“But is this what you want?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think any of us really wanted this per se. It just makes the most sense.”
She turned her attention to Lucas. “I need to talk to Jason alone. Will you give us some privacy, please?”
I chewed on my bottom lip and gave Lucas my best pleading look not to leave me alone with her. It wasn’t that she was mean or anything, but if anyone could get the truth out of me it was this woman. That scared me. I wasn’t even certain I wanted to get to the whole bottom of the truth.
“Fine, I’ll get us some more drinks,” he said with a sigh as he rose to his feet. He got the pitcher and headed back inside. I almost got up to follow him, but Nadine’s stare pinned me right back in the chair.
“Are you really going to let this wedding happen?” she asked me.
I stared down into the empty glass as if the answer was written there and I had been gifted with the power of sight to know the future. “It’s not up to me to stop the wedding.”
“Isn’t it?”
“You heard Luke.” I leaned back in the chair and allowed my sunny disposition to drop and show the misery I lived in. “We all need this. It doesn’t just benefit him and Becca. Hopefully, I get to grow a career out of this too. I could do with the exposure.”
She leaned forward, placing her hands on the table. “Son, I don’t believe for a minute that you wouldn’t give up that exposure to stop this wedding. That’s not why you’re doing this. You should tell him how you truly feel about him. That you love him.”
I gave a shuddering laugh. “I don’t love him. I thought I did, but I don’t.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I was lying, but now was hardly the time to face how deeply I felt about him.
“Oh honey, why are you lying to yourself?”
I opened my eyes and finally looked at her. I could hear Lucas returning, making enough noise that we knew he was coming.
“Don’t you see?” I asked her. “I can’t tell him how I truly feel. I can’t ask him to cancel the wedding when there’s no other option. And in any event, he shouldn’t end this farce because I want him to. He should end it because he cares about me too much to entertain the idea of marrying anyone else. Even in name only.”
“If you ask me, you’re both being foolish,” she stated plainly. “He’s not just doing this for himself or your mother. He feels he’s doing this for you too, but you mark my words, if this wedding happens, none of you will be able to recover from it. You don’t marry someone else when your heart belongs to another.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lucas
You don’t marry someone else when your heart belongs to another.
Having caught the last part of my stepmother’s words to Jason, almost twenty-four hours later I couldn’t stop hearing them. They echoed in my thoughts, taunting me, hammering away at my skull, demanding that I faced the truth.
What truth? Had I fallen in love with Jason? I’d never been in love before. My one long-term relationship had been Ralph, and I felt more for Jason than I ever did for him. But that didn’t mean it was love, did it?
Jason’s giggle rang out, and I turned my attention to where he was forking a tiny piece of cake into Wesley’s mouth. The videographer was trying not to be distracted from filming us at our cake tasting, but he was failing. Jason was a distraction, and I wished I had left him at home, but right after this we had to fit our tuxes for the wedding. It had made sense for him to tag along with us for the cake tasting.
“Lucas!”
I blinked, turning my head to face Becca, who sat beside me. We had an array of six cupcakes on the table before us for sampling.
“Yes?” I asked, pulled to Jason’s giggle again. I had to use every ounce of control I had not to look back over my shoulder.
“So what do you think of that one?”
“Of what?”
Her glare was enough to remind me that I had just sampled a bit of the cake.
“Uh, the vanilla’s good,” I answered.
She laughed, the sound brittle. “But sweetie, you just tried the amaretto. Let’s do this again. I know you’re excited about the big day, but please focus on the cake.”
“Sorry,” I replied, mindful of the camera on us, taking in everything we said and did. “I’m just anxious about the wedding. I can’t wait to marry you already.”
“Well, maybe this will do the trick.”
She got to her feet and shuffled over to my chair where she planted her ass in my lap. She planted a kiss on my forehead. “Isn’t this better.”
“Yes, great,” I answered, daring to glance over my shoulder, but Jason was too busy staring at Wesley to even notice his mother’s position on my lap. I felt like a pawn in somebody’s twisted little game. I’d thought I controlled the game, but now everything was spinning out of control.
And later we had to be at my father’s since he insisted on throwing us an engagement party. At least no cameras would be at that party. I just needed to impress my dad, and Becca seemed quite capable of doing that on her own.
Things would be a bit trickier since Jason would be going along with us. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he couldn’t go, and besides, my father would eventually find out that he was Becca’s son. The sooner we got over it, the easier it would be for everyone involved.
The one thought of comfort in all this was even if he suspected our motive for getting married, he could hardly turn back the clock and un-sign the contract we’d divvied up between us. He had to fulfill his part of the bargain once I married a woman. He had no control over who that woman was.
Becca cut a piece of the cake with a knife and brought it up to my lips. I played along with her lead. She was a master at pretending. It made me uneasy sometimes about how into the role she was.
We went through all six flavors of cake before deciding on two flavors for the cupcakes, but we were having trouble settling on the flavor for our wedding cake.
“Jason, what do you think?” Becca asked, and I was relieved when she finally got up out of my lap. I promptly rose to my feet in the event she decided to return.
