Page 33 of His Fake Fiancé

Claire started rocking, rubbing her hand up and down the baby’s back. Olivia fussed for a moment, until Claire started to sing.

She kept her voice quiet, in case someone else—and by that she meant Jake—came in. It was dumb, but she was self-conscious about her voice and singing in front of people. Which was one of the main reasons she hadn’t done anything with her music. Well, that and the fact that her dad and her brothers needed her. And so did Jake.

It only took a few minutes for Olivia to conk out, but Claire continued to rock her and sing softly, enjoying the peace of the moment. It was during this quiet time, when it was just her and Olivia, that she could pretend the baby was hers and the three of them were a happy family. It was dumb and dangerous, but just for a few seconds, she let herself believe it was true.

Soon enough, reality came crashing back and with a sigh, she pushed to her feet and lowered Olivia into her crib. Olivia snuffled and squirmed. Claire held her breath. But the baby just snuggled down and stayed asleep.

Claire tiptoed out of the bedroom, flipping off the light and leaving the room in the soft glow of the night light. If there was one thing Claire had learned over the years, it was that Mrs. C loved nothing more than a nightlight. Almost every room in her house and the guest house had one. She had to admit, it made it much easier to navigate at night.

Thinking of Mrs. C’s nightlights made her smile. She wandered down the hall and into the living room, thinking about all the things she had to tidy up before she went to bed. Maybe she could get away with just the most pressing and do the rest in the morning…

The front door crashed open and Claire nearly jumped right out of her skin. She was pretty sure her heart was rolling around somewhere in the attic.

Jake hobbled through the door. He was clutching his side, like he was injured. Without thinking, she rushed over and grabbed him. He sucked in a breath and leaned into her. He weighed a ton and she staggered a bit.

“What the hell, Jake?” Her voice came out strained. He really was way too heavy for this, and she wasn’t a weakling by any means. She’d grown up on a cattle ranch and rode horses almost every day. But when the full weight of a six-foot-three-inch cowboy was slung across your shoulders, you realized just how outclassed you were.

He made some sort of noise, part way between a snort and a moan. She managed to steer them toward the couch and then let go. He lowered himself to the couch with a groan.

She planted her hands on her hips. Was he drunk? If so, that was very un-Jake like. Yeah, they went out just about every weekend, but he rarely had more than a couple drinks. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him drunk. It was probably back when they were teenagers and everyone thought it was the cool thing to do. He’d had a bad experience when he went to visit his brother Mason back east when he turned twenty-one and hadn’t over imbibed since.

Over the years, she’d tried to get the story out of him, but he’d always refused. She’d managed to piece it together from stories she’d heard from Simon and Declan, who’d accompanied him on the trip. It involved a school playground and Jake ending up wearing pants that weren’t his own.

He groaned and flopped over, so he was half lying on the couch, his feet on the floor, staring up at her. He blinked a couple of times and then a slow, sexy smile spread across his face. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” she said, forcing down the tickling thrill that raced through her at how damn gorgeous he was. She needed to remain focused and calm. Hold on to her annoyance. He’d disappeared this morning, without telling her, and then just never came back. Left her to do everything with Olivia.

Honestly, she’d never realized just how hard it was. Up until now, she’d been playing. Coming over and entertaining the baby, changing her if she needed or feeding her, but not raising her. Being with her all the time, being responsible for her care and safety, being her fulltime caregiver.

There was a part of her that finally understood what Gina must have been feeling, doing this all be herself. And Claire had only done it for a single day. She couldn’t imagine it being weeks or months. And maybe Gina hadn’t had any help back then. Maybe she’d been doing it all by herself.

Deep inside, she hurt for the choice Gina had to make. While Claire wasn’t sure she would have made the same one, she was finding it increasingly harder and harder to judge the other woman for her choices.

“I can see through your shirt.”

A hot lance of something she refused to name swept through her at his teasing tone. She glanced down at her shirt. It was an old one, well-worn and plenty washed, which made not only made it soft, but super thin. Olivia’s bath had left it soaked through.

The fabric stuck to her skin, molded to her breasts. The lacey outline of her bra was clearly visible, which, for some reason, seemed to be fascinating to Jake. He was staring, almost like he’d never seen boobs before. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Men’s obsession with boobs was ridiculous. They were just boobs. Much like the one currently staring at her from the couch. “What’s the deal, Jake? Are you drunk?”

“No, I only had one beer.” He sighed and threw his arm over his eyes. His t-shirt rode up a little, exposing a strip of taut skin. Which she was so not focusing on right now. No matter how enticing it looked. Or how badly she wanted to reach out and run her fingers along it. Or maybe her tongue.

Focus, Claire.

Right. Back to the problem at hand. All six foot three, two hundred pounds of him. “You know what? Never mind. I’m going to bed. Goodnight.” She couldn’t keep the snark out of her voice, and honestly, at this point, she didn’t care. She was done playing whatever the fuck game this was. This whole thing had been a mistake from the get go. She’d known that, and yet she let her stupid heart talk her into it anyway. She turned toward the hallway.

Jake sat up and grabbed her arm. “Wait.”

She pulled her arm out of his grip and turned back to him. “Why?” she said, throwing her hands in the air. “You’re not taking this seriously, so why should I?”

He flopped back against the couch and stared up at her with wide eyes. A twinge of guilt flared inside her, but she squashed it before it could spread. She’d never used that tone with him before. When it came to Jake, she had a tendency to be reserved, to defer to whatever he wanted. But she was sick and tired of being walked all over, being taken for granted.

“I’m sorry,” he said, scrubbing his hand over his face.

“Do you even know what you’re apologizing for?” All of the starch slid out of her and she sank onto the sofa next to him. So much for standing up for herself.

He leaned against the back of the sofa and turned to face her. “No, but I’m sure it was something stupid.” He sounded as tired as she felt. “I always do something stupid.”

She turned her head and rested her cheek on the back of the sofa so she could get a good look at him. There were dark circles under his eyes, and lines of tension around his mouth. He looked so defeated, she felt herself softening even more toward him.