I grabbed the printed calendar and started scanning the dates. It actually didn’t look too overwhelming, to be honest. There were a lot of days with nothing in them. Just empty squares.

  “What do you think?”

  Glancing up at her, I answered, “It actually looks doable.”

  “Right?” She sounded so surprised. “I thought the same thing.”

  “I need to see him again,” I started to explain. “I can’t do this without making sure I can at least look at him without wanting to sew his mouth shut. His mom will never believe it otherwise. She’ll see the venom in my eyes.”

  “I know.” She shook her head before groaning. “I can’t believe you still hate him after all this time.”

  I blew out a breath. “It’s not like he ever apologized or anything. And he was a complete jerk to me that night.”

  “So you keep saying.”

  “Anyway …” I brushed off where she was trying to steer the conversation.

  I knew that Kayla wanted to know exactly what had happened between Joseph and me, but I didn’t want to tell her. She would make excuses for his behavior, like reminding me that he had been drunk and wasn’t normally such an ass.

  But he had been so rude. Insensitive. And unkind. Even if he was hammered, that was no reason to say the things he had to me.

  “You said his mom would be a hard sell. What’s she like?”

  Kayla whistled before leaning back against the chair. “She’s smart. Observant. Is aware of far more than she lets on. You can’t let your guard down around her. Even if you don’t see her, she will be watching.”

  “Damn, Kayla,” I groaned, second-guessing my decision after hearing all of that.

  “Don’t get cold feet now.”

  “I’m just not that good of a liar, and you know it.”

  She whipped up a hand and held out one finger. “That’s not true. You lie to people all the time in your line of work.”

  “Hey,” I argued.

  “I just meant that you mislead. Give people a little hope when there might not be any. Tell them you did all you could when maybe you didn’t. Or maybe there wasn’t anything that could be done. You make people feel what you need them to in order to be okay with whatever happened to their loved one.”

  I wanted to fight with her, but she wasn’t wrong. Maybe I was a better deceiver than I gave myself credit for. “Fair point.”

  “And for the record, you haven’t even asked.” Kayla folder her arms across her chest and waited for me to fall for her baited trap.

  “Asked what?” I asked, giving her what she wanted.

  “How much money he’s going to pay you for being his fake girlfriend.” Her face looked like she held the greatest secret in all the world.

  “Don’t say it like that. It makes me sound like a prostitute.” I stuck my tongue out like I’d eaten something rotten.

  “Well, this prostitute is getting two hundred thousand.” Her eyes widened as she waited for my reaction.

  I coughed and choked out the word, “Pesos?”

  Kayla laughed. “Dollars, you idiot.”

  I was in a little over a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of school debt. “All to make his mom go away and leave him alone?”

  “No. All of this to make his mom happy,” she clarified. “He’s a good guy, Sutton. You’ll see,” she said.

  I really wanted to believe her.

  But I didn’t.

  FIRST—NO, SECOND IMPRESSIONS

  JOSEPH

  “She agreed,” Kayla said with a shit-eating grin on her smug face.

  Shit. The evil troll had actually said yes. That brought up a whole new set of considerations.

  “We need a contract. I want everything in writing,” I blurted out, and Kayla’s grin turned into a grimace.

  “I want to argue with you right now because it’s my best friend we’re talking about, but a contract would be the smart thing to do.”

  “That’s why I’m the boss,” I said with a smirk of my own.

  “She did have one condition.” Kayla pursed her lips together, and I wondered what it might be.

  “Spit it out, Sanderson.”

  “She needs to see you again. She wants to make sure this can even work, and she won’t sign anything or commit a hundred percent until you do.”

  I guess I’m not the only smart one here.

  “That makes sense,” I agreed.

  “I was hoping you’d say that. You two have a reservation at one in the café downstairs.”

  “Thanks, Kayla.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. She still hates you.”

  That was a reminder I hadn’t needed.

  Promptly at one p.m., I strode down into the café and searched for a red-haired raven. I knew she’d be easy to spot, and thankfully, she was. Sutton was already sitting down at a table for two near the back with as much privacy as the café could muster, which wasn’t much. We’d have to talk quietly. I couldn’t risk anyone overhearing what we were attempting to do.

  As I neared her, her green eyes shot up and pinned me with just a look. Her mouth refused to twist into a smile of any kind, and I could tell that just seeing me was setting her off. Clearing my throat, I decided to use my best manners.

  “May I?” I pointed toward the chair across from her because I was suddenly scared that she might hurt me if I didn’t ask permission first.

  “That is why I’m here,” she said, her tone snarky.

  My gut reaction was to be as defensive and brash as she was being, but I knew that wouldn’t work. Any asshole behavior from me, and she’d storm out of here and never look back, and then I’d be back at square one. I couldn’t let that happen. I’d be fucked without her.

  When I noticed a server heading in our direction, I nodded my head and waved her off. She got the message, promptly turning around on her heels and making a beeline in the opposite direction.

