Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
I smiled. “The last thing you should apologize for is being married to a man who adores you.”
“I know, I know. Have a seat,” Raven said, indicating the chair in front of the desk as she settled into the one Remy had just vacated.
I did, and for the next few minutes we talked about Raven’s birthday party that weekend. How genuinely surprised she’d been, and how much fun everyone seemed to have—all the while I kept thinking, how the hell was I going to tell Raven about the predicament I’d gotten myself into?
“So, what’s up that you needed to come in early and talk to me?” she asked once that initial idle chitchat was over.
I exhaled a deep breath, trying not to squirm in my chair from sheer awkwardness. “There’s, umm, something important I need to tell you, and a request I need to make.”
“You can relax, Stevie,” she said, clearly seeing my discomfort. “I already know.”
I stared at my friend, trying to read her expression, trying to figure out what she was referring to. “You already know what?” I asked cautiously.
She leaned back in the leather chair and grimaced. “God, Caleb is going to kill me,” she said beneath her breath.
“Or I’m going to kill him,” I said through gritted teeth, suspecting that Caleb had already gotten to Raven before I had, which didn’t make me happy. “What do you already know?”
“Please don’t be mad at him,” she said quickly, trying to ward off my displeasure. “I know Caleb only had good intentions—”
“What do you already know?” I asked for the third time, more sternly now so she’d quit beating around the bush.
She exhaled a deep breath. “He called me earlier and explained what happened with Alyssa yesterday morning, and how you’re doing him a favor by being his pretend girlfriend for the next two months, until the custody case is over,” she said in a rush to get it all out in the open. Then, a small smile curved her lips. “But let’s be honest here…are things really fake between you two?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, not ready to admit to anything.
She arched a brow. “Clearly, you two hooked up Saturday night, in order for Alyssa to find you together the next morning. Which means you both finally gave in to the attraction you’ve been dancing around for the past year. There was nothing fake about that.”
“It was only supposed to be one night,” I said.
She laughed. “Caleb didn’t sound all that upset that your one night was extended to two months.”
“It’s…a job,” I argued, trying not to read too much into her comment. “He’s paying me to be his girlfriend.”
“As he should, since he roped you into it,” she said, then grew serious. “He asked that tonight be your last shift until your arrangement ends, which isn’t an issue if that’s what you want since I have other waitresses wanting to pick up extra shifts. But I told him that was a presumptuous request to make on his part and also not his choice, since you might need the money and want to work the night shift longer.”
“No,” I said, and sighed, appreciating the fact that Raven hadn’t automatically caved in to Caleb’s demands. “Your brother is paying me very…generously. And also putting me up in one of his apartments at The Cortland.”
Raven tapped her fingers on the desktop, her eyes gleaming with interest. “Well, that’s convenient.”
“Stop,” I told her, not wanting her to get fanciful ideas in her head about Caleb and me. “It’s not like that. He doesn’t like where I live and feels it’s safer for me, and Valerie, to be there for the time being.”
“He’s a really good guy, Stevie,” Raven said softly. “He’s also very…protective of those he cares about.”
Now it was Raven who was making assumptions, because while I did think that Caleb worried about where I’d lived, caring for me was much too intimate of a statement and not something I was willing to interpret too deeply.
“I never said he wasn’t a good guy,” I said, focusing on that comment instead.
“I know…he just got screwed over by Alyssa, before the divorce, and now, again, with her using Owen to fuck with his emotions,” she said, upset on his behalf. “Thank you for helping him out.”
I tipped my head and gave her a half grin. “You do realize that I wouldn’t be in this predicament if he hadn’t volunteered me as his girlfriend, right?”
She gave me a saucy look. “And you do realize that you wouldn’t be in this predicament if the two of you finally hadn’t done the deed and gotten caught, right?” she shot right back at me. “But you did, and I say just…open yourself up to the possibilities.”
That was easier said than done, because the last thing I wanted to do was set myself up for potential heartache. Raven got lucky with Remy, but rich, successful men like Caleb didn’t normally gravitate toward women like me. When it came down to brass tacks, Caleb and I were complete opposites, and I didn’t fit into his sophisticated, cultured world. Giving in to our sexual attraction was one thing, but I wasn’t about to disillusion myself into believing that this current situation of ours was anything more than a business deal, as Caleb, himself, had stated.