Trouble with the Fake Boyfriend (The Rock Bottom Series Book 3)

by Holly Renee

She slammed her hand down over Tucker’s eyes as she turned away from us, and I noted the large paper bag in Tucker’s hand.

  “What are you doing here?” I quickly covered myself and Liam as he sat up with a chuckle.

  “What am I doing here?” Kennedy shrieked. “What is he doing here? I thought my best friend was going to be all depressed and mopey this morning, so I brought you your favorite French toast from that café down the street, but apparently it’s not needed.”

  I couldn’t stop smiling because she was such a good friend.

  “Oh. It’s needed.” Liam tugged me harder into his side and nuzzled my neck. “We need fuel after last night.”

  “Oh my God.” Kennedy peeked over her shoulder at us, and once she realized we were covered, she finally dropped her hand from Tucker’s face.

  Liam’s hand was still holding my side, and he was rubbing his thumb over my bare skin. It made me want to jump him and feel panicky all at the same time.

  I couldn’t believe he was here and that he loved me. I couldn’t believe that all of this was real.

  Tucker set the bag down on the coffee table in front of us as Kennedy paced.

  “So, what happened here?” She pointed between the two of us.

  “Well, first I took off my shirt then…”

  “That’s not what I mean and you know it. Is this a fling or?”

  “It’s not a fling.” Liam’s answer was instant.

  She put her hands on her hips as she studied him. “Then what are your intentions with my best friend?”

  I couldn’t stop my small snort at how ridiculous she was being, but I also loved her for it. She was all I had, and she took that position very seriously.

  “I intend to be naked with her a lot, so I would suggest you start knocking.”

  Tucker chuckled, but Kennedy didn’t look nearly as pleased.

  “And do you plan to date her while the two of you are getting naked?”

  “Well, I love her, so I would say so.”

  Hearing him say those words again felt unreal. Everything about this did.

  Kennedy’s face immediately morphed into the biggest damn grin. “You love her?”

  Okay. She was starting to embarrass me now. The way she said it was like she didn’t know her girl would ever find it.

  “I do.” He, on the other hand, sounded like he had never been more sure of anything in his life.

  “Oh my God.” She looked over at Tucker before grabbing his hands. “We should go. They clearly need some time alone.”

  “You don’t have to leave.” Liam pinched me as I said it. Apparently, he was more than happy for them to give us some alone time.

  Tucker pulled his keys from his pocket and dangled them in the air. “We could go defile Liam’s apartment for old time’s sake.” He nuzzled Kennedy’s neck as she laughed.

  “Deal.”

  They walked to the door as Liam huffed. “You all have your own damn house now. Go there.”

  “It’s not as exciting.” Kennedy opened the door and pointed at the bag on the table. “I hope you enjoy my breakfast, Liam, but take your time.” She winked and we could hear them giggling out in the hallway.

  “They’re going to destroy your apartment.” I couldn’t help laughing as I started pulling all sorts of delicious treats from the bag. Kennedy really did expect me to be depressed and moping.

  “I don’t think they left a surface untouched before they moved out. I’m not too worried about it.”

  I poured a small container of syrup over my French toast as I thought about my once prude best friend. “You might want to hire a cleaning service because Kennedy’s turning into quite the little freak.”

  He laughed and dipped his finger into my syrup.

  “Hey,” I said just as he ran that same finger over my bare shoulder.

  Sticky syrup covered my skin, and I couldn’t look away as he used his tongue to clean it off me.

  “I’m a little more concerned with making sure you’re clean.” He dipped his finger in the syrup again and a few drops fell on my blanket before he dripped it down my chest.

  “This is going to be a mess.” I wasn’t just talking about the syrup.

  “Yeah.” He jerked my legs toward him and my back hit the couch. He got to his knees and leaned over me, and he watched the syrup as it ran toward my neck. “But you’re going to love it.”

  He was right. I was going to love every second of it.

  The End

  Epilogue

  Brooke

  One Year Later

  I couldn’t believe this was actually happening.

  Everything had happened so fast, and I couldn’t believe that it was finally here.

  I took a sip from my champagne flute, trying to shake off my nerves, and I looked around my business.

  My business.

  More Than Enough Salon and Spa had been an absolute labor of love over the last year. But every busy day and excruciatingly long night was worth it.

  Liam had been my biggest supporter and had spent almost an equal amount of long nights helping me make it what it has become, but every single inch of this place was me. They were my decisions, my choices, and Liam never made me feel like they weren’t enough.

  It was the opposite really. He encouraged everything I did, and despite what I had ever thought about him, Liam had become the best hype man I could have ever asked for.

  Besides Kennedy, I had never had that in my life.

  She was currently getting a manicure, and I couldn’t stop smiling at the way she was asking the nail tech to make them shorter for the third time since she started.

  The spa was staffed with a receptionist, three cosmetologist, two nail techs, two estheticians, and three massage therapists, and they were all ready with smiles on their faces.

