The (Not So) Perfect Fiancé

by Dallen, Maggie

  Whatever he meant by it, she waved away the apology. “I shouldn’t have barged in like this.”

  “No, no,” Tyler was quick to say. “We’re happy to see you.”

  He pulled out a chair from the little kitchenette table and gestured for her to sit. Such a gentleman with the lady he’d put between a rock and a hard place. Cole found himself glowering at Tyler at the thought, even though he knew very well that the higher-ups were the ones who made the final decisions.

  At least Tyler had been on Cole’s side, fighting for this new angle with him playing the leading role. Cole slid into the seat beside her with Tyler on her other side.

  “I just…” She cleared her throat and met Cole’s gaze evenly. “I have a few questions for Mr. Harding, if that’s all right.”

  Cole and Tyler exchanged another look, this one saying something more along the lines of Mr. Harding?! No one had ever called him Mr. Harding. Tyler grinned behind her back and Cole found himself smothering a laugh.

  “What?” she asked. “Did I say something wrong?”

  “No,” he said quickly. “It’s just that Mr. Harding is my dad. Call me Cole.”

  She nodded quickly, her hands fidgeting with the little purse in her lap. Tyler got up and started heading toward the door. “I’ll give you two some alone time.”

  Cole scowled at the way he said it, his friend’s tone was dripping with insinuations.

  Tyler paused in the doorway. “Oh, and Callie?”

  She looked up expectantly. “Help yourself to my dinner. It’s the least I can do.”

  Callie’s smile was small but genuine. “Thank you, but I’m really not hungry.”

  Tyler shrugged before walking away and shutting the door behind them.

  They were alone. In his hotel room. He should not have been so very aware of it, or felt so extraordinarily weird about it. He was alone with women all the time. This was not a big deal.

  So why could he not think of a single thing to say? They sat there in a long tense silence before he finally couldn’t take the suspense any longer. “What did you decide?”

  Her eyes widened as if his voice startled her. “Um, well that’s what I came here to discuss.”

  To his surprise, her cheeks started to turn pink. It wasn’t often that he saw a woman blush and he found that he was insanely curious to find out what she was thinking that had made her so frazzled. She clasped her hands together primly and met his gaze head-on. “I think I would like…”

  He could see her throat work as she swallowed.

  “That is, if you’re still offering—”

  “I am.” Way to play it cool, man. He’d said it so quickly it had almost sounded like he was eager to play the part of her fiancé, and nothing could be further from the truth. He scrubbed the bristles on his jaw as he matched her steady stare. “If you want me to, that is.”

  She nodded quickly, gnawing on her bottom lip. “I don’t know how to do this, and I’m nervous that I’m going to ruin it.”

  He stared at her for so long her cheeks turned another shade pinker. “Sorry, I’m nervous,” she said.

  He felt a smile trying to tug at his lips, but he forced himself to be serious. This was a business matter, and he never joked about business. “I’m nervous too.”

  He wasn’t sure who he’d surprised more with that one. Probably her, judging by her wide eyes. He hadn’t exactly meant to say it, but there was some truth to it. “I mean, I’m used to being in front of a camera, but only as a construction worker. I don’t know the first thing about playing the leading man.”

  He’d meant to sound self-deprecating, maybe put her at ease, but she squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. “Can I ask…why?”

  “Why?” he repeated.

  She nodded. “Why would you do this for me?”

  He just stared at her because he still had no answer. He’d been asking himself that for the last three hours and was no closer to explaining it. The best he could come up with was that he felt sorry for her, and no one wanted to hear that.

  She nibbled on her lip again. “I’m sorry.”

  He frowned. “Why are you sorry?”

  She shook her head. “It’s none of my business and you look…”

  He arched a brow. How did he look?

  “Annoyed.”

  He let out a short laugh at that. “Don’t take that personally. My sister says my resting face would scare away the boogeyman.”

  Callie’s eyes widened and then she laughed.

  He stopped breathing at the sound of that laugh. Pure and light and filled with such sweetness it made his chest hurt.

  “She’s younger than me,” he felt compelled to explain. “It used to be my job to scare away the big baddies under her bed.”

  Her smile widened and that gorgeous laughter laced her words. “How very brave of you.”

  He gave an exaggeratedly modest shrug that made her laugh again, and had him smiling at her in return. Okay, he was officially going to have to amend his motto that business wasn’t a laughing matter if they were going to work together for the next few weeks. He’d give all the money in his savings account to hear that laugh every day.

  “I need to know,” she said, leaning forward. “Why are you doing this?”

  He held back a sigh as he met those wide, earnest eyes. No, he definitely couldn’t tell her that he pitied her, but the truth involved a story he didn’t often share. He studied her eyes, saw the kindness, the innocence…

  Oh what the heck. He knew all about her breakup, it was only fair that he share in return. “I, uh…I guess you could say I’ve been where you are.”

  She lifted her brows, her eyes twinkling with sudden amusement. “You also signed up to be on a reality show and then got dumped by your fiancé?”

