How to Fake a Wedding Date
Autore
Karen Booth
Letto da
15,1K
Capitoli
12
One
Alexandra Gold had a whole lot of reasons to need a break from weddings. After all, it had been only fourteen months since she’d called off her own. Logic said that she was still healing from the events of that day. Honestly, she still couldn’t remember everything, but fragments played out like a bad movie in her head—the sobbing phone call to her mother, the long ride out to The Hamptons to return that ten-carat stunner of a ring to her fiancé, and of course, the tabloid nicknames she’d been given since then. Ritzy Runaway Bride. Trust Fund Tornado. And Alex’s favorite, Million-dollar Meltdown.
She had every reason to despise weddings. But she didn’t. They were a sign that hope and love were still thriving. Maybe not in Alex’s life. But they were for others. Like her best friend Chloe Burnett.
“My mom suggested floating lanterns in the pool during the reception. What do you think?” Chloe, the bride-to-be, asked Alex over the phone.
Alex was sitting in the back of her black SUV on the way to lunch with her brother, Daniel. Outside the window, Manhattan went by in a hazy blur. August in the city could be insufferably hot, and they were in the midst of an epic heat wave. “I love that idea. They’ll add so much ambiance. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I’ll look into it.” Alex put Chloe on speaker and typed herself a reminder in her phone.
“I don’t know. I’m wondering if my mom is going too over-the-top.”
“No. Moms are like that.” Alex had firsthand experience with this. Her mother had gone overboard planning her wedding. And as Alex later found out, she’d been a little too involved in the proposal as well.
“Oh, God. I’m sorry,” Chloe said. “I shouldn’t have said that. I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings.”
Alex let out a heavy sigh. Yes, she had a difficult relationship with her mom, but that wasn’t the reason Alex had called off the wedding. “Chloe, it’s okay. I’m fine.”
“But are you? Really? The last year has been hard for you. I’m sure it can’t be easy helping me with my wedding.”
“Don’t worry about me. I love you and you’re getting married. That’s all that matters.”
“I wouldn’t ask if you weren’t amazing at all of it.”
“Aww. Thanks.” Alex came by her talents for all of this honestly. Her mom spent the last thirty years as one of the most in-demand wedding planners in the northeast United States. Alex’s exposure to countless matrimonial events led her to luxury floral design, and she’d built a big business creating extravagant arrangements for hotels, corporate events and yes, hundreds of walks down the aisle.
“Any luck finding a date for the wedding?” Chloe asked.
“No.”
“I thought you met a guy last week?”
“And he figured out who I am, or I suppose more specifically what I am, which very quickly ended the conversation. As it does with all men these days. They won’t even look at me. They just run in the other direction.”
“That’s so unfair. They don’t know the real you. You aren’t any of those things the tabloids said you are.”
“You can’t really blame these guys. None of them wants to end up in the papers, too. It can ruin people’s lives.”
“I’m amazed that you can even talk about it. You’re so resilient.”
Am I? Most of the time, Alex felt like she was putting on a show. “I’m trying.”
“On the bright side, at least you canceled your wedding before Little Black Book appeared.”
Little Black Book was an anonymous social media account that had cropped up a few months ago, peddling vicious gossip and family secrets of several people Alex knew, including Chloe and her mother. “I don’t want to think about what they would dig up on me.”
“Parker is really worried that whoever is behind it will sneak in to our wedding.” Parker Sullivan was Chloe’s fiancé, a sports agent whose star client had been the first target of Little Black Book. Chloe’s crisis PR agency stepped in, Chloe and Parker fell in love, and all was eventually repaired, but Parker had been on a personal crusade to unmask Little Black Book ever since.
“I don’t want you to worry about that. Taylor has all sorts of security installed at the house now.” Taylor Klein was Chloe and Alex’s other best friend. She was hosting the wedding at her family’s summer estate in Connecticut. “Plus, you’re keeping the guest list small, and you’re inviting only very select press, right?”
“Yes. I couldn’t keep the media away entirely. Otherwise, they’ll have helicopters hovering above Taylor’s backyard. But I invited a few publications. Ones I know I can trust.”
Alex didn’t want to say anything, but a few of Chloe’s “trusted” members of the media had not been kind to Alex after the wedding debacle. They might not have called her the Wicked Witch of Weddings, but they had written about her, depicting her as the poor little rich girl. Alex didn’t want to be pitied. She wanted to be left alone. Which was why she was so eager to find a date for Chloe’s wedding—a gorgeous man she could dance with, so that the world, if they were paying attention, would think she’d quietly turned her life around.
