Fake Fiancé Next Door_A Small Town Romance

by Piper Sullivan

  “My problem?” He tossed his head back and laughed after he set the food down harder than he needed to. “He wants you.”

  My response was a hearty belly laugh. “You’re ridiculous. Ken is my oldest, closest friend in the world. Our relationship has always been platonic, not that it’s any of your business.” That was especially true over the past week, since he signed those papers with Sterling, he’d been slowly, deliberately pulling back. I got the message.

  Loud and clear.

  “As your fiancé, it damn well is my business!”

  I laughed again, but it came out harsh and brittle. “Fake fiancé, right? Because if it wasn’t fake, I might feel that since you’ve gotten what you needed out of this arrangement, you’re slowly extracting yourself from it.”

  “Right. Fake. I haven’t been busy trying to get my business off the ground or anything,” he said sarcastically. “Last I checked, that was the reason for this ruse in the first place!”

  “Right,” I bit out and shook my head, feeling unreasonably angry and hurt and bitter. The ruse, as he’d called it, had started to feel pretty damn real to me. Especially considering that little condom slip the night we had dinner with the Sterlings. “Then don’t let me keep you from your business. I have things to do too.” I put away the hair cutting supplies, left the muffins on the counter, and left Chase in the kitchen alone.

  I slipped on my shoes angrily, grabbed my keys and purse and bounced the hell out of the house of tension.

  Men. Who needs ’em?

  Chase

  Whenever people tell you that working for yourself is the way to go, they never tell you that you’ll spend most of your time bogged down in paperwork. All of my permits from the city, county and state were being processed, but now I had to deal with shit like liability insurance for the customers, plus all the employment crap for the people I need to hire. It was barely eleven o’clock and I was all the way fucking over this paperwork. “Ugh!”

  Thankfully my phone beeped under a big pile of files I had to get through today, saving me from a mental breakdown. I looked at the screen and smiled as I answered. “Tom Langley, it’s been a long time.”

  “It has.” His deep laugh sounded down the line, reminding me of those early years when he would call, that cigarette roughened voice, making my dreams come true once again. Every time he called it meant I was off to some new locale, short and exciting. “I’m calling for a reason though, sorry. Marci is too pregnant for the chaos, but I need someone down in Sutamarchán, Colombia for Tomatina.”

  Damn him. Tom knew how much I wanted to attend La Tomatina in Spain and he’d never given me the chance. “What happened to it being too passé? I seem to recall you telling me, ‘every fucking travel blog in the world covers that shit’.”

  “And they do. But no one ever covers the one in Sutamarchán. Besides, I know a carnivore like you will appreciate those famous Colombian sausages.”

  I sighed heavily because it did sound appealing as hell. But, “I can’t, Tom. I finally got approval on the land and building will start soon. I have to focus all of my energy on this.” If I failed, I would have nothing.

  “I understand Chase, I really, really do. But I’m willing to double your rate and your per diem, and pay for the air and hotel up front.” He was a real bastard because he knew how much I hated filling out those fucking forms to get my money back.

  “You know how to make it more appealing, I’ll give you that,” I told him on a laugh. But as much as I knew I needed to tell him no, I couldn’t. “When do you need an answer?”

  “I can give you two days, but I’d like to have the details nailed down ASAP.” And in typical Tom fashion, he ended the call without a goodbye.

  I dropped down on Kenzi’s plush, colorful sofa and let out a long, contemplative breath. I wanted to go to Sutamarchán. A lot. But I needed to stay here and get Adventure Chasers off the ground. I had to. This was my new path, not globe-trotting.

  That brought my thoughts back around to the one place they never wandered far from, Kenzi. She’d been acting weird lately, and I had no idea why, which was disconcerting on its own. One of the things I appreciated most about her was that she was straightforward. I never had to guess with her. She’d told me off about my behavior where her friend Ken was concerned. I knew I was out of line, but watching the way they laughed and joked, so at ease with each other, I felt jealous.

