Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
But dinner was relaxed. Raina and I sat side by side across from Miles and two of his teammates, and conversation flowed easily. The players shared stories about life on the road. The grueling away-game schedules, the strange hotels, the inside jokes that developed when you spent that much time together.
Raina contributed her own stories, most of them embarrassingly detailed accounts of her brother’s younger years. His teammates howled with laughter while Miles grumbled under his breath, though I caught the affection in his eyes when he looked at her.
She was close to him. Just like she was close to Kurt. I liked that about her, that she valued family and maintained those bonds even as life pulled people in different directions.
I had two brothers and a sister, and they were among the most important people in my life. Many of the women I’d dated came from wealthy families with complicated dynamics—strained relationships, long-standing grudges, or worse, complete estrangement. I didn’t know if it was something about their social standing or if I’d simply had a talent for choosing women whose values differed drastically from my own. Either way, it had always been a factor in why those relationships never progressed past casual.
Miles seemed at ease, laughing at his teammates’ jokes and stealing food off Raina’s plate in the way only siblings could get away with. But his sharp eyes also moved between the two of us more than once, and I could practically see the questions forming behind them.
Despite this being an ideal opportunity to practice our cover story, Raina and I weren’t acting like a couple. No lingering touches, no flirtatious banter. We were comfortable together, that much was genuine, but there was nothing romantic about our interactions.
I couldn’t quite stop myself from stealing glances at her, though. The way the low light in the restaurant caught in her hair. The animated way she talked with her hands. The cute dimple that appeared in her left cheek when she laughed.
But her brother clearly noticed my growing infatuation with her.
“So.” Miles set down his fork, his gaze sharpening as it fixed on me. “What’s going on between you two?”
His posture had shifted—shoulders squared, jaw tight. The easygoing hockey player from moments ago had been replaced by something more guarded and protective.
“Are you here as boss and employee?” he pressed. “Or is there more to this?”
A frown creased his brow, and his tone made it clear he wasn’t sure he liked either answer. I was tempted to confirm that yes, there was more, and not just for the sake of the story we’d told Alexander. But Raina spoke first.
“It’s complicated,” she said.
Miles’s frown deepened into something that bordered on a scowl.
“We sort of fell into a…fake dating situation for the sake of business,” she continued, her voice careful. I watched her fingers tighten around her napkin, along with the slight tension in her shoulders. She was nervous about his reaction.
Miles’s eyes narrowed, fixing on me with an intensity I recognized from the game. It was the same look he’d worn right before checking an opponent into the boards hard enough to make the man crumple.
“You’re making her date you?” His voice was barely above a growl.
I thought about the hit I’d witnessed earlier and how that opposing player had needed time off the ice to recover. I was in decent shape, and my twice-weekly kickboxing classes kept me sharp, but if Miles decided I deserved the same treatment, I wasn’t confident about my chances. He was a big guy.
“No, no. Nothing like that.” Raina leaned forward, worry creasing between her brows. “We’re just letting a potential business associate believe we’re together. Temporarily. It only has to last until Simon secures the partnership.”
Miles still looked like he was considering violence. “That’s… weird. Why would you need to pretend?”
I stepped in, explaining Alexander’s emphasis on family values and how important it was to him that his business partners shared similar priorities.
“And you think pretending to date is convincing enough?” Miles asked, skepticism dripping from every word.
“Well, I wasn’t going to pretend to be his wife,” Raina said, her voice lighter. “I’d have to remember a fake last name and wear a ring all the time. No thanks.”
Her attempt at levity fell flat. Miles didn’t crack a smile.
One of his teammates mercifully changed the subject, steering conversation toward next week’s game, and Miles let the interrogation drop. But I could feel his displeasure radiating across the table, and I knew this wasn’t over.
He waited until Raina excused herself to the restroom to confirm my suspicion.
“I don’t like the way you’re using my sister.” His jaw was set, his blue eyes—so similar to Raina’s, yet so much harder right now—boring into me.
He looked strikingly like Kurt in that moment, with the same sandy brown hair and stubborn set to his features. But Kurt had never looked at me like this—like he was weighing whether I deserved a beating. Then again, Kurt didn’t know about the fake dating arrangement with his sister yet. Maybe that confrontation was still coming.