Not Fake For Long

by Parker, Weston

  “Unless I’m forced to call the authorities and press charges,” I said. “Then it’s absolutely a criminal investigation. Plus, all our loans are federally insured, which I think also makes it a federal crime. Tell me, counselor, will you be representing him in federal court as well?”

  The man looked down at my desk, unable to maintain eye contact. It was all the answer I needed. He was a spineless bottom-feeder pretending to be a shark.

  Hilton looked like he was about to throw up. Too blinded by dollar signs, the greedy idiot hadn’t even considered the potential for prison.

  Threading my fingers together, I slid my elbows forward. “Bringing this bogus lawsuit is suicide for your client. There’s no winning for you.”

  Hilton’s lawyer stuffed his documents back in his briefcase, still not looking at me. “We’ll see.”

  I ignored him and looked at Hilton. “You scammed desperate people. For that alone, I should call the police right now. And you’re not even sorry about it because you’re here trying to extort money from me too.”

  Hilton frowned. “You owe me.”

  I held my hand up toward him. “Don’t talk right now. Listen. I already gave you a chance to just walk away from this, and maybe I’m an idiot, but I’m giving you one more. Stop this lawsuit nonsense. Show me you’re done scamming and extorting people. Do that and we can part ways right now, just forget each other’s names.”

  Hilton was so pale now, he was practically translucent.

  Cocking a brow at them, I wheeled my chair back. “Was there anything else, gentlemen?”

  They glanced at each other, both looking suitably chastised, before they pushed their chairs back in unison. They left without another word, heads hanging and shoulders slumped.

  I doubted I’d hear from either of them again.

  My phone buzzed on the glass surface of my desk. An unexpected but not unwelcome name popped up on my screen. Keira and I had exchanged numbers so she could let me know about the wedding, and my mood lifted when I saw it was her calling.

  “This is a surprise,” I said. “How’re you doing? Missing the fresh air already?”

  “I was missing the fresh air before we even got back to the city,” she joked, but I also didn’t doubt that there was some truth to the statement. “But I’m good. How are you?”

  “Better now,” I said honestly. Hilton’s petty powerplay had put a damper on my morning, but things were looking up. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon.”

  “I wasn’t expecting to call you so soon.” She laughed softly, pausing for a beat before she went on. “I was actually wondering if you’d like to get together sometime.”

  “How’s tomorrow night?” I didn’t like playing games and I hated unnecessary delays. “I’d have asked about tonight, but I’m afraid I have a date with work already.”

  “So do I, sadly,” she agreed. “Tomorrow night is perfect. Have you got any preferences about where to meet?”

  “How do you feel about cheap and nasty? There’s nothing I hate more than uppity, pretentious places where the serving sizes are too small to feed a pigeon.”

  “Cheap and nasty sounds amazing. I know just the place. I’ll text you my address,” she said. “Does eight work for you?”

  “Like a dream.” I grinned as I cast my gaze toward the windows, wondering if she was calling me from any of the skyscrapers I was looking out at. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Keira.”

  “See you tomorrow,” she said, hanging up just a few seconds later.

  After I put the phone down, I sat back in my chair and stared at nothing while thinking about the fact that I had a date tomorrow. A date I was actually looking forward to for the first time in a long time.

  There was something there with Keira. All I had to do was figure out exactly what it was and how far we wanted to take it.

  16

  KEIRA

  Jamie and I weaved our way through the crowds in the mall, each of us laden with bags already. We’d only been here for about an hour, but there were several good sales going on, and we dove right in.

  The actual purpose of the shopping trip was to find something for me to wear on my date with Harrison later, but it was Saturday, and we had plenty of time. While I didn’t love shopping, it was always fun to spend some girl time with Jamie.

  “What have you got planned for the farm boy tonight?” she asked as she eyed a pair of very shiny heels in a window. “Something good, I hope.”

  “I think it’s good,” I said, thinking about the plan I’d been cooking up since finally mustering up the courage to call him yesterday. “I thought it’d be fun to show him around the city. He grew up here, and he still has some business here, but I’m not sure how much time he’s actually spent just exploring recently. So much has changed and I’d like to show him what he’s missing.”

  She grinned. “Damn right, girl. You show him.”

  “We’ll see how the night goes,” I said, returning the smile.

  She tapped the side of her lips with a manicured finger. “Showing him around could be fun. It really depends on him, though. If he grew up here and chose to leave, he might not be so keen on the bright lights of the big city.”

  “I thought about that, but then I remembered that this is New York. Everyone has their own spots, their own favorite haunts, and their own supposed secrets. He might not want to live here anymore, but I can always show him my New York.”

  She cocked her head, a thoughtful expression in her eyes as she nodded. “You’ve definitely got a point there. What’s your first stop?”

  “Drinks and dinner at Lucky’s,” I said.

  “Lucky’s?” She frowned. “As in the retro burger and hot dog place?”

  “Yep.” I grinned and rubbed my palms together villain style. “Craft beer, triple-fried fries, and no frills. I think it’s perfect.”

