After All

by Karina Halle

“So this is where you live,” he says, looking around. He crosses his arms across his chest as he does so, which causes his shirt to rise a little. It draws my eyes like bees to honey and I see out of my peripheral Carla has the same staring problem. Hot damn. He has the stomach you just want to lick right up.

  “Cute place,” he adds.

  “Yeah, sorry you’re slumming it at the moment,” I tell him sharply.

  I can feel Carla giving me a look at that. I’m not sure why I feel the need to take jabs at him.

  Except, you know, he’s part of the reason of the current mess we’re in.

  “Anyway,” Emmett says, sliding over that with ease and flashing me a reassuring smile. Really wish he would stop doing that. “I’m assuming you know the reason why I’m here.”

  “Do tell,” I say, playing dumb.

  He doesn’t buy it. “Look, I guess I should have discussed with Will if there were going to be guests at the wedding who wouldn’t be respectful with privacy. I wasn’t thinking, really, that anyone would be there who would want to take and sell pictures of me.”

  “It also would have helped if you two didn’t screw each other in public,” Carla says.

  Emmett gives her a questioning look, one with a hint of coldness in his eyes.

  “Carla,” I admonish her. Then I nod at my bedroom. “Perhaps we should discuss this in my bedroom. And no, it’s not an invitation.”

  The coldness in Emmett’s eyes disappears and the grin is back. “Whatever you say.”

  With a long exhale, I head toward my door and open it, ushering Emmett inside.

  Once I close the door behind me though, I’m starting to rethink this as being a good idea. With him in my room, alone with me, suddenly everything seems very small. Everything but him. His presence is taking over.

  I lean back against the door, keeping my distance just in case he starts talking dirty again or I catch another whiff of whatever crazy ass pheromone made me jump his bones last night.

  “So…” I say.

  “So,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck and looking mildly sheepish for once. “Look…last night…” he pauses, searching for words, “I didn’t think anything of it.”

  I give him the evil eye of all evil eyes. “Thanks.”

  “What I mean is…I had a lot of fun with you. You kept me on my toes the whole fucking night. I don’t know the last time that happened.”

  “Well hurray for me then. Glad I could keep you on your toes and our picture all over the damn internet.”

  “Once I find out who took that picture, you know I’ll fucking kill them. You didn’t sign up for any of that and I should have been more…aware of the situation. I guess I just…I don’t know. I’m not used to this, you know? That people give a shit and give a shit about the wrong thing.” He looks off, his eyes absently searching the walls. “I know the last thing you want to hear is the woe is me celebrity thing, I got that from you last night, but the honest truth is I forget that my life has changed and in some ways is no longer my life, no matter how hard I try to keep some things private.”

  I can’t help but laugh. “What do you keep private? I don’t even keep up with this pop culture and yet I know that you’ve hooked up with a shitload of girls, that you’re getting in fights, that you’re causing trouble on set. What else could you possibly keep under wraps? If the world feels like they know you and own you, it’s because you let them.”

  He stares at me blankly for a few moments as if he didn’t hear what I said. Then he scoffs. “Forget about keeping me on my toes. Sometimes I think you want to knock me right down.”

  I shrug. “Just calling it as I see it. As an outsider. Although I guess I’m not really that anymore, am I?”

  “No, you’re not.” He looks serious for once. “And that’s why I had to talk to you. You see…I know that this is all new and strange for you and you probably don’t appreciate having your photo splashed across the internet, even though they are very lovely photos, of course. You look fucking fantastic.”

  I don’t even bother mentioning the way the sites are humoring the way I look and how different I am from his usual arm candy.

  He goes on. “So I can see why this is a shock to you and an invasion of privacy of sorts. But…I don’t think this is the end of the world.”

  I frown at him, crossing my arms. “Come again.”

  He takes a step toward me, his broad hands raised. “This is going to sound all sorts of crazy but just hear me out, okay?” A beat passes, his mouth quirks up into a half smile. “I have a proposition for you.”

