Fake Boyfriend

by Miley Maine

  In my head, I assessed the security team. Who was the most competent, and the least likely to be corrupt? Not the staff at the inn, unless they were part owners. Maybe the staff that worked for Loren’s mother and her father. Both of her parents had been flanked by their bodyguards. And both of those guards moved like they were former secret service agents. That was who I was going to trust.

  It was a gamble, but I had no choice.

  I edged my way back to the wedding party, who were now dispersing. Apparently it was time for the group rehearsal dinner. I didn’t have time to explain to Loren. I called her phone, knowing she had her watch set up to send her alerts.

  “Jackson?” she answered.

  “Get your mother. Tell her to send her security out here.”

  “What?”

  “Just do it.”

  I waited for several minutes and then I heard a few scuffling sounds, and then Loren’s mother’s bodyguard, the man I’d pegged as ex-secret service, came running through the trees, with his weapon drawn.

  “He’s not armed,” I said, kicking the man’s shoe.

  The guard nodded, and then gestured to my weapon. “You mind putting yours away? No offense, but I don’t know you.”

  I nodded. “I’d do the same if I were you.” I lowered my gun, but didn’t reholster it. The guard flipped the handcuffs out of his jacket, and snapped them around the perp’s wrists. Then he hauled him to his feet. “Not one word,” he said to the perp. To me he said, “I’m taking him directly to my SUV. I’ll call the authorities from there.”

  “I’ll play escort,” I said. Loren’s mom might trust her security, but I didn’t, not yet.

  He nodded, and we trudged up a rocky hill to the hotel parking lot.

  I waited while he called the local police. I’d already planned to put in a call to my friend who was the Chief of Police, the same one I’d offered to call when Loren was almost robbed, to make sure this perp was really going to be taken into custody. Maybe I’d spent too much time watching the fallout from geopolitical turmoil, but far too often the people in charge were working directly with the criminals they were arresting, and the arrest was just a show to appease the public.

  Cynical. Yeah. I was. But it paid off.

  Loren came rushing over. “What happened?”

  I stepped in front of her, blocking her from the perp and her mother’s security guard. “Go back to the rehearsal.” She peeked around me, gaping at the perp, just as the police car pulled into the parking lot. I put my hand on her arm. “Let’s go.”

  She let me escort her back to the rehearsal area without protesting. “Tell me now.”

  “There was a man in the woods.”

  “What was he doing?”

  “I don’t know. But he had on a black ski mask, and he was texting, and he had a bag full of suspicious stuff”

  “Is that a crime now?” she asked.

  I had no idea why she was so cavalier about this. “If you’re on private property, and you’re not supposed to be here, then you bet your ass, it is.”

  “Why’d you want my mom’s bodyguard?”

  “Because he’s ex secret service,” I said.

  “How’d you know?”

  What the hell was up with the rapid fire round of questions? “We’ll talk about it later.” We had to scramble to get back to the rest of the crowd, and of course Loren’s mother got right in her face and had to interrogate her.

  I knew I’d be next, so I excused myself to keep an eye on the rest of the wedding party. I didn’t see anyone else lurking around the perimeter, but I did notice one person acting oddy.

  The groom.

  He kept looking away from the gathering, and his eyes scanned the horizon. I don’t know what he thought was going to happen on the ocean, but there was nothing there except for a small fishing boat, and according to the ex-secret service officer, they’d already checked the fisherman out. Apparently the security team for Loren’s dad even had permission to fly a drone over the premises to keep security tight.

  I didn’t have a fucking clue how a groom should act, but one of my buddies had gotten married when we were younger. I’d been his best man. He’d been so obsessed with the woman who was about to be his wife that we’d had to take him home during the bachelor party. Once he got drunk, all he could do was blather on about how amazing she was. Which was annoying, but it was how it should be. The disinterest I picked up from Douglas was not the norm, and it made him stand out.

