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He rolls his eyes. “Anyone who sees you in that dress will know why I asked you out. Though if you’re as mouthy as usual, they might wonder why I kept asking.”

* * *

Hayes’s father and, um, stepmother live on a magnificent estate in Newport, surrounded by fields and trees, completely private. The house itself looks like an English castle, massive and stone-fronted. It even has ivy growing up the sides.

“Oooh,” I say delightedly, smiling wide. “I see why she chose him now.”

He levels me with a stare. “Yet you call me Satan.”

We walk inside, and a maid in full uniform takes the gift Hayes has brought—purchased and wrapped by me, of course—and offers us champagne before leading us to a backyard drenched in late afternoon sun, where there’s an elephant alongside the standard moonbounce/trampoline/swimming pool set up.

He gives me a quick half-smile. He’s as beautiful and confident as ever, but I see something uncertain and young in his eyes that breaks my heart. I’m going to be the best fucking fake girlfriend in the world today, just for him. My hand slides into his, soft to rough, small to large. He squeezes gently as his thumb skims across mine, and my body responds to his touch like it’s starved for attention. I want to memorize every callous, the pressure of it. Sure, I’m doing this for him…but I think I’m going to enjoy it more than I should.

A little girl, blonde and leggy like Ella, springs at him, throwing her arms around his waist. “What did you bring me?” she demands.

“I made a donation in your name to the NRA,” he replies, swinging her into the air. “Happy birthday.”

She grins. “Liar! You did not!”

“Hudson,” says a chiding voice, “that’s enough.”

I glance up to see Ella and Hayes’s father approaching. His father is nearly identical to who Hayes will be in twenty years, and Ella’s beauty is every bit as ethereal and delicate as it appeared in her photos, though there’s something a little icy in her blue eyes. Maybe it’s simply that I know who she really is.

“Tali, this is my father, Michael, and my stepmother, Ella.” I enjoy watching Ella wince at the word stepmother.

“Tali, it’s so nice to meet you,” Michael says, shaking my hand. “I was beginning to think Hayes would never bring a female over.”

My eyes widen. I’m not sure if he’s making a terrible joke about the last time he got introduced to one of Hayes’s girlfriends or if he’s put it so far out of his head, he’s forgotten what he did.

Ella colors prettily. “What a nice surprise. Hayes has never mentioned you.”

Acid begins to drip, drip, drip in my chest. After everything she did, is she really trying to sabotage the first relationship she’s seen him in? Dear God, I’d love to put this woman in her place.

“When would I have mentioned her?” Hayes asks calmly. “I haven’t seen you since the holidays.”

Her smile fades. My hand squeezes his. Well done.

“Has it been that long?” Michael asks. “Madness. We really need to see more of you. Come get some food.” He turns toward the buffet, walking beside us.

“I assume you’re an actress,” he continues to me. “Hayes might have mentioned I’m doing a remake of Roman Holiday.”

Hayes never mentions you, ever. “Oh, I didn’t know. But I’m not an actress. Have Hayes tell you about my amazing British accent, though.”

Hayes smirks at me. “She sounds like a pirate, and all her knowledge of England appears to have come from Mary Poppins and Harry Potter.”

“I quote My Fair Lady a good bit as well,” I agree.

“I wondered where you got it from. Top o’the morning guv’ner,” he adds, in a hardcore Cockney accent that makes me cackle in a very non-classy way.

“What do you do, Tali, if you’re not an actress?” Ella cuts in more forcefully. Her tone has a mocking edge, as if she already knows my answer will be porn star or “I’m between jobs”.

“Oh.” I really hate discussing it, but for Hayes’s sake, I will. For his sake, I’d claim to be an astrophysicist or world leader if I could get away with it. “I’m actually working on my first novel.”

“How lovely,” Ella says. “An aspiring artist in our midst.” She says it as if I’m a child, waving a stick-figure drawing in the air, and this time, it’s Hayes’s hand squeezing mine.

“Actually, Tali received a rather large advance for this book when she was still in graduate school,” he says, a warning in his tone. “There’s nothing aspiring about it. If you’ll excuse us, I’m going to introduce her to Grandmother.”

His arm wraps around my waist, steering me away from them. My hand goes to the small of his back, and it’s entirely for Ella’s benefit that I then let it slip as low as it can reasonably go.