The Agreement: A Fake It Novel

by Kensie King

  To my surprise, he stopped a few feet away from me, his heavy-lidded eyes full on my face.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You, standing there like that.” His eyes took in the whole scene, with the bank of windows behind me and one dim lamp on that made us both practically silhouettes. “It looks right.”

  My heart squeezed tight in a moment of pure affection—no love. God, I couldn’t deny it. I was falling for Lucas again, and this moment did feel right.

  Everything about it, but especially that we were here together.

  Lucas stepped up to me and took my hand, lifting it to press to his cheek. “It almost doesn’t feel real. I thought we’d never be here again, and it almost killed me.”

  To hear him say those words, so vulnerable and sincere, nearly broke my heart.

  There had been something between us since the very beginning, something so sharp and poignant it felt like the whole world crumbled when it went away.

  Now that we were back here, I wanted to savor every moment.

  “Take me to your bedroom,” I whispered.

  He didn’t hesitate, only pulled me in that direction, down the opposite hallway from my bedroom.

  His bed was made, looking plush and soft. I turned to make a note of that to Lucas, that everything was always so clean though I hardly ever saw his maid, but he was standing right there, close enough I bumped into him.

  “Say it one more time,” Lucas murmured, his eyes dropping to my lips. “That this is what you want.”

  “This is what I want.”

  He surged forward, lips locking on mine in a kiss so desperate it was like I could feel the past and present in it all at the same time.

  I tugged at his shirt, and he eased back for only a moment to yank it off before he was back against me, every inch of our bodies touching from head to toe.

  “You’re beautiful,” he murmured, kissing my cheek and moving to the shell of my ear. “I’m so lucky to be here with you.”

  His hands found the button on my pants, and suddenly it was a race to get undressed, hands everywhere and mouths still locked on each other’s in messy kisses that felt real. Needed and wanted.

  When I tugged off his boxers, my eyes dropped to his cock. It was magnificent, just like I remembered. Large veins pulsing through it as his erection strained toward me.

  My own dick twitched at the sight of his. At knowing how soon it would be when he’d come inside of me.

  “Your turn,” he said, pointing to my underwear.

  I bent to tug it off as he moved to the end table and pulled out a pack of condoms and lube. When he looked back up, I was naked at the end of the bed.

  His gaze seared me with a possessiveness I had no idea he felt.

  He walked back to me like a predator, and when I would have thought he’d go in for another kiss, he spun me around, so I was facing the bed. He pulled my back against his chest, his cock hard against my ass cheeks.

  “I want you like this,” Lucas murmured against my neck. “And every other way you’ll let me take you.”

  I whimpered at the words. God, if he kept talking like that, I wasn’t going to last long enough to get on the bed.

  He stepped back, taking away the warmth of his body, but replaced it with his hands. They traced my spine, all the way down to my ass crack. Then his slick fingers were there, sliding along my cleft, prepping me for him.

  I moaned. “Lucas. Please—”

  “Soon enough,” he murmured in my ear. “On the bed.”

  I climbed on the bed, tossing a glance over my shoulder to see his hand stroke his cock just once before he joined me and prepared to claim my body as his own.

  19

  ____________________

  LUCAS

  He looked like an angel on the dark comforter of my bed, ass in the air and skin smooth and pale.

  “Roe,” I breathed, my body raging for a release but my mind wanting to savor every moment I could.

  I never in a million years thought I’d have Roe in my bed and now he was here, waiting for me to take him with complete and utter trust.

  I curved over his back, breathing him in before I kissed down his spine and returned to his ass cheeks.

  “Lucas,” he whimpered. “I—I can’t—”

  “One more minute.”

  I slid one finger inside of him, prepping his channel. He clenched around me, but then relaxed, letting me slide in another finger while he moaned at the feel of it.

  “Yes,” he hissed.

  I added yet another finger and found him clenching the sheets in his fists, fighting to hold back until I’d entered him.

  I put on the condom and aimed for his tight hole. When the head of my cock touched him, he gasped.

  Holding his hips, I entered him slowly, loving when he pressed back with his hips.

  “Oh, God,” he mumbled, voice muffled by the sheets. “More.”

  I stroked into him slowly, far more slowly than the beating of my heart. I focused on feeling every nerve ending as I moved in and out of him, hitting the right spot every time.

  Then I curled over the top of him, reaching around to slide my hand over his chest and down to his cock. When I curled my fingers around it, he made a strangled noise of pleasure.

  “Fuck, that feels good,” he said.

  I caressed him as I stroked my pulsing cock in and out of his tight channel, even more consumed by Roe than I’d been the first time we’d been together. Because of his trust, our intimacy had been taken to the next level.

  “Lucas—” he choked out.

  Then he came underneath me, his cum spilling over my hand. I grunted as my own orgasm overtook me, pulling his ass to me as I came against him, my cock pulsing as it emptied.

  His breathing was still ragged when I pulled out of him and removed the condom. I nudged him onto his back.