The car pulled up outside the restaurant. “Hey, Chloe. I need to run. I’m meeting my brother for lunch.”
“Do you want me to ask my mom to deal with the lanterns?”
“No. It’s okay. I’ll do it.” Alex bid her goodbye to Chloe, hooked her handbag on her arm and hopped out of the car with a hand from her driver. Her brother was waiting just inside the restaurant’s front door. “Hey, handsome,” she said, standing on her tiptoes and pecking her brother on the cheek. His dark facial scruff scratched her chin.
“I see you’re still wearing the sunglasses indoors.” Daniel flagged down the hostess, then turned back to Alex.
“This is better. In case someone sees me. Everyone has a camera phone. This just cuts down on the odds that anyone will take a picture.”
“Mr. Gold, we have your table ready,” the hostess said to Daniel.
“Great.” He stood to the side, waved his hand to allow Alex to go first, then followed her into the dining room.
Alex looked straight ahead, ignoring the other diners. Luckily, it was pretty late for lunch and the restaurant wasn’t overly packed. The hostess stopped at a corner booth, and Alex positioned herself so she could sit with her back to most of the restaurant, then removed her sunglasses.
“Can we bring you anything from the bar before your server arrives?” the hostess asked as she carefully set down two menus.
“Alex?” Daniel slid in across from her.
“Anything cold, preferably with a tiny kick,” she answered.
“We have a lovely rosé by the glass,” the hostess replied.
“Perfect.”
“I’ll have the same.” Daniel folded his hands on the table, looking directly at her with his piercing blue eyes, highly focused. This had been his approach for the last year—take her out to lunch, probe for information about how she was doing, then report back to their parents. Dad was worried about Alex. Mom was disappointed. “So. Tell me the latest.”
“Work is superbusy. I know it’s a million degrees outside, but we’re already staring down the holidays. I have a bunch of corporate events to do flowers for. And of course, weddings.”
He reached for her hand and patted it softly. “Good. Staying busy is good. I wish you had to do fewer weddings, though.”
“Occupational hazard.”
One of the waitstaff brought over their drink order. Alex took a long sip of the cool and crisp wine. It was exactly what she’d needed.
“How much are you helping Chloe?” he asked.
“A lot. I’m basically the de facto wedding planner.”
“Who are you going with?”
Alex opened her menu and began perusing, although she already knew what she was going to get—Cobb salad, dressing on the side, no hardboiled eggs. “No one as of now. But I’m still looking.”
“Looking how?”
“I have two options. Dating apps or getting a friend to set me up with someone.”
“You aren’t really doing online dating, are you? I hate the thought of that. What if you meet a guy who’s a total creep? You can’t get hurt again. I won’t let that happen.”
Daniel had always been protective of her, which was one of his more endearing qualities. He also felt some responsibility for what happened with her fiancé. He’d introduced Alex to him. “That’s the modern dating landscape. If I don’t do that, I have to wait for a friend to set me up and as of now, no one has found anyone who’s willing to be seen with me.”
“I’d offer to go with you, but I have a big meeting in London the week before and I’d planned to stay through the weekend. It would be murder to come all the way back early, but I’d do it for you.”
Alex was about to blurt, “No way,” but the waiter came by to take their lunch orders. So she sat on her words until he left. “I love you, but no. Taking my brother? I’d be better off going by myself. No offense.”
He blew out a long breath and sat back in his seat. His lips were bunched up, his eyebrows drawn together like he was trying to sort out a complicated puzzle. She hated feeling like she was a predicament that needed to be fixed. “You need someone who already knows you. Someone who you can trust. Who I can trust.” Just like that, his mouth fell open and his eyebrows returned to their original location. “Hold on. What about Ryder? He’d be perfect.”
“What? No. Ryder? Really? No. He wouldn’t want to go to a wedding with me.” A pathetic, nervous titter leaked out of her. She downed the last of her wine. Was she sweating? Why was her heart beating so fast?
“Why not?”
Because Ryder Carson is my weakness. Because he’s the guy I’ve wanted for more than a decade. Because he’s your best friend and business partner. Because I secretly slept with him five months ago and I’m not sure my pride will ever recover. “I don’t know. Just seems like he wouldn’t want to.”
“I don’t think you should assume that. We should ask him.” Her brother abruptly reached out and grabbed her forearm. “Oh, my God. I just thought of something. Ryder really is perfect.”
