Page 24 of Faking the Shot

“Um, well, one you mean to look real, and one you really mean.”

His pulse quickened. He might’ve found some YouTube clips of Ainsley Beckett’s kisses, and he’d totally be okay with her demonstrating with him the difference. One day. “You mentioned Christmas before. What do we tell our families? Wouldn’t they need to know the truth?”

“We can say we’re dating, which is true, even if it’s only fake.”

He smiled.

“That sounds dumb, doesn’t it?”

“I know what you mean. And hey, if it makes you feel better, I can officially ask you to be my girlfriend. Fake girlfriend or real, it’s up to you.”

“Fake is fine for now.”

“For now?” He arched a brow.

She coughed. “I mean fake is fine.”

Fake wasn’t fine for him, but at least this way he’d get the chance to spend more time with her. “So now I’ve asked, you just say yes, and we’re gold. Right?”

“Yes.”

He chuckled. “Isthat a yes?”

“Yes!”

He laughed, and she joined in, and their amusement caught the attention of some of the other café patrons. Who looked at them, looked at their clasped hands, then pulled out their phones.

“Oh my gosh. They’re taking photos of us,” she whispered.

“That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? People to think you’re in a new relationship?”

“One that’s going to last for three months.”

“Until Valentine’s Day. I remember.”

“Or longer, if you want.”

Oh, he wanted.

“But not if you find the real girl you start liking. I’m sure we can find a way for you to tell her how you really feel without it becoming awkward for us.”

Oh, he was counting on it.

CHAPTER6

“Ainsley! Oh, girl, tell me it’s true. Are you dating Zac Parotti?” Rosie sounded thrilled.

“We’re getting to know each other,” she said cautiously. Which was true, no lie there.

And while it was good to have her agent pleased with her, she’d realized late last night just how close a fake relationship was to living a lie. So she’d messaged Zac and he’d answered—maybe he couldn’t sleep either—and asked him to do his best to not lie either. She couldn’t be responsible for leading a new Christian astray. Which made her curious about what had tipped him into faith. Clearly, that was a conversation to have another day.

There was a lot to learn about this man, which she now had opportunity to do. And while there was a lot she could learn on the internet, she didn’t want to trawl through it, especially with his relationships. She gathered from what she read that Zac was one of hockey’s biggest stars, which explained her dad’s fangirling. She also gathered that sports words used to describe him like “clutch” and “stud” were positive, and his many awards over the years certainly seemed to suggest he was intensely focused on being the best at his sport. Which probably meant he’d had little opportunity to be so cavalier in his relationships as suggested in some of those reports.

She still couldn’t get over the fact that such a big sports star had said yes to her proposition. Even the way he asked her out felt a lot more comfortable than what she’d vaguely imagined would happen. The fact he had asked her out meant she could say that, which is what she’d said when Cassie messaged her this morning after Ainsley had switched on her phone and discovered pictures of their handholding had flooded the internet.

“So, you two are going out?” Rosie asked again.

“He asked me out.” For real this time, not just his friend. After she’d asked him to, but whatever. It was still true.

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