“We know he’s going to pick the red velvet,” I answered for him.
He looked away from Wesley and approached us. “Definitely the red velvet.”
“But have you tried them all?” she asked him.
“I don’t need to,” he replied. “But if you insist.”
Jason dug into the cake like it was a feast, shoving the rest of the cupcakes in his mouth. I couldn’t look away from him, the way he ate with such gusto, the movement of his lips when he chewed or his tongue peeking out to lick away the frosting. The way his Adam’s apple bobbed like it usually did when he swallowed my cum.
Fuck. I had to glance away from him as my cock twitched.
“Hmm, this is really good,” Jason said on a moan. It was just my luck for my gaze to land on Wesley. He stared at Jason like he was prime steak, and my hackles rose in protest at having him ogled with such lust by someone else.
“What do you think?” Becca pushed.
“I’m still going with the red velvet,” he replied.
“Then red velvet it is,” she agreed. “Thanks, hon.”
Becca turned to the owner of the cake shop to speak details about the design we wanted for our wedding cake. Pastry wasn’t my forte, so I left her to discuss with the pastry chef. Jason swiped the last unfinished cupcake and stuffed it into his mouth. When he caught me looking, he smiled sheepishly at me.
“What? I’m hungry.”
“You got something on your mouth.”
His tongue swiped along the curve of his lips. “Got it?”
“No, here, let me.” I reached out and wiped the frosting from his upper lip. So soft and inviting. I started tracing his lower lip before I caught myself and pulled away. I checked to see if anyone had noticed and found the video camera focused on us.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Jason, who
noticed as well, stepped away from me. “I’m such a messy eater.”
No kidding. He could slobber on my cock all night. Thankfully, he saved us both by returning to Wesley’s side. He leaned forward to whisper in Wesley’s ear, and the man beamed a smile at him.
“I guess we’re done here,” Wesley announced, lowering the camera. “We’ll be outside waiting to finish up at the boutique for the fitting.”
Jason didn’t once look in my direction as he trailed ahead of Wesley, who placed an arm around his shoulders.
“Honey, this is great, right?”
Becca shoved her arm through mine and practically hauled me toward the book the chef was showing her with the design. The cake she’d insisted upon was a two-tiered cake with the same color scheme as our wedding. A light blush of pink around the lower tier and the flower detail designed in orange and green.
“Yes, it’s fine,” I told her, and because I sounded a bit curt, I smacked her a kiss on the cheek in apology.
“Great, everything is decided, then.”
I wanted to rush out of the cake shop to find out what Jason and Wesley were up to, but I made myself wait by Becca’s side, acting the perfect fiancé. I was only too happy to wave goodbye to the cake designer.
“Lucas, honey, you’re going to have to work a little bit more on this with me,” Becca said as we walked around to the side of the shop where I was parked.
“I’m trying,” I answered. “It’s more awkward than I’d thought.”
“Well, as soon as we get back home, we’re going to practice for tonight and also that interview we’re doing for the TV show.”
I groaned, completely forgetting that the Wedding Experience had also wrangled us a spot on a local television program to talk about our wedding and the package we had with the wedding consultant company.
“I’ll be ready.”
We came to a halt when we heard coughing before we spotted Jason. He was doubled over, a cigarette in hand and fit to coughing up a lung. Protective instincts kicked in, and I stalked over to them, plucking the cigarette out of his grasp.
“What the hell is going on here?” I demanded.
“We were having a smoke, man,” Wesley answered, reaching for the cigarette I held. I dropped it to the ground and used the heel of my shoe to put it out.
“You don’t smoke!” I barked at Jason. “What were you thinking?”
He coughed twice more before straightening, his eyes watery. “I was trying it.”
I wanted to paddle his backside, but I took his arm instead and turned him in the direction of my car.
“Isn’t he a little old for you to be playing stepdaddy?” Wesley asked, his tone amused.
Becca stepped up before I could. “And what is that supposed to mean?”
“I have my theories,” Wesley replied, walking toward his car. “I figure it won’t be long before the whole truth comes out anyway. The camera doesn’t lie.” He nodded toward Jason. “You want to ride with me to the boutique?”
My hand tightened on Jason’s arm until he gasped, and I let him go. He frowned at me and to my surprise walked toward Wesley. “Sure, I’d love to ride with you.”
To say I was livid was an understatement. Before I could do something stupid like throw Jason over my shoulder and taking him back to my car or punching the knowing smirk off Wesley’s face, I took Becca’s hand and turned my back to them. I made a show of opening the door for her, but by the time I was around the steering wheel, Wesley’s car rolled out ahead of ours.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jason
“What the hell did you think you were doing earlier?” Lucas asked me later that evening. He entered the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him with more force than necessary.
I was just shy of reminding him he was the reason we’d just gotten a replacement and our landlord was unlikely to fix it a second time so soon.
“What are you talking about?” I replied, continuing to my bedroom to finish getting dressed. I was already so stressed with all the pretending I had to do earlier today, and I had one more hurdle to complete tonight: to face his father.
I still thought it was a bad idea. The man knew Lucas and I had had sex. What the hell would he think when he saw me tonight?
