I was glad. Shy could be cute, but I also enjoyed the company of a strong woman who didn’t mind the odd verbal sparring match. Made for great foreplay.
Suddenly I didn’t care what exactly Indi wanted from me. Hell, she could be trying to recruit me into a pyramid scheme and I wouldn’t give a shit. I just wanted to see her, and now that I knew she’d ended up right here in the same city all these years later, I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to do so.
I leaned forward and typed out a careful response. I wanted to tell her that I’d actually thought of her many times in the last few years and that she should get her ass over here right now, but I had to play it cool.
I remember you, Indi. I’m actually free today and can meet up. Let me know the time, and I’ll let you know the place – Blake
I pressed send, then sat back and put my hands behind my head as I relaxed into my chair. Back in the day, a guy like me wouldn’t have been worth ten seconds of Indi Marlowe’s time, innocent angel that she was. But life was different now. I was different. I was on top.
She was the one girl from Lakewater I’d never touched. The only one I ever truly wanted to touch, too. And here she was, offering her presence to me on a platter. She had no idea I was so eager to hook up with her back then, and she didn’t know now, either. She was sure as hell going to find out when I saw her, though.
I was ready to take what I wanted.
And I wanted Indi.
Chapter Four
Indi
I saw him before he saw me.
He’d asked me to meet him at a BBQ ribs restaurant on a dodgy side of town, and he was stepping up to the wooden saloon-style doors just as I got out of my car. My heart was racing at a million miles an hour, and I still couldn’t believe I was about to have lunch with Blake Marsden, Mr. Sleazy McSleaze himself.
While he couldn’t see me, I had the luxury of scoping him out and seeing just how much he’d changed since that last photo of him on his rarely-used Facebook was taken.
Not at all, it seemed. He was as handsome and manly as ever, although his outfit left a little to be desired, if I was being honest. He was clad in ratty grey sweatpants and a zipped black hoodie that was so faded in some parts it was almost dark blue. Not exactly lunch date outfit material, but then again, this wasn’t a date. I’d made that quite clear.
I gulped and stepped toward the restaurant, and the sound of my footsteps stopped Blake in his tracks just as he finally reached the doors. He turned, and a broad smile lit up his gorgeous face as he nodded in my direction. “Little Indi Marlowe. How are you?”
I hurried over to him. “Uh…” I coughed as his blue eyes roamed every inch of me, very obviously. Somehow I couldn’t get any proper words out. “I’m okay,” I finally choked out.
“Glad to hear,” he said. He winked. “C’mon, let’s go get some ribs and catch up.”
His deep voice made me want to launch myself at him and stick my tongue in his mouth. Jesus, what was wrong with me? I didn’t even like this guy, but he was driving me insane with just a few words and his appearance alone.
I guess some things never changed.
As we headed toward a corner booth in the back of the dim, musty restaurant, my mind flashed to one of my earliest clear memories of Blake. One of my only positive memories of him, to be honest.
I was thirteen, almost fourteen, and my parents had just bought me a brand new bike after a boy from the grade above me threw my old one in the town’s closest lake after stealing it on a ‘dare’. I loved the new bike, and I was keen to ride it all over the block, and my mom knew that. She called to me at around six to tell me that Dawson was late home, and she was making his favorite for dinner—chicken casserole.
“Seeing as you’re loving that new bike so much, could you ride over to the Marsdens’ place and see if your brother’s still there?” she asked. “He told me he was going to hang out with Blake today. You remember where the house is, right?”
I nodded. I’d been in the car a few times when my parents picked Dawson up. The Marsdens lived on the not-so-nice side of town, but my parents had never judged them. It wasn’t their fault they didn’t have much money, and it didn’t make them bad people. Besides, Lakewater was so small compared to a city that it would’ve been impossible for any kind of seedy element to take over any side of town. The not-so-nice part was still perfectly safe, it was just far more rundown, that’s all.
