Page 95 of Faking the Shot

Easier said than done. “He’s a nice guy, Rosie. I feel bad, like I’m taking advantage of him.”

“Look, you gotta remember that he’s capitalizing on this too. He’s getting to clean up his reputation, just like this is doing wonders for yours. Have you seen the headlines about that kiss on New Year’s Eve?”

She’d tried to stay off social media, but had been tagged in a few accounts, and a few headlines that made her cringe.

Ainsley’s Hottie New Year.

As The Lips Draw.

Zac Scores Again.

To have their beautiful moment—something that had felt real, no less—splashed about and sniggered about felt so hard.

“You know you don’t have to quit being with him on Valentine’s Day,” Rosie reminded her. “You can make this real. It certainly seems real in some of those photos.”

That was the point of those photos, wasn’t it? To look real.

But after weeks of pushing him away, how could she say she wanted more? Did she even want more? Could she trust him? He’d been the perfect fake boyfriend, but this was doing him good, too. He was finding time to leave the women aside and lean on God. Regardless, any talk about whether to make this fake relationship real was a conversation she needed to have with Zac, when they could finally talk. One day.

“Oh, and a heads-up: you may want to sit down for this.”

Uh-oh. She stayed standing. “What is it?”

“It’s more a case ofwhois it.”

No. She closed her eyes. “Don’t say it.”

“I’m sorry, Ains, but I thought you should know. He’s in town because someone somewhere thought he’d be good in Ryan Reynolds’s new movie.”

“He’s here in Vancouver?”Please God, keep me safe from him.

“I’m sorry, honey. It’s true. Baden Daniels is back in town.”

Her stomach clenched. God protect her.

* * *

A weeknot seeing Ainsley felt like far too long. Zac missed her, missed seeing her after his games, missed touching her, holding her. He knew she had been busy, but it almost felt like she was using busyness as an excuse to not keep in touch. Ever since that moment after their scorching hot midnight kiss on the dance floor, when she said it was good for convincing others of their story, he started to wonder if she was just a much better actress than he had given her credit for. Could somebody kiss him like that, act like she was into it as much as him, then say that to him?

Chris and Diana had warned him, and now, with Ainsley not talking to him, he felt a little like maybe they were right.

He settled into his seat at the Thomas’s dining table, ready for tonight’s online Bible study.

The other guys came in. Luc had his teammate, Travis. Jai sat with Doug Lehtonen. Huh. Who knew those dudes were Christians? But then again, maybe they weren’t, and were here to check out the Bible study, just like Zac had done last year.

“Hey, it’s awesome to see more new blood tonight.” Mike grinned, then tilted the camera to include Franklin James and another newbie, their Calgary teammate, Tom Chavez.

“Welcome.”

Looked like some people had been doing better at inviting others along than he had. Of course, that probably meant opening his mouth and talking about his faith.

Chris nudged him. “We should’ve asked Drew to come.”

Yep. Shoulda, woulda.

“Hey Parotti, I didn’t think you’d be here,” Doug said.

“Right back atcha.”

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