Page 15 of Yes, Love

I liked it when Ava got wet…

Might have led to a bit of snogging on the picnic blanket. For the cameras, of course.

Noah, my flatmate, pounded on my door and disturbed the memory of Ava’s lips on mine. “Get lost tonight! I’m bringing a girl home!”

I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. Even Noah was getting a proper fuck, and he was an ugly arse. “Is she blind?” I yelled back.

Noah laughed through the closed door and left me to it. Noah had been on an earlier season of Wild Love UK but been voted off in the first week. We met at one of the show parties and instantly hit it off. His mum was from Australia, his dad from London, and his step-mom from America, and he’d spent a decent amount of time living in each place. After his season of Wild love, he ended up in America, and when things went wrong with Lucy, he offered me a place to stay.

I could afford my own place now since I’d done my fair share of sponsorships and paid ads on social media, but I didn’t mind the company. Most of the time.

I rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt. I had a personal training session scheduled that I wasn’t allowed to miss. My body had to stay sculpted if I wanted to get any more swimwear sponsorships, and those were the most lucrative. But I didn’t care much about the sponsorships. I did just enough of them to pay the bills.

The influencer bullshit worked for now while I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. Maybe I’d open a gym, teach self-defense classes. I knew a few people that could have used that training.

When I made my way out to the kitchen, Noah stood shirtless in front of the open fridge, drinking straight from a carton of milk. “Oi! Get a cup, or I’m moving out! Bloody disgusting!”

Noah laughed and wiped his chin. “You wouldn’t move out. You’d miss me too much.”

I rolled my eyes and filled my water bottle. “I’m off to the gym, and then I’ve got a date with Ava. Maybe I’ll get lucky tonight, too.”

“You think that’s a good idea? Won’t it complicate things to have sex with your fake girlfriend?”

I wasn’t allowed to tell people about my arrangement with Ava Mills, but Noah caught me with a bottle of gin one night. He asked a few well-timed questions and had me spilling all the details. I shrugged and glanced at my friend. “What Ava and I have isn’t complicated at all. We’re helping each other with the social media popularity contest. We might as well assist each other in other areas.”

Noah laughed and shook his head. “You’re going to make a mess. Mark my words, mate.”

***

I arrived at Ava’s stunning lakeside house and rang the doorbell. Ava’s voice greeted me from the intercom system. “Come in. I’m not quite ready yet!”

“I’m not surprised,” I teased. The door beeped twice to indicate that she’d unlocked it, and I pushed it open and let myself into Ava’s house. The marbled, honeycomb-patterned tile gleamed up at me when I entered, and the regal staircase invited me to be impressed, as it always did, but I declined the invitation. Ava’s house was entirely too much, sort of like her makeup.

Ava walked down the stairs in a pair of little green shorts and a sheer, black tank top. She looked smoking. My cock stirred when her eyes met mine. The blue looked a little brighter, and her eyes almost glistened. Had she been crying?

“You all right, babe?”

Ava gave me the fake smile that I loathed. “Of course!” Her smile faltered for a moment. “Actually, I had a really long shoot today for a cosmetics company, and I’m exhausted. Do you think our publicists would kill us if we just ordered in and took a few pics for the announcement?”

“Kitty won’t be bothered. Yours might commit a double murder, though.”

Ava nodded and grabbed her bag from the kitchen counter. “You’re right. Let’s go!” She headed down the hallway to the front door and paused to look in a mirror. Ava frowned at her reflection and smoothed her soft, blonde waves. When she noticed me watching her, she forced her smile back into place. “Okay, Jeanie said our reservation is for 7:30, so we better head out now, or we’ll be late. Have you ever been to Cal’s?” Her voice cracked a bit on the last word. Something was wrong.

“No. Ava, let’s order in. I like that idea.”

Ava let out a massive sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. “Thank you. My face literally hurts from smiling. We had to do like a hundred takes of the video today because the director was such an asshole!”

I laughed. “Well, feel free to put your smile away tonight. I don’t like that fake one anyway.”

Ava shot me a glare and then kicked off her high heels, leaving them in the middle of the entryway. “Ugh! My feet are killing me!” She wandered back into her living room and collapsed on her couch. “Oh! Damn-it! My hair!” Ava sat back up immediately and ran her fingers through her hair. “We need some pics before I turn into a hot mess!”

She stood on a groan, walked a few steps down the hall, and pulled open a closet. “Will you order some food while I stage the photo?”

“Sure, what do you want to eat?”

“I don’t care!”

I laughed and shook my head. “That’s a load of shit. For the love of god, tell me what you want to eat, woman.”

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