Page 12 of The Fake Boyfriend Fiasco

He led the way into the house, its air conditioning delicious against her slightly sweaty skin. Was Spain supposed to be this fucking hot? It wasn’t that far from home. She stretched out her arms as they wandered through cool, dim hallways. “Who’s G, by the way?”

Before Nik could answer, a sickly-sweet voice came from a nearby room. “I’m G! Who’s you?” A second later, a figure appeared in the doorway.

A very short, very thin figure in a tiny red bikini that matched her scarlet lipstick and complimented her waist-length, golden hair. The woman widened incredible baby blues at the sight of them. Then, without waiting for a response to her question, she gave an excitable squeal and ran up to Nik with open arms.

Which was when Aria’s travel-fatigued brain made use of the info Nik had been feeding her for weeks. ‘G’ must be Georgia, Nik’s best friend’s girl, a woman firmly on the ‘safe’ list. Which meant Aria didn’t have to beat her off with a stick.

Good thing, too. It’d be pretty damn hard to get a stick, or a ruler, or a blade of fucking grass, between Nik and Georgia’s bodies right now.

Not that Aria was jealous. Her concern was purely professional. She was, after all, a professional girlfriend.

As if he’d heard that thought, Nik stepped back and turned to Aria. He held out a hand, flashing a smile that would have turned her brain to mush if she weren’t in possession of certain important facts. Like the fact that everything about to occur between them would be 100% staged.

Still, his hand sliding into hers felt real enough. In fact, it shocked her system like a bolt of lightning.

“Ri,” he said, and she realised he was talking to her. Ri? Fucking Ri? Aria would have been disgusted by such rampant shortening of her name, if it didn’t vaguely connect her to the legend that was Rihanna. “This is Georgia,” Nik went on. “Georgia, this is my girlfriend, Aria.”

For a second, Georgia’s mouth hung open. It was a rather impactful sight, what with all the red lipstick involved. But a heartbeat later she pulled herself together and gave Aria a smile that seemed totally genuine.

“Oh my God!” she trilled. “Girlfriend?” But not in a bitchy kind of way. More like the way someone would shout, “Oh my God, is that a fresh pack of Digestives?” Then she threw herself into Aria’s arms just as she’d thrown herself at Nik. It was quite a strange sensation, having a tiny, half-naked stranger hanging on to her waist, but Aria decided it wasn’t completely unpleasant.

“Hi,” she managed.

Georgia stepped back. “You alright, babe? Oh, I’m proper buzzing to meet you!” She turned an exasperated look on Nik and said, “Did you tell Varo about this? Cuz if you’ve told him, and he ain’t told me—”

“Calm down,” Nik said. “I didn’t mention it. Didn’t want to cause a fuss. Aria’s very private.” This was the line they had agreed upon.

“Oohhhhh,” Georgia said. She gave Aria a sympathetic look. “I completely understand. I was just saying to Laurie yesterday—you’ll meet Laurie, when she drags her arse out of bed.” Georgia launched into a truly astonishing cackle that lasted approximately three seconds before ending abruptly. “I was saying, people overshare so much these days. Especially with social media. No-one needs to know if me and Varo are nipping down the beach for a shag, do you know what I mean? That’s not IG story material! But some people, oh, I could go on all day.”

“Really,” Nik agreed solemnly. “She could.”

Georgia tossed her acres of sunshine hair in a disdainful sort of way and said, “Shush, you!” Then she turned back to Aria. “So, what’s going on? How did this happen? Where did youse meet?” She grinned like a kid awaiting a bedtime story.

Aria offered her best impression of shyness—which wasn’t great, since she’d never been shy—and said, “Oh, it’s kind of a funny story.”

A story she’d rehearsed several times, in preparation for this moment. They’d decided to stick close to the truth, but Nik kept harping on about delivery. Apparently, they had to be convincing, or his friends wouldn’t believe a word of it. He’d never had a girlfriend before, or a boyfriend, for that matter, so he predicted shock.

Clearly, when it came to relationships, the two of them were polar opposites.

But Aria intended to earn her hundreds of thousands of pounds—damn, those words felt good, even in her mind—so she was ready to put on the best performance of her life. Until Nik pulled her into his arms so suddenly she forgot how to breathe.

“She kissed me,” he said, staring down at her with more love in his eyes than she’d seen from her own damn mother. “We bumped into each other at the hotel, and she just… grabbed me and kissed me.”

It was disturbingly easy to melt against his broad chest, to smile up at him in fond, mock-censure. “You asked me to kiss you, Nik.”

“And I thought you were going to say no.”

“I didn’t say anything. I was thinking.”

“Well, you took your bloody time,” he said, sounding for all the world like a sheepish, smitten bastard.

“But I got there in the end,” Aria replied, her voice sickeningly soft. She hadn’t known she could act like this. She was almost scaring herself. If the look on her face was even close to the adoring stare on his, they both deserved an Oscar. A joint Oscar. Was that a thing? Well, it should be.

“Oh my God!” Georgia squealed, clapping her hands together. She jumped up and down, and her magnificent chest bounced like a pair of melons rolling down someone’s front steps. Aria mentally filed the image away for the boob job she was never going to get, but constantly considered. “You,” Georgia cried, pointing at Nik, “are in love!”

Nik’s reaction wasn’t half as negative as it should be. “Oh, come on, G,” he said cheerfully. “Don’t stress me.” But Aria caught his cocky little wink. And she definitely caught the way he looked down at her through those thick, sooty lashes, dragging his teeth over that lush lower lip.

As if he were ready to fall.

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