I cruised down the streets, taking the back way to Blake’s house, and my insides seemed to twist around and around as the cool breeze blew through my long hair. Blake was Dawson’s coolest friend, and my stomach always did nervous flips when he was around.
I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t like boys, at least not in that way. Liking boys was something the older girls in town did. I saw the way they gave sultry glances to boys like Blake and Dawson, and the way they flipped their hair over their shoulders as they licked their lips. That seemed gross to me. Maybe I’d be like that one day, but certainly not now.
I arrived at the Marsden house to see Blake’s parents’ car gone. He and Dawson had the place to themselves. Knowing them, they were probably playing video games and got caught up, making my brother forget how late it was.
I tentatively knocked on the front door, hoping and praying that my brother would be the one to answer. I didn’t want that weird stomach-flippy feeling anymore, and I knew it would increase tenfold if I saw Blake.
My wish wasn’t granted, though. Blake answered the door, and my mouth dried up as I saw that he was shirtless. The house was tiny, and I could see directly into the living room behind him. A skinny blonde girl from two grades above me was hooking up her bra, her face turning pink.
“It’s okay, Dawn, it’s just Dawson’s kid sister,” Blake said after glancing at me.
My heart sank at his referral to me as ‘just Dawson’s kid sister’. Again, it wasn’t because I liked him. I just didn’t enjoy being referred to like that by anyone. I was a person; I wasn’t just someone’s little sister. I also wasn’t so little anymore. Now that I was well into puberty, I was starting to grow some sizable boobs and hips, and although I usually covered them up in sweatshirts and jeans, I knew the blonde girl on the couch had nothing on me in terms of cleavage. If guys like Blake liked girls with bodies like that, then surely they could see me as a girl worth being interested in as well.
Blake turned back to me. “What’s up, Indi?”
I blushed. “I was just looking for Dawson. He’s going to be late for dinner, and he said he was coming here after school so I thought…um….I thought he might still be here,” I said, my voice quavering.
The blonde girl was sidling up to the door now, and she wrapped her slim arms around Blake’s tanned waist from behind. She giggled and whispered something in Blake’s ear, and my face turned to flames.
“Sorry, Indi. He’s not here. I haven’t seen him since last period at school,” Blake said. The blonde was sauntering back into the living room now, and I knew Blake would be following her any second.
“Oh. Um. Thanks anyway,” I mumbled. I turned and picked my bike up, and Blake called out to me.
“Nice bike. New?”
I nodded, unable to meet his eyes. “Yes. Tommy Turner threw my old one in Lake Mead as a dare. Anyway, bye.”
I sped off before he could reply, pedaling as quickly as I could. I had no idea where Dawson was, but that was the least of my concerns right now. My main worry was that I was going to die from overheating, given that my face felt like it’d been microwaved. Stupid Blake. Why did he have to answer the door like… that?
When I got home, I splashed my red face with cold water while Mom busied herself in the kitchen. The doorbell rang fifteen minutes later, and I dashed over to it, afraid that it would be the town police here to tell us that something awful had happened to Dawson. He still wasn’t home yet.
But it wasn’t the police. It was Blake.
He looked down at me. “Hey, Indi. I had an id
ea of where Dawson might be, so I went and looked for him. He lost track of time, but he’ll be back any minute now.”
“Oh. Thank you,” I murmured, barely able to meet his eyes. It was so nice of him to go and find my brother like that. “Dinner will be ready in five minutes, so that’s perfect timing.”
“Glad to help.”
“Do you um… want to stay for dinner?” I asked shyly. “Seeing as you’re here and all.”
“Better not. Don’t wanna get in the way,” he said. My shoulders sagged as a sudden wave of inexplicable disappointment hit me, but then he continued to speak. “By the way, I took a shortcut past the lake on my way to find Dawson. I saw Tommy Turner down there.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Dipped his head in the lake a couple of times. I don’t think he’ll be bothering you again, or your new bike. Anyway, I better go. Bye, Indi.”