“Perfect? No. I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you need to cut this out.” Alex looped her finger in the air. “Whatever this is.”
“Ryder and I have been trying to court Geoffrey Burnett. Chloe’s uncle. I’m sure he’ll be at the wedding. If Ryder is there and it’s in a more relaxed setting, it could be the perfect opportunity for him to finally get him to come in and meet with us. So we can make our pitch and seal the deal.”
Alex wanted to make a joke about how she wouldn’t mind sealing the deal with Ryder one more time. But no. This whole thing was a very bad idea. She could only take so much humiliation in her life, secret or not. Ryder had really hurt her feelings when he’d sneaked off in the middle of the night without saying goodbye. Was there anything worse than having a door slammed in your face by the man you’d always wanted? “You want to use your own sister to cut a business deal?”
“If our architecture firm got Geoffrey Burnett’s commercial development projects, we’d be set for years. We could buy a bigger office. Hire more people. And more important, we’d keep our competitors from getting that business.” The look in his eyes softened. “But it’s not just that. This is about protecting you and your heart. I can trust Ryder to not hurt you since he would never, ever try anything romantic. It’s the best-case scenario for everyone.”
Ummm... Alex cleared her throat. Her brother did not know Ryder as well as he thought he did.
“Did you say something?” he asked.
“Nothing. I think this is an absurd idea.” A painful idea. An absolutely ridiculous idea.
“I thought you liked Ryder. You like him, don’t you?”
Alex closed her eyes and hoped she wasn’t going to go to hell for lying to her brother’s face. “He’s fine.”
Ryder Carson was sitting at his desk in his office, trying to focus on the architectural plans that so greatly displeased him. They were for an office complex in Long Island, the sort of project Ryder typically conceived with ease, and always nailed on the first pass. But things hadn’t gone his way this time. The client had a long list of wholesale changes they wanted, which could not be left to one of his staff architects. This was top-level problem-solving, and although Ryder loved the challenge, he wasn’t happy about having fallen short. He did everything he could to do things perfectly the first time. Life was easier when there weren’t messes to clean up.
Just as a headache was starting to brew, he heard a voice that made him look up from the plans. “Daniel, this is a goofy idea. Forget it. I need to get back to work.”
Sheer panic struck him as he realized whose voice that was—Alex Gold, sister of Ryder’s business partner, Daniel. His heart pounded fiercely. His palms began to feel clammy. He hadn’t seen Alex since March, when they’d slept together. Nobody knew about it. Nobody. And with good reason. Alex’s brother was more than Ryder’s business partner. He was his best friend. And the success of Gold and Carson, the architecture firm they owned together, relied on the solid foundation between Daniel and him. Which brought him to the reason to be so damn nervous about seeing Alex. Because that night they slept together had ended when he sneaked out of her apartment while she slept.
“I promise it won’t take long,” Daniel said out in the hall. “Knock, knock.” Daniel poked his head into Ryder’s office. “Do you have a minute?”
Ryder’s stomach sank to depths he didn’t know were possible. “Is it just you?” He was fairly certain he knew the answer, but he wanted a second or two to prepare if he was about to face the woman who had every reason to be furious with him.
“No. Alex is with me.” He waved her in.
Alex strolled into the room, chin held high, prompting Ryder’s heart to shoot up into his throat. She was wearing a sleeveless black dress that hugged every delicious curve of her body. He could hardly believe he’d ever been able to touch her. She was as forbidden to him as any woman would ever be—the beloved sister of his best friend and business partner. The cherished daughter of the man who’d given Ryder and Daniel the money to start their architecture firm. There was no touching Alex. And he had. Oh, hell yes, he had. No one could ever know. “Alex,” he managed as he stood. “Hi.”
She dropped down into one of the chairs opposite his desk and crossed her legs, sticking him with another tempting visual—her sun-kissed calves and lovely ankles. “Ryder.” She forced a smile and her deep brown eyes flickered with an intensity that was difficult to describe. The first word that came to mind was fire. As in she would willingly set him ablaze if given the chance. This wasn’t the Alex he was accustomed to. She was a sweet and kind woman. Never before had she looked at him as if she wanted to shred him to pieces.
“It’s good to see you, Alex. What brings you into the office?” Ryder asked, trying to get his bearings.
“I think I have a way to fix our Geoffrey Burnett problem and help Alex out of a predicament as well.” Daniel walked up to Ryder’s desk and stood next to it.