  None of this would have been possible without Liam.

  True to his word, he put the building in my name and I purchased everything else. Our profits would be split fifty/fifty, and if they didn’t come in soon, I would be moving in with Kennedy and Tucker.

  Paying for the everything else took every last penny I had, and it didn’t matter that Liam had offered to help me more. I wouldn’t have it. He had helped enough, and I needed to do the rest on my own. I needed to prove to myself that I could do this.

  “Can you believe this?” I was standing at the receptionist desk admiring everything when Liam walked up behind me and pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

  I took a deep breath because I honestly wasn’t sure. The siding was painted the perfect shade of white, the flowers lining the walkway the perfect shade of purple, and every single thing on the inside was exactly how I imagined, but none of that would have mattered if today wasn’t successful.

  “No.” I shook my head as looked out at the packed grand opening.

  “You’re amazing.” He pressed another gentle kiss before placing his hands on my hips and turning me toward him. “I knew today would be incredible.”

  I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and let him bare some of the weight I had been carrying around for the last week. I had never been so stressed out in my life. “You have too much faith in me.”

  His hair was still perfectly in place as it always was, but his facial hair had grown out a bit. There was just a slight shadow of hair on his face, but it somehow made him impossibly hotter.

  “I don’t.” He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “You have too little.”

  I rolled my eyes because he’d said it so often.

  But I was working on believing it.

  “I’ve had too little of you lately.” I ran one hand over his scruff. “I miss you.”

  Between the opening of my business plus him running his, it seemed like we barely had time for each other. It didn’t matter that we spent every moment we weren’t working with each other or that he had practically moved into my apartment. I still wanted more.

  “I miss you too.” He moved closer to me, his mouth at my ear.
“I’ll make sure you have plenty of me tonight.”

  “You’re so cocky.”

  “And you love it.” He kissed along my jaw, and I could almost forget where we were. That was the thing about Liam, he always made me forget everything but him. “Speaking of love, someone’s here to see you.”

  He was looking past me, and I turned in his arms to see who he was talking about. Everyone who I had personally invited was already here.

  I almost fell out of his arms when his mama’s smiling face came into view.

  “Oh my God.” I pushed him out of my way and ran toward Sarah like I hadn’t seen her in forever. It had actually only been two months, but I wasn’t expecting her here today. I didn’t think she was going to be able to come. “What are you doing here?”

  She wrapped me in her arms, like she always did, and I fell into her like she was a home I had never found. Not until Liam.

  “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Her arms tightened around me. “Jim’s here too.”

  I looked behind her, and sure enough, there he was standing in the middle of my spa looking a bit uncomfortable and a lot proud.

  “Come here, sweetheart.” He pulled me away from Sarah and wrapped me up in his warmth, and I suddenly felt overwhelmed.

  This whole day, these people, it was too much.

  “We’re so proud of you.”

  I buried my face in his chest and tried to gain my composure. I had so many people here supporting me, but there was something about Liam’s parents that made everything feel more real. It made everything feel like I deserved everything I had worked for.

  I loosened my grip on his shirt and cleared my throat as I finally let him go. “Thank you.”

  He was smiling down at me, and he knew I was about to lose it. “I’ve never been more proud of any of my son’s fake girlfriend’s before.”

  I couldn’t help the small laugh that bubbled out of me, and I knew that was his intention. Jim was like that.

  Sarah smacked his arm as she rolled her eyes. “Or any of his real ones.”

  “Let’s go get you a treatment.” I grabbed Sarah’s hand in mine and led her toward one of my estheticians who was just following up a sample treatment on someone else.

  I got her set up before making rounds throughout the rest of the spa. I couldn’t believe everything was running as smoothly as it was, but I was soaking it all in.

  I hadn’t been this happy in as long as I could remember, and it wasn’t because of the spa. It had everything to do with Liam.

  The last year with him had been amazing and challenging. Neither one of us really knew what we were doing when it came to a relationship, but both of us had been willing to try.

  It turned out that I was a bit jealous, and Liam was a little too overprotective. It ended in fights too often, but the make-up sex made it worth it. He was worth it.

  By the time the evening started winding down and people started to leave, my feet were tired and my chest ached from all the support I had gotten today. It far exceeded what we had expected, and it made me so hopeful for what the future held.

  The girls working here were all lovely and had truly stepped up today for the grand opening. I wanted them to love working here. I never wanted them to hate their jobs like I used to.

  I was wiping down the reception desk while Liam shut the front door, and when he turned back toward me with a smile on his face, I couldn’t believe this was my life.

  I couldn’t believe that I was getting everything I had ever wanted.

  “My parents are staying at my place tonight.” Liam reached for my hand and I let him take it. “That means you’re stuck with me at yours.”

  “What if I don’t want to deal with you anymore tonight?”

