by Piper James
“Let’s do this,” I muttered as I grabbed my purse and tucked my phone inside before heading out and locking up.
The girls had the windows down and were screaming at me to hurry up over the music blaring from the speakers. I shook my head and laughed, even as I picked up the pace.
This was going to be one wild night.
“Tell me what you’re looking for in a man,” Felicia said, her words slurring the slightest bit.
Or maybe it was my hearing that was slurring. Wait, that didn’t make sense. Could hearing slur?
“Ivy, focus,” Karly said, slapping a hand against the table. “We’re doing something very important here.”
My eyes darted to Jessa, who was leaning back in her chair, laughing at us. She was the designated driver for the night, sipping on lemon water and quietly enjoying our drunken antics.
We’d somehow ended up at her bar The Bullpen after Karly and Felicia had declared the first two places “boring as bananas.” Whatever that meant.
“I don’t know, really,” I said, answering Felicia’s request for a list of desirable attributes for my dream guy. “He’d have to be nice, I guess.”
“Bor-r-r-ring,” Karly yelled, stretching the word out. “I think you need a hot bad boy to release your inner vixen.”
“I don’t know, Karly,” Felicia said, her eyes narrowing on me. “He could be nice in the boardroom and naughty in the bedroom.”
“That doesn’t even make any sense, you drunk bitch,” Karly shot back. “Why would Ivy want some stuffed suit who works in a boardroom? She needs someone who drives fast, talks slow, and isn’t afraid to get down and dirty.”
“It was a euphemism, dumbass,” Felicia shot back.
Shit, this was getting out of hand. I didn’t want them fighting over me or what my supposed dream guy should look like. This was supposed to be a fun girls’ night out.
“Don’t worry,” Jessa said, leaning in close to speak directly to me when she saw the concerned look on my face. “They’re always like this. Watch.”
She nodded toward Karly and Felicia, who were still bickering. I looked over just in time to see Felicia’s fist strike out and pop Karly’s right boob. Karly squealed as her hand came up to rub the spot.
“Hey,” she complained, her bottom lip poking out.
“That’s payback for last time,” Felicia said, her smile victorious.
I looked back at Jessa, my eyes wide, but she just laughed and shook her head. I picked up my beer and took another sip. These girls were crazy.
And I think I liked it.
“Anyway, Ivy,” Felicia said, stressing my name, “back to your dream guy. What’s he look like?”
Nate Walton’s face flashed through my mind, and I gasped, inhaling the sip of beer I’d been attempting to swallow. Jessa patted me firmly on the back as my lungs spasmed, harsh coughs wracking my body as they tried to dispel the liquid.
“Are you okay?” Jessa asked.
“Yeah,” I croaked, coughing again. “Wrong pipe.”
“So, dream guy?” Karly asked, getting the conversation back on track.
“Blonde. Brown eyes. Tall and skinny.”
The words flowed from my lips without any real thought, describing attributes that just happened to be the complete opposite of Nate. It wasn’t intentional, and it also wasn’t true. With his dark hair, sandy complexion, and bright blue eyes, Nate’s face was…perfection. At just shy of six feet tall with lean, corded muscles, his body made me want to run my fingertips all over it.
No. Bad, Ivy. He’s detestable, and you hate him.
“Huh,” Karly said. “I wouldn’t have guessed that. Let’s see.”
She raised up in her seat, making a show of looking around the bar. After a second look, she slumped back into her chair with a shake of her head.
“Nope. No candidates here, tonight.”
“That’s fine with me,” I said, my words definitely slurring. “I’m not really looking for a relationship right now, anyway.”
“Who is?” Felicia asked. “Take Jessa, for instance. That girl had more relationship-anxiety than everyone in this bar, combined. Now, look at her.”
I looked at Jessa, who wore a huge grin. I smiled back at her. She was in love, and she made Rafe happier than I’d ever seen him. I threw an arm over her shoulder and squeezed.
“I’m so happy you and Rafe found each other. You both deserve it.”
My voice sounded weepy and emotional—thanks to all the bottles of beer I’d downed—but I didn’t care. Finding true love might not be in the cards for me, but at least my best friend had found his.
And I whole-heartedly approved.
5
Nate
I should’ve left the moment I saw them sitting there. Instead, I found a table in a darker corner and nursed my beer, watching them like some stalker in a made for TV movie.
I knew if Jessa spotted me, she’d bring my presence to the rest of the table’s attention. And if that happened, things were going to get weird. Not because of Jessa—that girl was practically a member of the family after moving in with Rafe.
No, it was because of Ivy, our feud, and my psychotic plan of asking her to be my fake girlfriend, or fiancée, or whatever. It had seemed like a logical solution before. Being in a committed relationship would get Charity off my back, and having Ivy play the part would be perfect because there’d be no chance of her developing real feelings for me in the meantime.
But seeing her now, so relaxed, smiling and laughing…it was so at odds with the perpetual angry face she wore around me. It had me all twisted up inside, and as I sipped my beer, my mind wandered back to when we’d first met.
