Fake Fiancé Next Door_A Small Town Romance

by Piper Sullivan

  “Is that you scoring a tri?” I asked curiously.

  “Yes ma’am, that’s our golden boy,” it was an elderly man who spoke next to me, “Caleb here is a real sports hero; he makes us proud every time he gets on the field.”

  “Morgan buddy,” Caleb said and let go of my hand, then clasped hands with Morgan and bumped shoulders, “You shouldn’t be exaggerating like that, it’s a team sport.”

  “Oh that’s no exaggeration, that tri won us the game, and so did many others,” Morgan said.

  I felt like the odd one out between the two men as they chatted about ruby, it was as if I didn’t exist. I slid away awkwardly to look at the other pictures that lined the walls leaving the two of them to catch up. I couldn’t believe how I never noticed that Caleb was famous, he was really a celebrity in these parts and probably the country and there I was, completely oblivious to what was going on in the world of sports. I used to be a fan when I was in college but only because I was trying to impress him, but after that I hardly watched sports, much less read the sports section in the newspapers. I blamed Damien too, if he knew all along that Caleb was Braden’s father he should have kept me in the loop, surely he knew all along where Caleb found himself and how popular he had become.

  “Miss Callaway?” A young man spoke next to me.

  “Yes?” I turned to look at him.

  “My name is Justin, I’m from the Daily News, and I was wondering if you would mind answering a few questions?”

  “Listen here…” I started but before I could finish my sentence, Morgan had the man by the scruff dragging him to the door.

  “They just won’t let it go,” Caleb said as he came to stand next to me, “I’m sorry Rae.”

  “It’s okay, I suppose it comes with the territory,” I looked towards the door where Morgan still stood with his arms crossed over his chest, “Looks like you have your personal body guard at least.”

  “Ah, this is the only place I can eat in peace without reporters harassing me.” He slid his hand under my elbow and led me to one of the tables in the far corner away from the window.

  “It’s a nice place, very cosy.”

  “It is, Morgan prides himself in making sure this place stays a family establishment where everyone can have a decent meal away from home.”

  “A family restaurant, so why do you come here?” the words slipped out before I could stop them, but Caleb just smiled.

  “Great food, it beats the best steakhouses in town.”

  “Fair enough.”

  I slipped into the seat opposite Caleb and glanced at the menu, printed on the place mat.

  “It’s still early, so if you want something light I won’t hold it against you, but I’m starving,” he said grinning.

  “It’s just after ten in the morning, so I’ll stick to a breakfast,” I said pointing to the Country Breakfast. “Eggs, bacon and toast with a side of fries, that’s all I will be able to eat.”

  Caleb opted for a rump steak and by the time the waitress took our order Morgan had already sent some coffee over.

  I kept looking towards the door, nervous that another reporter might try and sneak in, but Caleb didn’t seem too deterred.

  “So, when last have you been out and about to have some fun?”

  “Plenty,” I lied.

  “Come on Rae, you’re lying to me.”

  “No I’m not,” I smiled and tore of the tip of the sugar sachet and poured the sugar into my coffee, “I’m not a recluse, I just don’t- I don’t spend my nights partying anymore.”

  “I wasn’t talking about partying; I was talking about dating or just hanging out with friends. Surely you have dated since Braden was born?”

  Caleb was fishing for information, trying to stir the water and see what secrets lay below the surface.

  “I tried once, it was a complete failure. He turned out to be gay.”

  “He was gay?” Caleb said laughing, “You must have been one hell of a date to send him running in the other direction.”

  I reached over the table and slapped his shoulder, “That was not my doing. He was a closet case, didn’t want anyone to know and I was his alibi.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Well,” I giggled, “We went ice skating one night, and he had disappeared at some point in the evening so I went looking for him. Let’s just say, I found him in a very compromising position with another guy and that was the end of it.”

  Caleb roared with laughter and sat back crossing his arms over his chest, “I would have loved to be a fly on the wall.”

  “How about you?” I asked tentatively, “How many women have you dated?”

  He shifted in his chair and looked everywhere accept at me.

  “Come on, I told you about my experience, now it’s your turn.”

  “I won’t say I’ve dated anyone steadily for some time, being on the team, I’m always busy at practice or playing the game.”

  “Liar, what about Joanne, she seemed like she had a different idea.”

  He scratched his head and then dragged his hand down the back of his neck, “She’s one of the cheer leaders, and they are all like rabid dogs trying to get their teeth into us. It’s quite shocking, but convenient if you want no strings attached.”

  “Woah, referring to women as dogs is derogatory. That’s not nice,” I laughed.

  “You know what I mean; to them it’s all about fame, which player they are latched on to and how much publicity they get being on a sports star’s arm.”

  “So you never went on dates, dinner, dance, sex?”

  Oh my god, I did not just ask him the sex question, that was a little too direct but it literally slipped out.

  “Dinner yes, dance no, sex yes,” he said as he tapped his fingers on the table, “I’m a hot-blooded male; sex is something that comes naturally.”

  I felt my cheeks grow hot and I averted my eyes, “That’s true I suppose.”

  Caleb’s hand cupped mine unexpectedly and I looked up to meet his eyes.

