“Well, can you figure it out before dinner tonight?” I said, clearly catching her off guard.

  “Dinner? Again?”

  “Don’t sound so excited,” I said, my tone harsh.

  “Sorry.” She shook her head but kept her distance. “I can’t go tonight.”

  “Why not?” I found myself feeling way more disappointed than I had any right to be.

  “ ’Cause I have to work late,” she said, and I knew she wasn’t telling me the truth.

  I could have pushed her harder, told her that I knew she was full of shit, and forced her to go out with me again, but I didn’t want to do that. I took a step in her direction and watched as she straightened her back and swallowed, her lips pressing together as I neared.

  “You’re lying. But I’ll let it go. For now.”

  “How gracious.”

  That smart mouth was going to get her in trouble at some point. Most likely sooner rather than later.

  “Are you playing a game with me, Sutton?” Something started to gnaw at me, like maybe she was going to pull out before Social Month even started and leave me high and dry.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing. Make sure we can go out again soon.” I stormed out of the room before I did something stupid, like throw her onto one of those beds and have my damn way with her.

  MEETING MOM

  SUTTON

  Why the hell was I so irritated? Walking out of the on-call room and toward the nurses’ station, I felt a ball of dread in my stomach. Everyone was watching me, their eyes filled with mischief, wonder, and accusations.

  “He’s gorgeous,” one of the women said as I approached.

  I turned around just in time to see Joseph disappear into an elevator.

  “I know. I know,” I agreed before I continued moving down the hall.

  If I stopped for even a second too long, I’d never get away from all the questions, and the last thing I wanted to do was lie to all their faces. I’d already done that this morning after the pictures of me and Joseph from last night went viral and the press showed up.

  I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out what my problem was, but I was no closer to the truth than I had been an hour before. Joseph showing up, all concerned for my well-being and over-the-top dramatic, had messed with my head. His actions had felt like something a real boyfriend would do, but he wasn’t my boyfriend. He wasn’t anything, except for a paycheck at the end of my service.

  I shook out my body after thinking those words to get rid of the icky feeling it had given me. My accepting a paycheck for this seemed weird and wrong. But I still planned on doing it.

  “Sutton, you’re still here?” Dr. Bonnova asked as we passed each other in the hallway.

  She was a freaking goddess at this hospital, all groundbreaking and ridiculously smart. It was awesome that she even knew who I was.

  “Yes?” I asked, clearly confused.

  “It’s almost seven,” she said, and I reared back my head.

  “Oh.” I’d spent so much of the day lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t even realize I’d stayed past my assigned shift. “Thanks, Dr. Bonnova. Have a good night.”

  She laughed as I picked up my pace. “Have fun with Romeo’s Other Brother,” she shouted, using one of his less popular nicknames from the press.

  I spun on my heels, turning around to face her, but she waved me off, and I swallowed whatever words I was going to say instead of saying them out loud. Then, I reminded myself that I needed to get used to this kind of thing. If I was going to be fake dating Joseph Martin, I had to be prepared for everything that came with it, and that included comments from my coworkers who were all too familiar with his reputation in the city.

  And that was why I’d been so irritated when I saw him earlier. I wasn’t really pissed that I’d been harassed since the moment I woke up, that my voice mail was filled, and that my social media accounts had been inundated with requests and direct messages. I wasn’t even mad that the press and paparazzi had found out where I worked and shown up there, waiting to get pictures of me. I mean, one night with Joseph had turned my life into something I hadn’t even remotely considered. I’d thought I understood what being seen with him meant, but I had no clue.

  To be fair, none of that was any of his fault or choice. What I was mad about was the fact that he’d come over to my place of employment and pretended to care about my well-being and mental state. He acted like I mattered when we both knew that I didn’t. He showed up in the middle of the day to check on me. And it’d made me so angry because … I liked it.

  And I wanted it to be real.

  Walking into the locker room, I grabbed my phone and turned it on for the first time since I’d turned it off that morning. Alerts pinged for what felt like a full five minutes before finally stopping. I looked down at the screen and couldn’t believe the number of notifications there. I opened my text messages first. The social media requests could wait. I scrolled through, responding to my parents separately before stopping on Joseph’s name.

  He’d sent another text about an hour ago.

  Uh, my mom has requested our presence.

  My heart dropped inside my chest, and I almost let go of my phone. Instead of texting him back, I pressed on his name and called him.

  “Hey,” he answered on the first ring.

  “I just got your text. What?”

  “She wants us to come over. She’s insisting.”

  I sat down on the long bench, thankful that no one else was in the room. “When?”

  “Now?” he said like it was a question.

  I blew out a long breath. “Are you kidding me?”

  “I know. I tried to blow her off, but if we don’t do it tonight, we’ll have to do it tomorrow. Let’s just get it over with. Please? I’ll make it up to you.”

  He sounded desperate. Or maybe he was just tired and didn’t have the kind of energy to argue with his mother, knowing that he was going to lose.

  “I need an hour,” I begrudgingly agreed. It had already been such a long day, and I was exhausted.

  “I’ll see you in thirty.”

