The Unreal Boyfriend

by Miranda P. Charles

  The server gave their little group a nod of acknowledgement and walked away to offer drinks to the other guests.

  “Thank you, Bernie,” Holly said. “Hopefully, that would give that woman and her friends something else to think about.”

  “No worries,” Bernadette murmured. If only Holly knew just how much she’d want to trade places with her in Derek’s heart, Holly might be horrified at what she’d just put Bernadette through. Pretending to be Derek’s girlfriend. Imagine that!

  “Shall we go get your drink?” Derek asked.

  Bernadette nodded and followed Derek to the makeshift adult drinks bar at the far end of the garden, away from the kids’ play area.

  “Holly Stirling, huh?” she said softly. “So she’s not on-again, off-again, after all, hey?”

  Derek didn’t answer, and she wasn’t sure if it was because she’d hit the mark or Derek simply didn’t want to be overheard by the other guests who were coming up to greet them.

  Let it go, Bernie. No point wallowing in that question.

  Easier said than done. Pretending to her closest friends that she wasn’t touched by the pain of disappointment would be hard. But for the rest of the day, she had to do her best.

  By five in the afternoon, Bernadette felt proud of herself. The guests had left except for the gang, and here she was, chatting comfortably even though Holly and Derek were sitting right in front of her.

  She couldn’t help but keep glancing at Derek, though. They hadn’t had a chance to talk about their little act. But then again, what was the need for a discussion? She was the one who’d effectively volunteered her services to Holly and Derek’s cause when she’d followed Holly’s lead of trying to confuse the caterer. Fortunately, the party was officially over, and the hired help had gone. Act well and truly finished.

  “This was the most relaxing time I’ve had in a long, long while,” Holly declared. “I’m still enjoying myself, but I’m afraid I have to go. Dante, my manager, is about a minute away to pick me up. We have to go through a few things for a round of interviews tomorrow for my new release.”

  “I’d walk you out,” Derek said, “but it might be better if I don’t. Paps might still be hiding out there.”

  “Sorry about that,” Lexie said. “I’ll walk you out.”

  Holly waved a hand dismissively. “No need to apologise. There’s nothing anyone can do about the paparazzi.” She hugged everyone goodbye, expressing her thanks for a wonderful day.

  To Bernadette’s surprise and relief, Holly and Derek only kissed each other on the cheeks, not the lips.

  “Catch up with you guys again soon,” Holly said as she hurried to the side gate with Lexie.

  “See yah!” Bernadette said cheerfully along with the others. Her glance strayed towards Derek, and she found him gazing at her in a way that made her heart race.

  She couldn’t look away, and she felt a pinching in her chest when Derek broke their eye contact.

  Why, oh why, did he have to look at her like that?

  Paige casually leaned over to whisper in her ear. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. I survived the day,” she said under her breath.

  “I still can’t believe you agreed to pretend to be Derek’s date today.”

  “You know me. Ever ready to be of assistance,” she said dryly.

  “Sorry, hon. I know it’s not as easy as you make it out to be.”

  She smiled at Paige. “I just need to keep looking for my Mr. Right. He has to be out there somewhere, unless I’m permanently cursed.”

  “Stop saying that about yourself! You’re going to find love and you know it.”

  Bernadette merely sighed. She’d be kidding herself if she didn’t admit that she was hurting a lot at that moment. Out of all the men she’d met, she’d been hoping against hope that Derek was her Mr. Right. Clearly he wasn’t, so she had to try harder to kill the love bud that kept growing fast and unstoppable like a weed. Luckily, she seemed to have found an effective poison for it now: Holly.

  “I think I’m gonna go, too,” she said to Paige.

  “Oh, please stay. There’s plenty of food left and we’re partying till dinner, like we usually do.”

  “I really just want to go home.”

  Paige squeezed her arm. “Okay. We’ll have lunch sometime this week. Just the two of us.”

  She nodded, rising from her seat as Lexie made their way back to them.