  “Sex is not making love, there is a distinct difference,” he said as if to justify his response.

  “It’s in the same category as the birds and the bees lesson Caleb,” I joked and tried to pull my hand free but he held on.

  “It is but it’s different, men are animals, I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. We only have enough blood to operate one head at a time, and sometimes it’s not even enough to feed our hearts.”

  I rolled my eyes and forced a smile, “Why are you trying to defend yourself? It’s not as if I was going to hold it against you, it’s been over five years and what you did with your free time has nothing to do with me.”

  Caleb let go of my hand and sat back as the waitress came with our orders. Suddenly I didn’t feel as hungry as I did earlier, in fact the hollow feeling of regret that filled my insides was enough to keep me away from food for the rest of the day.

  “I regret leaving you,” he said once the waitress was gone.

  “Well shit happens, and you had a lot going on.”

  “Rae, look at me,” he said and reached for both my hands stilling them, “I was confused, I’m not going to lie, and I was angry, but I should never have taken it out on you.”

  I smiled at him then, “Are you here to have breakfast or seek absolution for your sins? It was a long time ago and we both moved on with life.”

  He looked at me with an intensity that took my breath away, and before I could say a word he pushed himself up and reached over the table sliding his hand behind my head, then crushed his lips against mine. I could taste the coffee on his tongue and his scent flooded my nostrils and I was lost, his kiss suddenly felt like a whispered promise, one I wanted to believe with all my heart.

  When he finally pulled away, he looked deeply into my eyes and it was as if everything around us had faded to black.

  “It was always you,” he said and then slowly sat back down and casually took a sip of his coffee.

&nbs
p; We ate our food in silence but there was no denying the sexual tension that was building between us. My mind was a muddled mess and all I could think of was how intense that kiss was. It was as if it drilled down into my soul to arrest my heart.

  Caleb

  That kiss was the defining moment when I realized that I was still very much in love with Rae. Regardless of the past, and how my own parents’ marriage ruined my outlook on the happily-ever-after aspect. No two people could be more entwined than us at this very point in time. We spent the rest of the morning walking the streets of Denver enjoying each other’s company, I kept checking with Samson to make sure Braden was fine just so I could put Rae’s mind at ease. After sightseeing, I had one more stop to make before we headed home.

  “Can you bear to be in my company a little while longer?”

  “Depends on what it all entails,” Rae said and put the helmet on.

  “You will like it, I promise.”

  “We’ll see.”

  I revved the engine and set off, I liked how Rae’s arms felt around me when she clung to me and I was tempted to speed up a bit, but then the thought did cross my mind that she might squeeze the air from my lungs and we’ll end up in the nearest ditch.

  A few minutes later I pulled into the parking lot of the Botanical Gardens and again helped Rae off the bike. This time we left the helmets on the bike and made our way through the large gates. It was late noon and the sun had already started to set, there were only a few other couples around, so I picked one of the benches near the willow trees and water pond that looked like a deck of lilies. With the sun already disappearing, so did the star white flowers, but the fragrance still hung heavily in the air.

  “This place is breath taking,” Rae said as she sat down on the bench.

  “It really is, I don’t think it gets nearly enough credit, the locals don’t always appreciate the beauty of this place.”

  “Wasn’t this where one of those corpse flowers bloomed recently?” she asked curiously.

  I was impressed, very few people were aware of the sudden anomaly that hit the US by storm after multiple corpse flowers bloomed around the same time, “Yeah it’s in one of the pavilions, but it’s not blooming anymore. I was on tour when it happened otherwise I would have been here to watch it bloom.”

  “I would have loved to see it, better luck next time,” she said smiling.

  “I’ll make sure you see the next bloom.”

  She was sitting up with her back straight and her hands planted on her knees. From her casual demeanour earlier, she almost came across as nervous now.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Of course I am, why do you ask?”

  “You just seem, I don’t know, tense.”

  “I just, I’ve never been away from Braden this long, and its already starting to get dark.”

  I moved closer to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, then took her hand in mine and pressed my lips against her finger tips, “Braden is fine, I’ve been checking with Samson every hour.”

  She sighed, “I know, I’m being silly.”

  At that opportune moment, the entire place lit up in a display of beautiful colours that transformed the gardens into something more like a magical fairy garden, and that was all it took to draw Rae’s attention.

  “Oh my god, this is absolutely breath taking,” she stood up and turned around, “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  I smiled and came to stand next to her near the pond, “They do this every evening, it’s like a tradition, it’s even more beautiful in winter, and then it’s more like Whoville at Christmas.”

  Rae suddenly giggled and I couldn’t help but laugh, “You remember when we watched the Grinch? That movie was sooo funny, I want Braden to watch it this Christmas.”

  I chuckled, “We will have to make sure he watches Horton Hears a Who first, he’s going to need to know where the Who’s come from.”

  Yep, I just said ‘we’, and by the way Rae’s mouth fell open and her eyes met mine, I knew that she read between the lines, and suddenly there it was, that sexual tension I have been trying to ignore since the kiss at Mickey’s, but now here in this magical place the lights and all the colours served as the fireworks one can expect when you look at a beautiful woman and realize she’s feeling exactly the same.

