Page 19 of Arrogant Arrival

“Wow!” I can’t help but like how, for once, people are envious of me and that I have a life outside of work.Now I need to rush off and find him before my vacation in Greece is nothing more than a myth.

Jolene

My nerves are a mess as I quickly scan the baggage claim for Jim.Shit, what if I missed him?“Looking for someone?”

I jump at the low voice in my ear from behind. Spinning around, I come face to face with Jim’s cat-that-swallowed-the-canary smirk. “No.”Not anymore.

Of course, it’s clear that Jim can see right through my lie the way he keeps smiling. He’s so damn arrogant. “Search no more, gorgeous, your Greek lover has arrived.”

“I’m already starting to regret this.”

“I don’t think you’re going to regret having me whenever you want for nine days straight. In fact, you may not know how to live without me once this is over.”

“Wow.Your ego is…I don’t even have words.”

“Don’t worry. It’s not the first time I’ve made you speechless, and it won’t be the last.”

Jim’s phone buzzes. He swipes the screen, “Hello? No, I didn’t run off. Bianca, I’m coming right now. I’m coming. Yeah. Has Ma and Yia-Yia gotten their luggage? Okay. We’re coming. Yes,we.” His eyes brighten as he smiles at me. His voice drips with mischief. “You’ll see,” he says into the phone.

Ending the call, he wraps an arm around me. “Now you won’t even have to act when convincing everyone you’re in love with me…but we do need to be on the same page about when our relationship began. I say we just stick to the truth, we met on a layover two months ago and had an instant connection.”

“Won’t it look suspicious you never told them I was joining you?”

“It’s a surprise. You weren’t sure you could get off work until the last minute. And I didn’t want my family harassing you while you worked.”

“Speaking of,” I open my phone to go to our online schedule. I check to see who’s working and around the area to trade shifts with. I quickly shoot some messages to get shifts swapped.

“By the way, what’s your last name?”

“All this time and you don’t know my last name? What kind of shoddy boyfriend are you?”

Jim shrugs. “You never told me.”

“It’s Tanner.”

“Now it’s Tannerelos. You’re Greek-American.”

Tannerelos?Nobody is going to buy that.This is going to be all one big lie after another. Over a week of lying to his family and of us pretending to be committed to one another. God, we’re both going to hell. Jim must notice me second-guessing myself because he wraps his arms around me again.

“Think about it, you will be saving me and some other poor woman from being shoved in each other’s faces. Everyone will be able to enjoy their vacation because they won’t be worrying about me being a bachelor forever. Even though, that’s the plan.”

“You really don’t mind lying, do you? Don’t answer that. So, you don’t think you’ll ever settle down?”

“Not you, too…” He sighs. “I’m sure I will eventually, but right now I like traveling the world and having my freedom. There’s time. This isn’t like when my grandparents and parents were growing up. People are living longer and people have options and careers. I’ve got time.”

“But do you want to be an old man when your child wants to play baseball?”

“Soccer. My child will play soccer. We’re Greek.” He holds me tighter to his firm body. “And I’ll show you old man. Just wait until we get to the house…”

I break free from his hold and smirk. “Who said you were getting those perks on this trip? You only said topretendto be your girlfriend. So we canpretendto have sex while sleeping in separate beds.”

“No, no. You’re to be myreal girlfriendfor this trip. Only pretend you love me. Do I need to remind you about that amazing connection we shared? Would that help?” Jim gives me a lopsided smile and leans closer to me. “And I aim to be the best boyfriend you’ve ever had.”

That shouldn’t be hard to do.My history of boyfriends is nothing to brag about. Jim’s phone buzzes again. He groans and hooks his arm over my shoulder. “We need to get to the others. They’re growing impatient and ready to get home.”

“Well, we did just get off a really long flight. They’re exhausted.”

“I hope you’re not too exhausted.” He winks.

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