by Holly Jaymes
A cocky, ladies’ man of a fireman, I reminded myself. Except, as it turned out, Josh was really sweet. He’d told me there was more to him than I’d initially given him credit for, and over the last few days, he’d proven that statement to be true.
The first time a nurse woke me to make sure I wasn’t any worse from my head wound, Josh was there. He was reading a yoga magazine that he said he’d picked up for me, but since I wasn’t interested in reading it at the moment, he decided to.
“Can you do this?” He showed me a picture of a woman in a dancer’s pose. It was a one-foot standing balance pose where you lift one leg behind you, holding it by the ankle as you leaned forward slightly. It was a move often seen with female ice skaters.
“Not at the moment, but yes.”
“Will you show me sometime?” he asked.
I cocked a brow. “Yes. Why?”
He shrugged, and his cheeks turned pink. “It’s pretty and fierce, like you.”
Perhaps it was the head injury, or maybe it was the meds, but I went all soft inside for Josh Dalton. Of course, my wall had already started to crumble when he carried me back down the trail and got me help.
I had to spend the night in the hospital, but Josh arranged to get my car off the mountain and back home. He even called the two other yoga and Pilates instructors that worked at my studio to cover my classes.
When it was time for me to come home, he brought me to my condo and stayed the night on the couch just to be sure I was okay. He didn’t even make a joke about trying to stay in my bed with me. The next morning, he had breakfast ready when I woke. I was starting to like having him around and was disappointed when he had to leave to do a 24-hour shift.
But after work, he stopped by again, bringing me ice cream. He helped me down by the pool because I was feeling closed in from lack of fresh air. He made sure I had enough shade too. No wonder women loved him. He might be cocky, but he was also kind and generous.
“So, I’m not sure if you remember, but you asked me to marry you,” he said as he sat in the chair next to me with his pint of gelato.
“That’s not quite right.”
“Yes, I remember it well. You said, Josh, will you be my fiancé? Of course, that means we’re getting married.”
“Would your head explode if I said that my request was real, and you now had to marry me?”
He blanched slightly.
“I thought so.” I scooped up my fruit sorbet. “I asked you to be my fake fiancé. I release you from your vow if it’s too much to ask.”
“It’s not too much to ask.”
“You’ll probably change your mind when you find out what’s required.”
He extended his legs out, crossing them at the ankle as if settling in for a long story. Odds were it would be because convincing my mother we were engaged would require a dossier of backstory.
“Do I have to be stuffy?” he asked.
“It wouldn’t hurt.”
He grinned. “I’m not sure I can pull that off.”
I was sure he couldn’t. “When I described my fiancé, I had Mason in mind.”
He stilled and poked at his ice cream. “Why not ask him then?” His voice, previously filled with humor, was stilted.
“Because I want to do business with him and need his respect for that. And while he has the money, I don’t know if he’d be able to pull off being other than who he is.”
“Which is?”
“He’s intense.”
“If he liked you, he’d do it, I bet. Men will do a lot for a woman they care about.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like that with us.”
“Why not?”
I glared at him. “What’s with you and my relationship with Mason?” He couldn’t be jealous, could he? I mean, Eden Lake was filled with women who’d be happy to be with him.
He shrugged. “It just seems he’s perfect for you. He’s rich, which your family likes. He can carry you out of the mountains when you do something stupid like fall while hiking by yourself. He’s a vet. Mom’s love vets. He knows celebrities. Hell, he probably knows some of the people your family schmoozes with. And his brother is a star NFL quarterback. It seems like a big score for you and your mother all around.”
Of all the things he said in that sentence, the thing about me being stupid stung me. He wasn’t wrong, and because things could have gone terribly bad for me, if he hadn’t come by, it made me feel stupid. I could have died, and I’d had some nightmares about it in the two nights I’d been home.
I set my ice cream aside, no longer feeling hungry. I felt like all the energy in me had evaporated. “Just say no if you don’t want to do it, Josh. I feel stupid enough as it is. I don’t need a reminder.”
“Fuck,” he said under his breath. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just saying he’s perfect for you.”
“No, he’s not.” I stood, picking up my ice cream to toss in the trash.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m tired.”
“Don’t go.” He reached out as I walked by to take my hand and tugged me back. It shifted my center of gravity, and I lost my balance. His arm wrapped around me, hauling me onto his lap. “I’m sorry.”
I worked to get up, but he held me. “Allie, I’m sorry.”
I stopped struggling and simply sat on his lap. I turned my head to look into his eyes. He was too handsome to be real, and he looked like he was a real-life photoshopped romance book hunk.
“I want his respect,” I said again. “As a business person.”
“I get it.”
“Plus, I’m not sure I’d have fun with him. If I’m going to potentially humiliate myself in front of my family and its elite friends, I should at least have fun.”
He grinned. “Are you saying I’m fun?”
My lips twitched up because it was hard not to smile back when Josh was flashing his pearly whites. “Maybe. The jury is still out.”