  “Thank you for coming. For even considering this crazy idea,” I said quietly before looking around. There wasn’t anyone I recognized, but that didn’t mean our conversation was safe from prying ears or eyes.

  She cocked her head to the side, as if sizing me up, before shaking her head. “I can’t do this,” she said before shoving her chair back and standing.

  I reached out, desperate to make her stay, and my hand grabbed ahold of hers. Those green eyes shot lasers at where I touched her skin, and I pulled back quickly.

  “Please sit. Don’t go.”

  Sutton begrudgingly sat back down and scooted closer toward the table between us. “I still hate you,” she admitted before she started laughing. “It’s ridiculous, I know. But seeing you brings it all back.”

  Damn.

  I hadn’t expected that kind of reaction. Especially when I was sitting there, trying not to salivate all over the table at the sight of her. I remembered her being hot the first time we met, but she truly was a stunner.

  “What can I do to change that?” I genuinely asked. I found myself not wanting her to despise my existence the way she obviously did. Even though she’d been the one holding a lighter at my junk that night, I started thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’d done something to deserve it.

  “Be a different person.”

  “Ouch,” I said out loud. “It has been two years. Maybe I’ve changed?” I suggested, and she laughed again, the melody going straight to my groin. I shouldn’t have been as turned on by this woman as I currently was. Didn’t my dick remember how she’d wanted to maim him?

  “Doubtful.”

  “You’re right.” I decided not to lie. “I’m still the same. Any other ideas?”

  “Go back in time and make sure it never happens?” she suggested with a slight grin, and I wanted to hate how hard she was making this, but I could see her facade starting to crack.

  “Is there any way we can pull this off without you wanting to murder me in the process?” I asked, my tone genuine.

  “I don’t know. Kayla said that your mom’s tough and she won’t be fooled easily, and you make me ragey.”

  My mom was going to be a hard sell. She wasn’t naive, and she paid attention to details that most of us never took the time to see.

  “I make you ragey?” I asked, repeating the word I’d never heard until now.

  “Yeah. Like stabby,” she said, and I laughed a little, uncomfortable because I thought she meant it.

  “We need to date for real,” I blurted out.

  Where the hell did that come from?

  “We need to what?” Sutton’s voice cracked as she reared her head back.

  “Yeah,” I said as I worked through the details in my mind. “We need to go out a few times before Social Month starts. We can’t have our first date be at an event where hundreds of people and press will be watching our every move. Not to mention, my mom. We have to be better than that.”

  She leaned forward, her body language relaxing almost instantly, but she kept her mouth shut. Just when I thought she was going to fight me on the suggestion, she said, “That actually makes sense.”

  I couldn’t believe that she was being so reasonable.

  “Good. I can show you that I’m not the terrible guy you seem to think I am.”

  “And I can show you that I’m not an evil troll.” She forced a fake grin and glared at me.

  She was clearly still bitter about the night I barely remembered. I had no idea why she felt like she had every right to despise me but not vice versa. She’d been the crazy one, not me! But I decided not to fight with her anymore. I needed her on my side, not against me.

  “I know you’re not. You’re sitting here right now. That makes you the opposite of evil.”

  “But still a troll, right?” She rolled her eyes, and I shook my head.

  “You’re gorgeous, and you know it.”

  She didn’t believe me. I could tell she didn’t. And when she glanced down at the watch on her wrist, I knew our time together was over.

  “I have to get back to work.”

  She pushed to a stand, and for once, I actually felt helpless. I had no control over this woman, and we both knew it.

  “I don’t have your number,” I said, sounding desperate, and she gave me a half-grin. It was better than nothing, and I decided I’d take it and consider it progress.

  “Get it from Kayla.”

  “Don’t think I won’t,” I threatened as she walked away, her ass shaking in a pair of tight white pants.

  Fake arrangement or not, I’d be getting into those.

  HERE GOES NOTHING

  SUTTON

  I hated how attracted I was to that man. But it was hard not to be. He was gorgeous. Confident. And he needed my help. Something about a man genuinely needing you and being aware of it was a jolt of power like nothing else. I had the upper hand in this fake arrangement, and I enjoyed that position.

  Even though I’d almost walked out of our quick meeting more than once, I eventually settled down. Seeing him at first had reminded me of how awful he’d been when we met. But it was clear that he had very little memory of that night. If he had remembered it at all, he would have apologized or acted a little differently. That was the only reason I sat back down when he begged me too.

  When he’d suggested going out before Social Month even started, I’d wanted to throw something at his face, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. The only way we’d be able to sell the idea of us dating would be if we actually started doing just that.

  I needed to remember that it was all fake. That I was getting paid to go out with him, no matter what happened or how he acted. My being by his side would be purely for show, for the sake of his mom, and it wouldn’t mean that Joseph Martin really wanted to be with me.

  That was going to be the hardest part. Not because I planned on falling for the guy or anything, but because I was a female, and even though I had professional goals and aspirations that were my priority, I was still emotional. My heart wasn’t a machine the way my brain was.

  I had to keep it together … somehow.