Alex shook her head in dismay. “It’s a dumb idea. I’m sure you’ll agree.”
Ryder wasn’t sure how he’d feel about whatever he was about to be pitched on, but he was still taken aback by her confrontational tone. It was clear to him that she was exactly as angry as he feared. Still, he wanted to know what they were going to suggest. “If it means we can fix our Geoffrey Burnett problem, I’m all ears.”
“Here’s the thing,” Daniel said. “Alex is desperate for a date.”
“Daniel,” she snapped. “Do you have to put it that way?”
“Oh. Sorry. Alex needs a date. Really needs one.”
“Hey. This idea of yours isn’t just about me.” She flipped her hand in her brother’s direction. “You’re the one who said you could use this opportunity for your big business deal. I’m sure you two care way more about that than anything else.”
Ryder did care greatly about cutting a deal with Geoffrey Burnett, but he was confused how these two disparate ideas were connected. “A date?”
“Yes. To Chloe Burnett’s wedding,” Daniel said. “Alex is worried that if she doesn’t have a date, the press will seize on that little fact and say cruel things about her in the papers again.”
“You make it sound like I’m a fragile flower, Daniel, and I’m not. I just don’t want to be stuck in their crosshairs anymore. My life would be much more pleasant if they moved on.”
“And you thought of me for this assignment?” Ryder asked, incredulous.
“Yes. It’s obvious, isn’t it? I’m going to be in London the day before the wedding, so I can’t go with her,” Daniel said.
“He forgot to mention that I’m not going to take my brother,” Alex interjected. “That will not have the desired effect.”
“Right. I’m also lame. Have I mentioned that?” Daniel’s voice dripped with annoyance. “But I was thinking that we could have a real shot at Geoffrey’s business if you can get some one-on-one time with him in a more relaxed setting. And I can trust you to take Alex to the wedding without anything happening.”
“Right. Of course. Because it’s Alex.” And you think I would never go there. Except that I already have.
“Exactly. No romance,” Daniel said as if that was a universal fact accepted by everyone. “Because you know that I would actually kill you. Our friendship would be over. And our business partnership ended.”
“Mostly because you would be dead,” Alex quipped.
“This is only because I love you both,” Daniel countered with a noticeably heavy tone.
Ryder drew in a deep breath through his nose, looking at Alex, then at Daniel, and back again at Alex, which was a mistake because it was nearly impossible for him to tear his eyes off her. The thing was, he’d known Alex for a long time. And they got along great. For years and years, they had a comfortable friendship. In all honesty, he’d had very few romantic thoughts about her until the party at Daniel’s last New Year’s Eve when she kissed him as the ball dropped. Before that, he’d never allowed his brain to go there, precisely for the reasons Daniel had laid out. That kiss changed everything. It opened the floodgates. Which was why Ryder had broken away from it, grabbed his coat, and gotten out of Daniel’s apartment as fast as he could. Before he could do something bad. Something that would ruin his life.
But then he and Alex ran into each other at a black-tie fundraiser in March. That night, Daniel was nowhere near them. In fact, he was out of town. More crucially, Alex looked like absolute heaven. She was being funny and charming and so sexy he could hardly see straight. That night, they gave in to temptation. It still haunted him. He had a verifiable weakness for her. He just hadn’t known it until she’d forced the issue. Was he going to do nothing but make trouble for himself again if he agreed to this plan? “What exactly would this entail?”
“Well, you’d just do your best to get as much time with Geoffrey Burnett as you can.” Daniel turned to Alex. “Alex will need to be there for the rehearsal dinner, the ceremony and reception, so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to talk to him.”
That wasn’t what Ryder meant when he’d asked the question, but perhaps two separate conversations needed to take place—the business one with Daniel and the personal one with Alex. “I can do that.” Ryder was terrible with small talk, but in his experience, real estate developers loved discussing their projects and the architecture involved. He could go on about that for hours. “And I think you’re probably right. This could give us an edge over the other firms who are vying for this business.”
“It will give us a huge advantage,” Daniel said.
That much was sewn up. Now to the other issue at hand. “I think we need to find out what Alex wants from this scenario. That’s more important than the business aspect of it.” Ryder looked at Alex and there was a moment when their gazes connected and he saw a glimmer of the woman who tempted him with her softness and vulnerability. The woman who wasn’t angry with him. This glimpse scared him, but it also pulled on his heartstrings like nothing else. He felt so bad about everything she’d been through in the last year. If being her date would help her at all, he was willing to do that.
