Page 25 of Faking Romance

“Maybe later, sweetie. I think everyone just has some really great memories of blowing bubbles,” she says, which leads to another round of laughs.

“Come on, Ava. I’ll go with you. We can grab that bubble set I bought you last summer,” Brayden suggests.

“Bray, it’s OK,” Carly protests.

He holds up a hand. “Nope, our girl here needs bubbles. It’s a bubble emergency,” he says as he picks Ava up and she squeals in delight. He carries her to the door, and they disappear down the steps.

“Shit! Poor Ava. I’m sorry, Carly. We should have used some other boring term instead,” Cam says with a giggle.

“I’m not calling blowjobs something boring like ironing or paying taxes,” Drew argues.

“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Roxy’s voice rings out from the door. I turn to see her walking toward us. She’s wearing a sundress that hugs her curves. Damn, she’s gorgeous. I’m a lucky bastard to have such a hot fake girlfriend.

“What?” she asks me as she slides onto the stool that Brayden had been occupying.

“Nothing. You look nice,” I say. I’m about to say we should go out to dinner to discuss things and get our story straight when the door opens, and Ava and Brayden come back with armloads of bubble-making stuff.

“Hey, who’s that guy checking on Kasen’s sea anemones? It’s not his cousin,” he says.

“You saw that guy too? I don’t recognize him. Should we call Kasen or uh, what’s his cousin’s name?” Cam asks.

“Uh, crazy idea here, but if he’s using a key, don’t we assume he’s supposed to be there?” Roxy asks.

“Yes, or it could be…also, his cousin’s name is Elliott,” Drew trails off as he looks around at everyone, clearly trying to insinuate something dark and nefarious is happening in Kasen’s apartment.

Al laughs. “Drew, you have an overactive imagination.”

Cam leans toward me. “Do you think Kasen knows someone else is coming? You know how he is about his apartment.”

“Kasen’s fine. I got a text from him last week. He said his contract got extended and he had someone checking on things while he was gone,” Al assures us.

“But he always has Elliott checking on things,” Carly points out.

“Just text him. He’s fine. I swear,” Al reassures us. We all mumble agreements, but I can tell most of us are still unsure. Kasen’s never been gone for this long and no one other than Elliott has ever come to his apartment to check on things.

I look over at Brayden and he gives me a subtle nod. Yep, we will most definitely be chatting more about this later. I pull out my phone and text Kasen.

Me: Everything OK?

There’s no immediate response or three little dots—just a “delivered” below my message. Sighing, I stick my phone back in my pocket.

Roxy glances over at me. “So, uh…” She trails off and looks around us. It takes me a half second but I realize she isn’t sure if we should be talking about our fake-dating thing in front of everyone. Although it’s clear that Al knows and that man is watching us like a hawk.

We both turn toward him and he gives us a wink. Roxy blushes and looks down at her drink.

“How’s the bookstore coming along?” I inquire because that topic seems safe. We’ve barely scratched the surface of knowing anything about each other.

“Good,” she says as she swirls the liquid in her glass.

“You ready for your opening day?” I ask.

She turns slightly and our legs touch. She freezes as if she doesn’t know if that’s OK. I press my thigh against her knee and she relaxes her shoulders.

“Yes. I think so. I mean, it’s a ‘soft launch’ day. The big ‘opening day’ celebration will be next month. I just want to work out all the bugs first, you know?” she explains.

Smiling, I shake my head. “Nope. But I get that. It sounds like a smart decision.”

“Hey, everyone! Look at my giant bubbles! See, I told you I’m the best at blowing bubbles!” Ava screams as she runs across the rooftop deck with what looks like a Hula-Hoop-sized ring that is blowing enormous bubbles behind her as she runs.

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