  He tugged me toward him and my chest slammed into his. “That’s just too damn bad. You’re stuck with me.”

  “How so?” I couldn’t stop running my fingers over the scruff on his face.

  “Well, we’re business partners now.”

  I rolled my eyes playfully. “They usually don’t sleep in each other’s beds.”

  He completely ignored my comment. “Plus, we’ve graduated from fake boyfriend and girlfriend to real boyfriend and girlfriend.”

  “Nothing in that sentence makes me stuck with you. I can get rid of you whenever I want without much work.”

  He cocked his head as if he was considering what I said. “That’s true. Maybe I should make it harder.”

  He took a small step back from me, and I had no clue what he was doing. He was grinning like today had been the best day of his life when it reality it had been the best day of mine, and he had made it that way.

  “What are you doing?”

  He was only one step away from me when he gripped his slacks just at his thighs and shifted them up as he bent to his knee. I looked down to see if one of his shoes were untied or maybe there was a scuff mark on the floor. Anything that would give a logical explanation for why this man would be kneeling in front of me right now.

  “Brooke, I know this relationship of ours started off a little unconventionally, but I wouldn’t take one moment of it back. I knew I loved you when we were still faking it, and I’ve known it every day since.” He shifted his hands in front of him, and I held my breath as I watched him. “Our first relationship agreement had come with a deal, and I think that this one should to.” He held a delicate intricate ring in front of him, and I stared down at it without a word. I could barely manage a small breath. “If you’ll agree to marry me, I promise to do everything in my power to make you happy. I’ll try to not be so overprotective, and I’ll never complain about the amount of shoes you buy.”

  I could feel tears filling my eyes and I tried to blink them away as I responded. “It would seem I’m getting the better end of this deal.”

  He shook his head quickly as if it was the most absurd thing I had ever said. “Trust me, baby girl. I am.”

  He was still on his knee, and I couldn’t believe this was happening. I looked around us at everything we had already accomplished together, but none of it would have mattered. None of it mattered except him.

  “Yes. Of course, I’ll marry you.” I reached out toward the ring, but he pulled it away.

  “I think we should set some ground rules first.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “And what would those be?”

  “There will definitely be kissing and lots of sex.”

  I rolled my eyes and took a small step closer to him. “Anything else?”

  “Yea.” He nodded as he stood and gripped my hand in his. I watched as he slipped the ring onto my finger, and I had the weirdest feeling that I had seen that ring before. “You have to promise to never leave me.”

  I looked up at him and wrapped my hands around his neck. My left hand suddenly heavier in the most delicious way. “I promise.”

  He kissed me then, a kiss that I would remember for the rest of my life, and I fell into him as I always had. He made it impossible to do anything less.

  “I love you.” He kissed my lips then my jaw then my nose.

  “I love you too.”

  “Are you happy?” He whispered his question against my skin.

  “I’ve never been happier in my life.”

  He smiled and gripped my hand in his. We both looked down at it, his ring fitting perfectly on my finger.

  “Liam?”

  “Yea?”

  I was still staring down at the somehow familiar ring. “Where did you get this ring?”

  His smile seemed to double at my question. “It was my mama’s.” He lifted my hand and pressed a kiss against my ring. “My dad proposed to her with it thirty-five years ago, and she wanted you to have it.”

  I took a deep breath and tried to calm down my racing heart. “It’s too much.” I shook my head. A girl like me didn’t get everything. I couldn’t have everything I had ever dared dream of.

  “No.” He gripped my face in his hands and stared down at
me like a man who was completely and irrevocably in love. “It’s perfect.”

  And for the first time in my life, I believed him.

  I hope you enjoyed Brooke, Liam, and their crazy friends! If you enjoyed this book and want more, be sure to continue reading for an excerpt from my bestselling contemporary romance Where Good Girls Go to Die.

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  Where Good Girls Go to Die

  Chapter 1: Girls, Girls, Girls

  Liv

  There comes a time in everyone’s life when they realize that the things they thought they wanted are never going to happen. All those dreams of happily ever afters and white picket fences, they disappeared through my grasp as if I was trying to hold onto a cloud of smoke. Useless and unrealistic.

  I learned the hard way that reality was a cold, hard bitch. She didn’t ease me into it slowly. There was no gentle push that had me blinking open my caramel colored eyes until I saw the truth in front of me.

  I cliff dived.

  Falling hard, frantically clinging to what I desperately wanted, I hit reality as if I jumped head first into a body of ice-cold water. Gasping for breath, the pain was instant, but unlike the water, it didn’t make me numb. Instead, I felt that pain every day. It had settled into my bones causing a constant, dull ache.

  My pain was as much a part of me as anything else. It was real and tangible, and just when I thought the pressure on my chest was easing a bit and I finally took a deep breath, reality reminded me who ruled and crushed me again just as easily as the first time.

  I never expected that I would end up here. When I think back, I’m not really sure how it happened. Where everything went wrong.