Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Parker snickered. “Wow, you’ve stepped in it now. I can’t remember the last time I even fibbed to my parents about my dating life.”
Declan cleared his throat. “No, you just lied by omission.”
There was a pained moan and lots of movement like Parker was throwing himself onto his fiancé. “No, it wasn’t an omission. I hadn’t given them an update about us because my life was so crazy. Totally not the same thing.”
“Anyway,” I said loudly, shoving the conversation onto the right track. “This whole boyfriend thing was to buy myself some time. My parents are in town for a couple of weeks, and I need a stand-in to go through the motions of being my boyfriend for at least one dinner. Maybe two. Nothing too hectic. After they leave town convinced that I am at least attempting to date, I can actually…you know…”
“Make yourself emotionally available to another human being?” Byron supplied in a voice that was decisively sharp. Fuck, Byron is way too good at reading Sebastian and his friends.
“Ouch,” I muttered.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” Byron shot back.
Yeah, I couldn’t do that.
There was a clap across the line and the sound of someone rubbing their hands together. “Yes, the fake-boyfriend storyline. It is one of my all-time favorites for romantic comedies,” Parker announced.
“Excuse me?” My life was not a romantic comedy. At that moment, it was looking more like a tragedy.
“Yeah, the rich guy or the prince needs a fake boyfriend so he can inherit the kingdom or the family fortune because the dotty old grandpa wants him to be happily settled before he kicks the bucket. Only the more time the prince and the fake boyfriend spend together, the more they fall—”
“What Pierce needs is someone who’s in on the con.” Liam cut in, ending Parker’s explanation. Part of me felt it necessary to hear the rest from Parker, but what Liam had summarized was true—not that I was a big fan of calling this a con. “Someone who would be comfortable and convincing acting all lovey-dovey but wouldn’t expect more after your parents left town.”
“Yes. That. Exactly.” I paused, my brow furrowing. “Unless you’ve got a better solution to dealing with my parents.”
“You could tell them the truth. That you don’t have any intention of moving to Boston and that you’ll find someone to marry in your own time. There’s no rushing these things,” Parker suggested.
Both Rome and Sebastian made noises. Of course, they knew my parents far better than Parker.
“Yeah, Rebecca Sutton isn’t the type to take no for an answer when it comes to her kids,” Rome countered.
“And it doesn’t help that his younger brother has been married for years and has two kids,” Sebastian added.
Parker snorted. “Then you’re fucked. Just good old-fashioned fucked.”
“If we stick with the fake-boyfriend angle, I think there is only one choice for Pierce,” Liam stated. He paused, a smug smile lifting the corners of his lips. “Simon.”
“No!” I barked, leaping to my feet as if my body were ready to flee the penthouse before Liam could say another word. Rome and Liam gaped wide-eyed at me, and there was silence from Rome’s phone, leaving me with the feeling that everyone on there was staring as well.
“It’s…only…that…I’m not sure…that’s a good idea.” I hemmed and hawed, not having a good excuse without stating the long and uncomfortable history that existed between Simon and me.
Rome turned to gaze at his boyfriend, his eyebrows beetling over his nose. “Really? Simon?”
“Think about it. You’ve told me that Simon is an old friend of your group. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind helping Pierce out and wouldn’t expect anything other than the friendship they already have. Not to mention, Simon has known Pierce for years. Other than coming up with a story about how they started dating, he knows all the basics of Pierce’s life and personality. If you brought in someone who’s a friend of a friend, they’d have to take a Pierce crash course. This saves time, and it’s the smarter choice.”
Fuck. Me.
Leave it to the scientist to posit a hypothesis and then come up with a cogent argument for why it made the most sense. I didn’t get the chance to untangle my tongue and argue.
“You know, that’s a pretty good idea,” Rome murmured. Sebastian and Declan chimed in with the same comments.
I dropped into the leather chair I’d been sitting in and rested my elbows on my knees. My tie felt as if it were choking me. I tugged it loose and opened the top button of my shirt. “Look,” I said as they agreed that Liam’s insane idea was brilliant, “we need to come up with a backup plan. I doubt Simon would even be willing to go along with this. He hasn’t been playing with the symphony for long, and he might not want the distraction from his work. We also don’t know if he’s seeing someone else.”