Page 19 of His Fake Fiancé

Olivia babbled something unintelligible—she had yet to actually say anything concrete, although Mrs. C was working really hard to get her to say some form of grandma—and then chewed on her fingers. She had two bottom teeth and the top two were trying really hard to come through. It made for some crank days.

“Oh, you should see the pretty things that grandma bought for you.” Mrs. C and Olivia disappeared out the door, Bella hot on their heels. “Are you going to say grandma? Come on, I know you can say it…” Her voice trailed off as she headed down the stairs.

Claire glanced at Jake. He was bent over, zipping up the bag he’d tucked the camera in earlier. He pushed the bag back a little, so it was mostly hidden underneath the crib. Almost like he was trying to hide it.

Her curiosity got the better of her. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” His cheeks turned pink again, and honestly, it was the cutest thing she’d seen in forever. Although she still didn’t understand why he was embarrassed. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “So, are you ready to hit the lanes?”

She cocked her head, her brain—which was overtired and wrung out from the whirlwind of the last week—trying to play catch up. She must have looked at him weird because his eyebrows scrunched together. She’d never noticed before, but it was the same look that Mrs. C had just given her.

“You don’t want to go bowling?” He mimicked the act of throwing the ball down the lane. “We can do something else if you’d like.”

“Jake…” She didn’t know what to say. No, that wasn’t true. She knew exactly what to say. She just didn’t want to say it. Hurting Jake was the last thing she ever wanted to do. Why did this have to be so hard?

“Hold that thought.” He held up one of his hands, indicating the front of his shirt with the other. “There’s some drool on my shirt. Don’t worry, it’s Olivia’s, not mine.” He flashed her one of his patented grins.

Her insides squeezed tight, her stomach souring.

Jake slipped past her and into the hallway, and like always, she followed after him. Some days it felt like she’d spent her entire life following after Jake Callahan.

She stopped at in his bedroom doorway, leaning against the jam, like she had earlier when she’d found him and Olivia. He pulled off the thermal tee he was wearing, exposing his broad shoulders and muscled back. She actually stopped breathing for a second, wanting nothing to distract her from the beauty that was Jake Callahan. Seriously, all that lightly bronzed skin on display should be a crime.

His jeans hung low on his hips, the dark denim cupping his butt to perfection. He grabbed a shirt out of the dresser, his muscles bunching and flexing in a seriously distracting way. He slipped the shirt over his head, and she swallowed down a sound of disappointment. Covering such a masterpiece really was a crime. She glanced away, trying to see where her scattered wits had fallen. Remember why she was here, because it definitely wasn’t to ogle Jake. No matter how ogle worthy he was.

Her brain started creating a melody, something bluesy, a touch dirty. Lyrics quickly followed, words and phrases like skin to skin, dancing in the moonlight, all night long. Forever. For always. Mine. Her fingers itched to be pressed against guitar strings. What she wouldn’t give to have her notebook right now. It had been too long since she’d felt so inspired.

“I think we need to move in together.”

She whipped her head around. “What?” Of all the things Jake Callahan could have ever said to her, that was so far down on the list, it was almost incomprehensible. She could actually feel her mouth hanging open. It was so much like the night he asked her to marry him, she was having serious deja-vu.

“We need to make this thing between us believable. There needs to be no doubt in people’s minds that this engagement is real. Before we have to meet with the mediator for the home visit. There has to be no doubt in anyone’s mind. Moving in together is the best way to accomplish that.”

“I… I… I…” Apparently, her ability to form a coherent sentence had vanished. Somewhere along the way, her heart had decided to rent a space up in her throat, which wasn’t helping her get the words out. And what had happened to all the air in the room?

Jake seemed oblivious to her near panic attack, sinking down onto the bed and watching her expectantly. He looked so pleased with himself, like he’d just come up with the most brilliant plan in the history of plans. The idea of her dashing his hopes and dreams made her chest ache. But she needed to do it, quickly and in one smooth stroke. Like ripping off a band-aid.

She shook her head. “Jake…”

He sat up straighter, his dark brows drawing together. “What?”

Quickly and all at once, one smooth stroke. She twisted the engagement ring on her finger, back and forth, back and forth. She could do this. She needed to do this.

“Talk to me, Claire. What are you thinking?” Jake turned toward her, pulling his leg up onto the bed and bending his knee.

She blew out a breath and faced straight ahead. This was going to be hard enough without actually looking at him. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“What? Why?” He stood up and came over to stand in front of her. Now she had no choice but to look at him. To watch as she shattered his dreams. Why did he have to make this harder?

“Nobody’s going to believe it,” she said, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice. She wasn’t sure how successful she was, although, as usual, Jake didn’t seem to notice. “We’ve been friends for too long. Nobody’s going to buy that one day we just decided to sleep together.” The words felt like they were laced with razorblades on the way out, the truth lacerating her throat.

“Of course, they will,” he said, conviction coating his words. “Friends fall for each other all the time.”

The back of her eyes burned and she had to look away from him, blinking to stop the tears from coming. Oh, how badly she wished they were true when it came to the two of them. She was such a fool.

“And if we move in together, they’ll have no reason at all to doubt it.”

He sounded so sure, part of her actually believed him. Which proved even further how much of a fool she was. She looked over at him. He was staring at her, confusion warring with conviction is his gorgeous blue eyes.