Page 5 of Faking Ever After

“She’s on a mission,” I explained.

Anton gave a big nod of someone who understood everything completely and needed no further explanation. He crossed the office to the chair Kim had recently occupied and lowered himself into it. At twenty-three, he was the youngest person on my small personal team and, right after Kim, the most capable. He swiped at the screen of his tablet, inhaled a deep breath of air, and began to recite my agenda.

These were the things I loved. Relegating the duties of running the data protection company, which some news outlets labeled as my “brainchild,” to more passionate and knowledgeable people, allowed me to focus on seeking young talent, investing in new ideas, and helping brilliant inventors secure the capital to make their dreams come true. I detested the term “venture capitalist” for its negative connotations, but at the end of the day, that was what I was. My driving principle, however, was to give back to the world that had given me so much when I had been a broke college student with nothing but a good idea and plenty of hope.

Anton and I outlined my day and I followed him to the meetings, but my mind kept wandering. The longer I waited, the more I feared this had all been a terrible mistake. Kim was out there, looking for someone to pretend to be my boyfriend—for two weeks.

I was beginning to think that it was preferable to simply admit that I had lied to get out of a family function rather than go through with this. If anyone was going to play the part of my boyfriend, he needed to be convincing, he needed to be close to me.

I didn’t want anyone to get close to me. Despite Kim’s attempts to schedule some dating time for me and her not-so-subtle downloading of Grindr to my phone, I didn’t want anyone.

“Excuse me,” I said to Anton, sweat breaking over my brow. “I need to make a phone call.” I slipped out of the conference room during the Q&A part of the sixth presentation of the day and headed to the restroom. I called Kim, who picked up instantly. “Hey, don’t bite my head off, but I’m having second thoughts about this whole fake boyfriend thing. How about we just…don’t do it?”

“Oh. Hum. That’s a little tricky since he’s on board with the plan already and I had everything arranged.” Kim’s words left a tiny little opening for discussion, but her tone did not.

I swallowed hard. “So…I have a boyfriend?”

“As of Sunday morning, you will. Trust me, Percy. It’s a good plan.” Her words were somewhat comforting. I never knew Kim to offer a bad plan. “Look, just meet with him on Sunday. I’ll have him onboard your Dreamliner an hour early. If you get cold feet again, we’ll fall to plan B. But see him first.”

“We have a plan B?” I asked.

“You had your straight awakening, you misspoke, and I’m your girlfriend,” she cited.

I barked out a laugh and thanked her for the work she had done. With that out of the way, I shrugged to myself and accepted my fate. Then, as I hung up, I realized I had forgotten to ask what his name was.

I guess I’ll ask him myself when I meet him, I thought, and I returned to the conference room with something in my stomach that resembled giddiness.

It wasn’t until the evening of the next day that I put the pieces together. What sort of a person would be available on such short notice to act as a date? Which occupation provided the exact set of skills necessary to pull off this ruse? That night, as I awaited the morning of our flight, I couldn’t sleep because of the small boulder I must have swallowed, and it sat heavy in my stomach.

CHAPTER 3

Finn

I didn’t dareto blink as if a forty-eight-foot-long and ten-foot-wide jet withDavenportprinted across it could disappear if I took my eyes off of it for even an instant. My mouth opened automatically and then I closed it manually when no words tumbled out.

Kim’s mouth was letting words come out just fine. There was an abundance of sounds from her as she recited the itinerary.Something, something, stopping in Munich for fuel, something, Mykonos hangar and harbor, sailing to Naxos.

I successfully nodded.

“Let me show you in,” Kim said.

I scanned the tarmac but Kim’s was the only car around. Unless her mysterious and elusive boss was already on the plane — the thought made my palms sweat. I wiped them against my best black jeans — then I had to sit on board and wait for him. This, too, made my palms slick with cold sweat.

“And remember, Percy hates sucking up and hates it even more being treated like royalty.” This was the tenth time Kim reminded me that Percy Davenport was the good kind of rich. Perhaps she felt the need to hammer this into my brain because I had snorted the first time she’d informed me.

“Right. I’ll treat him like any old white trash.” I tapped my temple with a finger.

Kim glared at me and I hurried up the steps and into the jet. As we entered, whatever had been left of my breath was taken away. I wheezed at the sleek interior design of this flying five-star hotel room. Aside from the shut door to the cockpit, it was hard to tell we were inside a plane. The spacious airplane equivalent of a living room, probably called something like Cloud Nine Cabana or whatnot, sprawled before my eyes. The cheap, plastic and rubber coach seats held together with duct tape and prayer that I was used to were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there were four inviting armchairs with discreet belts, handy cushions, and fine, fixed tables in front of them. Each armchair had its little corner with a long sofa occupying the right side and a flat-screen TV replacing the windows on the left side. Who needed to witness the miracle of human flight when there was football in high definition? Or, if you’re feeling spicy, some green and red graphs with Jim Cramer screaming at you from the surround system.

“Percy will be here in half an hour,” Kim informed me. “Make yourself comfortable.”

“I don’t think it’s humanly possible to be uncomfortable here,” I whispered in awe. Beyond the Pampered Pod was another sitting area, but it was much more casual where chairs were in a semicircle, and the owners of the asses that would fill the chairs could see each other with as little strain on their expensive necks as possible. Finally, I pushed my head into the last large room and discovered a massive bed. Another flat-screen TV was mounted to the wall because,what the hell, why not have two?And beyond the bedroom was a literal first-class bathroom with a walk-in shower. “Erm…treat him like a normal human, you said?”

“Precisely,” Kim reminded me sternly. She had always been this way. Since we were in high school with our heads full of silly dreams, Kim had been the promising one. I, on the other hand, rolled with the motto that had gotten me into this whole mess.Things tend to take care of themselves, I had always told myself.

I eyed the bed. It was so seductively inviting that I swayed on my feet.

Kim, who knew I hadn’t slept last night because I had to pack the few things I owned, put a hand on my shoulder. We were of nearly the same height, so I turned lightly and looked into her eyes. “Why don’t you try the bed? Get a little shuteye before Percy joins you.”

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