My Silver Lining: A Small Town, Fake Dating Romance (Rosewood River Series Book 2)
My Silver Lining: Chapter 19

To say that the wedding had gone better than expected was an epic understatement.

Chloe had backed the fuck off after Lulu had talked to her.

I’d gotten the blow job of the century in a closet during the reception.

And my fake girlfriend was by far the most fun date I’d ever been with.

We laughed. We drank. We ate. We danced. We sang.

We’d both been on our knees and swapped epic orgasms.

I’d call this a win.

We walked hand in hand to the waiting car, and dread filled me because I knew our little game was coming to an end.

There were no more events.

No more people to fool.

We’d remain friends, but I knew that wouldn’t involve sharing hotel rooms and naked showers and going down on one another in maintenance closets.

I opened the back door, and she slipped inside. I moved to sit beside her, and our driver took us back to the hotel.

Lulu pulled her phone from her purse and turned it back on, which was followed by a slew of annoying beeps to alert her to all the missed calls and texts.

“What the hell is going on?” she said, staring down at her phone. “I have seventeen missed calls from Henley.”

“Fuck,” I said, leaning over her shoulder to look at her screen.

“Oh, nooooo. Fucking Beckett can’t ever just keep his mouth shut,” she hissed.

“What happened?”

“Apparently, he spoke out publicly about our relationship with some big entertainment show,” she groaned, leaning against my shoulder as she hit play on the video she’d been sent.

The dude looked haggard. His jeans hung from his slim frame, and his hair was overgrown and hanging in his face. “I’ve had a lot of messages from fans asking if I’m okay, and I know I posted a little about it, but I agreed to this interview so I could speak out, and you all can stop worrying about me.”

“He is such a narcissist,” Lulu hissed.

“It’s true what Lulu said. She and I haven’t been together in a very long time, and I know I messed up. But after seeing the photos that you’ve all seen, the one of her with her new boyfriend… it did something to me. My eyes are opened. I’ve been awakened from a very long sleep,” he said dramatically, as the woman interviewing him shook her head like she understood what he meant.

Was he a fucking bear? Had he been hibernating?

“We have a break in our tour next week, and I will be jumping on the first plane out of here and heading to Rosewood River. It’s time to win my girl back. I hope you all will send me the positive vibes that I can make it happen,” he said.

“Of course, he’s got to drag the whole world into his drama. It’s all about getting attention.” Lulu rubbed her temple with her free hand.

And then the douchebag looked right at the camera, moving closer. “Sorry, Rafe Chadwick. I think you took something that belongs to me.”

What the actual fuck?

Was this prick for real?

She glanced up at me and sighed. “Welcome to my shit show.”

“He also just told all of his fans where he’s going to be,” I said. “Doesn’t he worry about security?”

“No. He’ll travel with his security team. He loves the attention,” she said, making no attempt to hide her irritation. “I’m sorry. Your name is now out there even more now.”

We pulled up in front of the hotel and stepped out of the car. I needed to process the information before I made a decision about what we should do. I paid the driver, and we both thanked him, just as several flashes went off, causing me to startle. I pulled Lulu beside me, taking in the photographers that were lined up near the entrance of the hotel, and hurried her inside.

A man wearing a fancy suit walked toward us, holding his hands up. He explained that he was the hotel manager, and he’d already phoned the police to ask them to clear the paparazzi from the premises.

I informed him that we were checking out in the morning, and he said he’d make sure it was clear when we left the hotel. Lulu hadn’t said a word.

We stepped onto the elevator, and she did the most unexpected thing.

Dropping to her knees in the closet had been unexpected in the best way.

But seeing her bottom lip wobble…

Seeing the way she blinked rapidly to stop the tears that were threatening to fall…

It caused a deep pain in the center of my chest. I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her. “It’s going to be fine.”

“It’s not, Rafe. He’s going to come and ruin this place that I’m enjoying. A place where I can work peacefully until I move to Paris. He’s toxic and selfish, and he doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions. It’s like dealing with a toddler all the time.”

The last word broke on a sob, and when the elevator doors opened, I moved her quickly down the hall to our hotel room. She dropped to sit on the bed, and she let it all out. I grabbed the box of tissues from the bathroom and bent down in front of her.

