The Pretending Plot Read online

  “That kind of sucks,” Spencer said.

  “Yeah.”

  “But, are you into her?” he asked.

  “Hell yeah.”

  He wiped an invisible spot from the bar near me. “Then the answer is clear. You have to let her know.”

  “I thought I had.” My shoulders slumped and I leaned over my drink. A complete sad sack, that was me.

  “Maybe you thought you had, but if she’s not sure, make it clear,” Spencer said. He was emphatic, the way someone can be when they speak from experience. “Trust me on this. When I realized Charlotte was the one for me, I had to do something drastic.”

  “What did you do?” I asked. I was an actor with limited resources for extravagant gestures.

  “Laid it all out there for her. Told her exactly how I felt. That I’d fallen so damn hard for her and I couldn’t stand the thought of her being out of my life.”

  “And it worked?” I didn’t know if things could be that simple.

  “I’ll let you know when we get to our next anniversary.”

  I raised my glass in a wordless toast.

  “So listen,” Spencer said earnestly, “whether you love this chick or just like her, you need to make it abundantly clear. Put your heart on a goddamn platter and give her the choice to be with you.”

  I stood up and reached for my wallet, putting some bills on the bar. “You are a steely-eyed missile man. Or a wise man. Or Yoda. Or something. I’m gonna go find her.”

  “One more thing,” he said, taking my payment to the till. “Don’t show up empty-handed. Bring her a gift. But not flowers or chocolate. Get her something that matters to her.”

  Something that matters to her.

  I knew exactly what that was.

  24

  Reeve

  “Is this going to fit?”

  I held up the sweater thing and asked the saleswoman.

  She nodded. “Yes, for that size and weight. It’ll be a perfect fit.”

  “Okay. Can you wrap it? But nothing too girly. Maybe just a black bow or something?”

  The saleswoman nodded, and minutes later she handed me the gift. I paid for it, thanked her, and ran the few blocks from the Madison Avenue shop to Sutton’s apartment building. I buzzed once and waited. There was no answer. I called her. She didn’t pick up her phone. Damn, this was going to hell quickly. So much for my big gesture. I looked down at the gift. Was it even the right big gesture?

  I buzzed once more, but was met with silence.

  “Come along, darling. Let’s go home and have some dinner.”

  I smiled to myself at the sound of her voice, then turned around. She was looking the other way as The Artful Dodger sniffed a bush. She looked adorable in her jeans and pullover jacket. She had a scarf around her neck, and her hair was down. I loved her hair. I wanted to bury my face in her hair, and run my fingers through those beautiful strands.

  I ran down the steps and stopped in front of her.

  “Oh.” She seemed taken aback to see me.

  “Hi.”

  She tried to rein in a smile. It was like she was rearranging her expression. It was adorable and I loved it. “Hello.”

  “How are you?”

  Then she returned to in-control Sutton. “I’m great. How are you? Are you so excited about the movie? I bet your agent is thrilled. I’m so proud of you. I knew you could do it.”

  I placed a hand on her arm. “You’re babbling. You’re making small talk. You’re chatting about business. I’m not here for business reasons. I’m here on personal reasons,” I said and smiled at her. I hoped she knew the smile was for her. That it was for real. But hoping and wishing wouldn’t be enough.

  “Sutton, I stand by what I said in the wine closet. You are the most stubborn and complicated woman I have ever known. But I also want to get to know you. I want to know the real you. I want to walk your dog with you and find out how you drink your coffee, and I want to see what you look like in the morning, and even if you think you don’t look hot in the mornings, I already know you’re wrong because you are always hot to me. I said yes to the job because I had a thing for you. I had a crush on you. And then I spent a week with you, and now I have a hell of a lot more than a crush on you.”

  I watched her as her features softened, as her hard shell started to break. “What do you mean more than a crush?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Sutton Brenner, I. LIKE. YOU. Okay? Not like fake fiancé like. Not like pretend boyfriend like. Not like an actor-trying-to-get-a-role like. I have fallen into mad like with you. And I have no idea if you like me back, okay? You needed something from me and yet it’s like you doubted me every step of the way, and I could be making a complete ass of myself and reading everything wrong, and maybe it was only one way. Maybe it was only me for you. But if you like me at all too, then let’s just see what happens when we’re not trying to get something.”

  Sutton muttered something in a small voice.

  I shook my head. “I didn’t hear you.”

  “I’m sorry I was difficult. I’m sorry I was infuriating. I’m sorry I was hot and cold.”