  Her response after walking out though, had been to work late and fall asleep on the sofa, instead of in my arms where she belonged. I needed to do something to get us back on track, back to laughing and fucking, eating and joking. That was what we did best, and that was where I preferred us to be.

  To do that, I needed to do something special. I needed to show her that, despite what she thought, this arrangement wasn’t all about me. I’d heard some of what she and Ken had talked about, and while some of it made me smile, particularly the amazing sex part, I didn’t like the rest. Which meant I had to do something about it.

  And I was a man of action. Armed with my laptop and an ice-cold beer, I sat in the backyard and got busy finding a way to remind Kenzi how great we’d always been together.

  When I didn’t fuck it up.

  After a quick shower and change of clothes, I strolled into the warehouse operation for Organics by O’Brien with a smile on my face and a pep in my step.

  “Maisie Bishop, as I live and breathe.” I wrapped the old woman in a hug, lifting her off the floor because she weighed no more than a pair of shoes. And because I liked that surprised giggle she always had. “Looking good.” I wiggled my eyebrows and she laughed, smacking my arm.

  “Oh please. Every day I’m closer to 100 than I used to be. I guess you’re here to see your lady love?”

  “That I am. Is she busy?”

  One silver brow arched as her lips pursed. “And you’re not to blame for her prickly attitude lately? You’re a man, of course you are. The better looking you lot are, the more trouble you cause.” With a shake of her head, Maisie motioned me to follow her down a well lit hall and into a room that looked a lot like the chemistry lab at Truly High.

  “Thank you, Miss Maisie.”

  “Mmm-hmm, just make her happy again.”

  That was the plan. With Maisie gone, I took a long moment to just appreciate looking at Kenzi. She was an odd mixture of her bohemian style on display in a rainbow tunic, and the businesswoman she’d become in her white lab coat.

  “Hey.”

  She turned, calm but with a wariness in her eyes I didn’t like. “Hey. What are you doing here? Did we have plans?” She removed her safety goggles, big green eyes blinking to readjust.

  “Nope, but we do now. Can you take off?”

  “Sure, where are we going?”

  I laughed. “That, sweetheart, is classified information.”

  She rolled her eyes as I hoped she would. “Fine, give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be ready to leave.”

  Satisfied my plans were on track, I wandered the facility, impressed at the vastness of her organization. There was packaging, the assembly line area, labeling and I’d seen the greenhouse behind the main building. Kenzi was one hell of a businesswoman. One hell of a woman, really.

  “Okay, ready.”

  I grabbed her hand and guided her to the car, a rental I’d picked up to get us where we needed to go. And I may have grabbed her ass while helping her into the passenger seat. “All set?”

  She grinned. “Yeah, but maybe you need a minute?”

  I laughed and shut her door, jogging around the front with an unstoppable grin. “All right, let’s hit the road.” Two hours later I dropped a hand on her thigh, startling her out of her thoughts. “I have to give you credit, Kenzi. I thought for sure you’d hassle me about where we were going.”

  She shrugged. “I would, but we’ve been driving forever so I imagine I’ll find out soon enough.”

  That was a relative term, but a couple hours later we’d finally pulled
up to the festival site. “We’re here,” I sang.

  She gasped. “The Gadfly Festival? I thought it was cancelled this year?”

  “I don’t know about any of that, but it’s on and we have tickets and a campsite.” The smile she sent my way? Yeah, it made me feel like a million fucking dollars.

  “This is…so great, Chase. Thank you.”

  “You were right. I’ve been so focused on getting Adventure Chasers off the ground that I wasn’t paying attention to you or to what we’re doing here. I’m sorry.”

  “So this is an apology trip?”

  “Hell no! This is just a getaway. Two attractive people enjoying music in the wilderness for a long weekend.” She smiled wide and jumped from the car, looking up at me like I was something special.

