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His eyes widen, but I don’t give him time to fight me.
I run over to the production assistant. “Have them go to commercial. We hav
e Lily’s boyfriend, and he’s willing to go on camera after the break.”
The PA’s eyes light up as she signals to go to commercial.
“I am not pretending to be her boyfriend,” Carter says to me as the hair and makeup team swarm him. “And I’m definitely not going on camera, looking like a slob,” he says as the team rolls up his sleeves, like I told him to do earlier.
I shake my head, staring at him with a smile in my eyes. “You are going on camera. You put me in charge of the interview, remember?”
He glares at me. “I am not doing this.”
“Yes, you are.”
“How is this going to make anything better? How is her fucking three men better than her fucking two men?”
“Because you are going to go on and be charming. You are going to provide a hot distraction for the audience. You are going to say that you used to date Lily in high school. You went your separate ways in college, but you have wanted her ever since. She felt the same way, but you had a girlfriend, and she had a fiancé. But she wasn’t happy because the true love of her life was with another woman. She hated herself for not fighting harder for you. But, after everything happened, you realized how much you loved her. You’re going to go on and say that everything that Lily did was because she had lost her true love. And, now, you are back in her life. You’re going to say that true love conquers all.”
Carter searches my eyes. He knows I’m right. He knows that my plan will work. But it doesn’t stop him from hating this plan.
He’s shoved onstage before he gets a chance to stop it from happening.
I walk back to the monitors to watch. He’s charming, attractive, and smart. He offers the distraction that is needed to make people forget about all the bad things Lily did. Clearly, if she got Carter to fall for her, she can’t be that bad. The host even falls for Carter. Everyone does.
It doesn’t take Lily long to figure out the plan and go along with it. She holds his hand and flirts with him like she really wants him. She probably does. Everyone else watching wants him.
I want him. I just can’t have him. I’ve just sealed my fate by making him publicly pretend to be in love with another woman. He’s going to have to pretend to be with her for at least a year until she gets elected. Maybe even for the duration of her term.
I’m not going to be able to do this. I’m not going to be able to watch him pretend to be in love with another woman. It’s only a matter of time until the pretending becomes real anyway.
I can’t watch this. Not when I’m falling for a man I can never have. I need to get out of here. So, that’s what I do. I leave.
10
Carter
I throw the door open to Logan’s apartment, pissed. I spent the last few hours trapped in a world I never wanted to be in. My assistant, Ruby, thought this is what I wanted. And maybe, for a split second, I thought this was exactly what I wanted. But I was wrong. It was complete torture. And my wants have changed.
I take a step inside and slam the door shut. I head down the hallway to find Victoria.
Logan steps in front of me with a deep grimace, folding his arms across his chest. “What did you do?” he asks.
“What did I do? Are you serious? This is your sister’s fault.”
“I know my sister, and I know you. What did you do?”
“Move, Logan.”
“No, not until you talk to me. What happened?”
The bedroom door cracks open, and Victoria stands there, staring at me with wide eyes and a smirk on her flawless face.
I cock my head to the side as I look at Victoria, not Logan. “Victoria decided to make me Lily’s new boy toy by pushing me onstage to appear on national TV to discuss a nonexistent relationship with her, effectively deciding what my relationship status will be for at least a year, most likely longer, all so that she could fix Lily’s problems after our client didn’t listen to us.”
Logan turns and looks at Victoria, who confirms my story with the light in her eyes.
I pull out the hotel key card and hold it out to Logan. “Pack a bag, and go stay in my hotel room tonight. It’s on me.”