  “It’s okay,” I said and moved closer to her. I glanced down and saw The Artful Dodger wagging his tail. “Your dog looks happy.”

  “He’s always happy,” Sutton said with a smile. “He’s also especially happy when I’m happy.”

  “Are you then? Happy?”

  “I like you too,” she said, and I knew how hard it was for her to say those words.

  My lips curved into a grin. “For real?”

  “For real. So for real it’s like beyond real,” she said, unable to stop smiling too. “I like you almost as much as I like my dog.”

  I wrapped her in an embrace. “Now that’s saying a lot. And speaking of, I got him a gift.”

  25

  Sutton

  My fingers became thumbs as I nervously undid the ribbon. My heart fluttered, and my body sang, and I felt so foolish for having doubted him. I’d been falling for my actor boy, falling so hard I’d feared how much it would hurt. Now he was here, and he had a gift for my dog. I held The Artful Dodger’s leash tightly in one hand as I opened the box.

  I gasped when I saw what was inside. A perfect navy-blue fleece coat for the winter months. I pulled it out quickly. “It’s the perfect size for him! How did you know his size?”

  Reeve shrugged. “Told you I was good with sizes. I took a wild guess that he was about nine pounds. Was I right?”

  “He’s exactly nine pounds! You got my dog a gift,” I said, and maybe it seemed small, and maybe it seemed silly, but the fact was Reeve knew the way to my heart was through my dog. “I can’t wait to put it on him. Let’s get rid of this old ratty coat and take him for a walk in his new one.” Then I stopped talking and my nerves came back. “That is, if you want to.”

  “Sutton Brenner, I went into a dog accessory shop on Madison Avenue. Yes, I want to walk your dog with you. But there’s also something I want you to do for me.”

  “Yes?”

  “I want you to ask me to spend the night with you, and I want you to let me stay over.”

  I blushed. My hesitation had nothing to do with reluctance and everything to do with savoring this moment. “Reeve, will you spend the night with me?”

  His smile lit up my heart. It was mine. He was mine.

  After we shed our jackets and shoes, I took his hand, threaded my fingers through it, and led him to my room. I took off my shirt, my pants, my knickers.

  Well, that’s not precisely true.

  He took off my knickers.

  And he seemed to savor every moment of the undressing.

  I trembled as he removed that last item of clothes, then as he regarded me. “You’re beautiful,” he said, and he looped an arm around my waist. “And you’re mine now.”

  I thrilled at the possessiveness, loving the way he wanted to claim me with his words, with his touch.

  But there was the little problem of his lack o
f nudity.

  I tap-danced my fingers along his chest. “You’re mine too, but I like you in your birthday suit.”

  He wiggled his brows. “Then you can have me that way. And then you can have your way with me.”

  He stripped off his clothes, took me to bed, and covered me with kisses, layering soft, sweet kisses on my neck, my breasts, my belly. I shivered from his touch, closing my eyes.

  Someone else was enjoying the moment too, because when I opened my eyes, my little darling—the four-legged one—was sitting on the pillow, wagging his tail, watching.

  Reeve laughed. “Someone’s a little pervert.”

  “He’s absolutely a perv,” I said with a grin. “But he’s a well-trained one.” I pointed to the floor, “Down, love.”

  The Artful Dodger shot me a profoundly sulky look but did as he was told.

  Then it was just me and Reeve, this wonderful man. This charming, dirty, vulnerable, sweet, and rough man I’d fallen for.

  His hands traveled up my body. His lips brushed kisses over me, and I felt cherished.

  I felt adored.

  And I felt us both falling into each other.

  Soon our kisses and our touches turned heated, and he reached for a condom. Before he rolled it on, though, I set a hand on his chest. “I’m clean and on protection.”

  “I’m clean too,” he said, and then he spread my legs, positioned himself between them, and sank inside.

  I moaned from the sheer pleasure, from the utter intensity, and from the unexpected newness.

  This wasn’t our first time.

  But in a way it was.

  He looked at me like it was.

  And when he whispered, “Hi, beautiful,” I felt that it, too, was a first.

  The first time he’d made love to me.

  That’s what it was as we moved together, tangled up in each other, arms, legs, sweat, heat, and breath.

  Soon, we were both panting, gasping, moaning each other’s name and falling over the edge.

  After, as we lay there sated, I took another leap. I kissed his cheek and whispered what was completely real. “It’s not just like. I’m falling for my fake fiancé.”