  He also kept scratching his nose. Over and over again. Some of those tics that we’d all heard about on true crime shows might not be reliable indicators of someone’s innocence or guilt, but they were a good starting place. And this fucking guy was full of them. He’d look away, scratch his nose, glance at his phone, shift his weight. He was waiting for something. And I had a feeling it wasn’t just the upcoming wedding.

  I was going to keep an eye on this asshole. Especially with Loren around. She’d already proven that she didn’t have the best self-preservation instincts. And until I could improve that, I was going to watch out for her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Loren

  I didn’t have time to press Jackson about what happened in the woods. The wedding party was leaving the rehearsal area, and making their way to the dinner.

  I’d attended a few rehearsal dinners, but this one was stunning. The weather was balmy enough that my cousin had demanded that it be moved outside, and long rows of wooden tables had been set up.

  In the center of the tables, jars of yellow daisies sat on top of a burlap runner. Strands of small white lights stretched across the space, and soft notes from a violin floated through the air. Against the backdrop of the rugged mountains, it could have been ripped from the pages of a wedding magazine.

  And maybe it had. I was pretty sure someone told me her wedding planner was quite famous in her field.

  I’d already explained to Jackson why I loved weddings, but that was more about the atmosphere created by the people involved. Not just the bride and groom, but the family members who were thrilled to be there to support them. Most weddings had aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters who’d traveled to be there, and who were eager to share in the couples’ big day. The wedding also served as a family reunion of sorts, giving even the most reluctant guest a chance to catch up with each other.

  My family was so busy that I hadn’t seen all of them in one place in almost two years. They were a lot of fun to be around. The only really intolerable guest was my aunt. And maybe the bride. Just a little.

  I got my camera focused and started snapping photos. I took candid shots, one of my cousin, pulling out a chair for our grandmother. I took one of my mother, nudging my father to put his napkin in his lap, although he’d attended just as many formal dinners as she had. I snapped a photo or two of every guest, laughing, talking, or reading for the mason jars filled with sparkling water.

  Now it was time for the bride and groom, who were seated together at a round table set up for just the two of them, right next to the main tables.

  My cousin was radiant in her pastel pink party dress, and her fiance was smiling at her. I got about ten shots of them before she waved me over. “Loren! Go sit down. And get your hot boyfriend. He’s over there in the corner glaring at everyone.”

  Sure enough, Jackson was standing with his shoulders back, and his hands clasped in front of him. He might as well have been holding a neon light that said, ‘I’ll kick your ass.’ And Marie was right about one thing. He was hot. I couldn’t wait to rip that suit off of his body and finish what I’d started earlier in our hotel room.

  “You sure you don’t want me taking more photos?” I asked.

  “We’re sure,” Douglas said, but his tone was a little harsher than I’d have expected from him.

  Snapping the cap back on my lens, I shrugged. “Fine with me. I’m ready to eat some of this delicious food.”

  I marched straight over to Jackson. “Come on,
my sexy pretend boyfriend. You could start a forest fire with that glare.”

  “I’d feel better if you let me stand here and watch what’s going on,” he said.

  I bumped him with my hip. “Sorry, but you agreed to be my boyfriend for this trip. That means sitting at the table, not standing over here like a statute while wishing for several big guns to brandish at the guests.”

  “I prefer it over here,” he said.

  “That’s obvious.” I looked up at him and licked my lips. “Please? I’ll make it up to you.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I’m coming. You don’t have to make me any promises.”

  I hooked my arm through his. “Well, I can promise that this food is going to be amazing. Come on.”

  At the table, Jackson and I were seated by my grandmother and grandfather.

  As soon as my butt hit the chair, my grandmother zeroed in on Jackson. She didn’t wait for an introduction. “So Jackson. You’re the first boy our Loren has ever brought home.”

  I wouldn’t exactly call Jackson a boy, even if I were eighty years old like my grandmother.

