Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67991 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
I have a momentary burst of empathy for Rafferty and his situation. I also appreciate that he seems to be a bit more than just a dumb jock looking to get laid. And that’s good enough for me to continue on with this charade. Well, that and the thousand bucks.
A waitress interrupts us, asking if we’re ready to order. While I didn’t recognize Rafferty as a Pittsburgh Titan, she clearly does, as evidenced by how she can’t stop staring at him and stammering when he talks to her. I wonder if that happens a lot. When she finally gives me her attention, I order the eggplant Parmesan, decline anything other than water to drink and thank her with a smile.
When she’s gone, I ask, “So, about this backstory for us… we were apparently dating, split apart for a bit during which time you had sex with Tansy and I was having sex with other guys, and now we’re together again?”
Rafferty had been sipping his water and starts choking, his eyes tearing up as he laughs. “Yeah… I guess that’s the crux of it. I suppose we should get a few facts straight because I bet Tansy’s going to pick at us. I told her we met at the grocery store and you were helping me find something.”
“Quinoa,” I supply brightly. “You were lost in the health food section looking for quinoa and I helped you find it.”
“True love.” He chuckles. “And I asked you out because I was not only charmed by your knowledge of superfoods and grains, but because of your hypnotizing green eyes.”
My skin flushes hot upon that proclamation and a moment of shyness overtakes me. It’s not that people haven’t complimented my eyes before, because they are indeed light-colored and unusual, but never have I received one from a man as gorgeous as Rafferty. Still, I play it out, continuing our fake story. “We started dating but took a break because you were having second thoughts about committing to someone.”
“Why do I have to be the one with second thoughts?” Rafferty asks.
“Have you ever been in a serious relationship before?” I ask.
“No.”
“Have you ever wanted to be in a serious relationship before?”
“No.”
“That’s why,” I say with a firm nod. “But it only took you a few weeks and a one-night stand with Tansy, which I obviously forgave, and you begged me to take you back.”
“Jesus,” he mutters, giving me a sheepish smile. “You’re enjoying this.”
“A little,” I say, holding my forefinger and thumb close together.
“Fine,” he concedes. “That story works, but just know that I didn’t move to Pittsburgh until September, right before training camp.”
“Got it.” I reach for a breadstick and nibble on the end. I’m not a huge bread lover, but again… starved. “So, what’s your background? Where are you from? What’s your family like?”
“I grew up in Calgary, started playing hockey around the time I started walking.”
“Really?” I ask, astounded they start so young.
Rafferty laughs, shaking his head as he takes a breadstick. He waves it at me. “No, not that early, but it was funny watching you fall for that. It wasn’t much longer after I mastered walking that my dad put me in skates. He was a youth team coach, so it was just sort of natural that I’d play. Apparently, I had some talent and now here I am.”
“Parents still back in Calgary?”
“Yeah… my dad is vice president of operations at a bank and my mom is a veterinarian.”
“Very cool. Siblings?”
Rafferty nods, his expression softening. “Yeah, I have a younger sister—Farren—she’s twenty-three. We’re pretty close. What about you?” he asks, turning the conversation back to me.
“I’m a senior at William and Mary but I’m taking a semester break right now,” I say, choosing not to dive into the reasons why. “Staying with my mom and my younger brother, Cooper, who’s thirteen.”
“How old are you?”
“I’ll be twenty-two in January.”
“And your dad?” he presses tentatively, I’m assuming since I didn’t specifically mention him.
“The best thing I can say about him is he successfully deposited healthy sperm into my mom when they were married. He left when Coop was three, I was eleven, and never came back.”
“Well, fuck,” Rafferty mutters, his eyes awash with sympathy. “I’m sorry.”
I lift a shoulder. “It is what it is. My mom gave me and Cooper everything we needed, so I can’t say I feel like we missed out on much.”
“She sounds like an amazing woman,” Rafferty surmises and he’s not wrong.
“The absolute best,” I murmur, but I don’t want to delve too personally, and besides… I think his need for me to be a fake girlfriend is going to be all about action and not so much an interview by Tansy. “So for this photo shoot, what do you want me to do?”
Rafferty’s smile goes positively wolfish, and admittedly, it causes a fluttering in my belly. “Basically, fawn all over me, act like the sun rises and sets on my shoulders. Stuff like that.”