  He smiled, kissed my nose, and whispered, “It’s so much more than like. I’m falling for my girlfriend.”

  That’s what I was now.

  That’s what I wanted to be.

  He nodded and leaned in to brush his lips against mine, and it felt so good. It felt right. It felt real.

  Epilogue

  Reeve

  * * *

  Present Day

  * * *

  The metal dug into my wrists. The bright lights shone on me. I was handcuffed to the bedpost on set, wearing only my boxer briefs and cowboy boots. Because that’s what the script dictated the lead actor in Escorted Lives should wear in this scene. And I had not only won a part, as Janelle had promised, I’d won the starring role.

  “Tell me when it hurts,” the actress playing opposite me said.

  “Doesn’t hurt,” I said.

  Her hands wrapped around me, tugging on each end of the handcuffs, tightening them. I felt another pair of hands slide up my back. I sucked in a breath. I could have acted. I could have pretended it didn’t feel great when Sutton Brenner touched me. But it did, it had, and it probably always would. Even now, five months later, five months into our real relationship, everything with her was amazing, right down to the real ring I’d bought for just the right moment. We’d fallen fast into real like during that one week, and even faster into real love in the months that followed.

  But she wasn’t acting in the film with me, so she stepped back to take her post with the crew and watch the pivotal scene as the leading client had her way with her male escort. Everyone had their thing, in film and in real life.

  Sutton and I had ours. We’d done plenty of wild things in our time together, but my favorite—and Sutton’s too—was when I asked her to beg for it. She always did, and I always made sure she was rewarded.

  Then we’d fall asleep together, and wake up together, and go to dinner and the movies and dog walks together, and every real second with her was as excellent as every pretend second had been.

  Better, actually.

  But for now, I put Sutton and our times out of my mind. I had a role to play. A job to do. I was an actor, and I gave it my all as the camera started to roll.

  Another Epilogue

  Reeve

  * * *

  A little later

  * * *

  I pulled out a green slatted chair from the round table and waited for my woman to sit in it. She did, crossing her sexy legs.

  I bent closer to her ear. “Love this view,” I said, then brushed my hand up her arm and along her collarbone. She murmured, and I enjoyed the sound of her desire.

  But there would be time later to stoke fires and put them out in the best way possible.

  I took a seat across from her at the Sunshine Bakery. The night of the Pinkerton’s dinner, I’d told her I’d take her here. It might have been a small thing, but I wanted Sutton to know I was a man of my word, so we’d gone together and had been many times since.

  She slid the yellow plate closer to me. “Your heart’s desire. A grapefruit macaron.”

  My stomach rumbled. I did indeed love grapefruit in all its forms. I picked up the treat and popped it in my mouth. I moaned in delight. “It tastes like citrus and sunshine and sweetness.”

  Sutton grinned happily. “You need to tell Josie how much you love it.” She gestured to the bakery counter, where the woman who owned this shop worked. But the brunette was occupied chatting with a man at the counter.

  But I only had eyes for Sutton. I had the ring I’d gotten her, the one that came with a very particular question, in my pocket, waiting for me to decide on the perfect moment.

  But there is no perfect moment. There was this moment, though, and I wanted to grab it so that it never became a lost moment.

  “It was delicious,” I told Sutton. “But that’s not my heart’s desire.”

  Something in my expression must have given something up. It seemed ridiculous that she had ever worried about the truth of my feelings, when I could hide nothing from her.

  “It’s not?” she asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Italian food, then?”

  “Not that, either.” I slid forward in my seat and took the ring box out of my pocket. “It’s a brilliant leggy brunette who I want in my life forever.”

  She covered her mouth with her hands and tears brimmed on her lashes. “Reeve . . . Truly?”

  “I would never lie to you.”

  The next moment we were on our feet, then I swept her off hers and into my arms. There was laughing and crying, and then Josie and her guy in scrubs realized there was something going on and there was more laughter, more tears—but happy ones, all of them.

  Happy and bright and sweet like a grapefruit macaron.

  * * *

  THE END

  * * *

  Curious about Sutton’s friend McKenna? Dive into her fun, fresh, sexy fake fiancé romance THE DATING PROPOSAL, available everywhere.

  How about Chase and Josie? What’s the story with their crazy chemistry and flirty glances? Find out in FULL PACKAGE, a sexy, hilarious friends-to-lovers romance. FULL PACKAGE is a full-length rom-com and it is available everywhere! Sign up for my newsletter to receive an alert when these sexy new books are available.

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