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)
“It’s like you said; it’s only going to mean a date or two,” Liam coaxed.
Rome nodded, tossing his arm around Liam’s shoulders to pull his boyfriend closer on the sofa. “Yeah, it’s not like your parents are going to be in town for months. It’s a couple of weeks at most.”
“Does anyone have any other friends who might help me out?” I’d considered hitting the dating apps, or even—God help me—Grindr with the thought that I could hire someone to pose as my boyfriend, but that was almost guaranteed to blow up in my face.
After some murmurs and verbal shuffling, no one seemed to have any better suggestions than Simon.
I could see Liam’s logic. Simon was the best choice. If we didn’t have all this extra baggage—some of which he didn’t know about—he could slide into this role of fake boyfriend without even blinking an eye. But the fact was, there were these lingering issues I didn’t want to deal with.
And then toss in that stupid kiss from two weeks ago…
What the fuck was I supposed to do?
“Pierce.” Rome leaned forward, staring into my eyes. “Call Simon. Talk to him. We all know you’ve got some problems with him. Or maybe it’s a problem with Sawyer. We don’t know. You won’t talk about it. But don’t you think it’s time? You’re both adults. Fucking act like it.”
His delivery would have been perfect if not for Parker snickering across the conference call.
“You’re telling him to act like an adult while plotting to acquire a fake boyfriend so he doesn’t have to tell his parents the truth,” Parker said, giggling.
Yeah, I got the irony.
“I’ve tried telling my parents the truth,” I growled at Rome’s phone on the coffee table between us. “They’re not listening. This is to buy me some time until I can find an actual boyfriend like you disgusting assholes.”
“But imagine, Pierce,” Byron began, “if you find yourself a real boyfriend, you can be a disgusting asshole just like us.”
“I hate you all,” I muttered under my breath, but it must have been loud enough because several of them laughed.
Rome and Liam were right. Simon was my best bet. And it was time to act like an adult, at least where Simon was concerned. We needed to talk about how I would never date him and how the kiss was a mistake that could never be repeated.
Then, I would ask him to be my fake boyfriend.
Fuck, why is this my life?
4
SIMON MILLER
Good luck.
That was the message I woke up to on my phone from Liam.
I couldn’t imagine what he was wishing me luck on. I hadn’t told him about the kiss that had happened at Declan’s birthday party because I didn’t have a plan yet for how I was going to follow up on it. Pierce was an expert at dodging me, and I’d gotten busy recently with the symphony.
Of course, I wasn’t just going to let it go. Pierce had kissed me back. He’d devoured my mouth and held me as if he’d wanted to merge our bodies into one. That wasn’t the kiss of someone who was completely indifferent. However, breaking through all his protective walls was proving to be relatively impossible when he was stone-cold sober.
Before I could reply to Liam’s message asking for more information, I received a different message. An invitation, in fact.
From Pierce.
For drinks.
Well, well, well. Isn’t this interesting?
Considering the timing of Liam’s message, I had to wonder if my new friend had something to do with this. If so, I owed him so fucking big.
I didn’t hesitate to accept Pierce’s invitation to meet, but I was firm on the idea that I would not meet him at a bar. He already possessed the easy excuse that the kiss we’d shared was an alcohol-fueled impulse that would have never happened under normal circumstances.
Bullshit.
I knew it. He knew it. But currently I had zero proof.
So, to not further compound our mistakes, I demanded that we meet at the same quaint coffee house where I’d chatted with Liam not long ago.
It was after four when he strolled in looking like a goddamn snack. He was wearing a pair of slacks and a black turtleneck, showing off his impossibly broad chest and shoulders. Of course, every single person stopped what they were doing to gawk at him—not that he appeared to notice. He just stood near the entrance, his eyes scanning the coffee shop until he finally spotted me.
And maybe I sat up a little straighter, smiling smugly on the inside as that hot man walked directly to me.
Yes, be jealous. Let me feed on your jealousy.
I’d waited a lifetime for this man, and I wanted the entire world to be envious of every second I stole with him.
When he reached my table, his scowl was firmly in place as if it were all my fault that he had to speak to me. He’d been the one to make this “date.”