  “Relax now,” I murmured, leaning down to kiss him before I stood back up. “I’ll get something to clean up.”

  He did as I said, eyes following me as I walked from the room. I washed up in the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror.

  I wasn’t sure how, but I looked different. Or maybe it was all inside of me. I felt like another person, another version of Lucas. The one I’d been before my father had died and the world was a much more optimistic place.

  He was my role model and somewhere along the way, I’d strayed from being the kind of man he was to the kind of man I’d thought he’d want me to be.

  Powerful. Successful. Too busy for life and love.

  I’d thought being singularly focused was a good thing until I’d found Roe again. Now the world was on its head and I kind of liked it that way.

  When I returned to the bedroom, Roe had his eyes closed but his lips curved. “Please don’t tell me you’re doing to make me move.”

  “You’re staying in here tonight,” I told him. “Just let me clean you up first.”

  His tired eyes blinked up at me, his expression full of wonder and something I couldn’t place.

  “Tell me,” I murmured as I wiped him with the rag.

  His lips moved in a small smile. “How do you know I was thinking anything?”

  “I can see it in your face. It’s all there. Every time you stay quiet, I know you’re thinking something. And every time you’re happy about something or worried about something.” I smoothed my finger over his forehead, brushing away the creases. “It’s all there.”

  His eyes drooped. “Well, I’m too tired to think right now.”

  He wasn’t telling the truth, but I couldn’t blame him. I was keeping a few things inside right now, too. Like how good it felt to be with Roe. Like how I was falling for him again, but this time I had no plans of letting him go—or of turning my back on him.

  But bringing that up right now scared the hell out of me. What if he didn’t feel the same way? What if we were on the brink of something amazing and I opened my mouth and it all came tumbling down?

  “Sle
ep now,” I told Roe, setting the rag aside.

  “You’re staying?”

  Of course. The note of vulnerability in his voice killed me. This had happened before. He’d gone to sleep and when he’d woken the next day, everything had changed.

  But that wasn’t going to happen this time.

  Not again.

  To reassure him as much as myself, I climbed under the covers with him, the sheets cool on my bare skin.

  He curled his arm under the pillow, facing me. “You okay?” he asked, voice quiet and sleepy.

  “More than okay.” I kissed his lips and brushed my fingers on his cheek. “Just relax.”

  He did, breath slowing in the darkness as I watched his face in the dim lighting. He was so precious, so special to me, and I had no idea how to tell him this.

  Or that I was falling for him and it terrified me.

  What would it take for Roe to believe how much I cared? Would staying with him, continuing what we’d started be enough, or was he destined to believe that we could never be together?

  20

  ____________________

  ROE

  I heard the shower running when I opened my eyes. Too early. It was way too early to be up.

  But when I turned over and looked at the clock, I saw it was well past 9 am.

  And I was in Lucas’s bed.

  A smile curved my lips. My body was deliciously used, and I was ready for another round. Last night had been better than I remembered.

  Better than how it used to be with us because we’d built a better foundation of trust. I believed Lucas wasn’t trying to hurt me.

  I believed deep down that he wasn’t planning on going anywhere.

  We were in this agreement together, but now it didn’t have to be fake.

  But what about when it was over? The unwelcome thought hit me out of nowhere. Was this just temporary, until the year was up?

  I sat up and shook my head. No. That was just me and my insecurity talking. Worry from the last time we’d been here.

  But Lucas was different now. I’d seen it with my own two eyes. He wanted this as much as I did, a relationship.

  Something more.

  With another smile, I stood from the bed, fully naked, and planned on joining Lucas in the shower.

  When I stepped to the bottom of the bed, where we’d discarded our clothes last night, I spotted the envelope that had fallen out of the back pocket of my jeans.

  I stooped to get it, squinting my eyes against the sun coming through the window. I opened the envelope, angling my head when I saw a few sheets of lined paper.

  It was a note.

  I sat at the bottom of the bed, my eyes scanning the pages. This must have been why Mr. Carson wanted me to come early last night.

  The further I read, the more the pit of anxiety grew in my stomach. Several words stood out to me. Threat of foreclosure. Another offer. One week…

  I swallowed, my heart racing. I’d been so engrossed in the letter, I hadn’t heard the water shut off. Or seen Lucas come out of the bathroom.

  I realized I was still naked, sitting on the end of the bed like a little kid who’d just found out his dog died.

  “Roe?” Lucas stepped up next me and touched my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

  I held up the letter. “Mr. Carson. It’s what he wanted to talk to me about last night.”

  “What is it? What did he say?”

  “The bank is going to foreclose on the property in a week. If I want it, I have to buy the place now. But he has another offer. A good one.” My stomach sank. “More than I can offer him.”

  Lucas took the letter from my hand, scanning through it quickly.

  I had to do something. I had to talk to Mr. Carson. I hadn’t realized he’d been under so much stress. I thought he’d been making ends meet.

  I reached for my jeans and then spun in a circle, looking for my shirt.

  “Roe,” Lucas said, his eyes still on the letter. “Hold on.”