  Joseph got my number from Kayla, like he’d promised to do, and started texting me that night. The first thing he wanted to know was my schedule for work and when we could go out publicly. He said the sooner we made our debut, the better. I responded to him, taking my time and making sure I didn’t jump at his beck and call, but it was hard not to give him my full attention when no other man was even clamoring for it. At least, no man that I was interested in.

  “He wants to go out tomorrow night,” I said as I plopped down on the couch next to Kayla, who dropped the magazine she had been flipping through to look at me.

  “Okay? So, what’s the problem?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, suddenly nervous and wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into.

  “No.” Kayla’s tone grew serious. “You’re not getting cold feet now. You have to at least try.”

  “This isn’t a good idea. You know it’s not,” I started to argue, but Kayla shook her head, her lips pursing together.

  She cleared her throat before taking my hands in hers. “At least do the first dinner. The whole point of going out now is to see if it will work or not.”

  I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “You’re right. I can do this. It’s just dinner.”

  “And press,” Kayla whispered.

  I wasn’t sure I’d heard her right or not.

  “Did you say the press will be there?”

  She winced slightly. “I am going to be calling the paps to anonymously report seeing him with a date.” My mouth opened in disbelief as she continued, “I was going to tell you. It’s fine. It won’t be a big deal, but, Sutton, this is part of the arrangement. You’ll be fine.”

  “How can you be so sure?” I suddenly felt like I couldn’t handle any of this. Not dinner. Not the press. Not even being in Joseph’s presence under the pretense that we were dating and, what … in love?

  “Because there’s two hundred thousand non-pesos riding on it.”

  Kayla’s words hit me like a two-by-four to the side of the head. I’d already forgotten about the money. I nodded toward her, pulled myself together, and walked back into my bedroom to tell Joseph that dinner tomorrow was a go.

  I had no idea what the hell to wear even though I knew where we were going. I’d never been there, of course. The restaurant was not only out of my budget, but also out of my fun zone. It wasn’t the kind of place you went to have a good time and let loose. For whatever reason, this dinner in the public eye had me squirming.

  I looked at the pile of clothes that now covered my floor and almost called the whole thing off. The biggest issue was that I wanted to look like I belonged on Joseph’s arm, but I also wanted to feel like myself, and I wasn’t sure how to merge the two into one.

  Blowing out a breath, I picked up the black cocktail dress from the floor and put it back on. It was form-fitting, hugging my curves without being too revealing. With the right necklace and a pair of earrings, I could dress it up a little more. Kayla came bursting through my door without knocking and let out a whistle.

  “Oh, damn. You sure you want to date Joseph and not me?” she said, and I laughed.

  I loved Kayla but only as a friend even though, sometimes, I wondered if it would be easier to date a woman. Then, I remembered all of Kayla’s horror stories and realized that we were all equally screwed up and that dating was hard.

  “It’s okay?”

  “You look stunning. It’s perfect. He’ll be here in ten.”

  “Okay,” I said before spraying some hair spray into my hair. I’d curled it earlier, and the subtle waves were already falling out. I touched up my eye makeup, darkening my smoky eyes a tad more, which made the green color stand out.

  For some reason, I seemed to be working really hard to impress him. I’d be lying to myself if I said I was doing it for the press. I knew that I wasn’t.

  Our door buzzed, and I heard Kayla press the button for the intercom before telling Joseph I’d be right down.

  “Your knight in shining armor has arrived,” she announced, and I rolled my eyes.

  “If only,” I mumbled in response. Joseph was not my knight.

  I held on to the railing as I walked down the five flights of stairs. Our apartment didn’t have an elevator, and walking in heels definitely wasn’t my strong suit. When I reached the bottom, I could see Joseph standing outside of the glass doors, looking inside. His eyes widened when he caught sight of me, and my heart sped up at his reaction.

  Down, girl. We’re not involved in this, remember? Plus, we still hate him.

  I opened the door, and he held out a single red rose for me to take.

  “You look beautiful,” he said before planting a kiss on the side of my cheek.

  He made it hard to continue holding a grudge. He looked gorgeous, too, decked out in a charcoal-gray suit, no tie, and the top button undone on his shirt. The man had no right being that sexy.

  The sound of clicking grabbed my attention, and I spotted someone holding a camera not too far away from us. So, that was why Joseph was being all gentlemanly and kind. We were being watched. I forced a smile, took his hand when he offered it, and headed toward the back of a black town car.

  “Did you see that guy taking pictures?” I asked, assuming that he had.

  “No.” Joseph suddenly looked shocked. “Are you sure?” he asked. He looked around at the neighborhood as the car pulled away.

  Now, he had me questioning my own judgment. Maybe the man hadn’t taken pictures of us at all. Maybe I’d imagined things because Kayla had planted the seed in my head.

  “I could be wrong,” was all I managed to say in response.

  “You probably aren’t.” He shifted in the seat next to me, angling his body toward me. “Are you ready for this?”

  I swatted the butterflies flapping in my stomach. “For what exactly?”

 

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