Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 36367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 145(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 145(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
“Are you sure you slept all right? You look tired.”
She’s already asked me this question roughly fifty times.
I can’t tell her the truth. That I tossed and turned trying my best to erase every naughty fantasy I was having about her. Even the sound of her breathing was turning me on.
“I’m fine,” I snap out.
One day of pretending to be her boyfriend can’t be that bad. I’ll charm her parents so well that they won’t know what hit ’em. They’ll be so sad when they learn of our breakup. Maybe they’ll offer to keep me and let her go. I smile at the absurdity.
I can’t even picture life with a caring mother and father, because I don’t know what that’s like. January thinks her life is rough because her mother butts in all the time, and I’ll agree it must be annoying. But it’s obvious her mom cares about her wellbeing. I wish my mother would.
I wish my mother would just remember who the fuck I am.
“Don’t forget the rules,” January says, interrupting my thoughts.
I grin as we approach the slopes and grab her hand. Her eyes widen as her head swings to me.
“This ok?” I ask.
“It is,” she whispers.
Both our hands are gloved, but the connection still causes an electric current to zap through me. I tell myself it’s static electricity—definitely not that I like how her tiny hand looks in mine—as I blow out a breath and watch the vapor float into the air like a puffy cloud of smoke.
And then, I spot her mother. There’s a man, grinning, walking along beside her. Must be her father.
They look adorable, and I curse myself for using a word twice now that I’ve never used in my life.
But they are. Her mother sports a pink snow bib with matching gloves and beanie, her brown hair just peeking out beneath it. Alongside her, January’s father is in a deep blue snow bib, mirroring the style of her mother’s, complete with the matching glove and beanie combo. As they approach, they have huge smiles on their faces.
“January. Nicholas. There you two are.”
There’s a crowd of people walking behind her, and I wonder if she’s leading a tour group. Is her mother a ski instructor? Bringing a group of people up here to get their first thrill on the bunny slopes.
The group of people stare and smile. Just like her mother and father.
“They’re all here,” January whispers beside me. And that’s when I realize…
I’m not just here to play the fake boyfriend for her mother and father.
No, I’ve got the whole family to impress.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
Chapter 5
January
* * *
I debate skiing off this mountain, all the way home, as we stand on the bunny slope with my entire family moving toward us like a bunch of defensive linemen ready to tackle us.
I suck in a huge breath. I can’t believe we’re seriously going through with this.
“Hi, Mom,” I say, giving her a hug as she beams at Nicholas.
The look on Nicholas’ face is priceless. I wish I could take a picture and frame it. He appears shell-shocked as my large family approaches him.
And then, as if something snaps inside him, he transforms into a different person.
His smile widens, and he shakes Uncle Frank’s hand, saying, “How do you do?”
Frank, of course, loves the attention, like the attention seeking man he is, and launches into a story about how he never thought I’d settle down with anyone.
It’s embarrassing and surreal.
Nicholas makes his rounds, charming and charismatic, as he greets each one of my family members like there’s nothing he’d rather be doing. They laugh. They smile. They even hug.
My father appears smitten, and he winks at me as he jokes with Nicholas about the first meeting being a “slippery slope.”
Nicholas chuckles at his pun while I roll my eyes. Why isn’t Nicholas like this at work? He’s always so clipped and short with me, yet here, talking to my cousin, Lorraine, it’s like he reserves his Scrooge side exclusively for me.
My sister, February sidles up next to me. “Boyfriend? I thought he was your boss.”
I maneuver us away from the crowd. “Mom, cornered us in the restaurant last night. I couldn’t tell her I was here with my boss. She’d never understand.”
My sister raises a perfectly shaped brow. “So, you said he was your boyfriend instead? I think that’s a little more farfetched, don’t you?”
I roll my eyes. “Thanks. I’m not that undesirable.”
My sister laughs and adjusts the red fleece hat on her dirty blonde hair. “That’s not what I meant, but him?” She jabs a thumb over her cream-colored winter coat. “He’s a ten.” She glances over her shoulder at him and Nicholas glances over at us and winks. She spins back around. “Scratch that, he’s more like a million plus ten. Wow.”