  Chapter 6

  Emmett

  Alyssa is immediately suspicious. I don’t blame her. I mean I just showed up at her apartment when she never told me where she lived and now I have a proposition for her. And I know she’s going to get even more wary once she hears what it is.

  Not that I mind. She’s fucking adorable when she’s confused, her cute nose is all scrunched, her mouth is pursed and pouty, all ready to fire some kind of insult or comeback at me.

  Fucking hell. I could easily kiss her all over again, get lost in it. And I love how relaxed and messy and real she’s looking right now, totally your girl next door except she’s a girl next door that turned me into a total savage last night.

  But whatever vibes she was giving me last night she’s sure not giving them to me today. She’s pissed. At me, at the situation. And I totally get it. No one likes their privacy violated.

  Which makes what I’m about to propose to her all that much trickier.

  To be fair, it was my publicist’s idea.

  I’m still not even sure it will work.

  But I got the message loud and clear.

  I don’t have much choice.

  I rub my lips together as Alyssa stares at me impatiently, waiting for the shoe to drop.

  “Autumn, my publicist, thinks that you are just what I need.”

  She cocks her head at me, taken aback. “Huh?”

  “You see, they say all publicity is good publicity and that’s not exactly true. Good publicity is good publicity and if you have too much of the bad, you need the good to balance it out. Like anything in life, right. So I’ve been pretty fucking bad as of late. Now it’s time to turn it over.”

  Alyssa shakes her head. “I don’t understand. What does this have to do with me?”

  I know I have to tread delicately and wish Autumn was here with me to do this the right way. I’m not exactly known for my tact and Alyssa is especially prickly. Plus, there’s a part of me that seems to like pissing her off.

  “Don’t ask me why or how. I don’t understand how the fucking industry works, the tabloids and the gossip sites. I don’t know why certain things get hits or seem to attract the public. But the fact is, people are really…enamored with those photos. The idea of me with, well, someone like you.”

  She looks like I just slapped her. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way. “Sorry,” I say quickly, “I mean–”

  “Oh, I get it,” she snipes with fire in her eyes. “People think you’re all humble now because you’re with a fat chick.”

  Now I feel like I’ve been slapped. “Fat? What the fuck are you talking about? You’re gorgeous. You’re perfect.”

  “I’m ten times the size of whatever girl you’re usually with. I’m curvy, I’m soft, I have a cute face. I’m not all angles and bones and fake boobs and long legs and–”

  I raise my hand. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Alyssa. Let’s not get crazy here. You’re all those wonderful things and people like that. They think it’s a good change of pace for me. All of them, all of the comments, they want this to be a thing. For the mystery girl to actually mean something to me and not be just some random screw.”

  “So what?”

  “So the fact is, I want to keep up appearances. I want the world to believe that you and I are serious.”

  Her face is blank. “But we aren’t.”

  “I know.”

  “We
had sex.”

  “I know.”

  “That was it. Right?”

  Normally I would be careful here because every single time I’ve been with a girl who seemed okay with a one-night stand or a purely physical relationship, it turned out they always hoped for more or expected more. But with Alyssa, I’m pretty sure she might just hate me, so…

  “Right. I honestly never expected to see you again,” I admit.

  She doesn’t flinch. “Same.”

  “But here I am.”

  “And you’re talking nonsense. What did your publicist say exactly?”

  “Autumn. You’d like her. Really. She said that if you were my girlfriend that it would make me a lot more palatable for people right now. The bad boy image apparently doesn’t work when you’re thirty-eight.”

  Alyssa stares at me for an eternity, eyes flickering with something I can’t read while a million thoughts seem to wage a war inside.

  “Your publicist thinks we should date?” she repeats. “How is that even a PR strategy?”

  “I assure you she’s good. She’s been in the business a long time, deals with actors here and in LA all the time. She’s got contacts. She’s got ways. She was able to get me your address, after all. If she suggests this, I believe her.”