  He laughed as he shook his head. “Not exactly. But I was engaged once, and it did end…badly.”

  She winced. “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “It’s old news.”

  Her eyes grew thoughtful. “Was this when you played college football?”

  Surprise had him sitting back in his seat. His former football career wasn’t a secret, but like he’d said, it was old news. No one brought it up much these days.

  She blushed again as she shrugged. “Sorry, not to sound like a stalker or anything but I’ve sort of been following you forever.”

  He chuckled at her honesty. “Forever, huh? I’m not that old.”

  She grinned. “No, I just meant since you played at the college level. My dad and brothers were big college football fans and they turned me into one too. Every Saturday we watched the big games, and you were our favorite player.”

  Normally talk of the good old days made him cringe. He hated dwelling on the past, especially the what might have beens if he hadn’t gotten hurt. Would he and Molly have gotten married and had that family they used to talk about? Would he have gone on to play in the NFL? Would he ever have gotten into showbiz and become a reality star?

  Probably not. He’d never pursued football for the fame, and his rise as a reality show star had been nothing short of an accident.

  She was watching him, waiting. That was when he realized he hadn’t exactly answered her question. “Yes,” he said. “My ex broke up with me while I was still in the hospital recovering from a bad hit.”

  Callie looked so pained on his behalf he felt the original sting all over again. Except, nowadays it was the twinge of an old wound, one that was covered over with so many scabs it was almost easy to forget it ever happened.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  He nodded toward the monitor. “I’m sorry for you, too.”

  “Don’t be,” she said, her smile growing a little too big. It wasn’t fake, just…forced.

  “Don’t be?” he repeated.

  She shrugged. “Brent—my fiancé—he just wasn’t ready for this next step. But he’ll come back, I’m sure of it.”

  Cole blinked. He had no idea what to say to that.
He didn’t trust himself to speak because an irrational wave of anger had him clenching his jaw. It wasn’t his right to be angry.

  Or jealous, for that matter. He definitely had no right to feel jealous. Still, he found himself battling a sick wave of bright green envy that wouldn’t be denied. He was jealous of a man who didn’t deserve her, who wasn’t right for her, who would never be the sort of man who—

  Clenching his jaw, he cut off those thoughts before they could go any further. That wasn’t reason talking, it was some base emotion he couldn’t explain. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that it wasn’t his place to judge. He didn’t know their situation any more than the gossip bloggers who’d written all about his broken engagement had known his.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper.

  “Like what?”

  She pursed her lips as she studied him. “You’re judging me.”

  He was about to refuse—no, I’m not. But he sort of was. Or he had been before he’d caught himself. “I guess I just don’t understand why you’d want him back after he left you.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Have you ever been in love?”

  The blunt question shocked him so badly he jerked back like he’d been punched.

  “Of course you have,” she answered for him with a rueful smile. “You were engaged.”

  He gave a little grunt of acknowledgment. He’d figured out a long time ago that what he’d had with Molly hadn’t been love. It had been attraction, and that was pretty much it. What they’d shared had been so insubstantial it wouldn’t have weathered the mildest storm, let alone the tsunami that was his career-ending football injury.

  But he didn’t say any of that to Callie. It wasn’t her business, and besides, that whole incident had helped him to realize that while true love might exist for some, it was a rarity. His parents had it, and he hoped that his little sister found the same one day. But that didn’t mean he was holding his breath for love to come into his life—he was almost certain it wasn’t in the cards for him.

  But this wasn’t about him. It was about Callie. And if he was supposed to fool the world into thinking they were a real couple, he supposed he ought to get to know her. “So, you’re still in love with him then?”

  He could have kicked himself. Of course she was. Wasn’t that what she was just saying? But to his surprise, the question seemed to take her aback. Almost like she hadn’t even considered it. Maybe it was just a given.

  She took a deep breath and picked up where she’d left off before…talking about Cole. “If you’ve been engaged, then you ought to know that those feelings don’t just fade.”

  “No,” he agreed gruffly. “Sometimes they’re ripped away from you.”

  She blinked once, twice. Then she straightened, and he could see her pulling herself together. “Yes, well…” He watched her swallow. “I was ready to commit my life to Brent, I’m not about to give up on him just because he’s made one mistake.”

  He stared at her in shock, uncertain whether her misplaced loyalty was applaudable or laughable.

  “You think I’m crazy.” She gave a little shrug, but he could see disappointment in her eyes. “That’s okay, my brothers do too.”

  “Not crazy, just…”

  He paused too long and when she filled the silence, her voice sounded bitter. “Pathetic?”

  His brows shot up. “No. Definitely not pathetic.”

  She hitched her lips to the side in an expression that said she appreciated the words but didn’t believe them.

  Without thinking he leaned forward and placed a hand over hers. “You’re not pathetic for being loyal. He’s pathetic for breaking his promises.”

  She kept his gaze for a long moment, and he was disturbingly aware of the warmth and softness of her hand beneath his.

