Page 1 of Just A Little Chase

Chapter One

Lauren Connelly ate a bite of her breakfast cereal, her gaze fixed on the wedding invitation she’d propped up against the saltshaker on the table. It wasn’t every day that her little sister, Ashley, got married, and she should have felt excitement and joy for her sibling. Instead, she couldn’t shake the dread at the thought of attending the nuptials and having to watch her sister marry the man Lauren had once been engaged to.

The entire situation was bound to be awkward and uncomfortable, made even more so by the small town mentality of where she’d been born and raised. It had always dumbfounded Lauren that there had been no scandalous gossip revolving around her sister’s quick involvement with Greg after he’d broken up with Lauren. Rather, people looked at her with pity, because Greg had chosen the beauty pageant sister over the tomboy Lauren had been for most of her teenage years.

In Lauren’s opinion, the town’s perception was bullshit. Not many knew the real reason why their engagement had ended so abruptly, or that the two closest people to her at that time had deceived her. The truth would have blown up the gossip mill and branded Ashley as the other woman, and as much as her sister’s actions had hurt Lauren, she’d never exposed their betrayal for a few different reasons. Lauren had never been the vindictive or spiteful type and she didn’t want to fracture and divide their close family unit. And most importantly, long before she’d caught Ashley and Greg locked in a passionate kiss, she’d known that he wasn’t “the one”.

None of that excused the affair they’d had behind her back, but the painful breakup had been the impetus for Lauren to do the one thing she’d always dreamed of and leave her small Massachusetts town and move to New York City, where she now lived and worked as an event coordinator at the Meridian Hotel.

So, yes, awkward and uncomfortable was an understatement when Lauren thought about going back home for her sister’s wedding.

“You know, if you stare at that invitation any harder, you’re going to burn a hole in it,” Lauren’s roommate and good friend, Tara, commented, startling Lauren out of her pensive thoughts. “And that RSVP card is not going to send itself, by the way.”

Lauren sighed as Tara settled into the chair across from her with a plate of avocado toast and a cup of coffee. “I know, I know,” she said, setting her spoon in her cereal bowl. “I need to mail it this week. I’ve been dragging my feet because I want to take a plus-one to buffer things with my family, except I don’t have a plus-one in my life.” Because, unfortunately, the few men she’d met on dating apps had been complete duds. But maybe, possibly, she had an idea…

Tara grinned a bit mischievously and spoke before Lauren could share her thoughts. “You should shock the hell out of them and take a really bad boy to the wedding. Like a biker type. I could hook you up with someone from the shop, we could give you a few fake tattoos and body piercings—”

Lauren held up a hand to stop her friend’s wild suggestion before it got even more outlandish, even though she was laughing at the image Tara painted. “Thank you for your offer, but no.” A bad boy biker was more Tara’s type. Her friend worked at a tattoo shop as a receptionist, had a full arm sleeve of colorful tattoos and a few extra piercings, and was drawn to rebellious men who bucked societal norms.

Tara feigned a pout, emphasizing the gold ring in her lip. “You’re no fun.”

Lauren grinned. “There’s fun, and then there’s giving my conservative parents a heart attack.”

Tara rolled her eyes as she picked up her toast slathered in avocado. “Your straitlaced family could use a bit of shock and awe in their lives.”

Lauren didn’t disagree, but the last thing she wanted to do was draw unnecessary attention to herself while home for the wedding. She needed a low-key type of date, someone understated but attentive, so the gossip—and there was no doubt in her mind that there would be speculation about any man in her life—would lean toward Lauren having moved on from being dumped by her ex-fiancé for her sister, and was living a blissful life in NYC.

Lauren hated that she had to even consider such a ridiculous scenario in this day and age, but she couldn’t change the small town mentality of where she’d grown up. Her parents constantly worried about her well-being despite Lauren assuring them she was doing well in the city. Then there was her eighty-three-year-old gramps whom she adored, and he worried about her, too. Throw in the town’s old busybodies who felt sorry for her, and yeah, drastic measures were necessary.

All she wanted to do was blend in, not be the center of attention and gossip. With her ex having chosen her beauty queen sister, everyone would be watching Lauren’s reactions, and if she had someone by her side, a man who deflected all that speculation, she wouldn’t feel like the odd woman out.

Now that she’d vetoed Tara’s suggestion to take a bad boy home, Lauren eyed the brochure sitting next to her cereal bowl, the one she’d grabbed from work on her way out the door on Friday. “So, about finding a plus-one to take to the wedding… I think I might have found a solution to that problem myself.”

Interest sparkled in Tara’s brown eyes. “Yeah, and what’s that?”

“Remember me mentioning the upcoming Future Fast Track charity event I’m helping to organize at the Meridian?”

Tara nodded. “Yeah.”

Biting her lower lip, and curious to hear what her friend thought about her unconventional idea, Lauren pushed the glossy booklet across the table to Tara. “They’re having a bachelor auction at the event to raise money for the charity.”

Her eyes went wide. “You’re going to buy yourself a man?”

“I’m considering it.” Lauren leaned back in her seat and shrugged. “Whatever man I win, he’s committed to a weekend date, so it’s the perfect arrangement. I wouldn’t look dateless to my family or pathetic to the town gossips, and I’d be supporting a good cause. It’s a win-win situation.”

Tara flipped through the pages, quickly scanning the men up for auction and their profiles. “Meh,” she said, a teasing smirk on her face. “They’re all cleaned-up suits. Not a tattooed bad boy in the lot.”

Lauren laughed. “Exactly. I don’t want a man in a leather cut that grunts like a Neanderthal when spoken to,” she said, about the type of biker guy Tara had described. “I want someone ordinary and friendly and educated, who can make small talk and pretend to be smitten with me. And when we get back home, we can go our separate ways, no muss, no fuss.”

“Then yeah, buying yourself a man is the perfect solution,” Tara said encouragingly as she pushed the closed brochure back to Lauren with a grin. “But if that doesn’t work out for you, my offer to hook you up with a bad boy stands.”

“Good to know.” Decision made, Lauren reached for the RSVP card.

Grabbing a pen, she filled out the information and wrote in “2” for the number attending, then stuffed the card into its small envelope and sealed it closed so she could mail it on the way to work tomorrow morning.

One way or another, she was heading home for her sister’s wedding with a charming, amiable date on her arm. Now, she just had to figure out which man to bid on at the auction.

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