  “Let’s get going then!” She’d changed her shoes and removed the beautiful tunic in favor of a light green tank top. “I can’t believe we’re here! Who’s playing? What kind of booths do they have?”

  I hitched a backpack on my shoulders and grabbed her hand, letting her pull me towards the festival and camp grounds. The place was a trip, women dancing and gyrating topless, men just as naked and gyrating just as hard. There was a strong odor of pot and patchouli in the air, but none of it seemed to bother Kenzi, who smiled and stopped occasionally to talk to people she didn’t know, and a few she did.

  “This is Chase, we’ve known each other for a million years, and it’s his first time at Gadfly!” Everyone looked suitably shocked as though this was some internationally known music festival, but they also looked…welcoming. They all shouted out suggestions of what we should do, offered up drinks and things to smoke, recommendations on booths to hip up. Everything.

  “You’re going to love it.” A tall lanky man with a long silver braid and a tie-dye tank top stepped forward and handed me a shirt. “Organic hemp, dyed with beet juice. Welcome to Gadfly, man.” And then he just walked away.

  “Uh, thanks.”

  Kenzi just giggled. “That’s Ayre, he was a friend of Gran’s.”

  “He gave me a shirt.” No one had ever just given me a shirt before. It was strange. Nice, but strange.

  “It’s super comfortable.” She leaned in close with a conspiratorial smile. “Ayre is the founder and CEO of Hemp-Tastic.”

  I blinked. “No shit? That company is like the Whole Foods of clothes!”

  “I know. Put it on,” she said, already tugging on the hem of my shirt.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Duh, I’m helping,” she said as her hands slid up my stomach to my chest until the shirt was over my head. “Your turn.”

  I grinned and grabbed the hem of her shirt. “You want me to take off your shirt out there? Sure, babe.”

  “Hey, stop that,” she laughed and took a step back. “Come on, let’s go see where the fun is, or do you want to set up camp first?”

  In the end we decided to walk around a bit, hand in hand, enjoying the strangest damn place I’d ever been on this earth.

  Kenzi

  As day two of the Gadfly Festival drew to a close, I looked over at Chase swaying to the slow jazzy folk beat, and felt that odd fluttering in my chest. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he’d done this for me. Gadfly was my favorite festival because Gran and I used to go every year. An old hippie at heart, she loved getting away from town and embracing nature with like-minded people who enjoyed drum circles and naked lake diving. I hadn’t been in a couple years, only once since Gran died and it hadn’t been the same. My boyfriend at the time, Graham, had come with me and he’d made everything worse by mocking the people and the music, complaining about the amenities or lack thereof. Basically, he’d made being there more painful than Gran’s absence had.

  So, I stopped coming. But now I regretted the years I missed that I wouldn’t be able to get back.

  Chase had more than made up for it, in fact he had gone above and beyond the call of what a fake fiancé was expected to do. He’d kicked off his hiking boots and thick socks to join in on the slightly muddy drum circle, smiling the whole time, and it had been Chase who stripped down first and cannonballed into the icy lake. We napped under the stars, bodies curled together perfectly. It had been one of the best nights I’d had since Gran died.

  Even now, just sitting around the fire beside Chase, the darkness of the thick, dense trees all around us providing an air of privacy we didn’t have. Ayre and a few others played a slow, somber version of Free Bird, and for the first time in ages I felt free. Completely free and unencumbered by responsibilities, obligations and adulthood. In this moment I was enjoying the company of good people with a really good man at my side.

  Even if he wasn’t mine to keep. The day had me so filled with happiness, with contentment, that I ignored the warning bells clanging in my head. There would be plenty of time later to worry about my growing feelings. For now, I just wanted to enjoy this weekend. I want Gadfly to mean what it used to mean to me.

  “You okay,” Chase whispered in my ear, making me shiver.

  I turned and looked up into those blue eyes, smiling at me the way they had when we were kids. Bemusement. “I’m great, actually. This was…bringing me here means a lot to me, Chase, Thank you.”

