Page 10 of Fake It For Him

“Where are you going to find a date?” he asked, steering the conversation back to the issue at hand. “Is that why you’re here tonight? Are you prowling for a pretty woman to con into being your plus-one?”

I arched an eyebrow at him sharply. “Do you really think any girl I could pick up here would check the box for my father? His expectation is an actual date. A woman I’m interested in for more than just a quick fuck and who’s interested in me too.”

Joe laughed again until he realized I wasn’t kidding. “Ah, shit. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet,” I mused. “They only dropped this bomb on me a couple of hours ago, but I’ll figure it out. I just need to find someone who’s properly motivated to impress my parents and to redeem me in my family’s eyes. A good girl.”

My friend audibly choked on his surprise, but he managed to compose himself pretty quickly. Those light eyes became unfocused for a moment before he suddenly stood up a little straighter. “Have you ever heard of a place called Faux’s?”

“No.” I frowned. “Where’s that? Is it a bar?”

“Nah. Not a bar. Rumor has it it’s the place to go if you’re in need of a girl on your arm.”

If I was any less practiced at keeping a straight face, my jaw would’ve dropped. As it was, however, I simply stared at him, my eyes narrowing a little as my mouth twisted. “An escort agency? My parents will never buy a pro as my girlfriend. In fact, I’m pretty sure my dad is serious enough about this that he’s probably going to run a background check on the name I give him once I have a date.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t put it past him, but this isn’t an escort service, man. Not like you’re thinking. These girls aren’t pros in the traditional sense. The way I heard it, they’re girlfriend material. Wife material even. And there’s no sex or anything. It’s more like a temporary dating agency as opposed to being the kind of service you’re thinking of.”

“Like I said, I’ll figure it out.” I left it at that, needing to stop thinking about this.

It was starting to give me a headache and that wouldn’t help things. Truth be told, if this had been anyone else’s wedding or any other event with all these rules, I’d have told them to go fuck themselves.

Family or not, I wouldn’t have felt pressured into starting a relationship I didn’t even want just because they didn’t trust me. But it wasn’t anyone else’s wedding. It was Freya’s, and she was one of the only people in this whole damn world that I would do anything for.

I’d been six years old when she’d come along, and the first time I’d held her in my arms and she’d looked up at me with those big brown eyes, I’d been lost. For life. My baby sister had had me wrapped around her tiny little finger from that day forward, and nothing had changed.

Her whole life, I’d protected her fiercely and I’d always done everything I could to make her happy. In my family, she was sunshine, light, and joy. She deserved our very best and that meant that I had to be at her wedding.

Whatever I had to do to make it happen.

“How’s business?” I asked Joe, changing the subject when the space between my temples started pounding. “We doing okay?”

He chuckled, dark eyebrows inching up. “We’re doing better than okay. It’s great. Are you actually going to come into the office next week to look at the books?”

“Yeah, I’ll be around. It’s my damn bar.”

Just then, a group of three more people came upstairs. Two girls and a guy, and my attention was drawn immediately to the curvy, black-haired babe in red boots. Although I didn’t want that kind of distraction right now, maybe she was exactly what I needed to forget the shit show that this day had been.

She was just my type, but when she and her friends came up to the bar and waited for Joe’s attention to order a drink, I realized I knew her. This time, I couldn’t keep my jaw from slackening. No amount of practice at keeping my expression schooled would’ve prepared me for this surprise.

As the realization dawned, it seemed to be happening for her too. Those bright green eyes were widening on mine and I cracked a smile.

“Ella Carver. What the hell are you doing here?”

She seemed stunned to see me. Even more stunned that I knew her name.

A guy with a mop of messy dark hair next to her grinned at me and stuck out his hand. “Mikey. It’s nice to meet you. Do you think we could have some shots?”

“Calan Reid, and yeah. Sure.” Joe was helping a few people who had come up just before they had, so even though I never did this, I lifted my ass off the stool to collect three short glasses. “This is top-shelf whiskey. Can I interest you in it?”

Mikey checked out the bottle I pushed toward him after I’d lined the glasses up on the bar, and he barely glanced at the girls before he shrugged. “Should be worth the splurge. Besides, we’re celebrating.”

The blonde nodded happily, her eyes shiny, unfocused, and smiley, like she’d already had a few. “Sure. Let’s try it.”

“It won’t be a splurge,” I assured them as I poured the shots. “It’s Isle of Reid and it’s on me.”

I pushed their shots toward them and was caught off guard when her two friends moved together as one to swipe them up and then tossed them as shots, coming up sputtering for air a few moments later.

I winced. “That’s a sipping whiskey. You’re not supposed to shoot it.”