“Thank you for acknowledging me in all of this,” Alex said, casting an annoyed glance at her brother, then returning her attention to Ryder. “You need to pretend to like me for three days. Act like you’re my boyfriend.”
“Nothing too over-the-top,” Daniel added.
“Will you let me finish?” Alex pleaded. “I just need you to be a solid but unobtrusive presence. The handsome guy who holds my hand and brings me a drink. But who doesn’t draw a lot of attention.”
Ryder had to hide his smile. It was nice to hear her say that she thought he was handsome. “I can do that.”
“See? This is perfect.” Daniel’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pants pocket. “I need to go. But you two can work out the specifics, right?”
“Yes. We’re capable of that much.” Alex got up from her chair and hugged her brother goodbye. “Thanks for lunch. And thanks for having my back.”
“Of course. Always.”
Ryder had witnessed the affection between these two many times. It was a big part of the reason why he’d never seen Alex as more than a friend. Ryder was an only child. He didn’t have that kind of relationship in his life. And from the looks of it, he’d missed out. Big-time.
Daniel excused himself, leaving Alex and Ryder alone. Granted, the door to his office was wide-open, but it still put him on edge. “I didn’t see this coming.”
“Me neither.” She sighed and scanned his face, seeming doubtful. “You can say no if you want. It’s not too late to back out.”
Ryder felt as though he was being dragged in opposing directions. He and Daniel had a whole pile of reasons they needed Geoffrey Burnett’s business. And he couldn’t not help Alex if she needed it. But did he trust himself to not touch her? To not kiss her? Not really. “I’m not going to back out.”
“Let me remind you that we have some history that could make this difficult. Although I suppose one could argue that the note you left me in the middle of the night shut the door on that.”
Ryder stepped out from behind his desk and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’m sorry about leaving. Really. I am. I just thought it was best for all involved. You, me and your brother. It’s too complicated. And considering everything you’ve been through, the last thing you need is complicated.”
She hesitated for a moment, then eventually nodded. “You’re right.”
“So? What now?”
“I thought about it in the car over here from the restaurant. I don’t think we can just show up at the wedding together and act like we’re a couple. The press has a nose for fake relationships, and if they suspect that, they’ll skewer me again.”
“How do we get around that?”
“Two things. First, a date. In the city. I’ll get Chloe to tip off the press. They can see us together and think it’s the start of something.”
“What’s the second thing?”
“Right now, you walk me downstairs and kiss me goodbye out on the street. Just to get the ball rolling.”
He swallowed hard. “Okay...”
“Come on. I’m sure you remember how to do it.” She hooked her handbag on her arm and started for the door.
Ryder dutifully followed her out into the hall, down to Reception and to the elevator. All along, he had to wonder how Alex knew that these were the right things to do. Had she been planning this? That seemed improbable. It certainly wouldn’t account for her brother’s role in all of this. The elevator dinged and they climbed on board to take it to the ground floor.
“We can take care of this, then the date, and it’ll seem like no big deal when we get to the wedding.”
“And that’s your hope? That it seems like no big deal?” he asked.
“Exactly.”
Could it possibly be that easy? “Okay, then. When and where for our date?” The elevator door slid open and they started through the lobby.
“Next Thursday. The day before the wedding weekend,” Alex said. “I’ll call you with the time and place.”
“You have my number, right?” He followed her through the revolving doors of his office building. The heavy August air was insufferable from the word go, doing nothing to alleviate his nervousness about this kiss. The heat had been turned up, for real.
Alex came to a stop on the sidewalk. “Yes, I still have your number. Even after you left me that horrid note.”
He reached for her arm, and the connection between them hit him square in the center of his chest. He couldn’t see the force, but he could feel it, and it shook him to his core. He regretted hurting her by leaving, but sometimes life gave you difficult choices and he was certain that in that instance, he’d made the right one. “I’m sorry, Alex. I really am.”
“I’m sure. Let’s just get this over with.” Without wasting so much as a second, she gripped his biceps, leaned into him and planted her lips on his. It was as if the world tilted off its axis and hurtled Ryder through space. Just as he started to kiss her back, she pulled away, leaving his mouth buzzing, his body even hotter than the air around him. “I’ll text you, Ryder.”
“Alex, that note was for your own good. I believe that.”
She pulled her sunglasses out of her bag and slid them onto her beautiful face. “Well then that’s perfect. Because that’s the only thing I’m worrying about anymore.”
