Page 18 of How To Fake A Fiancé

It’s not that I don’t want to give her a tell-all. I just don’t see the need to talk about something that doesn’t matter anymore. It was only sex.

But was it just that?

Sex between Ian and me was mind-blowing but got too real too quickly. In the end, I can’t figure out if it was lust or…something else.

Even if it was something, it can’t be anything. I’m not cut out for what he has in mind for us.

I sigh as I drive the car out of our apartment complex parking lot and onto the main road. “I always want to confide in you, but there’s nothing to tell.”

“From the way he was looking at you, and the way you two were arguing, I’d disagree.”

Please, don’t remind me.

“He’s just a guy I banged and has now deluded himself into thinking it can be more.”

“What makes you think it can’t? Jonathan and I started out that way.”

“You guys got together because you wanted to learn how to have sex without emotion,” I point out. “What happened between Ian and me was…”

“Just sex?” She finishes my own sentence with a dubious stare. “That’s exactly what Jonathan and I told ourselves, too. Look how that turned out.”

Could she be right? My mind has played out everything that happened between Ian and me that night as if it were that one movie I was supposed to hate, but ended up secretly loving.

Yes, the sex was good. Fucking fantastic is a better description. But then I felt something rise in me, something I couldn’t hold back. I don’t know how to explain it, but he made me feel like we were the only two people in the world. I still feel this indescribable pull between him and me. And when we saw each other again last weekend, that pull tightened its grip on me—which scared me even more.

My bestie continues, “Don’t let years of watching someone else’s mistakes, and your one bad experience, dictate your love life.”

I shake my head, trying not to let the past haunt my thoughts. “I’m not letting anyone dictate my love life. I know myself. I’m not a relationship kind of person.” At least not anymore.

There was a time I thought I could have unconditional love. That despite my crappy childhood, I could find someone special who would stick by me. But I learned my lesson a long time ago. No need to torture myself more than I already have.

After pulling the car into the nearest parking space a few minutes later, Kiera and I walk into KH Industries. Then I see my boss and Kiera’s future brother-in-law Nathan Knight walk up to us.

His arms are crossed over his chest as he glares at me. His nose is beet red, and eyes puffy. “Would you care to explain to me what’s going on, Ms. Hernandez?”

I blink. “I’m sorry?”

“‘Sorry?’” He lets out a loud sneeze, covering his mouth with his arm. “I’ve been sneezing all morning.”

I place my hands on my hips. He’s seriously blaming me for his allergies. He’s joking, right? “And why do I need to apologize for your allergies, sir?”

He sniffles. “Because of those damn flowers on your desk.”

“Flowers? Who left me flowers?” The answer comes to me the minute the question escapes my lips.

He. Did. Not.

“Don’t know and don’t care. Just…do something with them so I can stop sneezing.”

I nod as Nathan walks off to the elevator, Kiera and me right in tow.

I look over at my smirking bestie. Her mind went to the same conclusion mine did, and she’s clearly amused.

“What’s with that look on your face?” I whisper to her.

“I think you know.”

I shake my head. “It’s not him.”

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