  He blinked, surprised. “You’re welcome. It was my pleasure.” He grabbed my hand and kissed my wrist in an intimate and unexpected gesture. “It has been weird, but fun.”

  In that moment the warning bells stopped, knowing it was pointless because the trouble that had been worrying me had arrived in full force, making me feel like I used to around Chase. When we would talk for hours in the backyard I felt a fluttering in my stomach, giddy being so close to him. Excited by the way he made me feel, and later horny. Even now, I squeezed my legs together to stop the throbbing at the center. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. This place is special to me.”

  He gave me a look I couldn’t quite decipher so I turned my gaze back to the fire and leaned my head on his shoulder while the music turned to something a bit more upbeat and folksy. The night drew on and the little bubble we were trapped in had me completely enthralled, lost in the moment, knowing this was all fleeting but throwing myself into the fire anyway. After a while though, the night turned chilly and Chase stood. “Ready to turn in?”

  I nodded, though sleep was the last thing I had on my mind, especially when he stopped and pushed me against a tree, slamming his mouth against mine and kissing me until my knees trembled, my core dripped and he held me tight enough to bruise. “More of that.”

  He laughed, grabbed my hand and pulled me along until we stood in front of our big blue tent. “You’re bossy.”

  I shrugged. “It’s a byproduct of being your own boss. Come see me in six months and you’ll be the same.” I froze at my own words, noticing he did too but only for a fraction of a moment. In six months he would have to come see me because he wouldn’t be part of my life anymore. Eager to get over the awkwardness, I unzipped the nylon and crawled inside, sitting cross-legged in my long paisley maxi dress as I removed the sweater to ward off the cool night air.

  “I can’t get over how tiny this thing is,” he said as he crawled in and did his best to undress in the small space.

  “Haven’t you spent the past decade living in a tent?”

  He barked out a laugh as he lay flat on his back, struggling with his pants. “No. Mostly I stayed in hotels and explored the local area. The times I did stay in a tent, I didn’t share it.”

  He looked so adorably sexy as he grew breathless trying to remove his still slightly damp jeans. Taking advantage of the situation I crawled up his long legs and straddled his hips, helping him with his button fly. “Rule one of camping, don’t wear button fly jeans,” I told him and tugged the damp denim over his hips, down his legs before hanging them on the small metal bar just outside the tent. “That’s better.”

  His hands rested on my hips, his mouth curved into a smile. “What’s rule two?”

  “Rule two
,” I began slowly, lifting my dress over my head and tossing it aside, “is that we must be quiet.” Unable to wait another minute longer, I kissed him again. It was long and slow, a slow burn that our bodies stoked until it was a full inferno, threatening to destroy everything in its wake just for the privilege to burn. My hips began to swirl against the long column of flesh growing between my thighs, our breathing was thick and shallow in the small tent. “Rule three,” I panted. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”

  He looked at me with a shaky grin. “Here? There’s a tent like ten feet away.”

  I looked at him with a serious expression. “I refer you to rule two.” He laughed, but it died on his lips as I hovered above him and removed his still slightly damp boxer briefs, wrapping both hands around his smooth, hard erection. “I want you, Chase. Right here. Right now.” And because I was too far gone to listen to reason, to listen to the warning my brain was trying to send me, I leaned forward to cut off his words with another kiss, this time it was hungry and raw. Hot and intense, and I wanted more. More.

  Hell, I wanted everything.

  “You have me,” he bit out on a half-groan.

  If only that were true. But thoughts like that were for the long drive home tomorrow, not tonight. Tonight was for lovers, and that’s exactly what we were.

  That’s all we were.

  Our bodies collided in a heated frenzy that made the air in the tent thick with desire. His big hands gripped my hips and lifted me while I fisted him in my hand before he slid me down his long, hard length. “Chase,” I groaned.