  “It could be.” She rocked her head from side to side, then smiled. “Yeah, actually I think it is. It’s a fun place, and at the very least, there’s always a bunch of interesting people there. If you guys can’t find anything to talk about, you can make up one of your stories about one of them and take it from there.”

  I knocked into her shoulder with my own, then linked my arm through hers to lead her away from the viciously shiny shoes. “There hasn’t been any awkward silences between us yet, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

  “An awkward silence isn’t the end of the world,” she said. “As long as you’re prepared for it. Knowing there will be some interesting people around at Lucky’s means you have possible talking points, but you can also think about some of the questions you’re worried he’ll be asked at the wedding and get out ahead of them.”

  “I’m not getting out ahead of those,” I replied immediately, shaking my head hard and fast. “If my suspicions are correct, Mom will drill him about whether he has aspirations to buy the farm he’s working on, Nick will try to turn it into a business opportunity where he buys the farm, and Dad will decide he likes farms and should be living on one. Hailey, in the meantime, will keep talking about said farm and how quaint she found it and the horses. It’s bound to be a mess.”

  “I love your family,” she said happily, sighing as she pulled away from me to dart to the window of a lingerie store. When I went to stand beside her, she glanced at me and shrugged. “I’m glad they’re not mine, but they’re fun. It’s crazy how you guys are so close that you can predict exactly who’s going to react in which way.”

  “It doesn’t mean we’re close.” I rolled my eyes, even if we were sort of close. “It just means that I know them and I know from experience how it’s going to go. Why do you think I’ve never introduced them to my boyfriends?”

  “I’m sure they’ll love anyone you do introduce them to,” she said, jerking her head toward the door. “Let’s go in. We still need to find your outer wear for your date, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to find your underwear in here for a steal.”
<
br />   I allowed her to drag me inside but stuck to her side when she started browsing instead of going off on my own. “I’m not sure they’d love anyone I introduced to them anymore actually. Maybe they would have, but it just feels like everything’s changed since Hailey started dating Nick.”

  “Changed how?” she asked, pulling a black contraption from the rack that seemed to be more strap than panel. “What do you think about this one?”

  I frowned at the thing on the hanger. “I don’t even know what that is, so I don’t know what I think about it. As for how everything has changed, I don’t know. It’s difficult to explain.”

  “Try to explain it.” She shoved the hanger into my chest, and my hand flew up on instinct to take it. “It’s a bra, and it’s meant to be worn with a very skimpy dress. If we find the right one, it will look like a part of the dress, but it’s sexy because it adds extra oomph and detail while making the guy wonder what the rest of it looks like.”

  “A bra that requires an explanation is not a bra.” I gave the contraption back to her. “The only way I can really explain it is that money has never been this important to my mom, you know? We’ve lived a comfortable life and she’s always been happy with it. Now, suddenly, she’s buying into Hailey’s rhetoric about finding a man who can take care of me.”

  “It’s not exactly a foreign concept,” she said, not hanging the contraption back on the rack just yet. “Parents have been wanting their kids to be with people who can provide for them for all of time. Would you just try this on? I think you’d look great in it.”

  “I’m not trying it on if I’m not buying it, and I’m not buying it. Besides, isn’t it a little counterproductive to have something that complicated on? It’d take an hour to get off, which isn’t really sexy. Especially not if you get stuck in it, and I would.”

  She let out a long-suffering sigh, but eventually the so-called bra went back to its home and we moved on. “We could’ve practiced putting it on and taking it off so you wouldn’t have ended up in a weird chicken dance trying to get it off later.”

  “So you do understand my concern with it,” I said, arching a brow as I smirked at her. “I’d just really rather not take a chance. A bra also shouldn’t require practice putting on and taking off at this stage of our lives.”

  She nodded. “Anyway, back to your parents. Why is it so wrong that your mom wants you with someone who can take care of you?”

  “It’s not wrong. I just don’t really see things that way.” I spotted a flash of blue as she browsed that caught my attention. “If Hailey wants that security, that’s great for her, but if I fall in love with someone, it’ll be because of who they are. If they’re rich, then fine, but if they’re not, then that’s also fine.”

  “So tell your mom that?” she suggested, her hand moving to the blue bra. “This one is beautiful. What do you think?”

  “I’ll give it a try,” I said, taking the hanger from her. “I have told my mother that, but now she’s worried I’m going to be alone for the rest of my life.”

  “Why would you be alone for the rest of your life just because you’re not a gold digger? Not that I’m saying Hailey is. I’m just saying that you not caring about whether a guy has money doesn’t mean you’re going to be alone for the rest of your life.”

  “I know that, but Mom seems to think the only reason I wouldn’t care about a guy’s finances is if I’m not serious about him. According to her, if a person is really serious about someone, finances have to be a consideration.”

  “I get that people need to talk about their finances if they’re serious about each other. I just still don’t understand how any of this translates into you becoming a spinster.”

  “Yeah, I don’t really get it either,” I agreed, adding a purple option to the blue one. “I think one of us might be misunderstanding the other, but the point remains that she’s on a mission to find me my perfect match. Now that Hailey’s getting married, it’s like she’s obsessed with seeing us both married off to suitable, stable men.”

