Page 33 of Faking Romance

I glare at him. “Thanks,” I say, my voice laced with sarcasm.

“I just mean, you’ll be able to formulate a better plan if you know her beyond her name and place of residence,” he explains.

“I guess so,” I mutter as I stand up. “OK, that’s enough input for tonight.”

“Did Kasen text either of you back yet?” Hutch asks.

We both shake our heads.

“It’s not like him,” Hutch mumbles as he also stands.

“I’m sure he’s fine. Especially if he let Al know he was going to be away longer,” I say as I open Bray’s door.

“I still think we should do a stakeout at the bench,” he adds as he walks behind me.

“Hutch, man, let it go,” Bray says as we close the door and walk back downstairs.

We’re both silent until Hutch opens his door. He turns to me, his hand still on the doorknob. “I think she’d be good for you. For the record,” he says, and without another word, he steps inside his apartment and shuts the door, leaving me standing in front of mine and wondering if that is in fact true. Would Roxy Benedict be good for me?

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Roxy

The signs are up, the inventory is audited, and I’m mentally prepping for a soft opening with family and friends in just a few days. After my near kiss with Gray, I just want to bury myself in work. I need a happily ever after and I don’t think Gray would want that, or at least I assume he doesn’t.

“What are you frowning about?” Jocelyn asks as she makes little party favor bags for our guests. After the whole dress thing, I had to tell her about Grayson. I’m playing it coy on our social media because the last thing I need is family and my new neighbors asking about it. Gray and I will need to talk about what to say to everyone in the building. But we’ll cross that bridge later.

“I think we almost kissed last night,” I blurt out and then slap my hand over my mouth. Shit, why did I have to TMI that?

Her eyebrows shoot up. “With Grayson?”

I nod, letting my hand fall to my side.

“Wow. I thought you said this was just a fake thing,” she muses as she looks over at me while still folding bookstore T-shirts.

“It is,” I assure her, but she gives me a pointed look and I roll my eyes. “I mean, we’re meeting Tuesday to discuss it.”

“The almost kiss?”

“No! The whole fake-dating thing,” I correct her with an air of exasperation.

“Alright, chill. I was just asking. So, what are you going to wear?”

I roll my eyes. “Clothes, Jocelyn, clothes.”

“Oh come on, you should wear—” She’s interrupted by a knock at the door. I look over where we’ve taken down the brown paper on the window and find Carly standing there waving and smiling.

Jocelyn walks over and unlocks the door.

“Hey, sorry, I just saw your window was uncovered and I know you’re having your soft opening in like a week right?” she asks.

I nod. “Yep. Everyone in the building will get invites later this week. It’ll just be friends and family and a few bloggers, authors, and readers that I know well.”

“Fun. I can’t wait.” She pauses and I know she’s not here about the soft opening because she’s nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

“What’s up?” I prod.

“You mentioned you wanted to date, and I was wondering if you had found anyone yet,” she says.

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