  Jackson seemed to be struggling not to laugh. But I knew him well enough by now that I was certain he wouldn’t do anything that would be disrespectful to my grandmother. “That’s what I’ve been told.”

  “All these years we’ve been waiting, and she’s refused to even talk about a boy. Now, she brings home an Army Ranger. I have to say we’re all a little giddy. We thought she’d be single forever.”

  And what would be wrong with that? Not a damn thing. But I’d made my case to them plenty of times. For now, I was going to revel in watching Jackson’s uncomfortable squirm while he tried to placate my grandmother.

  “Yes, ma’am,” was all Jackson said, which seemed to satisfy my grandmother, who was far from done with this line of questioning.

  “So tell us. How did she manage to snag you? You weren’t on one of those dating applications were you?” my grandmother asked.

  Jackson wiped his mouth with the cream-colored napkin. I could tell he was stalling.

  I tried to take over and put him out of his misery, but my grandfather shushed me. “We want to hear from your young man,” he said.

  Oh Lord. Jackson was never going to forgive me for this dinner. And I didn’t blame him. I looked around to see almost everyone at the table was now listening to our conversation.

  Jackson set his jaw, and I stifled a grin. It was obvious he’d prefer to chase a criminal than have this conversation with my family, but then he rallied, and a big smile broke over his handsome face. “No ma’am. I don’t have a dating app. The way we met was a little old fashioned, actually.”

  Now my mother was actively listening and gestured with her hand for him to go on.

  He cleared his throat. “So I was just home from a deployment, and I knew I wanted to come to Alaska for my leave time. My grandfather’s always had a cabin here. So I went straight to the Atlanta airport, and in the security line, a woman with a red ponytail was standing right in front of me.”

  All of my family had stopped eating the braised lamb dish now, and were openly listening to Jackson.

  “Those airports are full of germs. We tried to get her to fly up with us,” my aunt muttered.

  My grandmother smacked her with a napkin. “Be quiet. We want to hear.”

  “Well I don’t usually strike up conversations with strangers in airports, but Loren turned around and smiled at me, and we started talking.”

  “Did you sit next to each other on the plane?” one of my cousins asked.

  She’d have no idea how the seating worked, because like me, she’d always flown on a private jet.

  “We did,” Jackson said. “All the way to Seattle, and then all the way to Anchorage.”

  “It’s just like a romance story for a movie!” my cousin declared.

  Of course Jackson ended the story at the appropriate place, insinuating that we’d come straight to the hotel to hang out. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer. It wouldn't be a family event if I didn’t take things too far. “And then we went camping.”

  My grandfather frowned at me. “You went camping with a man you’d just met? Without your security. Loren, I hardly think that’s --”

  “Grandfather, I saw his military ID. I knew Jackson was really a Ranger.”

  My grandfather’s face smoothed over. Throw in a few titles, and everyone in my family was so impressed they forgot about everything else. “Thank you for your service young man,” he said to Jackson.

  As Jackson was replying to him, my grandmother stood up with her wine glass in hand.

  Oh God. I was tempted to get under the table. I knew what was coming.

  “Hello everyone.” My grandmother actually tapped her glass with a knife to make a ringing sound. “We’re here to celebrate Marie and Douglas’s upcoming union, but I’d also like to celebrate our Loren, who has brought her boyfriend, Sergeant Jackson Williams, to meet us for the first time.”

  Jackson gave a dignified nod, and I waved at everyone. If I was going to have a fake boyfriend, I might as well play it up for our audience, who were clearly happy to participate.

  A quick glance at the head table showed my cousin with a mutinous look on her face while she watched. She wouldn’t appreciate the attention being pulled from her. Douglas didn’t seem to mind. He was looking down at his phone, which he’d attempted to hide in the burlap runner on the table, but it was obvious he was reading something on a screen, which wasn’t very good behavior at his own wedding rehearsal dinner.