I couldn’t even form a reply. I was so stupefied that a cool older guy like Blake had stuck up for me that every word seemed to dry up on my lips. I guess he only did it because I was his friend’s little sister, though.
He turned his back and headed down the front yard path, and I stared after him, still remembering the sound of my name on his lips. Indi, Indi, Indi…
“Indi?”
I jerked out of my reverie to see Blake staring at me in real life, his eyebrows dipped into a small frown. “Huh?” I said.
“I was just asking if you’re okay. You look kinda spaced.”
“Oh. Sorry, I’m just a little tired,” I said.
He nodded and gave me a languid smile. “Aren’t we all? Anyway, it’s good to see you. You look fucking great. Doesn’t surprise me, though. I’d have recognized that ass anywhere.”
He winked, and my stomach fluttered. “I…” I faltered, not sure how to respond. I guess people didn’t change that much even if years and years went by. After all, I certainly hadn’t myself. Blake might very well be an adult now, but he was obviously still an overly-macho ‘man’s man’, bordering on outright sleazy.
To his credit, he seemed to realize that he’d said something inappropriate, because he hurriedly changed the subject. “How’s Dawson? I haven’t seen him since he left for college.”
“He’s doing well. He’s an accountant, and he has a really great partner. They’ve been together for three years now,” I said, glad for the subject switch.
“What’s his name?”
I raised my eyebrows, and Blake laughed. “C’mon, Indi, are you really all that surprised that I know? Dawson was a good friend of mine when we were in high school. I always knew. Remember that day you came over looking for him when he was late for dinner? He was over at Jack Smith’s place, and let’s just say….I don’t think they were hanging out platonically. That’s why he wasn’t with me when I came to tell you that I found him. He told me through the door that he needed to use the bathroom first and that I shouldn’t wait up, but I’m pretty sure they were both just getting dressed and didn’t want me to see.”
My mouth dropped open. What were the odds that Blake and I just so happened to be remembering the exact same day and the exact same incident right in this moment?
I guess it didn’t mean anything, though. That day was one of the only times we’d directly interacted with each other, after all, so it made sense that we both recalled it upon meeting up with each other for the first time in….well, ever.
“I had no idea you knew,” I finally said.
Blake shrugged. “Neither did he. I always pretended I didn’t know. Not because I didn’t like it, but because I knew he wasn’t ready to talk about it.”
“Oh. Right. Well, his partner’s name is Drew, and he makes him very happy.”
“That’s good.”
I was surprised. Back then, Blake had usually come across as an over-sexed meathead with all the brains of a bonobo. I wouldn’t have picked him as the one friend of Dawson’s who’d be totally okay with his sexuality, at least all those years ago in such a small, insular town.
Then again, I already knew he had a secretly nice side, no matter how small, after the way he looked out for me that day when I couldn’t find Dawson. He found my brother and told him to come home, and on top of that, Tommy Turner didn’t bother me again for the rest of the time we were at school.
Blake leaned forward, and my heart skipped a beat as I felt heat rushing to my center. Wetness was blooming between my legs, and I knew it spelled trouble if I didn’t push away my attraction to him sooner rather than later. Again, this was not a date. It was a business meeting.
Sort of.
“So, anyway, you’re probably wondering why I wanted to meet up,” I said, hastily averting my gaze from him and pretending to study the menu.
“I am wondering, yes. And don’t worry, the staff here know me. They’re already preparing two of my usual orders as we speak. You don’t need to order. Unless you want something different.”
“No, I’m sure whatever you usually get is fine.”
“Cool. So you were saying?”
“I need to give you a bit of history first. I studied small business management in college, and when I graduated, I spent all the money that I saved at my part-time college job to start a little bookstore. But anyway… things aren’t doing so great. I have some ideas for how to fix things, but that requires money. Money that I don’t have.”