  He ended the call, and I wanted to throw my phone against the wall. Or “accidentally” drop it in the sewer on my way home.

  I groaned outwardly when the buzzer at my apartment let me know that he had arrived in thirty minutes, like he’d said, instead of listening to me.

  “I’ll buzz you up, but I’m not ready,” I said into the intercom before pressing the button to allow him to enter the building.

  I hadn’t even told Joseph my apartment number, but he must have known it from Kayla because a loud knock on the door had me shouting for him to just come in. Peering around the hallway corner, I watched the door swing open, and Joseph stepped through the threshold, his eyes catching mine immediately.

  “You can’t just invite people inside, Sutton. What if I were a murderer?”

  “I would do my best to defend myself then.”

  “Please be safer,” he said, sounding irritated as he looked around our living space.

  “Let me finish getting ready.”

  I was relieved to see him wearing a pair of jeans and a tight-fitted T-shirt. I’d wanted to dress casual, too, for the meeting with his mother, but I hadn’t been sure if his family even believed in the term.

  “Joseph, help yourself to anything in the fridge,” I shouted, but he stayed quiet. I assumed he was on his phone, handling work emails, but I almost screamed when I looked in the mirror and saw his reflection behind me. “What are you doing?”

  “I wanted to see what was taking you so long.” He stepped into the small space, both of our bodies barely fitting.

  “Stop being a creeper,” I complained, pushing him out of the bathroom. “Out.”

  He grinned. He liked the challenge. “I like this color on you.” He fingered the sleeve of my cream-colored sweater.

  “What is tonight going to be like?” I asked as I attempted to straighten my hair. It had been up in a ponytail all day long, so there was a bump at the top that I was trying—and failing—to tame.

  “I honestly don’t know. I haven’t brought a woman home to meet my mom since college.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I’m not.”

  “What if she sees through us? I mean, we need a plan.” I was starting to get nervous.

  “Like an escape plan?” he asked with a grin, and I narrowed my eyes at him. “One where you fake an emergency and bail?”

  “No, not like that.” I let out a slight laugh. “Women ask a lot of questions. We live for details. She’s going to want to know how we met, how you asked me out, how we started dating.” I started running off a list of things that I’d want to know if it were my son bringing home someone new for the first time.

  Joseph stepped back into the tiny bathroom, his body pressing against mine, and I willed my heart to stop pounding against my chest, scared that he might be able to feel it.

  “We’ll get our stories straight in the car ride over.”

  God, he smelled good. And those lips. I wanted to know what they felt like, what they tasted like, and how they kissed.

  My voice got lost in my throat, so I nodded my answer instead.

  “Hello? Sutton? Where are you?” Kayla’s voice broke our mutual trance, and Joseph practically fell out of the bathroom door and into the narrow hallway right as Kayla appeared. “Why are you two in the bathroom together?”

  “Your boss was trying to intimidate me,” I said before wondering where those words had come from.

  “I bet he was,” she said, wagging her eyebrows.

  “If I didn’t come back here, she’d never finish getting ready,” Joseph added, and I put the finishing touches on my makeup before declaring that I was done.

  “Where are you guys going?” Kayla asked, her face pinched together, as if she hadn’t expected us to have another fake date so soon.

  “Apparently, his mother wants to see us,” I said, choking on the words.

  “She what?” Kayla whirled around and faced Joseph. “Joseph! You’re throwing Sutton into the lion’s den already? Your mother is going to eat her alive.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, suddenly worried that I was going to sweat through my shirt.

  “You’ve been out one time!” she practically screamed. “I’m telling you, that woman has superpowers.”

  “Sutton will be fine,” Joseph said. “See you tomorrow, Kayla.”

  He placed his hand on my lower back as I walked out of the bathroom and down the hall. I turned around, meeting Kayla’s eyes, and I knew she sensed what I was feeling without me needing to say it.

  I was in trouble.

  I was going to fall for this man, and we both knew it.

  That was, if I made it through the night with his mother.

  ALREADY FALLING

  JOSEPH

  We sat in the back of a town car, my driver heading toward my mother’s penthouse.

  Once we were buckled in, Sutton turned to face me. “We really need to get our stories straight.”

  “You’re right,” I agreed, and we worked out a few details—making up some bullshit story about how we had run into each other one night, recognized one another, and I’d asked her out on the spot—before arriving at the front of my mom’s building and pulling to a stop.

  “We’re already here?” Sutton looked nervous.

  “We’ll just play it by ear. She’s not going to grill you until you crack,” I tried to reassure her, but honestly, I had no idea what my mother was capable of or what she planned on doing.

  Kayla wasn’t wrong when she said the woman had superpowers. She definitely did.

  “She won’t leave you alone unless you’re in love. Have you forgotten that small detail?”

  Apparently, I had. “What’s your point?”

  “We are not in love. We barely even know each other.”

  “It will be fine,” I said again before I stepped out of the car before moving to get her.

  “Good evening, Mr. Martin,” the doorman said as we neared.

  “Evening, Alexander,” I said in response as he held the door open for us.

  We walked to the bank of elevators, and I pressed the button. We stepped inside, and I swiped a card and hit the PH button.