“Lulu. It’ll pass. Come on, don’t let this guy win.”

She looked up at me, eyes swollen with a little mascara smeared beneath them. “He has won. We haven’t been together in so long, but he comes to town and upsets my family. He drags my name into the press every few months. He makes it so that I don’t want to date anyone because I’m so guarded now. And he’s going to drag you and your family through the mud. And the craziest part of all of this is that he doesn’t even want me back.”

I sat beside her on the bed, wrapping my arms around her. “You sure about that?”

I guessed that the dude knew he’d fucked up by letting her go. She was the kind of girl you didn’t get a second chance with. The kind of girl you’d never be able to replace.

“Yes.” She looked up at me. “He cheated on me several times toward the end of our relationship. He’d been caught on camera, so there was no denying it. But the truth is, it didn’t even hurt at that point because I was over him, and I hadn’t been physical with him in a very long time. At the end of the day, he likes my name. He likes this volatile picture that he’s painted, one that people, especially his fans, are drawn to. This wealthy socialite who came from the best boarding schools and pedigree and the bad-boy rocker. It’s become more of a fictional relationship for him, and he likes the attention it garners. But there is nothing there. He loves this. Loves the drama and the attention. And I’m so tired of it. I just want to move on with my life.”

I used the pads of my thumbs and swiped the liquid beneath her eyes. “And you are. So he comes to Rosewood River, and we don’t waver. We let him see us together. We don’t allow him to make a scene. We act ridiculously happy, and we become impenetrable together.”

“You don’t understand how much we’ll be watched now. It’s more than sharing a hotel room. This is going to be far more intense.”

“So, we play the game. I hate the guesthouse. I’ll move into the main house. It’ll look like we live together. When I’m not at the office, I’ll work at home with you. We’ll be seen everywhere in Rosewood River together. Let them photograph us. Let them run with the story. He’ll get the hint, and he’ll leave.”

“We already had our farewell breakup orgasms, though.” She sniffed. “This was supposed to be the end of your sentence.”

“Hey, hanging out with you is not a hardship. Dropping to my knees for you is not a hardship. I’m not the one who wants to keep saying that this is coming to an end. I’m not the one with all the rules and boundaries. I’m actually having a damn good time.”

“Because you have to.”

“Do you truly think I ever had to?” I barked out a laugh. “That first day you came to me and said that you needed me to tell your parents we were together, I fucking loved it. You’d just nailed me in the balls with a pool ball the night before, and I couldn’t wait to see how you’d torture me next.”

She smiled a genuine smile. “I dragged you to meet my crazy family.”

“Lulu, look at me,” I said, my voice serious now. “I wanted to go. I was happy to spend the weekend there with you. I have never wanted to meet a woman’s family, yet I was excited to go with you. And tonight, when you walked into that ballroom with me, I was fucking proud that everyone thought you were mine.”

“Rafe,” she whispered. “None of this is real.”

“When we took a shower that night, trying to fight this attraction we both feel—that was fucking real. When I hold your hand and keep you close, it’s because I want you there. And tonight, I had the best time I’ve ever had with a woman, so I don’t know what to tell you, Wildcat, but this shit isn’t fake for me anymore.”

Her gaze searched mine. “It’s because I gave you a gold medal-worthy blow job, isn’t it?”

Her voice was all tease, but I could still hear the hesitation.

“It didn’t hurt,” I chuckled, tucking a piece of hair that had broken free from her elastic behind her ear.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” She covered her face with her hands. “I’m moving. I have big plans. I can’t get lost in this, in you, not right now.”

“Not asking you to.” I pulled her hands away from her face. “I don’t know what the fuck this means. All I’m saying is, we like hanging out. Let’s just enjoy it. Let’s stop calling it fake because nothing about it feels fake to me. Am I wrong?”

She shook her head. “No. But I want it to be.”

That was honest.

“Listen, Lulu, I get it. You’ve been trying to get out of a shitty situation, and the last thing you want to do is complicate it. But no one is going to get hurt here. I know you’re leaving. I know you aren’t looking for anything serious, and neither am I. So let’s stop overthinking it.”

