff, and she presses a hand over her tummy, as if nauseous.

  Reaching out, I close my hand over hers, squeezing tightly, hating the small, grateful smile she gives me as her fingers link through mine.

  “Okay, Luce? You look nervous.”

  I lean over and kiss her temple, breathing her in, loving how her eyes flutter closed, and she leans into the kiss, making a small, unconscious whimper as her hand tightens on mine. She doesn’t need to answer the question. I can feel the tension coming off her in waves. I need to make her feel better, and then an idea hits me. I sit back and shove my hand in my inside pocket, bringing out my battered pack of playing cards. I was fooling around with them at the hotel, killing time while I waited to come and meet with her. I didn’t even realise I’d accidentally put them in my pocket until I was halfway to her flat tonight.

  “I’ll take your mind off it.”

  As I open the box and begin to shuffle the cards, Lucie lets out a soft laugh. She’s watching my hands, so I show off a little, cutting and shuffling the deck with the precision that comes from years of practice. I move them around with my fingers and flick them between my hands like they do on TV, trying to impress her. Her eyes glitter with an excitement that makes my chest ache.

  “Amy mentioned that you do magic. I wasn’t sure whether to believe her or not.”