  “All the more reason to take Harrison up on his offer. If he really is willing to pretend to be your fiancé, then that’ll get her off your back for a while.”

  “That’s the hope,” I said. “It’s going to be tricky to navigate that claim with Hailey knowing who he is and when I met him, but maybe I can talk her into giving me a break just this once.”

  “I’m sure she will.” She grabbed a black and a forest-green bra, handed both over to me, and then stepped back to survey the options we’d collected so far. “I think you’re ready to hit the fitting room.”

  “Agreed,” I said.

  We walked over to the curtained cubicles on the other side of the store, and I headed into the one at the end of the row. Once I’d narrowed it down to the purple bra and the green one, I headed back out.

  Jamie nodded approvingly when she saw which ones had made the cut, then led me over to the boxes with the panties in them. We selected two pairs that matched the bras, and I decided to splurge by getting both sets. I needed new underwear anyway. The bras I had almost all had the underwire poking through, and every woman would attest to the fact that there were few things worse in life than having a wire digging into the side of a boob all day.

  “Ready to go find a dress that’ll knock his cowboy hat off?” she asked.

  I laughed. “He’s not a cowboy just because he knows how to ride horses, but sure. Let’s go find a dress that’ll knock his socks off.”

  As we walked out of the shop, she rested her hand on my arm and squeezed gently. “Everything will work out with your parents at the wedding. I’d rather talk to you about tonight. How are you feeling?”

  “Nervous,” I replied honestly. “This is the first guy I’m going out with in a long time that I’ve felt like I have a real connection with.”

  “Just be yourself,” she advised before linking her arm with mine again. “Be yourself and be honest with him. That’s the most important thing.”

  “You’re right.” I shook out my free hand and dragged in a deep breath. “He’s a good guy and we’ve had a good time together so far. If we just keep being who we are and talking openly, we’ll have fun and I might just walk away with a date to the wedding for real.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” she said, glancing around until a smile spread on her lips and she pointed at a boutique a few doors down. “That’s the place. You’ve already got the guy for tonight. Jenny’s is where we’re going to find the dress.”

  “That’s how every great love story begins, isn’t it?” I teased, chuckling as I followed her. “Sexy underwear that also happens to replace worn-out ones, a guy I’ve had a one-night stand with, and a dress from a shop I never would’ve been able to afford if it wasn’t on sale.”

  “That’s what dreams and fairytales are made of.” She laughed. “Except, instead of a happily ever after, you’ll be getting a happy ending after.”

  A girl could hope, but that wasn’t the only thing I was hoping for from this date. If I was lucky, Harrison would still want to come to the wedding with me after getting to know me better, and then I’d have a fake fiancé to keep my mother off my back.

  What more could a woman want?

  17

  HARRISON

  Keira’s apartment was located in one of the better buildings in her neighborhood. When I arrived to pick her up, she buzzed me in and I climbed the four flights of stairs to her place.

  She opened the door just as I reached the landing on her floor, and my heart did a double-tap in my chest at the sight of her. Keira had been beautiful in her casual clothes and barely there makeup out on the farm, but dressed up, she was in another league altogether.

  I took her in from head to toe. My gaze started at the soft brown waves hanging to her waist, tracking past the deep green dress that hugged her in all the right places, and then going all the way down to the low-heeled boots on her feet. Delicate golden chains hung from her neck, the
longest one ending between her chest and her belly button.

  Her makeup was still lighter than most women I saw out on the town whenever I ventured out, but she’d given her eyes a smoky look and her lips shone with gloss. When she smiled, I swore the whole corridor between me and her door lit up.

  “Hey,” she said. “Sorry about the stairs. The elevator’s been out of order since I moved in. Do you want to come inside for a minute? I’m nearly ready to go, but I figure you might like a glass of water after that anyway.”

  “I’m okay on the water, but I’ll come in,” I said. “I’m used to taking the stairs. If I’m being honest, I prefer them to elevators.”

  “Freak of nature,” she said, but I saw the humor flashing in her eyes. “Okay, then. Come on in. I’ll give you a tour of my humble abode. It would’ve been a mansion, but the taxes in this city are just outrageous.”

  I laughed, remembering how much I’d liked her sense of humor right from the very beginning. “Mansions are overrated anyway. Do you even know how long it would take to clean one of those?”

  “I’ve never really thought about it, but I suppose if you can afford the mansion, you can afford the staff to clean up after you.” She smiled as she took a step back and waved me in. “Luckily, none of that is a problem for us. It takes me less than an hour to whip this place into shape.”

  “The way I see it, that’s a win.” I bent down to brush a soft kiss against her cheek when I reached her. “It’s good to see you again. You look breathtaking by the way.”

  “Breathtaking?” There was a small crease of uncertainty between her brows when she glanced up at me. “I don’t know if that’s the word I would use to describe me, but you look pretty good yourself. Who’d have guessed you owned shirts with buttons on them?”

  I laughed. “Unfortunately, I have quite a few button-downs. I’d live in T-shirts if I could, but I suppose those are the breaks.”