Page 27 of Perfect (mis)Match

Vincent reached over to take my hand in his and raised it to his lips. My pulse quickened as he brushed against our joined fingers. “No,I’mthe lucky one. In so many ways.”

He stared into my eyes, and I had to force myself not to look away. I kept reminding myself it was all for show, but damn it, when he looked at me with that searing intensity, my heart picked up speed. When I’d entered into the arrangement, I’d had no idea he was such a great actor. Even I was starting to believe him.

“It was nice seeing you, Maya, so sorry you have to be going,” Richard said pointedly.

Maya looked like she was considering another insult but wisely turned on her heel and left in a huff.

“What a bitch,” Richard mumbled as he watched her walk away. “I never liked her.”

My heart warmed at his excellent taste.

“Huh,” Vincent said. “You did a great job of hiding it.”

Richard frowned as he shook his head. “I didn’t have much of a choice. I want you to be happy, so I was willing to play along.” He turned to me. “This time I don’t have to! Piper is a much-needed breath of fresh air. Charming, funny, and she doesn’t take any of your bullshit, Vincent.”

I giggled.

“And such a natural beauty!” Richard continued. “You’re the total package, my dear. My son was right about being one lucky man.”

I glanced over at my fake boyfriend and was shocked by his soft expression. I expected he’d have a comeback ready to go, but Vincent looked like he believed everything his father was saying.

“I am,” he agreed.

He said it with such conviction I almost believed him.

A quiet settled over the table until Richard broke the awkward silence and reached over to pluck the strawberry from his dessert plate.

“Talk about a natural beauty! There’s nothing I love more than fresh berries.” He took a bite of it.

“Is that a fact?” I asked. “You should come to the Broad Street Farmers’ Market with me some day. I’m there every Saturday morning the minute they open. They have the best local farm produce, and croissants to die for.” I paused. “Which, since calories don’t matter to me, as Maya so kindly pointed out, I enjoy without hesitation.”

The two men laughed, and I chuckled along with them. I wasn’t about to let a snotty supermodel ruin my night.

The bill came out, and Vincent and his father bickered over who was picking it up. Vincent only backed down when Richard challenged him to arm wrestle over it. I made a mental note that the elder Forde didn’t have a problem with having fun and making a scene. Did Vincent have that side to him too? I couldn’t say one way or the other—but it seemed possible now, even though I never would have believed it before.

Twenty minutes later, Vincent and I were headed back to my apartment in a different tiny sportscar, no doubt because the other one was still in traction. Thanks to me.

I couldn’t help overthinking every single detail of our meal as he expertly maneuvered the car through traffic. There was atonto process. The relationship between the two men, the tension over Vincent’s mother, the Maya ridiculousness.

The way Vincent kept staring at me.

“Why are you so quiet?” Vincent finally asked. “Are you okay?”

I glanced over at him and couldn’t help being pleased to see actual concern in his expression.

“Yeah, just a little overwhelmed, I guess. And maybe envious, too.”

“Seriously?” He frowned at me. “Why?”

“You and your dad,” I explained. “You have such a great relationship. You’re like…friends. He obviously loves you, but he alsolikesyou.” I shrugged. “I’ve never experienced that. My dad died when I was a baby, and Prentiss is a gigantic asshole, so…I don’t know, I guess it was a nice change of pace for me to experience such healthy dad energy.”

“It wasn’t always like that between us,” Vincent admitted. “We had a bunch of bumpy years. My parents got divorced when I was pretty little, so I grew up bouncing back and forth between New York and Miami. Which was fine when it was just Dad, but I’ve had three stepmoms over the years, and they weren’t always interested in having me around. That’s actually how Dee’s Lost Boys started.”

“Whatisthe story there?” I asked. I’d only gotten bits and pieces of the story from Paul over the years.

“Freshman year, the five of us became friends pretty fast. Paul was my roommate, and I met the other three guys—Aiden, Dominic, and Trent—because we were in the same brand management class and got assigned a big project together. When winter break rolled around, all of us planned to go home, but there was a big strike that basically shut down the airports. You wouldn’t think it would be a problem for any of us because we all had family within driving distance, but I couldn’t go to Dad’s because he’d just married wife number three, and he’d loaned his place to a friend to use for the holidays while they went on their honeymoon. I was supposed to fly down to Mom’s, but there was no way to get to Miami. Meanwhile, Aiden’s parents were going through a divorce, so heading home to New Jersey didn’t sound like a good idea to him, either.”

“Wow,” I said, eyes wide. “Yeah, that sounds awkward.”

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