  Now my cousin turned her glare toward Douglas. I couldn’t really read lips, but her intent wasn’t hard to read when she stabbed her finger at his phone with her mouth set in a hard line. He looked up at her and smiled, but seemed to brush her off her request, going back to reading whatever was on his phone screen.

  She leaned back and crossed her arms. Poor guy. He was a saint to put up with Marie. I’d been on the receiving end of Marie’s tantrums for twenty years, and tomorrow he was about to sign up for a lifetime of fits, pouts, and silent treatments from her.

  My attention was pulled back to my grandmother, who’d finished her speech. Then my military uncles came over to introduce themselves, and Jackson stood and chatted with them for a few minutes.

  Once he was seated again, I grabbed my chair and inched it closer to Jackson’s, and I laid my head on his shoulder for proper dramatic effect. At the sight of my head on his shoulder, the entire table made noises of delight, and a few relatives even took out their phones and snapped a picture.

  “Glad I can be a sideshow attraction,” I muttered under my breath so only Jackson could hear me. “They’re all thinking, ‘Oh my God, it’s Loren, who’s never had a boyfriend. So shocking we have to document it!’”

  Jackson turned his head and talked out of the corner of his mouth. “This was your idea, not mine.”

  Once my family’s interest in us had faded, I sat up and faced him. “Oh I know. And it’s going perfectly. It’s just annoying how absolutely predictable they are.” I kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you again. This is the most fun I’ve ever had at a family dinner, mainly because I don’t have to dodge the ‘oh you poor thing, you're still single kind of conversations.’” I put my face close to his again. “Now I’m ready to get out of here and make good on my promise from earlier.”

  The heated look he sent me, right there in the middle of a family dinner under the Alaskan sky, sent a rush of arousal straight to my core.

  I could not wait to get him upstairs.

  Jackson draped his tie over the armchair. “That was the longest four hours of my life,” he said.

  I reached my arm behind my neck to try and unzip my dress. “Regretting this already?”

  He grabbed my hand. “Let me do that.” He gathered my hair into a knot and kissed the back of my neck. “No, I do not regret this at all. When I found that perp in the woods, I was really fucking glad I came here, even if it�
��s awkward as hell being around your family.”

  I was glad too. I was reluctant to admit it to anyone, even Jackson, but ever since the parking garage attack, I’d been a little more skittish than usual, and it was nice to take my photos without having to be so aware of my surroundings.

  Jackson wouldn’t be pleased with that line of thinking; he’d want me to learn to take photos while I was exercising caution about my surroundings as well. But that was easier said than done. And Jackson was clearly aware enough for the both of us. He’d managed to catch that creeper out in the woods today all by himself.

  I bet my neck farther forward, hoping that he’d keep going. He did keep going, kissing the side of my neck and down my jaw. He stepped closer, and I felt his insistent erection against my backside. “My family excels at awkward. If there’s a way to put someone on the spot, they’ll do it.” I turned my head. “Even I wasn’t expecting my grandmother to announce your presence at dinner.”

  He pulled my zipper down, inch by inch, kissing my shoulder blades as the dress material fell away.

  I shivered under his touch, while he chuckled and nuzzled my neck. “Now that part wasn’t so bad. It’s kind of nice to get a little appreciation,” he said.

  I spun around and put my hands on his hips. “I’ll show you some appreciation.”

  “Now that does sound good,” he said.

  “We’re lucky you didn’t have your Army dress uniform with you. I think my aunt might have ripped it right off your body.”

  “There is no one else down there that I have any interest in. Not even looking.”

  I stepped out of my party dress, and flung it to land on the chair where Jackson’s tie lay.

  His big hands came up to cup my shoulders, then he ran one finger over the cup of my bra. “Hey, these are different. I didn’t get enough time with the teal blue set you put on this morning.”

  “I’ll wear them again.”

  “I do like these though.” He pushed his finger under the strap of my lacy black bra. “They’re sexy.”