“Be nice. We’re fake engaged.” He leaned over and lightly bit my shoulder. He was being playful, but my girly parts got a whole different message. It was time to get off his lap before I did something even more embarrassing like strip naked and ask him to take me right there on the pool deck. This time when I got up, he let me.
“So, tell me how I need to be,” he said as I sat back in the lounge chair under the shade that wasn’t nearly cool enough to douse the hot flare in my body.
“They think you’ve got money, so you need to act the part.”
“How does that act? Pompous? Conceited?”
I pursed my lips. “Be serious.”
“I am. I don’t know what that means.”
He had a good point. “I think we need a cover story about your history.”
He puffed up his chest. “I’m a self-made man.”
“No, that won’t do. They like old money.”
He smirked as he rolled his eyes. “Okay, old money.”
I told him more about my family, each detail making them sound like the shallowest, most stuck up people in the world. I didn’t like him having that image, and yet, I was sure they’d put him through the test, so he needed to be prepared.
“Do rich couples have sex before marriage?” he asked.
“Of course, you’d ask that.”
He shrugged. “What if I’m asked?”
“My parents aren’t going to ask if you’re sleeping with me.”
“What about cousin Liza?” He had a point. Not that Liza would because she’d be preoccupied with the wedding, but other friends and family might. My sister definitely would.
“We’ll need to act like a couple. That means holding hands, sneaking kisses—” He cut me a mischievous grin.
“You’re looking forward to this, aren’t you?”
“I am,” he admitted. “Do you want to practice now?” He leaned toward me with an exaggerated pucker on his lips.
I shoved my ice cream in his face.
He laughed. “We need a
how we met story. Can we use the one where I save you on the mountain? I find you like sleeping beauty in the woods. I save your life. And once you come to, it’s love at first sight.”
He was being silly, and at the same time, it made a good story. “I suppose it’s good to stick as close to the truth as possible.”
“Good. Now back the PDA—”
“My parents would think public displays of affection are crass.”
“But I love you. I’m marrying you. We’re at a wedding in which all those emotions are brought to the surface. Surely, I’d kiss you. And you’re going to look hot in your dress, so surely I’d hold you close.”
“When you get there, watch how others act and mimic them.”
He frowned. “I thought you said we’d have fun. It’s not sounding fun.”
“You can still say no.”
“I’ve already said yes.”
The only problem was, he didn’t know what he’d said yes to. Not really. What would he think of me when he realized where I’d come from? One of the reasons I came to Eden Lake was because no one knew me. I could become my own person.
But if Josh and I followed through on this, a part of my Eden Lake world would know about my old world, and I wasn’t sure I wanted that. It was bad enough that he thought I was an ice queen. Would he think worse of me when he realized where I’d come from?
Preparing to be Posh
Josh
Was it nuts to follow along on this crazy charade? Yes. At first, it was all academic, but as I put in for the four days I’d need off to head over to the coast for cousin Liza’s wedding, the realization hit me that this was real. I was really going to pretend to be Allie’s fiancé. However, I wasn’t too stressed out about it. In the scheme of things in the world, what was the big deal?
But Allie was obviously worried I wouldn’t be able to put it off. Granted, I wasn’t rich, nor had I ever been rich, but it’s not like they shit daisies. In the end, people were people, right?
The more Allie talked about them, the more I felt like I was about to walk into an episode of Dynasty. I probably should have been more concerned about it. After all, I was doing this for her, so I needed to pull it off. At the same time, why she was giving a bunch of stuffed shirts so much control over her life made no sense to me. She had said that the reason she came to Eden Lake in the first place was to find herself. She wanted to be herself. Why not be herself at home? Surely her family would want that for her.
Along with acting right, I had to dress right. Allie tried to buy me some new clothes, but I wasn’t so poor that I couldn’t spring for a few duds. Then again, a couple of hundred dollars for a pair of jeans, and another couple of hundred for a polo shirt seemed over the top to me.
“These are no different than what I already own,” I complained to her. “Same look. Same cut. Rich people are idiots to pay ten times more for something.”
“It’s the brand and the logo,” she explained.
I remembered the Chanel logo on her beach bag. “What did you pay for that Chanel beach bag?”
She looked at me, clearly not wanting to tell me. “I don’t shop like that anymore—”
“How much?”
She sighed. “Four thousand.”
My brows shot up to my hairline. “Four grand! For a bag that’s going to get sand and sunscreen on it?”
“The point is, my family notices things like that.” Then she frowned. “How did you know that it’s Chanel?”
“You’re not the only debutante I’ve ever met.” The minute I said it, I regretted it. I could already see in her eyes that she was imagining me being in an orgy of other rich women like her. “Don’t even think about me being in bed with other women.”
She sniffed and acted like she didn’t care. “I wasn’t. Why would I? I don’t care.”
If only she did, I thought. “Listen, I’ll wear the fancy duds. I’ll talk like I have more than a community college education. I’ll even use the manners my mama taught me.”
Her expression turned sad, and she looked away.