  “Gosh,” Lexie said. “I’d hate to be someone constantly on the media’s radar. A guy sprang up from nowhere after Holly crossed the road to get to her manager’s car. Holly had to speak with him just to make him back off.”

  “Now you know why I’d been so quiet about Holly,” Derek said. “I’d get in trouble with my clients if paps followed me around and got a photo of them checking out properties.”

  “Still, how could you have kept this from us for so long?” Tristan asked with a frown. “Since when have we become untrustworthy?”

  “Hey, you know it’s not that I don’t trust you. I was just keeping my promise to Holly not to tell anyone. That’s all it was—me keeping a promise.”

  Tristan shrugged, still scowling. But he did clink Derek’s beer bottle with his when Derek held it up as a peace offering.

  “Hey, guys,” Bernadette said. “I think I’m gonna head home, too. I have this headache that’s starting to get bad.”

  Her friends murmured their sympathies, and she refused to change her mind despite their pleas to stay for dinner.

  When she turned to Derek to say goodbye, their gazes locked for a moment—long enough to make her blush.

  Oh, for heaven’s sake, Bernie, the man has a girlfriend! And what makes you think you can compete with Holly Stirling?

  “I’ll walk you out, Bernie,” Lexie said.

  “Okay,” she said gratefully. She had to leave now. She couldn’t take much more of any of this.

  Lexie steered her towards the house instead of the side gate. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about Holly the moment you got here. It was just that other guests were arriving and I couldn’t tell you—”

  Bernadette put an arm around Lexie’s shoulders. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

  Lexie returned her hug and squeezed her tight. “Before you go, I have something to tell you about the paparazzo who approached Holly.”

  “I’m sure he’s not interested in me,” she said with a laugh.

  “I heard him ask Holly if she was going out with Derek McCarthy, the owner of Alpha Property Buyers Advocates.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. The man said he had photos of Derek leaving Holly’s house at eight in the morning last Wednesday, and that several publications were bidding for them.”

  “Gosh, Derek wouldn’t be happy about that.” And Bernadette didn’t like the picture that invaded her head. Her chest felt heavier.

  “No. But the pap also said that he was giving Holly a chance to give him the true story because he was a big fan, so he wanted to be as fair to her as possible. So Holly said she was definitely not dating Derek McCarthy. She said she simply had a meeting with Derek to interview him as a potential buyer’s agent for her brother, who was overseas, but that her brother has since decided not to buy anything yet. She also said she was sick and tired of all the fake stories being published about her, and pleaded with the pap not to sell the pictures.”

  “I don’t blame her for lying,” Bernadette murmured.

  “Me neither. Anyway, the guy tried to make a deal with Holly. He’d pull Derek’s pictures from sale, but he wants a couple of exclusive photos of her that he could actually sell. But before anything else, he wants proof that Holly and Derek aren’t an item. He said it was too juicy a piece of information to pass up if it was true. So… well… Holly said that Derek has a girlfriend and it wasn’t her. And guess who she mentioned when the pap insisted on a name.”

  Bernadette’s
mouth dropped to the ground. “No way.”

  Lexie placed a comforting hand on her arm. “I’m so sorry, honey. This just sucks for you big-time. But obviously Holly thinks you’ll be okay with it after the help you gave them today.”

  “Serves me right for being too helpful, huh?”

  Lexie smiled sympathetically.

  “Bernie!” Derek came rushing to them, eyes wide. “Thank God you’re still here.”

  Bernadette’s lips twisted. She already knew what Derek was going to ask. Could she go further with their act?

  And why on earth was she even considering it?

  “I just got a text from Holly and…” Derek raked his hair, his face a picture of mortification, uncertainty and apology.

  She sighed and gave him a smile. It wasn’t Derek’s fault he couldn’t return her feelings. Besides, she liked to think she was magnanimous enough to continue doing a good friend a big favour. What had she got to lose? Her heart was already used to suffering, especially when it came to him, anyway. So no big deal, right?

  And might as well be useful so she could forget being so… unwanted.