  “I can’t. I need—” I broke off, shaking my head.

  I wasn’t sure what I needed. Clarity. Understanding. Some way of knowing that my last few years of dreams weren’t going to crash and burn at my feet.

  I strode out of the room, my clothes in my arms, and went for my bedroom. Before I reached the door, Lucas caught up to me, still in his towel.

  “Roe. Wait a minute. Let’s talk about this.”

  “It’s…” I waved my hand. “It’s not your problem.”

  I recognized my mistake as soon as the words were out of my mouth. His arms folded across his chest, face shutting off.

  “That’s not what I meant,” I said, turning back to my room, “just that I’ve been working toward this for years. I’ve figured it out on my own.”

  “And now we’re together,” he said from my doorway. “We should be figuring things out together.”

  My mouth opened, but nothing came out. We stared at each other from across the room.

  I had no idea what to say to him. I’d been saving for this, working toward buying the theater for so long that it felt like my own project. I’d barely even talked to him about it, how long I’d saved, how much I’d planned.

  Not yet, anyway, because we were just starting things here. We weren’t even an “us” yet.

  “That’s not how you see it?” Lucas asked, conflict in his eyes.

  I swallowed and pulled on a pair of boxers. “I don’t know.”

  “Are you afraid the same thing is going to happen as last time?”

  Him walking out on me? I wanted to deny it completely, but I still had that doubt. “I don’t know.” When his face fell, I quickly said, “I don’t really even know why you left last time. I—it’s confusing and…”

  “You said you trusted me,” he murmured.

  “I did. I said that last night. I…”

  Fuck. Now it sounded like I was going back on my word. It was too much. We’d gone from getting along to jumping into bed with each other. It suddenly felt like we’d missed so many steps in between.

  “Just last night, then?” he asked. “That’s the only trust you have in me?”

  “No. It’s not the same thing. I mean, I trusted that—that what we were doing was because you cared about me.”

  “I do care about you.”

  “And I believed that—I still do.”

  “But you don’t trust me with the rest? The theater? Your passion in life?”

  I couldn’t hold his gaze. Fear pierced my heart. I didn’t trust him completely, no. But I might get there. I had no idea. Things were going in the right direction, but there was still so much we hadn’t talked about.

  Lucas strode toward me, jaw clenched. “I don’t know what was going on with you last night—or what’s going on with you this morning—but from my end it’s simple. I care about you and that makes you a part of my life. My worries, my joy. Everything. I wish it were that easy for you.”

  He turned and walked back out the door, saying so quietly I barely heard him, “I need to go into work for a few hours,” as he vanished down the hallway.

  With a painful sigh, I sat on the edge of my bed this time, pressing my hands against my face.

  Now what the hell was I supposed to do?

  Suddenly I felt like I was losing more than the theater. I felt like I was losing Lucas, too.

  21

  ____________________

  LUCAS

  The elevator released me to our top floor office. It wasn’t surprising to find a few other co-workers walking the space—it happened a lot on the weekends around here—but it wasn’t as busy as I expected.

  Everyone was probably taking their example from my situation. The partners wanted me to have a life and all the other associates figured they’d better get on that, too, or they’d never make partner anywhere.

  But today, I needed work. I needed…Fuck. I needed Roe.

  But he was as far away from me now as he was when he first moved in. A month
. That was all it had taken for me to fall for him, and then realize he might not have the same feelings.

  He was still sticking to the agreement and I’d put it completely out of my mind. It wasn’t about any of that anymore. It was about how I felt for Roe and how I wanted to have a future with him.

  Olivia’s desk was empty, and I cursed silently under my breath. Of course she wasn’t here. It was the weekend.

  But dammit, I could use her insight. She was the only other one besides Roe and Elise who knew about the agreement and the only one who could access her paper and digital files with finesse.

  I sat at her desk and dialed her number from the work phone.

  After several rings, she answered. “Hello?”

  “Olivia?”

  “Mr. Stone?”

  “It’s me. What’s the password for your computer?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I need to access a few files.”

  I wanted to see how much Mr. Carson still owed the bank. It couldn’t be much, could it? Not if he’d owned the place for years.

  “You mean the same one I looked up for you last week?”

  “Yes.”

  She murmured something away from the phone like she was talking to someone else. Her boyfriend, probably. And no doubt I’d interrupted brunch or a late morning in bed.

  I’d thought I was going to have a late morning in bed with Roe. When I’d woken early, I’d turned to find him still sleeping peacefully. I’d brushed his hair off his forehead and placed a kiss there, wishing things could stay like that forever.

  “I love you,” I’d whispered to him, knowing he wouldn’t hear, knowing I probably wouldn’t have been brave enough to say it if he’d been awake.

  But I’d tested the words on my tongue and found they weren’t as hard to say as I thought. In fact, I’d wanted Roe to know. I’d wanted him to know other things, too. Like why I’d walked out that day at the B&B.

  I should have told him before, but I hadn’t realized he was still hanging onto that. That he needed closure and I’d never even offered it to him.