Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 115308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
“What a turd,” Baird muttered, turning back to me. “You all right?”
I gently eased out of his delicious arms. “Just a momentary panic. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m quite a private person. I think I’ve posted five photos on socials in the last two years.” Baird, much to Hilary’s delight, already had a substantial social media following.
Many of his followers were women. Who were probably going to lose their minds when we announced our engagement.
The thought dredged up my main concern on Baird’s part in this plan: his playboy ways and just how difficult he was going to find it to abstain for three and a half months. Pennington’s wanted us to pick a venue from their selection for an August wedding. They would have to pull some major strings to host this wedding so quickly. But at least it would be over with by then. Once we completed the honeymoon shoot, of course.
“We can still make this go away,” Baird offered quietly. “If it’s too much.”
And lose my job?
Irritate his club who were already at their wit’s end with him?
“No. We’re too far in it now. Let’s swim. Swimming helps.” I pushed off before Baird could stop me.
The pool had always been the one place I could drown out the negative thoughts that often consumed my headspace when I was younger. Will didn’t know that was why I swam every week. I realized that I’d kept a lot of myself from my ex. Maybe because deep down, I’d known he wasn’t the right man for me? That thought hurt, so I pushed harder in the water until it faded.
For once, Baird didn’t try to joke or playfully pull me out of my worries. He let me swim, like he really understood that’s exactly what I needed.
There Baird McMillan went again, surprising the heck out of me in the best way.
Unfortunately, this … this was not a surprise.
Standing awkwardly at the edge of the cafeteria watching Baird flirt with the redhead who was sitting in what should be my seat, I felt a flush of agitation. He leaned in and whispered something in her ear that made her guffaw. She slapped his hand and squealed, “You’re so bad!”
Ugh. Could this scene be any more cliché?
A sick feeling churned in my belly.
Baird’s flirting had never bothered me before. It was almost a weekly occurrence for me to exit the locker room and find someone practically draped over him.
But here we were on the cusp of the biggest lie either of us would ever undertake, and he couldn’t stop himself from flirting with another woman on day effing one!
Sometimes, just when I thought Baird was more mature than everyone assumed, he’d do shit like this and remind me of our age gap. The level of my annoyance shocked me as it propelled me forward toward the table to slap some sense into him.
The arsehole had the audacity to look up at my approach and grin, totally oblivious to his wrongdoing. I did not smile back.
His expression fell.
I looked at the redhead. She scowled at me as if to say, “And you are?”
Therefore, I answered her out loud. I lifted my ring finger, letting the sapphire wink in the light. “I’m the fiancée.”
Her expression turned ashen as she turned to glower at Baird. “You’re an arsehole.” Then she stood and shook her head. “I’m so sorry. But you should know he’s an arsehole and good luck with that.” The redhead grabbed her backpack and hurried away, cheeks blazing.
To my shock, Baird was on the cusp of erupting into laughter. “What. Was. That?”
Was he kidding me?
I dumped my bag and took the seat the redhead had vacated. That stupid smile disappeared at whatever he recognized in my expression. “You promised me that I was safe with you,” I hissed at him. “This is a big bloody lie we’re about to tell the whole world. And you promised I was safe. I used to only be semi-joking about it being a physical impossibility for you to not flirt with everything that moves … but now I am seriously worried that you’re going to mess this up. We’re both on dangerous ground with this lie. We cannot screw it up and get caught with other people.”
Baird scowled. “My, I was only flirting with her. That doesn’t equate to sex, to cheating.”
I tried to ignore the flash of hurt or what the hell it meant. I didn’t want to think about it too deeply. “That’s not how other people see it. If Will flirted with other women in front of me, it would have not only pissed me off, it would’ve hurt my feelings. Very badly. People in serious relationships, unless otherwise agreed upon, don’t do that to each other.” I slumped in the chair and gazed across the mostly empty cafeteria. Dread settled in my gut. “I knew this would be your Achilles heel, and still I agreed to it.”