Page 23 of Fake It For Him

“That’s not going to happen,” I said confidently. “I’ll follow your lead, and if you run into any trouble, I’ll bail you out. That’s what good girlfriends do. By the time the wedding rolls around, they won’t have a doubt in their minds about us.”

Those sharp features of his drew together, the dark slashes that were his eyebrows practically running into one. “It better happen that way, Ella. My father isn’t stupid and he’s already suspicious. He’ll be watching us more closely than you think.”

I rolled my lips together before pouting them at him in the mirror. “There. That looks better, doesn’t it?”

He scoffed. “Your makeup is the last of our worries right now. How did we meet?”

“Easy. You swept me off my feet when I came to your rescue. The secret to a good lie is to keep it as close as possible to the truth.”

Those dark eyes rolled, and I turned to face him, moving my hands up to rest on the vanity as I leaned against it. “Look, Calan, right now, our biggest problem isn’t our story. It’s your face.”

“My face?” He scowled at me and I laughed.

Releasing the vanity with one hand, I made a circle in the air in front of said face. “If you walk in there all dark and scowling, they’ll know immediately that something is up. You’re introducing a girl to your parents, which calls for some nerves but not this whole, the world-is-coming-to-an-end thing you’ve got going on.”

“How do you know? Have you met many boyfriends’ parents?”

I shrugged. “Some, but the point is that you need to get your attitude in check or we’ll never even get to the story.”

He grunted and dropped his head back, and he squeezed his hips some more and inhaled deeply. Once he had exhaled and breathed slowly a few more times, he dropped his hands away from his hips and his facial features were a lot more relaxed.

I smiled. “See? It’s not that hard. Are you ever going to tell me why they’re so desperate for you not to go to this wedding stag, though? If all this falls apart, why would you even try to introduce another girl to them as your girlfriend?”

Calan huffed out a sigh. “If you don’t want me all dark and scowling, then we probably shouldn’t talk about this.”

I chuckled and moved past him to leave the bathroom now that my makeup was as touched up as it was going to get. He followed me out, and I dropped down on a sofa in one of the living rooms. “We’ve got a bit of time. Enlighten me. Your parents really do seem like nice people, even if you do have obvious tension with them.”

When he didn’t answer me right away, I thought he wasn’t going to, but eventually, he dropped down on the sofa next to mine and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. “My brother and I had a falling out four years ago. Right around the time I bumped into you in Edinburgh.”

“Oh, riiiiiiight.” I dragged out the word as I remembered. “Wasn’t it him who punched you that night?”

Calan jerked his chin in a nod. “Things have been tense between us all since, and with my sister’s wedding coming up, I’m trying to diffuse that tension. For her sake.”

“Things have been tense between you for four years? What the hell was that fight about?”

He shrugged. “Finn was about to make a mistake, and when he wouldn’t listen, I saved him from himself.”

I frowned and arched an eyebrow at him, my head shaking softly. “How cryptic. What actually happened, Calan? A girlfriend would know.”

“Not this one,” he said firmly. “It’s a story for another time, anyway. The only story that matters right now is the one we need to come up with. How did we meet? God, I don’t even know what you do for a living. We’re fucked.”

“We’re not fucked. I’m a travel writer,” I said. “I’m assuming you own that club we were in the other night?”

“How did you know?”

I smirked and tapped my temple. “Smarter than you gave me credit for, remember? But also, you were behind the bar, wearing a suit instead of a uniform. You picked up an insanely expensive bottle of whiskey, which happens to be from the distillery I now know your parents own, and poured it like it was yours without asking anyone. It’s not that much of a leap.”

“Yeah. Okay. I own that club and a few others like it. I also have a few bars.”

My eyebrows inched up as I nodded slowly. “An alcohol baron and a club owner. You’re really getting the whole adulting thing right.”

“Still doesn’t tell me how we met.”

“Well, if we’re going to be keeping it close to the truth, then I went out one night. To one of your bars. And some guy clocked you while you were breaking up a fight. I nursed you back to health and you charmed me.”

For a long moment, he just stared at me and then he laughed. “Damn. You must be one hell of a writer if you came up with that on the fly. Okay, Ella. This might just work.”

I winked at him. “Told you.”