She nodded, her bottom lip trembling again. “I’ve made mistakes in the past that I don’t want to repeat. I have things that I need to do for myself, and caring about someone too much will derail that plan.”

“So, we hang out, and you can just tell yourself you hate me, even though we both know you don’t,” I chuckled.

She didn’t smile. She didn’t laugh. Her eyes welled once again. “I never hated you. But my fear is that you’ll end up hating me. And I don’t want that.”

Damn. This girl was so guarded and strong that seeing her this vulnerable did something to me.

I placed a hand on each side of her face. “I promise, I could never hate you. Let’s just continue doing what we’ve been doing. We’re friends with very few benefits. But the ones we have are pretty fucking spectacular.”

Her lips quirked up on the sides. And when this woman smiled, it was like the parting of the seas. I finally knew what my dad had been talking about all these years. There was just something about Lulu Sonnet.

Something different.

Something special.

I’d known it pretty early on, yet I wanted to keep my distance because I knew that this couldn’t go anywhere. We had very different lives.

But I was grateful that I got to have this short time with her, and I’d take what I could get.

Which wasn’t a whole lot at the moment, because she was determined to keep her guard up.

“So, we keep dating, and you move into the house, just so no one will be suspicious.” She quirked a brow.

“Right. I can stay in the guest room. No one will know.”

“Okay. And what do we tell everyone?”

“What they already think. We say we’re having fun. We’re enjoying our time together.”

“What do I tell Henley now that we’re extending things?” she asked.

“Tell her that we wanted to extend things and that we both know that it has an expiration date, and we’re fine with that. It’s two months. It’s not like you’re going to fall in love with me if you haven’t already,” I said, my voice laced with humor.

“Very true. And let’s negotiate the terms.”

“All right. How about I get to kiss you when I want to, and vice versa? I mean, we aren’t dating anyone else, so we should be allowed to enjoy ourselves in the meantime.”

“I can live with that.” She pulled out her sketch pad and turned to a fresh page and looked up at me. “Okay, so let’s just make this official so there won’t be any gray area.”

“I’m a numbers guy. I love a contract and rules.” I barked out a laugh.

“Okay. Number one, you move into the main house, and you stay in the guest room. Number two, we can’t see anyone else. We’d be caught immediately because we’re going to have eyes on us.”

“Done and done. Those are easy.”

“Okay…” She tapped the pencil against her lips, and I wanted to tip her back and kiss her senseless again, but I’d need to tread lightly with Lulu. “What else? You can make some demands. I’m turning your life upside down until I leave town.”

“So, we’ve already established that kissing is on the table.” I quirked a brow. I’d like to negotiate a blow job, but I didn’t want to push my luck.

“Yes. You’ve got very kissable lips.” She wrote everything down on the sketch pad.

“Great. I think orgasm showers are a must.”

Her head tipped back in laughter. “I’m not writing that.”

“Because you’re opposed to it?”

“No.” She smirked. “It was the best shower I’ve had in a very long time. But I think we keep it more general. So I’ll write that anything else is on the table, as long as we both agree.”

“I can live with that. It appears my cock is slightly hard for you to resist.”

She rolled her eyes. “Says the man who tore my panties from my body just to get there quicker.”

“Hey, I like to please my woman.”

“I guess this is a great plan. We continue hanging out and doing whatever we feel like until I leave. Then we part ways as friends, and there are no hard feelings.”

“It’s the best relationship I’ve ever been in,” I said, moving my thumb along the line of her jaw.

“No wonder you remain so friendly with all your exes. This is so civil.” She finished jotting down the rule about doing whatever we feel like and the fact that there was an expiration date. She underlined that one, as if she wanted us both to remember it. “Sign here, Rafael.”

I signed the ridiculous contract, and so did she.

“Feel better now?” I asked.

“I do.” Her teeth sank into her bottom lip. “How do you feel about a shower before bed, boyfriend?”

I grabbed her from the bed, tossing her over my shoulder as I hurried her to the bathroom.

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” I said as I set her on the counter in the bathroom and turned on the shower.

I think this arrangement is going to work out just fine.