  “I’ll let Mrs. Martin know you have arrived and are on your way up,” Alexander said before the doors closed.

  We rode up in silence. I held her hand without even thinking about it. I wanted Sutton to be calm, to realize that I wouldn’t bring her to someone who was going to hurt her. Hell, I wanted her to trust me.

  “Here goes nothing,” Sutton said under her breath when the elevator dinged and the doors opened into my mother’s waiting area.

  “Oh, Joseph. You’re finally here!” My mother appeared from the sitting area, her hair and makeup perfectly done. “And this must be Sutton.”

  Sutton dropped my hand as she smiled, and it lit up the whole damn room. “I’m sorry we’re late. It’s my fault. I had extra patients to check in on at the hospital.”

  “Nonsense. You do important work. I can wait,” Mom said with a smile of her own before planting a kiss on my cheek. “I’m glad you’re both here. We need to talk about all the press you two are getting. They’re asking me questions I can’t answer, considering I haven’t even met my son’s girlfriend until now. Well, unless you count that one other time,” she added with a wink, and Sutton turned bright red.

  “Let’s not,” Sutton said, and my mother laughed.

  “Agreed. Let’s go into the sitting room,” Mother directed.

  Sutton shot me a look that told me she thought our house was over the top, but it was all I’d ever known. This shit was normal to me.

  I reached for Sutton’s hand, intertwining it in my own as we followed my mother through the doorway and into my favorite room in the house. The fireplace was lit, and the window shades were up, highlighting the city.

  I used to sit in here and stare out the windows after my dad had passed, watching all of the New Yorkers wander around in a daze. It wasn’t the same after 9/11 happened. We were broken, but it felt like we were all broken in the same way. I was lost then, but so was everyone else. For a moment, our world went dark; all the light was replaced with something hazy and blurred. Eventually, we’d all come back to life, together, in unison.

  I felt a small tug on my hand, and I realized that Sutton had stopped walking. She was looking at the framed pictures on top of the fireplace mantel.

  “Is that your dad?” She let go of my hand and leaned in close.

  “Wasn’t he handsome?” My mother’s voice filled the air, a mixture of pride and sorrow.

  I wondered how often she came into this room now that I no longer lived here.

  “He was.” Sutton stumbled on the past tense of the word. “You look just like him.”

  I inhaled quick. It was sharp, and it stabbed. I knew I resembled him, but it had been a long time since anyone had said it out loud. Years maybe.

  My mother moved to her reading chair, and I noticed there was a cup of tea sitting on the table beside it. She waved a hand toward the two-person lounge for us to take. Sutton sat first, and I sat unbearably close to her, our thighs pressing against each other, making my mind instantly wander. I placed my hand on top of her leg and left it there, trying to hide the fact that I wanted to move it all the way up until I landed on the place that would give her the most pleasure. That was what two people enamored with one another did, right?

  “Do you want a drink? I can have something brought in,” my mom asked as she sipped her tea.

  Sutton shook her head. “I’m actually okay,” she said, and I agreed because it seemed easier.

  “Are your parents still married, Sutton?”

  I didn’t know the answer to the question my mom had asked, so I paid attention to Sutton’s response, watching her nod at first before adding, “They are.”

  “How lovely. That’s no small feat these days.”

  “They seem happy.”

  “Where are they? Here in New York somewhere?”

  Sutton let out a laugh. “No. They live outside of Boston.”

  My mom’s expression shifted slightly before she composed herself. If I didn’t know her as well as I did, I would have missed it completely. But I noticed it all—the wince, the legs crossing and then uncrossing, the smile that appeared genuine but really wasn’t. Sutton was an outsider who lived far away from her family.

  “I take it, you don’t see them very often?”

  “Unfortunately, no. With my schedule at the hospital, I don’t have many days off. And they both work.”

  “They must miss you.”

  “I miss them too,” she said with a soft smile, and I leaned over, planting a kiss on her cheek. She looked surprised or caught off guard before her hand gripped my chin and her thumb ran across it like she’d done it a thousand times before.

  “So, tell me, how’d you two meet? I mean, aside from that dreadful night at the gala.”

  “Mother,” I chastised her. Didn’t she promise to put that night aside?

  “My apologies,” she said, but she wasn’t even remotely sorry.

  She was up to something; I just had no idea what.

  Sutton and I began the story we’d practiced on the car ride over. How we had run into each other at a bar one night.

  “He was buzzed,” Sutton said, and I wanted to kick her ankle for the lie. “But that’s why he talked to me in the first place.”

  “No,” I disagreed but figured it still sounded believable enough. “I knew I recognized her face, but I couldn’t place the where or why.”

  “Then, Kayla came over to where I was, and apparently—” she said before I interrupted.

  “It all clicked. The little fire starter.” I snapped my fingers, and Sutton growled, smacking my leg.

  My mother laughed. She was actually smiling, listening to the two of us spout off this lie. “And then what? You asked her out, or did you make Kayla do the dirty work for you?”

  “Kayla,” Sutton said at the same time that I said, “I did.”

 

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