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“Barely,” I croak, and he shoots me a sympathetic look.
“Do you want something to eat or drink?” He offers, and I cover my mouth with my hand.
“Not quite yet,” I say when the threat of puking all over the hottest man I’ve ever met passes.
“Gotcha.”
He takes a sip of his drink, eyeing me over the rim, and I focus on meeting his eyes without blushing.
“So, are we fake dating?” I ask when the silence stretches on too long.
“About that…”
I still can’t believe that he’s actually agreeing to this or even thinking about it. I know why I need a fake boyfriend, but this guy could walk into any bar or club, close his eyes, point at someone, and get a girlfriend. Why does he need a fake relationship?
“You don’t have to agree, of course. It would help me out, but I’m sure you have better things to do,” I say, already moving to stand.
“Wait! I kind of need a fake girlfriend, too,” he admits quietly, and I blink, plopping back down into my seat.
“Why? You’re…” I trail off, waving my hand at his impressive physique.
“I just got out of the military. I was medically discharged after an ambush. My best friend and sister are worried about me. They’re also together now and seem to want me to be just as happy and head over heels in love as they are.”
“And you don’t want that?”
“I’m not sure that I have time for it right now. Anson and I just started our own security company a few months ago, and we’re still getting it all setup. Adding anything else to my plate right now just doesn’t seem feasible.”
“We make time for the things that are important to us,” I whisper more to myself, but Rhett hears and gives me a sad look.
“We do. Dating just isn’t important to me right now.”
We share a look, and I feel like maybe this could actually work. It would benefit both of us, and it doesn’t have to be forever.
“If we do this, we should have some ground rules,” I say, and Rhett sits up straighter.
“What kind of rules?”
“Like a timeline. We’ll have an end date where we ‘break up.’ We have to have so many ‘dates’ a week or something.”
“Okay, I can agree with that. What else?” He asks, and I bite my lip, trying to think of other ground rules.
“Um, no dating anyone else or sleeping with anyone else during that time.”
“I wouldn’t,” he says, and I nod.
“Me either.”
“Okay, so we agree on those rules. What else?”
“I don’t know. I guess we can add more as we go?”
He nods, and I look around the busy café.
“We should get our background story straight and maybe some key facts about each other so if anyone asks, we’re all on the same page.”
“Well, I’m Rhett St. James. I was a Navy SEAL up until about five months ago. I was deployed and my unit was ambushed. I was shot and sent back to the VA hospital here. I got out after that.”
He pushes some of his hair out of his eyes, and I notice then that his left shoulder seems a little stiff. I’m guessing that’s where he was injured.