  She shakes her head, rubbing her hand down her face with a sigh. “It’s just…stupid. Why would you even entertain this? Just get your shit together and stop acting like a douche. Is it so hard?”

  Ouch. “I’m working on it but this will help. And what will it hurt?”

  “You? Nothing. It won’t hurt at all. But what about me? Name a single fucking thing I would have to gain by pretending to be your girlfriend? I’m not a famewhore. I like my privacy. I like being anonymous. This sounds like absolute hell.”

  I frown. “I’m not that bad.”

  “I think you might just be.”

  I didn’t want to bring up this next part. The part that makes it seem a bit sketchy. But here it goes.

  “I would make it worth your while.”

  She laughs bitterly. “Oh my god. You think fucking me is a selling point?”

  “This has nothing to do with sex,” I tell her quickly. “You don’t have to touch me ever again.”

  “Good.”

  “Great,” I fire back, eyes narrowing. “This is just for show. We do it for the photos, for the publicity. You’ll just be arm candy, someone who’s with me in public. You don’t need to sleep with me, or sleep over or visa versa or anything like that.” I pause. “And I would make it worth your while because I’ll be paying you.”

  Her head jerks back. “You’d pay me to be your fake girlfriend?”

  Man, it sounds asinine when she puts it that way. “Yes.”

  Heavy silence looms over us like a cloud.

  Then.

  “How much?”

  I tilt my head at her curiously. I’m actually surprised she asked. “Whatever you want.”

  She watches me carefully and comes away from the door, slowly walking toward me. I keep my eyes trained to her face and not her breasts which are swaying seductively under her thin t-shirt. “You’re telling me that you’ll give me however much I want for this?”

  I nod, wondering just how crazy negotiations might get. “Money, privilege, access. However much you want, whatever you want.”

  “You know I want this in writing, in an actual contract,” she says cautiously.

  “Of course. Autumn can have the lawyers draw one up tomorrow. So wait, are you actually seriously considering it?”

  “I’m considering it,” she says. “I’m not saying yes.”

  “But you’re not saying no.”

  A wry smile plays across her lips as she appraises me coolly. “I wonder how many times you’ve had to say that.”

  “You know I’m persistent.”

  “Like a fucking mosquito.”

  It’s in this moment that I have to take a minute and wonder if this really is the right thing. Because as hot as I find her, as much as she turns me on, I know that being around Alyssa might not always be a pleasant thing. There’s a chance I can win her over but there’s also the chance that…well, it’s the chance I face with most women when they get to know me. If she gets to know me, the real me, she’ll run for the fucking hills.

  If Alyssa does agree to be my fake girlfriend, she might just make my life a living hell.

  “Look,” I tell her. “Have dinner with me tonight, with Autumn. You can hear the whole thing from someone else. We’ll talk about the contract, about everything. You can just do this for three months, tops.”

  “That’s still a long time,” she says. “And it means I can’t date during that time. And neither can you.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. “Well, I’ll manage,” I tell her.

  “Whatever you need managing, it won’t be me doing it.”

  I come closer, feeling a flame in my chest. “Did I do something to you to make you hate me this much? You seemed to like me a lot better last night. Don’t pretend you didn’t, there’s photographic proof now.”

  Her eyes go up to the ceiling. “Just because I let you fuck me, doesn’t mean I like you.”

  “Let me?” I reply, aghast. Fuck that. “You didn’t let me. You wanted me just as badly as I wanted you. Explain how your pussy got so fucking wet from just my kiss.”

  Her nostrils flare and she looks away and I can tell, somewhere inside her, she wants it all over again.

  I can’t pretend I don’t either.