  Finally, her eyes softened and that bitterness that seemed so out of character faded away. “Thank you.”

  He gave a short nod and pulled back.

  “And thank you for offering to do this,” she added quickly. Her eyes moved over his face and he steeled himself for this new, odd sensation of having someone trying so hard to read him. Most people found him intimidating, but not this woman.

  “I still don’t understand why you’re doing it,” she said slowly. “But I’m grateful.”

  He shifted under that warmth. It was too genuine, too…real. For a guy who’d been surrounded by shallow displays of affection for so long, the real deal was discomfiting.

  “So, what do we do now?” she asked, her gaze shy and nervous.

  He wanted to kiss her. The urge was so sudden and so overwhelming, he almost did it. Luckily he caught himself before he could do something unutterably stupid. He cleared his throat and looked away. “We need to start shooting next week,” he said.

  “That soon?”

  He flicked a look in her direction. “Didn’t you read the contract you signed? Once chosen, the filming process moves quickly.”

  She nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. “Yeah, sorry, I guess I…I guess I forgot.” She wrinkled her nose up in self-disgust. “I guess when I filled out those forms I never really thought we’d be chosen, and if we were…”

  She trailed off, but he could guess what she’d been about to say. If they were chosen, she would have had a partner. Someone to be there for support. And that jerk of an ex had let her down…again.

  He straightened but resisted the urge to reach out for her hand again. This was a professional arrangement. A crazy one, no doubt, and one he wasn’t sure he wanted…but he wouldn’t disappoint her like her ex. That was one thing he knew for certain. “We’ll get through this,” he promised. “It’ll be three weeks of lying and acting, and I can’t promise it’ll be easy,” he said. “But we’ll get through it…together.”

  He felt like a cheeseball, but her lips quirked up when he added ‘together’ so he forgot to be embarrassed by the corny sentiment.

  “Together,” she said with a little nod, like she was reassuring herself. She glanced down at her hands and when she looked back up, those big brown eyes were looking up at him through impossibly long, dark lashes. “I just…”

  “What is it?”

  She licked her lips and he found himself holding back a groan. “It’s just that I think you should know, I’m not much of an actress.”

  He grinned, and the suddenness of it caught him by surprise as much as it did her.

  “What?” she asked, her brows drawn together in question, but her lips tugging up as well. “Why are you smiling like that?”

  He shook his head. “You just make it sound like such a bad thing.”

  She arched her brows. “Isn’t it? I mean, we’re going to have to lie to the whole world.”

  “Not the whole world,” he said. “We’ll tell our families the truth, and a few close friends, if you need to.”

  She started to gnaw on her lower lip and he fought the urge to stop the nervous movement with a kiss.

  What was wrong with him? This was a woman in need of his help, not his date. Thoroughly chastened, he drew his focus back to the logistics. “We’ll stick as close to the truth as possible to keep it simple and convincing.”

  “Like what?”

  He shrugged. “We’ll say that your ex did leave you, but that you met me immediately after when I came to check out your house.”

  “All true,” she murmured, a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she waited for the lie.

  He gave her his best cocky smirk, the one he hadn’t used since college—back when he’d truly believed the hype about himself, back when he’d had no idea that it could all be taken away from him in a heartbeat. “You fell in love at first sight, obviously,” he said.

  She let out a shocked laugh. “Obviously,” she said, her tone teasing.

  He found himself hypnotized by the laughter in her eyes, the way it made her brown eyes twinkle and dance. “A
nd you?” she prompted.

  He arched his brows as if shocked by the question. “And I did, too…obviously.”

  She laughed again, and the sound went straight to his heart. “Obviously.”

  He found himself grinning like an idiot at the sound of her laughter before she brought them back on topic. “So, how is this going to work?” she asked.

  “I’ll have to move in,” he said.

  Her eyes widened but she pressed her lips together in lieu of responding.

  “And we’ll need to make a show of being a couple around town,” he continued. “Just show up at enough restaurants together that people honestly believe we’re dating.”

  She gave a short nod. “I don’t know too many people in town so it shouldn’t be too hard to convince people that I’ve moved on to someone new.”

  He wasn’t sure she realized how pained she looked. The opinion of her community clearly meant something to her—but it was either they believe she’d moved on, or they see her humiliation on national television. He had to remind himself of that before he did something stupid, like try to talk her out of doing this.

  Which would be best for him, really, so why did it feel so wrong?

  Because maybe for once in his life it wasn’t about what was best for him.

  “Cole?” She leaned forward, her brows drawing together in concern. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah,” he said quickly, thrusting a hand through his hair. “Just thinking.”

  “About?”

  About how long it’s been since I’ve worried about anyone other than myself. “Just thinking.”

  “So, a couple fake dates, and you…moving in,” she said, clearly struggling over that last part.

  “Separate rooms, obviously,” he said.

  She rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”

  “By the time the cameras show up we should be comfortable enough around one another to make it seem like we’re a happy couple.”