  Chapter 3

  Derek stared at Bernadette, his mind still in a jumble. He couldn’t believe the outrageous plan Holly had dropped in his lap. How could he ask Bernadette to help cover up his supposed relationship with Holly to throw off a paparazzo? This was a totally different ball game than earlier in the day with the caterers.

  He had no idea how to start explaining. He was too embarrassed even to tell Bernadette what Holly had done.

  “Lexie overhead what Holly said to the pap outside,” Bernadette said.

  His gaze flicked to Lexie, then back to Bernadette. So Bernadette already knew? Why was she smiling, then?

  Tension left his body at Bernadette’s countenance. She wasn’t mad, thank God.

  “Holly obviously thought I’d be okay with it again,” Bernadette said.

  He smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Bern. Holly said it was the first thing that popped into her mind. She did ask me to apologise to you in the text she sent me, and said she hoped you wouldn’t get angry. But, you know what? We don’t need to do it. This involves sections of the media who are not easy to handle. It’s not fair on you.”

  “So what are we gonna say if the guy approaches us for confirmation of our… relationship?”

  He shrugged. He hadn’t thought that far yet.

  Bernadette copied his shoulder gesture. “I’m happy to help.”

  He blinked at her. “Really?”

  “Could you imagine what would happen if that pap decides to sell the photos?”

  “Well,” he said with a heavy sigh, “I suppose gossip rags will check me out and dig some facts about me.”

  “Yup,” Bernadette said dryly. “They’ll probably follow you around in the hopes of seeing Holly with you. What if they track you down when you’re showing a mansion for sale to a star much bigger than Holly Stirling?”

  Derek pressed his lips together. That was a big reason why he and Holly hadn’t gone public with their supposed relationship. His biggest businesses came from recommendations from his high-profile clientele, who loved that they were able to inspect various properties with him without the media sniffing out anything. Paparazzi following him around would totally kill the reputation he’d painstakingly built, and worse, they might discover even more things he definitely didn’t want known. Still… “I can’t ask this of you, Bernie.”

  Bernadette pursed her lips. “If the paps believe I’m your girlfriend, will they still be interested in you?”

  “Of course not. As long as they don’t find out who some of my clients are.”

  “Precisely. And I doubt we’d have to pretend for too long. We’d only need to validate Holly’s words with some acting here and there.”

  His heart thudded harder. What would pretending to be Bernadette’s boyfriend entail? Hold hands with her in public? Hug her? Maybe even give her kisses on the lips?

  He couldn’t help his smile even though the last thing he needed was to have a photo of him being sweet with Bernadette plastered all over the news. The repercussions of that would be much worse. His Uncle Ross was bound to see something like that.

  But then again, hadn’t he just said that the gossip rags wouldn’t waste valuable space for an unknown couple like him and Bernadette?

  “Right now,” Bernadette said, “there’s only one pap to convince. It’ll be worse if you don’t validate what Holly said. But, of course, there’s always the option of you and Holly finally going public with your relationship—”

  “No,” he said hurriedly. “That’s definitely not in the cards. Holly and I are nowhere near serious enough to go public. It won’t be worth the hassle to my business and our respective privacies.”

  Bernadette flashed him a smile. “I’m really okay with this, Derek.”

  He finally let himself relax. “Okay. Thank you.”

  “So I suppose you should walk me to my car, then.”

  “Wait,” Lexie said. “If the pap is still out there, wouldn’t it look strange that you’re leaving separately?”

  “But he probably already saw us arrive separately, anyway,” Bernadette said.

  “We’ll just have to act extra convincing,” Derek said jokingly.

  Bernadette laughed, scrunching her nose. “I guess.”

  His heart skipped a beat. Bernadette could really be so cute.

  “Let’s go?” Bernadette asked.

  He took her hand and led her out the front door. Bernadette was such a good friend to be doing this for him, and he hoped he wasn’t taking advantage of her crush on him—if she still had it.

  Frankly, though, this felt great. How many times had he stopped himself from reaching out for Bernadette’s hand before?

  “Hope he’s gone,” Bernadette said under her breath as they made their way to her car.

