Page 50 of If We Never Met

Nikki put her arm around his shoulders and pressed her lips against his cheek as the shots continued. He tried to smile. But it was a battle. He could see the discomfort in Keira's gaze as she valiantly tried to look like she wasn't a third wheel.

"Keira, slide your chair closer to Dante," Nikki ordered.

"Uh, okay." Keira did as she was told until the three of them were very close together, with himself in the middle.

The cameras flashed again, and then Nikki waved to the photographers. "That's it, guys."

One of the men moved closer. "Are you going to be back this season, Dante?"

"I told you no questions about baseball," Nikki interrupted. "Go send your pics off. Make some money."

"Hope you make it back, man," the photographer said, then he followed the others away as the owner of the restaurant came forward to make sure they were leaving.

Keira moved her chair back to where it had been. "Well, you don't need me anymore."

"You can't leave yet," Nikki said firmly. "The press will be in the parking lot for at least another ten minutes. We don't want this to look fake."

He shifted, too, moving his chair away from Nikki. "What the hell was that?"

"It was the best idea I could have had," Nikki replied. "Now, let's all have some champagne. You two need to smile. Even if the photographers have left, everyone on this patio has a phone, and they're looking at us."

He could see that was true, which made him even more uncomfortable. Since Keira's expression was extremely stressed, he had a feeling she'd been ambushed as well.

Nikki pulled a bottle of champagne out of a nearby ice bucket. "I got a great bottle of bubbly. I'll pour."

"I don't want champagne," he said tersely.

"So just pretend to drink it," she said sharply. "You, too, Keira. I went to a lot of work to solve this problem. The story of your mystery romance is now over. The three of us are friends. In fact, Keira and I are actually old friends. That's the story that will be online tonight. I'll add to it later."

"You should have told me what you were planning."

"You would have said no."

"You're right. I would have said no. Creating a story as fake as the last one only creates more problems."

"It's not completely fake," Nikki replied. "Keira and I did meet years ago."

"I mentioned that to her when she came to the store earlier," Keira interjected. "Nikki didn't tell me you were coming tonight when she invited me for a drink. She also didn't tell me she was setting us up for a photo."

"I figured. I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You two should be happy," Nikki said. "I've changed the narrative. It's all good."

He didn't feel good, and he didn't think Keira did, either. But there was no denying the smile of satisfaction on Nikki's face. "You just whet their appetite, Nik. They'll hang around to see what other photos they can get."

"But I'll be the focus, and I love the camera." She lifted her glass. "Let's make a toast."

"To what?" Keira asked in bemusement.

"Our threesome," Nikki said with a laugh.

"Nik," he protested. "That's not funny."

"Fine. Let's just drink to the end of a story that didn't benefit any of us. By the way, Keira, I love that dress. Who's the designer?"

"It's actually one of mine."

"What? I thought you just ran a boutique."

---