Page 11 of His Fake Fiancé

“Hey, Jake.”

He stopped and looked over at the sound of his name. Claire turned to stone against him. Bobbi-Jo Marshall stopped next to them. She smiled at him, batted her eyelashes. She had the cutest dimple in her left cheek.

“Hey Bobbi-Jo. How are you? It’s been a while.” The last time he’d seen her had been about five years ago, the night before she’d moved to Dallas to go to school. It had been a good night.

Claire let go of him and inched away. A weird feeling trickled through him, but he had no idea what it was. It was almost like disappointment. But that couldn’t be right. Not one to force anything, he let her go. Slid his hand from her shoulder and down her spine, to rest on the small of her back.

“Yeah, it has. How are you?” Bobbi-Jo tilted her head and reached over to run her finger down his chest. “I was hoping I’d run into you sometime?”

He shrugged, but shuffled back, out of her reach. Something about the whole situation was making him feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t a feeling he was used to.

“Y-y-yeah.” His gut clenched. The stupid fucking stutter happened when he got flustered, when his brain whirled around like that stupid mechanical bull in the corner of the Stardust. Today had been a way too much thinking day.

He plowed his hand through his hair and took a deep, quiet breath. Forced his lips to tilt up into an easy smile. “Been busy.”

He wasn’t sure, but he thought Bobbi-Jo might have flinched a little.

“Yeah, I heard. Congratulations on becoming a dad.” Her voice was too high, the words a little too chipper. “That’s really awesome.”

He was just about to say thank you when Claire tensed beside him. He glanced at her and spread his fingers against her back, unsure of the issue.

She was staring at Bobbi-Jo, her face like a blank negative. It was too careful, too practiced. For some reason, he didn’t like it. Wanted to fix it whatever the problem was. He started rubbing her lower back in gentle circles.

It seemed to help a little. Some of the tension leaked out of her. He’d take that as a good sign.

“Bobbi-Jo, you remember Claire?” He indicated his best friend with a tilt of his head.

“Yeah, it’s great to see you again.” There was serious ice in Bobbi-Jo’s tone. He wasn’t good at this stuff normally, but this time he almost got frostbite.

“You, too.” Claire’s lips hardly moved, the words barely more than a murmur.

He slipped his hand into hers, intertwining their fingers. Hers were still ice cold. He raised their clasped hands to his lips and pressed a kiss against the back of her hand. Her eyes widened so much he was surprised they didn’t pop right out of her head. He couldn’t help smiling at her reaction.

He looked back at Bobbi-Jo. “Claire and I are getting married.”

If he’d thought Claire had tensed up before, it was nothing compared to now. It was like the ice in her fingers had branched out into her veins, freezing her from the inside out, turning her into a Claire shaped block of ice.

“Oh, wow.” There was definite surprise in Bobbi-Jo’s voice. And the smile that spread across her face was phony. Forced. No dimple to be seen. “That’s so… nice.”

“It is, isn’t it?” He slipped his arm over Claire’s shoulder and tucked her back into his side. She didn’t resist exactly, but he could tell she was uncomfortable. And that made an uncomfortable feeling tug through his gut. He lowered his arm to give her some space.

She hesitated for just a second, just enough time for a half a beat, and then melted into his side. It was like he’d been kicked in the chest by a bucking bronco. Unexpected and breathless. She turned slightly and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her cheek on his chest, right over his heart. Automatically, he slid his arm around her and hugged her tight.

He pushed away the feeling of rightness that rushed through him. Today had been rough enough on his poor brain, he wasn’t about to throw any more logs on that fire.

“Well, I’ve got to go.” Bobbi-Jo glanced at her watch so quickly, there was no way she actually saw the time. “It was great to see you.”

“You too,” he said, and he truly meant it. He and Bobbi-Jo had fooled around a couple of times back in high school, and then a few times after. Before she’d left for school, she’d hinted she’d be open to them being more than just bang buddies. But, even if he’d wanted to do the whole long-distance thing—which he didn’t, ever, because there were just too many unknown variables when it came to those kind of relationships—Jake had never been the settling down type. He’d always been clear with everyone he’d been with that things would always be casual.

Except now, he really didn’t want to have to deal with whatever this was. He wasn’t interested in Bobbi-Jo, which was weird. Because he’d spent pretty much every moment since he’d hit puberty being interested in anyone that was interested in him. Maybe being a dad really had changed him. Maybe he’d actually grown as a person.

“It was nice to see you again,” Claire said, and there was an almost gleeful edge to her voice. He had to bite his lower lip to stop from grinning like a fool.

Bobbi-Jo’s very manicured eyebrows drew together and then she spun around and hurried down the sidewalk.

Claire started to shake, and it took a few seconds for him to realize she was laughing. At least she was trying to keep it silent so as not to embarrass Bobbi-Jo any further. Which was Claire in a nutshell. She was a good person, one that went out of her way to not hurt anyone, even when they weren’t very nice to her.

He laughed too, and wrapped his other arm around her, clasping his hands together at the small of her back. She was cradled against his front. Her softness felt so good pressed up against him. And he refused to delve into why he was feeling all these things for Claire when he’d just dismissed a ready-and-willing Bobbi-Jo. The only reason he could think of that made any sense was because of this whole fake engagement thing. He needed them to make this believable, so he could keep custody of his daughter.