  I stepped in, and so did she; my heart thumped with hope at her approach. I wrapped my arms around her waist and she gripped the front of my shirt and our lips met midway. Her breath mixed with mine and filled my lungs and I let out an audible groan, how I wish we were completely alone. I slid my hands down and pulled her more firmly against me, wanting not to scare her, but show her exactly what she did to me. Instead of pulling away she leaned harder against me. As she slid one hand up and around my neck her other hand found the hem of my shirt and slipped under it. The moment her cool fingers touched my skin, I knew I was damned.

  “Rae…” I whispered as I pulled away from the kiss, cupping her face, “Baby if we don’t stop now, the trees and the flowers are going to have a lot more to talk about than bees.”

  She tucked her teeth into her bottom lip and smiled mischievously up at me, then slid her hand further under my shirt until she cupped my left peck, “Then I suggest you take me home right this minute, or we’ll put nature to shame.”

  I gritted my teeth as I felt her hand slide from my chest to my stomach to stop just above my jeans, she had the art of seduction down to perfection and anything she did from this moment on would put me at risk of breaking the law and being locked up for indecent exposure. Determined I took her hand and lead her back out of the gardens to the motorbike.

  “Get on, before I go insane,” I said and she laughed.

  “Yes sir!”

  Raedene

  By the time we got home my body was on fire, sitting pressed up against Caleb’s back was excruciating, all I could think of was his lips on mine and those intense eyes that that bore into my soul. The moment he turned the bike of I scrambled off and rushed into the house and I knew he was short on my heels, but I had to check on Braden first.

  “Samson, Maria?” I whispered as I entered the living room.

  “Hi,” Maria said as she excited the kitchen, “Braden’s asleep upstairs, he went to bed about an hour ago.”

  “He never goes to bed so early,” I said concerned.

  “Well we had a lot of fun and he was so exhausted. He did have something to eat before he passed out, so don’t worry.”

  “Oh okay then, I’ll go look in on him,” I walked to the stairs then turned, “Maria. Thank you.”

  “No problem.”

  I ran up the stairs and quietly opened Braden’s door. He was fast asleep hugging a plush toy bear to his chest. My heart ached as I looked down at him sleeping and I brushed a lock of hair from his brow.

  “Sweet dreams my boy,” I whispered and then kissed his forehead before I quietly left his room.

  As I entered the hallway, Caleb was there waiting for me and from the way he looked at me, I knew he was also reaching the end of his sanity. Without a word, I grabbed his hand and pulled him into my bedroom.

  The moment the door closed, Caleb spun me around and pressed me up against the door. He lowered his one hand to my hip and his fingers brushed the bare skin between my vest and jeans, which sent a shiver of pleasure coursing through me. I sighed as his lips met mine and I knew that there was no turning back now. I slid my hands down to his waist and pulled him tighter against me and that was encouragement enough. In one swift motion, he reached for my vest and pulled it off over my head and his hands instantly cupped my breasts, and even though they were covered in lace I could feel the heat of his palms burn into my skin. I followed suit and pulled his T-shirt off and the sight of him took my breath away. He was all muscle and ripped abs and I knew that it could make any woman swoon helplessly at his feet. I felt a stab of jealousy poke at my subconscious knowing that other women had seen him like this, but the moment his hand
s moved to the buttons of my jeans those thoughts fled for the hills.

  We undressed each other eagerly until we both stood naked.

  “You are so beautiful,” he whispered as he drew me into his arms.

  “You’re biased,” I joked as I ran my fingers down his chest stopping just above the V that cut down in front of his stomach. I felt his stomach muscles contract and tighten and I smiled.

  “I promise you that this has nothing to do with being biased, it’s the honest truth,” he groaned and lifted me effortlessly into his arms then carried me over to the bed.

  I met his eyes and his desire reflected my own, I needed him, I needed to feel him make love to me, but before I would allow myself that pleasure, I wanted him to know exactly how much I needed him. As he stood at the edge of the bed, I sat up and looked at him with a smile tugging at my lips while I ran my hands up along his thighs to his waist. He was rock hard and as I reached to wrap my hand around his erection, he cursed under his breath.

  “Too much, too soon?” I asked smiling as I stroked him.

  “Hell no, but if you keep that up, it will be the quickest climax in history,” he said in a strained tone.

  “I doubt that very much.”

  I lowered my head and took him into my mouth, his hands fisted my hair as I rolled my tongue around his tip as his hips started to move. With my one hand at his base, I dragged my tongue along his full length and then sucked him into my mouth again.

  “Oh my god Rae…” he uttered breathlessly.

  “Not even god can save you now,” I said and continued teasing him.

  As I pleasured him with my mouth he groaned audibly and rocked his hips, not once letting go of my hair. I could feel my own arousal as the wetness between my legs increased. I was lost in time and space and the present was all that mattered. Before I knew it, Caleb had tugged me away from him and was now laying on top of me, kissing me with such passion I thought I was going to faint. I felt his hand slide down over my stomach and between my legs and when his fingers slid between my folds I cried out, “Caleb, please!” I was slowly coming undone.