  I take another step toward her. With Alyssa, I just need to push. I need to piss her off. I’m starting to think it’s what really gets her going. “You fucking want me right now. You want me to strip you naked, throw you on the bed, lick up between your thighs until you’re screaming my name again.” I lean in close, daring her to meet my eyes. Pure heat thrums through my veins. “You’ve been dreaming about it all morning. I bet you can still feel my cock inside you. That you’re a little raw from being fucked so thoroughly.”

  She slowly meets my eyes, swallowing audibly. “If I sign this contract,” she says, her voice husky. “That means this can’t happen.”

  “What is this?” There’s barely any space between us now.

  She puts her hand on my chest, holding me back. “You coming on to me. If you’re going to pay me to be your girlfriend, I can’t sleep with you. I’ll feel like a whore.”

  I didn’t think about that. “So let’s pretend you don’t sign the contract. Would you fuck me anyway?”

  “If I didn’t sign the contract, I’d have no reason to see you again. So no.” She closes her eyes. “I just…I made a mistake last night with you. I can’t do it again.”

  Fuck. A mistake. That’s not at all what I’ve been considering it. And yet I can’t blame her for feeling that way, even if it makes me feel a bit fragile.

  “Are you saying there’s no way you can resist my advances?” I ask her with a grin.

  Her lips press together in a thin line as she stares right into my eyes. “The last thing I want in this world is to add to your ridiculous ego but…you make it very, very hard.” Pause. Hint of a smile. “Pun intended.”

  Smarten up, I tell myself quickly. This might work if you can just back off.

  I nod and straighten, creating distance between us. I need to put on the gentleman act and just fucking behave for once.

  “Okay,” I tell her, trying to seem as harmless as possible. “I’ll keep that in mind. So what do you say? Dinner tonight? If you don’t want to do it, then fine. No harm, no foul. But if you do…I promise your life will change. For the better.”

  “Right. Because being Emmett Hill’s girlfriend is that amazing.”

  “No. Because I’ll treat you like a fucking queen, the way no one else has, the way you deserve to be treated. I’ll take you to every fine restaurant you want, I’ll shower you with gifts and jewels, I’ll pay your rent, I’ll take you anywhere in the world. And you’ll be living a life y
ou’ve only dreamed of for three months. I promise you I’ll make them the best months of your life.”

  She doesn’t believe me. I can tell.

  But I can also tell she’s up for the challenge.

  Just like I am.

  “Okay,” she says. Reluctant. “Dinner. But this better just be a dinner. I’m not down for threesomes unless they’re the male male variety.” She taps her fingers along her chin. “Then again, you did say I could have whatever I wanted.”

  “Let’s save the negotiations for later,” I tell her. There’s an awkward moment where I’m not sure if I should kiss her cheek or shake her hand so instead I just dig my business card out of my jeans and hand it to her. “Now you have my number. Call me if there are any changes but I’ll be by at six-thirty.”

  Then I pat her on the shoulder and leave her room, striding past her roommate on the way to the front door. She was hovering around nearby, obviously trying to listen and not caring if I knew.

  “Hopefully I’ll be seeing you a lot,” I tell her and then I’m out of the apartment.

  When I get to my Audi on the street, I take a moment to breathe. I’m having second thoughts again. I mean, I have money but I have no idea what Alyssa wants. I’m curious, of course, because whatever she wants will reveal a lot about her but at the same time, well, I’ve done my share of gay scenes before in acting but a real life threesome like that isn’t exactly up for negotiation. Thankfully, I don’t think she’s serious.

  Then there’s the fact that our real relationship–if you can call it that–is a lot messier than it should be for people who have to pretend to be something else. There are a million things that could go wrong, one of them being that if I need to get laid by someone in the next three months, I’ll have to be especially sly about it or I’m going to cause an even worse publicity problem. If people don’t like destructive, playboy Emmett, they’ll hate cheating Emmett.

  But if Autumn really thinks this will help, and could possibly get me future jobs, then it’s a risk I have to take. All I have to do is keep it in my pants and put up with Alyssa.

  Sounds easier said than done.