“Are you referencing my sperm? It hasn’t been planted anywhere, Miney. I keep that shit wrapped up at all times.” He smirked.
I waved my hand and feigned disgust, although I had to fight the urge to look down and see if his erection was still there. “Don’t be gross. I’m talking about the seed that the driver planted. Painting the picture of a man who couldn’t get to his girl fast enough. That’s what they’re saying, right?”
“Planting seeds and now we’re painting? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about us. Let’s go with it. Pretend that we’re dating. It’s a win-win.”
“How is it a win-win? Will we be having sex in this scenario?”
My mouth fell open. “Of course not. We stick to the pact at all costs. I’m offering you the chance to fake date me.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“Well, your fans will see you as a relationship guy and not some bed-hopping whore.”
He barked out a laugh. “Did you just call me a whore?”
“I mean, you aren’t one, but Jessica has painted that picture. A whore. A womanizing bastard. A selfish prick who chases his own pleasure,” I said as I tried to really bring it home.
“Who said anything about me chasing my own pleasure? I haven’t even gotten laid in a year outside of the whole tip disaster, which doesn’t even count. I’m practically a celibate monk.”
“A celibate monk who needs a girlfriend. And clearly, Carl can’t stand the idea of you and me being together, because now he wants to meet up for ‘closure,’” I said, making air quotes around the last word.
Closure, my ass.
The man was jealous, and I was here for it. We’d been together so long that we’d lost all the excitement. That was part of the reason that I’d wanted to take this job in London. Life had grown stale and boring, but that didn’t mean I still didn’t want to marry him and have a family. Maybe this time apart would actually be good for us in the long run.
Aside from the fact that he really was dating someone else, and my relationship was fake.
“So, you want to use me?”
“Totally,” I said over a fit of laughter. Hell, this was the best I’d felt in days. Finn’s showing up had lifted my spirits, and now I actually felt hopeful. “You said you haven’t felt like going out anyway. You asked me to move in with you, so outside appearances will look like we’re a real couple. Everyone’s always suspected it back home anyway. Let’s go with it.”
“You really think that we can pull it off, Miney?” He raised a brow in question.
“You’re the best actor I know. People will eat this up. Childhood besties-turned-lovers!” I squealed as I fell back on the bed. “Hell, your cousin Ashlan could sell this story, and it would be a bestseller. Carl is going to shit himself and beg me to take him back.” Honestly, I still hadn’t gotten over how quickly he’d replaced me, and with her, of all people. So, I wouldn’t mind making him sweat a little bit if, in the end, we found our way back to one another.
“And what do I get out of it?” he asked as he fell back next to me on the mattress, and we both rolled on our sides to face one another.
“An image makeover. You’ll look like the swooning boyfriend. It’ll be great for your career. All mentions of Jessica will fade to black.”
“Fade to black? That’s a bit dramatic, yeah?”
“Hey, my best friend is an acting genius. It must be rubbing off on me.” I couldn’t hide the smile spreading across my face. “Come on. It’s a great plan.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “What about our mothers, who are going to freak out? Are we really going to lie to them? They’ve always wanted this, and it will break their hearts when it all comes to an end, and you go back to marrying Dr. Prickdick.”
This was a fair point. I thought it over.
“Reynolds-Murphy code of silence. We call a family meeting. Get everyone on board.”
He groaned. “You’re pulling the code of silence card? You know that’s only for emergencies.”
When Cage had gotten full custody of Gracie, we’d all taken a code of silence, and not one of us had ever shared who her mother was. She’d signed over her rights to Gracie, and as far as everyone in Cottonwood Cove knew, she was just a woman he’d had a one-night stand with. No one knew that she was one of the biggest fashion models of our generation.
Code of silence was a real thing.
“My future husband is dating another woman. That’s an emergency.”
“Fuck, Miney. There’s so much wrong with that statement, but I think we’re playing with fire. What if Carl doesn’t care when it’s all said and done?” I knew he was saying it to protect me. He didn’t want me to get my hopes up if it really was over between us. And for some reason, it didn’t hurt as much as it did a few days ago.
I wasn’t alone. Finn’s presence had healed a lot of my hurt already.
“Then you and I are just doing what we always do. We were going to live together anyway. We’ll have an amicable breakup when the time is right, and we’ll just continue on like normal. Besties for the resties.”
“You don’t want to try dating other people for real?” he asked.
“I don’t. I’m not ready to date. Even if this doesn’t work out with Carl, I don’t want to date anyone else yet. I need to figure out who I am. Carl and I have been together for so long that I think I’ve lost a bit of myself. Besides, I’d just be spending my time with you anyway.” I cleared my throat as the thought entered my mind. “Oh. You probably want to date, right? Or at least hook up with someone?”
“Nah. I’m taking a break from all of that anyway. I’ll be fine.”
“So, we’re really doing this. We’re going to be fake lovers.” I pushed up as excitement coursed my veins. “I want to really pour it on. You know, all sorts of public PDA, and we’ll act like we’re both all sexed up all the time.” A maniacal laugh escaped my throat.
Clearly, I was ready to throw some salt in Carl’s wounds as he’d had no problem being with a woman in front of everyone that I knew back home. The awful, obnoxious person I tried my best to avoid at all costs—really, how could he?
Well, if there was one thing that I was certain of about my ex-fiancé…
He was jealous as hell.
He couldn’t stand the thought of me with anyone else, any more than I could stand the thought of him with someone else.
Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner?
“Have you ever been all sexed up?” Finn asked. “You guys didn’t seem to have a very exciting sex life.”
“How the hell do you know?”
“Because that last time I got those tequilas in you, you told me you’d never had an orgasm during sex. That doesn’t sound very impressive.”
“That’s a me problem,” I said, pushing to my feet in a huff. “Maybe this is exactly what Carl and I needed.”
“Personally, I think you need to have a real orgasm before you worry so much about winning that dicklicker back,” he said dryly.
“No. This break was what we needed. I came here to find what I wanted to do with my life, and now we’ll both realize that we missed one another. Hell, maybe it’ll make him hot for me again, and we’ll have passionate makeup sex.”
“He doesn’t strike me as a real passionate guy. I mean the dude couldn’t even run eight laps around a track.”
I chuckled. “Drop it, Chewy.”
“Oh, is this where I need to listen to my woman? Are you going to boss me around now?” He stood up and tossed me onto the bed before climbing on top of me and hovering above me. “You sure you can handle me, Miney?”
“I’ve never had a problem handling you, have I?” I said, but my words came out all breathy. And was that his erection poking me in the lower belly again? My God, my best friend was such a horndog. “I think you might be the one who has a problem handling me.”