  Feeling unusually buoyant, he snaked his arm around her waist and put his mouth against her ear, as if whispering sweet nothings to her. “You never know. They’re very good at hiding. Are you really okay with all this?”

  “Yes,” Bernadette said breathlessly.

  He smiled. Bernadette sounded thrilled. Was that just an act?

  From out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a man wearing a baseball cap get out of a red Nissan parked across the road. “He’s coming our way,” he whispered.

  They stopped in front of Bernadette’s car and Bernadette curved her arms around his neck.

  His breathing shallowed as his heart galloped faster.

  “Enjoy the rest of the party,” Bernadette said, her fingers caressing his nape.

  He pulled her closer to him. Damn, she felt good in his arms. “I wish you didn’t have to go so early.”

  “I know, but I have to.”

  “I’ll see you in a couple of days, then.”

  Bernadette nodded, staring into his eyes.

  Some force he couldn’t control made him dip his head and place his lips on hers. Mm. Nice.

  Bernadette flushed. “See yah,” she said shyly as she opened her car door.

  “Bye, babe,” he said, somewhat dazed.

  “Hello, there,” a man said from behind him.

  Derek turned around to face the paparazzo.

  “Are you Bernadette Luna?” the guy asked.

  “Yes?” Bernadette answered.

  “How long have you been going out with Derek McCarthy?” The pap indicated Derek without looking at him.

  “Excuse me,” Derek said, affronted. “But who are you?”

  The man glanced at him. “If I get an answer, I’ll tell you who I am.”

  He scowled. “We have no idea who you are, so we don’t have to answer you.”

  The pap shrugged, turning to Bernadette again. “What do you know of Derek’s visit to Holly Stirling’s house last Wednesday?”

  Bernadette frowned. “So you’re a reporter? Sorry, but no comment.”

  “Does that mean
you didn’t know about it?”

  Bernadette rolled her eyes. “Didn’t you notice we all came from the same party? We’re friends with Holly.”

  “And your boyfriend visited Holly at her house very early in the morning last week. Did you know about it?” The pap moved closer to Bernadette, making her take a step back.

  “Ask another question and you won’t want what will happen next,” Derek growled in a low tone, placing himself between Bernadette and the paparazzo. “And for the record, I am not cheating on my girlfriend.”

  “And here’s another one for the record,” Bernadette said from behind him. “I know about Derek’s visit to Holly.”

  The pap stood his ground for a moment before turning around and walking back to his car.

  Derek waited until the guy was out of hearing distance before whispering to Bernadette, “That was great acting.”

  “I was so nervous!”

  He chuckled. “Well, I think we were very believable.”

  “Phew,” Bernadette said before getting into her car.

  He bent down to her level. “Thanks again, Bern. We might have to be seen together a few more times. How about I pick you up from work on Tuesday so we can talk about it?”

  “Sure. Sounds like a plan.”

  “Great. I’ll give you a call.” He shut her door and watched her drive away, licking his lips.

  He and Bernadette had kissed. And he’d liked it a hell of a lot.

  Damn it, Derek. Don’t go there. You know you can’t.

  Derek got out of his car and walked towards his Uncle Ross’s Dural house. No one was lined up by the front door yet, with the business networking party hosted by Real Estate Product and Services Promotions not starting for another thirty minutes. No doubt tonight’s event would be well-attended. It was only the second time it was being held here since Ross Anton had bought the property less than a year ago. True to form, Ross was continuing to alternate the use of his various homes to hold these industry networking functions aimed at business owners involved in any products and services relating to real estate.

  Derek had to admit that these invitation-only parties were a stroke of genius. His uncle’s promotions business had gone from strength to strength, with various companies clamouring to get invited. In fact, Adele and Gerald Stirling—Holly’s parents—had been so impressed with Ross that they’d agreed to partner with him, selling twenty-five percent of their company to Ross, and making Ross the company’s marketing director. Stirling Mortgage Brokers was now the one and only mortgage brokering firm that Ross promoted to his slew of contacts.