Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Felicity and Tommy both groan. “Does that mean you are engaged or you’re not engaged?”
“It means I saw a ring in a shop that I liked, Beau bought it for me and this is the only finger it fits on.”
Felicity clears her throat.
“I presume a picture got out,” I say.
“Someone posted something on their Instagram and it got picked up by a fan account and things have…escalated.”
“Are you really in Norfolk?” Felicity asked. “The far east?”
I laugh. “It’s beautiful.”
“So, we need to know how you want to play this. Do you want us to put it out there that after a whirlwind romance, you and Beau are engaged?”
My stomach clenches at the word engaged. All the press Matt and me did about the engagement, all the stories that were written. The fake ring replica I had to get made because I was so paranoid about the real one getting taken from me.
“Yes,” Beau calls. “That’s fine with me.”
“It is?” I call back.
“I don’t care. We’re already fake dating. What does it matter if we’re fake engaged?”
“True, but…” We weren’t actually fake dating anymore. And if our relationship had turned real, why complicate things and make them fake again? “You don’t think it’s better if…we keep it authentic?”
He appears in the doorway to the bathroom, his chest hard and defined. My fingers itch to press against his hot skin just like they had done last night. He doesn’t say anything, just tips his head, beckoning me over to him.
“Give me a second,” I say to Tommy and Felicity.
Beau disappears into the bathroom and I follow him.
“First,” he says and presses a chaste but lingering kiss on my lips. “Good morning.”
I try and fight the smile that’s bursting through to jazz dance over my face.
“Second, I really don’t mind what you decide here. I’ll support you however you need. You don’t need to worry about me or my feelings or whatever it is that’s going on with us. Because…” He slides his hands over my ass and pushes me against him. I curl my fingers around his neck. “Whatever is between us is between us. Whatever’s in the press is in the press. There’s no confusing the two. We are who we are, no matter what anyone is talking about.”
He pauses and I think I’m meant to say something, but I’m just thinking about how much I like this guy. Really like him. Everything he says feels like the best thing anyone has ever said to me. Everything he does is the best thing anyone has ever done. Every joke is the funniest, every look is the sexiest, every story he tells is the most interesting and insightful and makes me like him even more than I did before he started. How did I get here so quickly?
He smiles at me. “Agreed?”
I nod. “Agreed.”
“Make your plans and know that I’m behind you, supporting you every step of the way.”
He releases me and slaps me on the ass. I squeal as he turns on the shower, a grin on his face almost as big as mine.
“Everything okay?” Tommy asks as I go back into the bedroom and approach the phone.
“Fine.” I catch sight of my rosy cheeks in the small on-screen window at the left of my screen. “So tell me what you think the best response is and why.”
“A whirlwind engagement,” Felicity says. “It consigns Matt and stories about him to history and shows you’ve moved on. Together with the new album, the narrative is going to be all about your new direction. Your new life.”
“I like it,” I reply. Not because my bruised ego needs to respond to Matt dating his co-worker so publicly, but because it’s how I feel—hopeful about the future. Whatever is going on between Beau and me is ours, private, and doesn’t have anything to do with what we’ll say publicly. “Let’s do it,” I say.
“I want to warn you that doing this might…”
“Be open with me, Felicity. We agreed you’d tell me everything.”
“We did. There’s just something in my gut that tells me Matt will use this as an opportunity to spin his victim narrative. He might get some publications interested in his response and he might hit out—claim that you were dating Beau before you guys split, or that you had affairs or were a nightmare to live with, or—”
“I get it,” I reply.
“Or,” Tommy says. “He might come out and say he doesn’t believe the two of you are actually dating. He could make some kind of commentary about you saving face by dating again and getting engaged.”
I nod. “That sounds plausible. But I’ve stopped guessing what goes on in Matt’s head. I’m thinking about what’s best for me now. I want as many people to hear this new music as possible and…Beau’s okay with this, so fake engagement it is.”