I’d been instantly attracted to her. I wanted to run my fingers through that long, blonde hair. I wanted to taste her lips and every other inch of her skin, and I wanted to count every freckle scattered across her nose and cheeks. She was beautiful, funny, and way too smart for a grease monkey like me.
And for a while, it seemed like my interest was reciprocated. Her blue eyes sparkled with hunger when she looked at me. Her cheeks turned pink and her eyes darted away when she’d realize she’d been caught looking. Even now, desire flickered inside me when I thought about it.
Then suddenly, everything changed. No more stolen glances. No more pretty blushes. I’d been shocked at first, not knowing what had happened to change things. I tried to talk to her, but she avoided being alone with me for even a second. And as her animosity grew, mine spiked up to match it.
Maybe she’d only been toying with me. Maybe she realized I wasn’t good enough for her.
Or maybe my big brother warned her off. She was his best friend, and I had a reputation of being a bit of a player. If he gave her details of my track record with women, that would explain her sudden standoffishness.
But would that make her hate me?
“Whatever,” I mumbled, taking another drink of my beer.
It was a long time ago, and it didn’t matter. There was enough animosity between us now to guarantee we’d never actually like each other. Which made Ivy Anderson the perfect candidate for my plan.
I just needed to figure out how to convince her of that.
I stood on the porch of my childhood home, my toe tapping against the wood as I waited. I nodded at the guests as they arrived for Rafe and Jessa’s Halloween party, my eyes constantly searching for the one person I wanted to see.
I’d come straight from work, wearing a pair of dirty coveralls with wrenches poking out of the pockets and brake dust smeared across my forehead. Not very original, but it would work for a costume. Besides, I had other, more important things on my mind.
I’d made the decision—I was going to talk to Ivy.
A ball of dread formed in the pit of my stomach. Talking to Ivy was…difficult, at best. But what I was about to propose? I’d be lucky if she didn’t laugh in my face before heading inside to tell everyone my idiotic request so they could all have a good chuckle.
I pushed the doubts away and strengthened my resolve. I could do this. I could convince her. She loved Rafe like a brother, so there was no way she’d leave me hanging and let my business go under because of a little animosity. Right?
My internal debate screeched to a halt as Ivy’s car pulled along the curb. I was off the porch and striding toward her before she could even shift into park. She yelped when I opened the door and slid into the passenger’s seat, flinching back against her own door.
“You know, you should really keep your doors locked when you’re driving alone,” I chided, pulling the door closed behind me.
“What are you doing?” she demanded. “Get out of my car, Nate.”
She turned off the ignition and moved to open her door, and my hand shot out to grasp her arm. She froze, her eyes darting to my fingers, and I quickly released her.
“I’m sorry. Please. I really need to talk to you,” I pled, hoping she’d see the sincerity on my face in the dim glow of the streetlight through the windshield.
Her hand released the door handle, but the tension I could feel coming off her in waves didn’t ease in the slightest. Silence reigned between us for several moments, and I realized she was waiting for me to speak. I shook my head and angled my body toward her.
“Thank you,” I said softly, then took a deep breath. “I have a favor to ask. A huge one.”
Her eyes narrowed as she asked, “What kind of favor?”
“I need you,” I said, pausing to order my thoughts, “to help me out with a little problem I have. No. Scratch that. It’s a huge problem, and you’re pretty much my only hope.”
“Just spit it out, Nate,” she ordered.
“Okay. So, you know Milestone Bank & Trust?”
“Our town’s only bank that everyone uses? Yeah, I know it,” she shot back.
“Well, the owner, Chester Glasscott, has this daughter—”
“I am not helping you hook up with the next notch in your belt, Nate,” she said, her voice angry.
I held up my palms. “Whoa, there. Don’t be ridiculous, Ivy. That’s not what I was asking.”
Shit. This is not going well. Backpedal. Backpedal. Backpedal.
“Sorry,” I said, apologizing for my tone. “Please, hear me out.”
“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Charity Glasscott, who I made the mistake of sleeping with one time, has decided she wants me, permanently,” I said, opting to be one hundred percent transparent. She made a disgusted face, but didn’t respond, so I went on. “She threatened the shop, Ivy. She said if I don’t fall into line and give her what she wants, she’ll have Daddy alter my loan payment history to make it look like I’m in default. I could lose everything.”
“That must’ve been one hell of a night,” she deadpanned.
“Ivy,” I said, my voice deep and chastising.
She rolled her eyes. “That sucks, but what does it have to do with me?”
“I have a plan, but, like I said, I need you.”
“To do what?”
Her voice raised in pitch as if she were truly afraid of my answer. My hand itched to reach out and touch her. To wipe away her anxiety and make her feel more relaxed. But I knew my touch would have the opposite effect, so I kept my hands to myself and prepared to spit out the whole crazy idea.
“If I were in a real, committed relationship, she might give up and move on.”
She blinked several times as if processing my words. Obviously not getting it, she said, “And?”
“And I want you to pretend to be my fiancée to get her to back off.”
There. Like ripping off a Band-Aid.
And with the way her head flew back, that Band-Aid took some leg hairs with it.
Harsh laughter burst from her mouth, filling the space between us with mockery and disdain. I remained silent until her dark humor faded, and she blew out a breath while wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Good one, Nate,” she said. “You really had me going there. You know it’s Halloween, not April Fool’s Day, right?”
