Page 29 of The Match Faker

‘Exactly.’

Obviously I knew that Liam would want some way of declaring he was in a serious relationship, but my brain had conveniently neglected to think about the implications.

Me. Getting papped.

Me. With my photo splashed all over the gossip magazines.

Having people picking apart the way I look and questioning what Liam was doing with someone like me.

Fuck.

Maybe this wasn’t worth it after all. I liked a quiet life. Work, then home to read or watch Netflix. I preferred to watch the action taking place rather than being part of it.

My heart thundered against my chest.

‘Isn’t there a way to announce it without it being so, erm, public?’

‘Sure. I’ll just get my publicist to send out a press release declaring that I’m in a serious relationship and the media will be happy with that.’

‘Oh, thank God!’ My shoulders relaxed. ‘That’d be great. For a minute there I thought…’ When I saw Liam grinning, I paused. ‘Oh. You’re joking.’

‘Of course I’m joking! Did you really think it’d be that easy?’

‘I… just wishful thinking, that’s all.’

‘You sure you wanna do this? The paps thing is real. Sometimes it can get pretty ugly. I’m used to it, but still hate it. You’re better off finding someone out of the public eye.’

If only.

I’d exhausted all of my options.

‘Believe me, if I thought I had another viable option, I’d take it.’

I’d rather have anyone else be my fake boyfriend than Liam. I really didn’t want to get papped. But I was stuck with him, so I had to deal with it.

Once we’d agreed on an official start date, I’d go to the salon and get everything done: hair, nails, waxing… It was an expense I could do without, but at least I’d look half-decent on our first public fake date.

I hated getting my picture taken, but maybe Trudy could give me some tips on how to pose so they’d get my good angle (if I even had one).

But yeah, with some careful prep, maybe being photographed would be slightly less awful. I’d call the salon tomorrow and get something set up.

‘So four dates in total,’ I confirmed.

It would’ve been nice to add in some other events I had in the diary that I didn’t want to go to alone. Having a date for my parents’ fortieth anniversary would be cool so I didn’t have to face my family and the barrage of questions. But that was after the awards ceremony. Plus my parents knew Liam, so I wasn’t sure how well we’d be able to lie to them in person.

No. I needed to spend as little time with Liam as possible.

‘Okay. Just four dates.’ He nodded. ‘What’s the exact date of the ceremony?’

I checked my diary, then told him.

‘That might be tricky. I’m due back in LA in October. I’ll try and move some stuff around. If I stay for the awards, I’ll have to fly back straight afterwards, say the next morning. That gonna be okay?’

‘Fine.’ Didn’t bother me. Once the ceremony was over, it wouldn’t matter as much. It was the lead-up to the finals that was most important.

‘Good.’

‘Maybe we can have the first date at the beginning of next week?’

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