Something flickered in Blake’s eyes. It looked a bit like disappointment, or perhaps resignation. “Right,” he said flatly.
It was almost as if he thought I was here to hit him up for cash, but that was ridiculous. Judging by his faded, ratty outfit and the fact that he wanted me to meet him at a rundown place like this in one of the worst areas of town, he probably had even less cash-flow than me right now (not that I was judging—I lived in a pretty shitty area too and could barely afford to live at the moment).
Besides, there was no way I would ask him for money. That would be incredibly rude and tacky, and I could never do that to someone without feeling physically ill.
“So I have a plan. You’ll think it sounds crazy, and believe me, I know it is. But Cinta and Dawson convinced me that it could actually work, so here we are.”
Blake looked up at me, curiosity glimmering in his gorgeous baby blues again. “You’ve got a plan, huh?”
“It involves a reality show.”
His lips curled into a small, disbelieving smile. “A reality show?”
I nodded. “Yup. See, sounds crazy already. But here’s the deal.”
I outlined the whole idea to him—how I needed someone from my hometown to pretend to be my husband so we could compete on the show, and how he would get half of the prize money if we happened to get to third, second or first place.
When I was done, Blake snorted and shook his head. “I had no idea what to expect when you messaged me out of the blue, but shit… this is really out there, Indi.”
“I know.”
“So I’d be your husband. Your fake husband.”
“Yes. It wouldn’t be legally binding, obviously. Just an act that we have to keep up for a while.”
“So you couldn’t take half my shit and leave once all is said and done,” he said, lifting one eyebrow.
I shook my head. “No,” I said with a little laugh. “Anyway, I think we’d have a good chance of getting accepted. It sounds like such a cute story: childhood sweethearts who grew up in the same town and ended up married after reconnecting years later. And we can easily fake it by showing them real things—old yearbook photos to prove we went to the same school, and so on.”
“True. And where’s this island they film it on?”
“It’s Fremantle Island.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard of it.”
“It’s not tropical so it’s not a super-popular tourist place. I’d never heard of it either, before Cinta told me about the show. It’s US-owned, but it’s closer to Canada.”
“I see.”
“It’s not exactly far
from here, but the closest port to it is actually Vancouver. I Googled it last night. It looks really nice. All dark forests and greenery, and there’s a big mountain on one side and a few small lakes on the interior. It’s gorgeous.”
“Sounds a lot like…”
“Home.” I finished his sentence for him as his voice trailed off. “Yeah. It actually looks a lot like Lakewater up there.”
He gazed at me with an intensity that almost made my stomach do a double flip. “You ever get back there?”
“I go back to visit Mom and Dad every few months or so,” I said. “What about you?”
“Haven’t been back since I left six years ago.”
I wanted to ask why, but something about his tone told me he wasn’t interested in discussing it any further.
“So when does the show start filming?” he asked.
“Applications have been open for three months, and they close in a week. Then they let us know if the application was successful or unsuccessful not long after that. Filming starts two weeks later. So around a month or so from now.”
He nodded slowly. “I was just thinking earlier this morning that I could do with a nice long break. Although competing on a reality show isn’t exactly my idea of a quiet vacation.”
“I know. Cameras everywhere and so on. But I really want to do this. I was so against the idea at first. Then my brother and Cinta planted this seed in my head, and now it’s all I can think about. I want that prize money enough to not care about the invasion of privacy for a few weeks. And I’m guessing you could probably use the money too?”
I hoped I didn’t sound like I was being judgmental. I simply meant that last statement in the sort of way that implied that pretty much anyone on god’s green earth could use several hundred thousand dollars, unless they were already a multi-millionaire or billionaire. And let’s face it, neither of us were.
Blake’s lips stretched into a grin, and he nodded again. “Yeah,” he said slowly, a twinkle in his eye. “I sure could use that money.”
Husband For Hire Page 3
