Page 12 of Off Season

“I need to ask you a favor.”

“Uh, okay. What’s up?”

“I’m heading to England soon, and there’s this wedding I need to attend.” He exhales, glancing up at the ceiling in contemplation before he continues. “Thing is, I don’t want to go, but I have to because it’s family.”

I blink at him. “O-kay, so where do I come into this?”

“I need you to come with me and pretend to be my boyfriend.”

My jaw hits the floor. My eyes widen in disbelief because there’s no way I heard that right.

Maybe I’m dreaming, or the iced coffee I’ve just had is making me a little delusional, and I’ve landed in some alternative universe. It sounded like Ethan, the guy I’ve been crushing on for the last five months, just asked me to be his boyfriend.

Okay, I may be purposely ignoring the “pretend” part, but whatever. That’s a minor detail.

“I’m sorry, what?” I ask.

He rolls his eyes, and if it weren’t for the deep creases on his forehead, I’d probably think I'm annoying him. Not this…situation. “I knew this was a stupid idea. I shouldn’t have listened to Blaine,” he grumbles.

My shoulders slump at the sound of Blaine’s name. The little bubble I was floating in bursts, and I quickly crash back down to earth.

This was someone else’s idea?

I try to ignore the weight of rejection on my chest.

“Blaine suggested that I go to England with you and pretend to be your boyfriend in front of your family?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” He squeezes his eyes closed before shaking his head and finally saying, “This was a dumb idea. I’m sorry, forget I mentioned anything.”

Running a hand through his hair, he doesn’t look at me. He simply spins on his heels to leave. I’m only able to move when I see him almost reaching the door. Rushing over to him, I wrap my hand around his inked forearm to stop him.

“Ethan, wait,” I plead.

He turns his head and looks down at me.

“I’m just…surprised, is all. I wasn’t expecting you to ask me that.” I look at where my hand is wrapped around his arm. How would it feel to have those arms wrapped around me? Holding me up against a wall while he?—

Not the time or place for that!

I mentally shake it off as I feel the heat rising up my neck.

“Can I have some time to think about it? I can’t just up and leave. I have this place to think about, and Alex is off to California tomorrow.”

“And I can cut my trip short.” Alex suddenly appears, his head bobbing into view between Ethan and the door. “From what Blaine’s told me, Ethan isn’t leaving for another week?” His eyes shift to Ethan for confirmation.

Ethan nods, his brows furrowed in confusion.

“So that means I can have a week in California, and you can go to England. We can always visit Blaine’s parents again when you come home, but you should go. Who knows if you’ll ever have the chance again.” Alex reaches through to poke me in the shoulder, his voice lowering. “Do you remember what you told me when I was worried about going on a date with Blaine?”

I close my eyes as I remember that awful night.

I had just received the latest bank statements, and the amount we owed seemed to be increasing. I ended up in tears because I felt like a failure. After endless hours, days, and even years, of pouring blood, sweat, and tears into my business, seeing it in black and white in my hands had been soul-destroying.

Yes, I made mistakes. I suppose a lot of small businessesdo during their first year as they learn the ropes, but I had also been struck with bad luck. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. Alex suggested bailing on his date with Blaine so he could throw the hundred bucks we had set aside for his date back into the pot, but our debt was so much more than that. It wouldn’t have even touched the surface.

And if he hadn’t gone on that date, they wouldn’t have fallen in love. We wouldn’t have had the success we did when Blaine saved our asses that gloomy December morning, and he wouldn’t have introduced me to this gorgeous hunk of a man, who now wants to whisk me off to England with him and play pretend.

Yep, the coffee must definitely be playing tricks on me.

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