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“Idon’tknow,Freddie,”I growl angrily at my best friend. “I don’t know how this can be seen as positive news. The media only wants to portray me as a forty-five-year-old playboy who has a different woman in his bed every night… all because of the money I’ve made in investments.”
Freddie tosses his head back and belly laughs. “What the hell are you complaining about, Remy? That’sexactlywhat you are. As a billionaire socialite, people are always going to be very interested in you, to see how the ‘other half’ live. You just have to accept that. And you’re only going to encourage that if you have the latest ‘it girl’ on your arm. Models, reality TV stars, musicians… and anyway, that isn’t your only reputation.”
I just about resist the urge to roll my eyes. “I know.Grumpy Alpha, that’s what they call me. What bull shit is that? I’m just a normal guy who’s good at business and done well for myself in the past five or so years. That doesn’t make me grumpy and bossy.”
Freddie says nothing, but he doesn’t have to. I know what he thinks of me. He’s been my best friend for decades, and always tells me how it is. Whether I like it or not.
“I wouldn’t be so worried about the press if I was you,” he finally declares after taking another swig of the top-shelf whiskey I just purchased from one of his many bars. “They can make comments about your love life all they want. It’s your mother you need to worry about. Youknowthat she’s utterly desperate for you to settle down. You’re killing her with your behavior.”
I scowl at him, but don’t argue because I know he’s right. It’s my mother’s dream for me to settle down and to have a family. She doesn’t want anything to happen to her before I meet theright womanand settle down. She keeps telling me that she wants to be at my wedding one day.
It isn’t my fault that no one has ever intrigued me enough to make me want to settle down…
Actually, that isn’t quite true. I was going to get married once to the woman that I thought was the love of my life. Lisa was my whole world, and I thought I had everything set for life when she fell pregnant. If only I’d known that she’d die in childbirth, upending my life completely. Not that I regret anything. My three-year-old boy, Wyatt, is my whole world. And I’m also grateful to my mother for stepping up and caring for him while I work to give us the best life ever.
It's just the endless pressure for me to try and move on, to give Wyatt a mother figure, that I find hard. I know Mom only wants what’s best for me, and she only has my best interests at heart, my son’s too, but what if I only get one love of my life? What if Lisa is it?
I don’t want to settle. That isn’t fair to me or the other person. Everyone deserves to experience true love. I don’t want to rob someone of that… so I guess I’ll have to keep being a disappointment to my mother. I just hope I don’t actually kill her with this…
“You know, there is one way you could solve all of your problems.” I look at Freddie, but don’t expect much. He gets a real kick out of joking about my messy life. “You need a fiancée. Get the press off your back because you’ll be with someone serious and make your mom happy as well.”
“Right,” I scoff back at his latest ridiculous idea. “Good plan, Freddie. Now I just need to find someone who wants to get married to the infamous ‘grumpy alpha playboy.’ I’m sure I’ll have women lining up around the block, wanting to marry me.”
“You say that sarcastically, but you probably would have that, Remy. But that’s not what I mean. It doesn’t have to be a real fiancée. Just someone to play the role for a while, to make it seem like you’ve settled down. Hire someone to be on your arm.”
Upon first listen, this is the stupidest idea that I’ve ever heard in my whole life. But weirdly, the more I think about it, the less terrible it is. It would stop people hassling me, wouldn’t it? Give me a bit of a breather from all the complaints I have to hear about my life. I do like that.
But who? Who would be mad enough to get involved in such a scheme? I honestly can’t pinpoint anyone at the moment, and it’d have to be someone I know, or we’d have to spend way too long getting to know one another and trying to force chemistry…
I don’t want this to be a hassle, but I’m not totally convinced that I hate this. Maybe it’s the whiskey talking, because I don’t usually love Freddie’s wild plans, but maybe not. For the first time in years, through his stupid jokes, my best friend might have actually come up with a good plan. Stranger things have probably happened, right?
“Oh look!” All of a sudden, Freddie leaps up and points towards the door. “She’s here. I forgot that she was coming tonight. I would have called her otherwise…”
I follow his eye line, immediately feeling my heart leap up into my throat. Is that who I think it is? Freddie’s younger sister, Zoe, looking better than ever. Holy shit, I haven’t seen her sincethatnight, our secret night of fun that thankfully no one ever found out about.
Well, my night just got a lot brighter. I grin at Zoe, loving the pink blush that adorably stains her cheeks. I don’t need to wonder if she remembers what happened between us. It’s written all over her face. But she mustn’t have said anything, or Freddie would have killed me by now.
I hope now that she’s back we can still keep our one wild night of unexpected fun under wraps. I don’t even know where it came from really. I hadn’t ever paid her any attention until that night. But now that she’s here, I can' see why. She’s freaking gorgeous! No wonder she swept me off my feet. I can hardly take my eyes off of her now, she’s like a freaking goddess.
“Freddie, it’s been forever!” Zoe calls out as she throws her arms around her brother. “How are you? You’re looking good. Hey, you remember Megan, don’t you?”
They greet me too, but I’m mostly standing back and just watching the scene unfold. I might have been all grumpy and annoyed beforehand, but not now after seeing the sunshine of light that Zoe has brought into the bar. Wow, it’s impossible to feel grumpy around her.
“So, you did well acting in London, right?” Freddie asks, giving me a little insight as to where Zoe has been over the last few years. “Are you looking forward to acting here as well?”
She offers her brother a one-shouldered shrug. “Yeah, I think so. But I don’t know how easy it’s going to be to break into the acting world here. I had contacts in London after my time at the academy. I’m excited to try but I don’t know if I’ll be as successful…”
Every so often she catches my eye, and there’s an undeniable fizzle of excitement burning between us. It’s so powerful I don’t know how Megan and Freddie haven’t picked up on it yet. I have to admit, the element that this is naughty only intensifies everything for me. I almost can’t sit still because it’s hard to keep away from this beautiful woman. Especially seeing how strong and accomplished she’s become. I have to say, I’m impressed.
“Hey, well you know, thereisa way you can get into acting,” Freddie says, interrupting the complaints coming from Megan and Zoe about how hard it is to be taken seriously and to uphold boundaries. “Because Remy needs an actress right now.”
My spine stiffens as everyone turns to look at me. I haven’t got any plans for any upcoming ads or anything like that, so I don’t know why I would need an actress. But Freddie has put me on the spot now, and I don’t know what he wants me to say. I wish he’d communicated this before.
“Remy needs someone to act like his fiancée, to get the press off his back, and also to make his mother happy. You could do that, Zoe. You know Remy pretty well, right? He’d pay you…”
I glare at my friend. I know we talked about this, but nothing was set in stone or anything. It was just a silly idea that he’s now bringing other people into and I don’t know why.
“What?” Freddie acts like he has no idea what he’s done. “That’s a win-win situation, right? It would make you look good, Remy, and Zoe, it would get you out in the public eye more.”