She was openly mocking me now, and I felt my anger rising to the surface. “I’m being serious, Ivy.”
“How can you say that? It would never work, Nate. We hate each other.”
“I’ve never hated you,” I whispered, cutting off whatever she planned to say next.
She paused for a moment, her expression softening the tiniest bit. “A mutual dislike, then. Why don’t you just contact the police?”
“I don’t have any proof. She spelled it out for me one time, and ever since then it’s been nothing but hints and innuendos.”
“But surely you have proof of payments to dispute whatever claims they make. Right?”
“Of course, I do,” I said defensively before looking down at my lap. “It’s just…a few of them were late.”
“What? How did that happen?”
The shop is my pride and joy. She knows that, so her incredulous reaction was expected. I would never let my payments fall behind. And technically, I didn’t. I leaned my head back to stare up at the roof of the car.
“Several months ago, I hired a new office manager to help out at the shop. She was in charge of answering the phones, processing payroll, and sending out the bill payments from the business account. My first hint that something wasn’t right was when the electricity went out.”
“She wasn’t paying it?” she asked, her face softening with sympathy.
“No. I was an idiot. I watched her like a hawk for the first three months, and she was perfect. Every task was completed in a timely manner, no mistakes. I became too comfortable, trusting her to continue to do her job.”
“But…you didn’t see that the money for the payments wasn’t being deducted from your business account?”
“I said I was an idiot, didn’t I?” I snapped. She flinched, and I backed down quickly. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I shouldn’t speak to you like that, no matter how upset I am.”
Her suspicious expression returned, and it wasn’t totally unfounded. I’d spoken to her way more harshly over the last few years. But in my defense, my nastiness was usually a reflexive reaction to her own unpleasantness. I forged on before I lost her completely.
“I was wrapped up in a rebuild, working long nights after-hours to get it finished. Between that and the nonstop line of cars coming through the shop during regular business hours, I grew too dependent on her to take care of all the administrative stuff. Like I said…idiot. I don’t know what happened or when things shifted, but she stopped mailing out the checks I was writing.”
“Wait. Wait,” she cut in, her eyes wide. “You still write checks?”
“Yes,” I said defensively. “I feel more comfortable with a physical paper trail for my records. Call me old school.”
“How’d that work out for you?” she mumbled before her hand shot out to pat my knee. “Sorry. That was uncalled for.”
With a gasp, she yanked her hand away from me as if it burned. Like she only just realized she was touching me and couldn’t believe the gall of her fingertips. Meanwhile, I was deftly ignoring the sparks of electricity tingling from that simple touch.
“It’s okay,” I croaked out before clearing my throat. “The gist of it is, she was stashing the envelopes for all of my monthly expenses into her desk drawer to send out later.” I lifted my hands to make air quotes with that last word. “Everything fell behind…with my business loan not being paid for three months. I fired her ass, called the bank, and the manager was very sympathetic. I paid the overdue amount and everything was fine.”
“Until Charity’s threats,” she added.
“Exactly. I don’t know if she somehow got a peek at my account, or if she’s just bluffing, but it’s too much of a risk. My now-sullied payment history is a real problem. Maybe they’re empty threats. Maybe not. I don’t know, but I can’t take that chance.”
“And that’s where I come in,” she said softly before me
eting my gaze. “You want me to pretend to be in a relationship with you to…what? Make her forget about you and your magic dick?”
I flinched. Damn it, Rafe. Of course, he would tell her about that.
“Ivy, please. Name your terms. I’ll give you anything.”
She grew silent, still looking in my direction but not really focusing. After several tense moments, her gaze locked back onto mine.
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the only person guaranteed not to catch feelings while we’re pretending,” I said simply. “You and I can treat this like a business deal, and when it’s over, it’s over.” When she didn’t respond, I added, “Please, Ivy. Say you’ll do it. Say you’ll help me out of this. I’ll give you anything. Anything you want.”
I knew I sounded pathetic, begging like that. But I was desperate. If Ivy refused me, I had no idea what I was going to do.
“I need some time to think about it,” she murmured.
I nodded and, without saying another word, got out of the car. It wasn’t a no. If Ivy needed time, I’d give it to her.
I just hoped she wouldn’t take too long to decide.
6
Ivy
Holy hell. What just happened? Did Nathaniel Walton just asked me to pretend to be his…? It’s so ridiculous, I can’t even bring myself to think the words.
I knew Milestone was no hot mecca of young singles looking to mingle, but Nate could’ve asked literally anyone else—assuming they were unattached—to do this for him, and they would’ve jumped on the opportunity in a hot second.
Nate was a young, healthy, successful guy with an undeniable sexual appeal—
Nope. Stop it, Ivy. None of that.
Physical attributes aside, Nate was smooth. He could’ve sweet talked any number of women into pretending to be his girlfriend. No. Fiancée. And if Charity Glasscott refused to back off, how far was he planning to take this?
I shook my head. It didn’t matter. No way was I going to agree to his ridiculous plan. It was a dumpster fire waiting to happen, and I had no desire to get burned.
