AllFreeNovel
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That was the question of the day, wasn’t it? Truth was, Mo was basically my brother; therefore, I’d pretty much do anything for him, and that privilege extended to Yael. I didn’t look at her as a sister, though. I’d gotten hard over her too many times for that to even be a possibility.
“I’m always looking for wild and interesting times. Seems like pretending to be the boyfriend of the girl who despises me most in the world would qualify as both of those.”
Her wide mouth curved upwards for the first time since she’d barged into my place. “There have to be other people who despise you more than I do. Besides, despise is a little harsh. Strongly dislike might be more like it.”
“See that?” I wagged my finger at her. “That kind of sweet talk is why I’m doing this favor for you.”
She dipped her head just enough to let me know she felt slightly sheepish, but her eyes never lowered. “Okay, I get the message. I’ll strive to be nicer to you. You really are saving my life. Jesus, I cannot believe thisismy life. Alcohol is the devil’s work.”
Rising from my knees, I took the chair across from hers. “There’s a problem with this entire plan, you know.”
Her big brown eyes became even wider than they normally were. “What? Are you already backing out?”
Chuckling at her panic, I shook my head. “Nah, not backing out. Just pointing out a couple pretty damn big flaws in this whole scheme. First, we have no social media footprint. Not to tout my own horn, but I’m kind of a big deal, and…well, if you were my girl, our pics would be floating around.”
It pained me to even point this out. Yeah, I was in a well-known, successful band, and sure, I’d grown up with a dad who had his own skateboarding video game, but I didn’tfeelfamous, whatever that meant. I was just Alex Murray, a goofy kid from Baltimore. The thing was, people wanted to take pictures of me, and when I was out with a lady, those pictures usually ended up online. If Yael and I were a real couple, no doubt we would have been spotted out together. And Yael’s former friends were savvy enough to expect to Google our names and find those pictures.
Yael groaned and conked her forehead with her fist. “Oh, I’m so dumb. How could I have not thought of that?”
“Good thing you’ve got me—the idea guy. I’m thinking we’ve got three weeks before the wedding, we need to make good use of it. You and me, we’re gonna have to fake date our asses all over Manhattan.”
I’d just come up with this idea on the fly, but it was pretty clever, if I did say so myself.
“And how will we explain why our pictures conveniently began showing up after we ran into Allie and Jamie?”
I reached out and tapped her forehead. She promptly swatted me away like an annoying fly. “Don’t you worry, I’ve got you, boo. Obviously, we were laying low, keeping our special love to ourselves. But since the cat was out of the bag once we ran into the beautiful couple, we decided to share our love with the world.”
Yael stared at me, blinking and breathing slow. I gave her my biggest smile, pleased with the knowledge that she had to suppress her innate desire to flip me off. I was doing her a favor, after all.
“Okay. I suppose that’s convincing enough. Didn’t you say there was more than one flaw, though?”
“Yep.” I drummed my fingers on the table. “No one’s going to buy us as a couple. This conversation we’re having is the longest we’ve spoken to each other in years, and it’s been rife with insults and scathing looks. I mean, unless this is how you treat your boyfriends—in that case, we’ve got this on lock.”
Yael shoved her long, elegant fingers through her tangled hair. “So, we...fake date, and act like we enjoy each other?” Her eyes focused on the ceiling above her. “I’m thinking this is all more trouble than it’s actually worth.”
The trouble really was, half the time Ididenjoy Yael. It was me she found completely distasteful. The big, gawky skater kid who liked to walk on his hands, go on stage in a house dress from time to time, and generally live my life as my authentic self. To her, my authentic self wasn’t acceptable.
“It’s up to you, cool girl. No skin off my back if I don’t go,” I said.
Her focus landed on me again. Big brown eyes that took in everything scanned my face carefully. I raised my brows and looked right back, trying to picture how her face would look if she hadn’t gotten that nose job back when she was sixteen. I thought I’d still find her to be pure perfection, but possibly more human.
“No, I want to do this.” She’d never sounded like she wanted to do something less.
I slid my hand across the table, palm up. “Then here we go. Give me your hand.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“We’re going to touch without recoiling. Are you up for the challenge?”
Her hand landed on mine with a slap, eyebrows arched, eyes like lasers, beaming into mine. “I’m always up for the challenge.” Her symmetrical nostrils flared.
My fingers curled around her hand, thumb stroking the top. “Relax. I won’t do anything you don’t want. It’s just holding hands.”
“I know.”
It was hella weird to be holding Yael Aronson’s hand. Pleasant, but weird. She wasn’t even digging her claws into my flesh. She let her palm rest gently on mine, the muscles in her hand relaxing in increments until most of the tension flowed away.
“I’m going skating this morning. Want to come and cheer me on?” I asked.
