“Sienna, I still haven’t even found a spot for my bookstore yet, and when I do open, I’ll only be able to afford to pay myself a salary of frozen meals and water.” Giving me a stern look, she says, “Call him.”
“There’s no point. I’m sure he’s already found someone else anyway. And there’s still no guarantee that going along with his plan will result in me being employed.”
“You have no other choice, babe. You’ve gotta call him.He’s a Kane, and he has huge connections within the architecture industry.” She pauses for a second before continuing, “Not to mention, a little fun in the sun could do you some good. If you wind up any tighter, I’m afraid you’re going to snap, and I certainly don’t want a documentary with my name in the title.”
Pulling out her phone, she makes a show of waving it at me.
Chuckling, I pull up Theo’s contact on my phone, her comment giving me an idea. “Fine. I’ll call him. But you have to go with me.”
“Uh, what now?” she asks, perplexed.
“I’ll call Theo and agree to go to his lake house with him, but you have to go with me. That way, if he does turn out to be a murderer, he’ll have to kill both of us, and we’ll either die together or be trauma-bonded for life.” I stick my nose a little higher, asserting the fact that I’m dead serious, no pun intended.
“I don’t even have a place picked out for my bookshop yet. I need to continue searching for places. I have my logo to design, I need to look into setting up my business license?—”
I lift my hand. “Well then, it sounds like you could use some ‘fun in the sun’ as well,” I say, throwing her own words back at her.
Her eyes squint, and she’s silent for a moment before she finally responds, “Fine, I’ll go with. Just call him already.”
Before I give myself a moment to hesitate and inevitably change my mind, I hit the Call button. Thesound of ringing on the other line fades into white noise as I anxiously await his answer.
If we’re going to do this, we will need a set of ground rules. There’s no way in hell this will turn out like one of Beth’s romance books. I need to end the summer having obtained an offer letter, not a boyfriend.
8
THEO
I’m lying on my bed, scrolling through my phone when Sienna’s name pops up on the screen. I’m surprised she’s calling me, given how I proposed the fake-dating scheme to her. When I first had the idea to ask Sienna to be my fake girlfriend, I hadn’t exactly planned on drunkenly blurting out the idea to her.
Tapping the Accept button, I answer, “Hey, I was beginning to think I’d never hear from you again.”
“Alright, I’ll do it.”
“Sorry, do what?” I know I’m playing with fire here, but I can’t help but mess with her just a little.
“I’ll be your girlfriend, uh, your fake girlfriend, I mean.”
A smile slowly spreads across my face at her acceptance.
“Perfect, I think you’re really going to like the lake house. It’s?—”
“Okay, look, if we are going to do this, we need some ground rules. And I have a ton of questions that needanswers.” My smile grows at her businesslike tone. She’s cute when she gets serious about something.
At that revelation, I realize she’s right. We will definitely need some boundaries in place if I’m having thoughts like that.
“Rules, hmm. Okay, let’s hear them.” Sitting up on my bed, an involuntary grunt slips from my lips.
“Is this a bad time?” Sienna asks.
“Not at all, just a little sore from the gym yesterday. So let’s hear those rules.”
There’s a slight hesitation to her voice when she responds, “Okay, here’s the deal, we need to keep things professional. Treat this like a business transaction. While we might appear to be dating in public, we need to be nothing but mere acquaintances in private.”
“Sounds like a plan, boss.” I try my best to match her professional tone, but it comes across as flirtatious.
“Okay, that right there, rule number one, no flirting unless we are in front of your family. And even then, we need to keep things light.”
Unable to help myself, I try to lighten her tone a tad by responding, “Aw, but flirting with you is so fun.”