“What now?”
“One of the things I like about you, Josh, is that you’re you. No pretense.”
That was a step up from before when she thought I wore the role of a playboy.
“I hate that I’m asking you to be something you’re not. And I can’t imagine what you think of my family. They really are good people, just a little snobby and misguided.”
I put my hands on her arms and rubbed. “I look at it as an adventure. Plus, I’m dying to know more about what made you such an ice queen.”
She laughed.
“But I promise I’ll take it seriously. I won’t embarrass you, at least not on purpose.”
I know.
I shifted slightly a little nervous about my next move. “Listen, you can’t bring your fiancé home and not have a ring.”
“Oh god,” She whapped her hand to her forehead. “I didn’t even think of that.”
“That’s because it’s the man’s job to think of it. I picked up this from my mom. It was my grandma’s. It’s not fancy, but it’s unique, like you.” I handed her the white gold ring with decorations on the sides and a quarter carat diamond in the middle. It would surely give away my pauper lifestyle, but it seemed like she needed something.
“Oh, Josh, it’s beautiful.”
“Really?” I thought it was nice, but coming from the posh family that Allie did, I figured she’d think it was too simple or small.
“I can’t wear this.”
“Why not.” Perhaps it was too soon to believe she didn’t think it was fancy enough. “Diamond too small?” My voice was terser than I intended.
She looked up at me with concern in her eyes. “No. No, I’m not saying that. It’s an heirloom. I don’t want to sully something so lovely with a fake engagement.”
“You have to have something, right?”
She nodded. “I can just—”
“Look, take it. If you don’t want it or find something else, let me know, I’ll get that—”
“You don’t have to buy it, Josh. This is my mess.”
“I might not be rich, Allie,” I said defensively. “And I might think it’s ridiculous to spend four thousand dollars on a beach bag, but I’m not broke.”
She threw her hands up in the air. “I don’t know how to do this without offending you. It seems like that’s all I do.”
“Then, take the ring.” I wasn’t sure why it was so important that she take it. This was for a fake engagement. When I asked my mother to borrow it, she laughed, saying it was probably the closest I’d probably get to getting married. She was also concerned about how this fake engagement ruse could backfire, hurting Allie, and even me. I shrugged it off. She and I were friends. What could go wrong?
She took it and put it on. “It feels wrong to use something so personal. Does your mom know?”
“Yes. And she’s happy to help. She thinks I’ll never get married, so a pretend engagement will have to be good enough.” I smiled, hoping to lighten the mood.
She smiled back. “I’m going to owe you after all this.”
My libido woke up thinking about all the ways Allie could thank me for playing her fiancé. Of course, that’s not what she meant. “Free yoga classes?”
She laughed. “I think I’ll have to give them to you for life to repay you.”
“Maybe I’ll take you up on that.” Weirdly though, I hadn’t been thinking of yoga when I said it. Of course, I couldn’t be thinking of having a lifetime of something else with her. I wasn’t a settle-down type of guy. Was I?
I left Allie to finish her packing and preparing while I went and had burgers and beer with Wyatt. Like my mother, he was amused and concerned about my pretending to be Allie’s fiancé.
“Four days is a long time to pull off being someone else,” he said as he squirted ketchup on his burger.
“I won’t be someone else. I’ll be me, just with expensive duds.”
“It’s not like that,” I grumbled.
He quirked a brow. “You’re telling me you don’t want to have sex with her.”
“No. I would like to have sex with her, but that’s not why I’m doing this.”
He laughed and took a bite of his burger.
“You don’t believe me?”
He shook his head. “Everything is always an angle for sex for you.”
There was a time when I might have agreed with that statement. Not long ago, I’d have let it roll off my back. Tonight, it bothered me. Was I that shallow? Perhaps I was more like Allie’s family than I thought.
No, I shook my head. I had more substance just as she did.
“There’s more to me than that.” I stabbed my fry into my plop of ketchup.
Wyatt studied me. His eyes narrowed as if he was looking at me in a new way. “Is baby bro growing up?”
“Fuck you, Wyatt.”
He jerked, sitting back and wiping his mouth with his napkin. “What’s got your panties in a bunch? Worried her parents wouldn’t like you?”
“Maybe,” I muttered. I don’t know why I cared except that I wanted this trip to go well for her. I hated that she was so stressed out about going home. Family was supposed to be a sanctuary, not a prison.
He leaned forward. “You like her.”
“Of course, I like her,” I said, washing my fry down with a gulp of beer.
“No, I mean like her like her. As in care for her. Want to be in a relationship with her.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Yet somewhere in my brain, a voice said, “Bingo.” “She’s stressed out, and I’m not the ideal person to pull this off for her. I don’t want to mess it up.”
“Who’s the ideal person?”
“Mason, except he’s too intense, and she wants to do business with him and thinks he won’t respect her if she asks him to play fake fiancé.”
“Make sense.”
“I even offered you up as a solution.”
Wyatt choked on his beer. “What?”