“I’m talking about you flirting with that camera guy,” he stated.
I shouldn’t feel giddy that he was jealous, but at least he understood some of what I had to go through every day. Even knowing he and Becca were nothing but friends, it was difficult watching her fawn over him and not being able to do anything about it. I’d taken to sidling up to Wes as a form of distraction. Otherwise I might have grabbed all six cupcakes today and stuffed them in Becca’s mouth one right behind the other.
She played the part of the adoring fiancée too well for my taste.
“I wasn’t flirting,” I replied, entering my bedroom and grabbing my shirt from the bed. “If anything, I was covering up for the way you were watching me. You know you make a lousy liar. Remind me never to role-play in the bedroom with you.”
He scowled at me. “If I’m a lousy actor, then you’re a damn good one, because you looked believable with Wesley. You know you can tell me if you suddenly want to switch on me and find yourself a new daddy.”
I raised my eyebrows, not impressed. “Really?”
“What do you want me to say, Jason? I don’t like you flirting with other men.”
I abandoned buttoning up my shirt to glare at him. “First of all, you’re not in a position to dictate who I can and cannot flirt with. And second of all, damn you.”
I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to me. He didn’t need any more encouragement. We tumbled over to the bed, his lips on mine as we poured our frustration into the kiss. I reached for his shirt, trying to unfasten the buttons, and one popped off in my hand.
“Daddy Luke,” I moaned, wrapping my legs around his waist.
His lips trailed my cheekbone, and I tilted my head back as his lips trailed over the expanse of skin exposed to him. I clutched at his shirt, pulling it out of the waistband of his pants.
A loud knocking at the door made us both freeze.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Becca stated. “But will you two hurry up? You’ve got ten minutes before we have to leave or we’ll be late. You know your father hates tardiness, Lucas.”
She was gone as quickly as she had appeared, but it was enough to kill the mood. Lucas leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine. “Did you mean it?” he asked.
“Mean what?”
“That I can’t dictate who you’ll flirt with,” he replied. “Because I’m telling you right now, Jason, I don’t want you flirting with anyone else. You’re mine.”
He pressed his lips to mine again, and this time his kiss was soft and gentle. I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him close to me as I kissed him back. To hear him stake his claim made my heart swell. It was unfair for him to want to claim me when he was marrying someone else, but I was helpless to do anything about it.
He owned me.
I sighed against his lips, and he pulled back. “You’re mine, aren’t you, baby?”
I nodded. “I’ve always been yours. Always.”
“Good.” He kissed my nose and would have moved away, but I didn’t release him.
“Daddy Luke?”
“Yes, Jace?”
“Do you promise this is only temporary?”
“Me marrying Becca?”
“Yeah.”
“Of course. In fact, depending on how the situation plays out, I may not even need to stay married to her for a year.”
I released him then. “Okay, let me up.”
He got up first, then helped me to my feet. We didn’t speak again as we fixed our clothes. Lucas was missing a button from his shirt and mine was crushed, but it was the best we could do given we were strapped for time. When we met Becca in the hall, she shook her head at us.
“You both look like a hot m
ess,” she remarked. “If you can’t keep your hands off each other at your father’s, Lucas, then stay ten feet from each other at all times.”
“I can do that,” I replied despite Lucas’s frown. It was best for me to be as far from them as I could when we were at their engagement party. I didn’t necessarily need to hear them recount how they’d met and when they first discovered they were in love with each other.
Lucas and I barely spoke on the way to his father’s house, but we didn’t need to. Becca did all the talking for us, mentioning the wedding and things they still needed to get done. We’d finalized the tuxedos earlier today, but she still hadn’t been able to decide on a wedding dress. She had narrowed it though and wanted me to return with her to the boutique the Wedding Experience owned where she was required to pick out a wedding dress.
The dress was on loan and was a big part of the film, though extensive footage had been taken of Becca trying dresses she didn’t even like off the bat because her bosses wanted to get as many of the different styles of dresses on camera as possible.
“Remember, as far as you know, Becca, you don’t know that I’ve been sleeping with Jason,” Lucas said as we drove up the driveway to his father’s house. It was a three-story building on a prime spot of lush land that extended for acres in every direction. Backlit fountains with cute cherubs lined the driveaway.
“I’m still confused about that,” I remarked, trying to keep up with the conversation while I took in our surroundings. “Wouldn’t it be better to try to convince your father that he was mistaken about what he saw that morning?”
“There’s no way we can spin it so he thinks differently of that morning.”
Becca sidled closer to us. “I still want to know what you guys are talking about. Why can’t you tell me? Did he catch you guys having sex?”
“No!” I protested.
“Is that a ‘no’ you won’t tell me or ‘no’ he didn’t catch you guys having sex?”
“Both,” Lucas answered. “Please, Becca, don’t make this any harder than it already is.” He turned back to me. “Don’t worry about this. It will work. It’s best we do this now than wait until the day of the wedding when he’ll find out anyway. I know my father. He’s shrewd, and he’ll just think I’m cheating on Becca with you.”
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