Page 7 of Faking It Right
I was grasping at straws. “Maybe it’s lip service. They say they’re cool with it, but when I call their bluff and realize grandkids aren’t in the card, they’ll lose it. After all, why else would my mom keep pairing me up with so many catastrophic women if not for some grandbaby agenda?”
He snorted. “Do you genuinely believe your family will do anything other than throw a parade that you and Ifinallyhooked up? Not to mention, your sister is dating Gia, and your parents have been to Pride parades with them. They’re not bigots like my folks.”
I sat up with a scowl. “Hey, let me hold on to a little shred of hope here.”
“I’ll ask you again. How long do we keep up this farcical pretense of being together?”
“As long as we’re in their company.” I shrugged off my less-than-perfect plan. “It’s not ideal, but I need them off my back.”
“Have you given any thought to what it’ll take to convince them we’reactuallydating and not just faking it to rescue you from another shitty blind date?” His piercing gaze made me feel like I’d swallowed a mouthful of sandpaper. “Because simply telling your mom, ‘Hey, we’re a couple now,’ won’t persuade her we’re serious. She’ll see right through your bullshit.”
A swarm of butterflies erupted in my stomach, only they weren’t the fluttery, romantic kind. No, these were pissed-off, carnivorous variety, armed with tiny serrated knives, and desperately trying to carve their way out through my spleen likestab-happy little savages. I fidgeted in my chair, attempting to quell my discomfort. “It’ll have to suffice.”
“We both know it won’t be.” He smirked, clearly relishing my discomfort. “At the very least, I’ll need to drape my arm around you or something to signal that we’ve leveled up from best friends to boyfriends. Or is that too much for you to handle?”
I huffed in irritation. “Fine. I can manage that. But nothing more.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll start with baby steps for my fragile straight boy,” he said with a grin that made me want to punch him in his perfect face. “We should get ready to leave soon. The sooner we get this over with, the better off we’ll be.”
“You say that like we’re only going for a day. We’re stuck there for the entire week.” His charming smile sent the swarm of knife-wielding butterflies attacking my heart next. “Can you really resist falling for me for that long?”
“Easily.” I picked up his banana peel and flung it at his face just to be a brat. Naturally, he blocked it before it could connect, so it flopped uselessly onto the table instead.Jerk.
“Famous last words,” he said in a tone that filled me with ominous dread.
Chapter Four
HARLEY
I stretchedmy legs out as much as possible in the passenger seat, sneaking a glance at Ryker’s profile as he focused on the road ahead. We’d been driving for about forty minutes, and I’d been on my best behavior for approximately thirty-nine of them. Time to stir the pot.
It was too easy to get him worked up by grazing his thigh with my hand as I pretended to reach for my phone. His leg tensed immediately under my touch. “Damn it, Harley!”
“Sorry,” I murmured, not sounding apologetic at all as I let my fingers linger a beat too long before pulling away.
Ryker cleared his throat. “No problem.”
“You know, we should probably get our story straight before we arrive.”
“What story?” The steering wheel leather creaked under Ryker’s grip, clearly bracing for impact.
“Our love story, biscuit.” I smirked when he shot me a murderous look at my use of his mother’s nickname for him. “Your family’s going to want the details on how we got together. We need a good backstory.”
He sighed. “Can’t we simply say we fell for each other and leave it at that? Why does it need a screenplay?”
“Boring.” I drummed my fingers against my thigh. “What if we tell them I rescued you from a burning building? Very heroic. Very sexy. Much wow.”
“We live in the same apartment. They know there hasn’t been a fire,” Ryker pointed out.
“Fine. What if we were rock climbing, and you fell, but I caught you with one hand while dangling from the cliff face with the other?” I flexed my biceps for good measure, channeling my inner action hero.
Ryker shot me down. “We both hate the outdoors. My parents know that.”
“True.” I tapped my chin. “What about this? We were at a party, and some creep wouldn’t leave you alone, so I swooped in and pretended to be your boyfriend. Then we realized we didn’t want to pretend anymore.”
“That’s just our current situation with extra steps,” Ryker said dryly.
“Okay, I’ve got it. Aliens abducted us and performed experiments that revealed our deep, passionate love for each other.”
