Page 32 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
Not one of those things seemed true of a luxury resort. If he sold, that would be someone else’s problem, not his. Once he let go of Texas Tidings, it wouldn’t be his to worry about anymore. Maybe that was the root of the problem...and maybe, just maybe, he’d thrown himself into this ruse with Adaline to distract himself from making a major life decision. Or possibly from the aching reality of seeing Uncle Gus on his deathbed every day.
Take your pick, Jace thought wryly. Adaline wasn’t the only one whose life was complicated at the moment.
“How so?” He tilted his head. “What’s complicating things?”
He genuinely wanted to know. She clearly had an aversion to lying, and she’d just invented a nonexistent significant other out of thin air. That was a whopper if he’d ever heard one. There had to be more to the story than just one bad Christmas gift.
“My brother is getting married, and Gram seems to think I need someone in my life too. She’s convinced I’m lonely.” Adaline’s voice cracked on that last word, and Jace pretended not to notice. “I think maybe everyone else thinks that too.”
She looked so small all of a sudden...so vulnerable, especially for a woman who was usually so larger than life.
Jace had a feeling Gram might be right.
“Well, let’s convince her and everyone else otherwise.” Jace regarded Adaline thoughtfully and held up a hand. “Fake boyfriend, at your service.”
At last, a smile. “You make it sound so easy. I guarantee you it would be harder than you think.”
Why was she trying so hard to talk him out of this?
“Pretty sure I’m up to the challenge,” he said.
“Everyone would expect you to go with me to my brother’s wedding on Christmas Eve.” She looked at him like he might run for the hills and never come back.
“Will there be cake?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed. “Yes.”
“Will you be the one making it?” That might be a deal-breaker. But who in their right mind would get married in Bluebonnet and not have Adaline bake their wedding cake?
“Also, yes.” Her eyes sparkled, and Jace may as well have been lost in a sea of bluebonnets.
“Then, I’m in.”
Adaline took a deep breath and shivered. They’d come running out here without coats, and now the tip of her nose was pink. Shades of Rudolph.
Then she shook her head, and her smile went sad around the edges again. “Why are you doing this? If it’s because you feel sorry for me, the answer is no.”
“I don’t feel sorry for you, Adaline. I admire you,” he said, stopping short of telling her the rest—that he didn’t like knowing he’d hurt her back when they were kids. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since that night at the gazebo. If he did one thing while he was in Bluebonnet besides caring for Gus, he wanted to make things right.
Those were the reasons swirling around in his head, anyway. Everyone knew the heart had a mind of its own.
“Good answer?” Jace cleared his throat. This arrangement had nothing to do with matters of the heart, full stop.
Her eyes flashed over him, and then she glanced at Fuzzy, as if checking to make sure her dog agreed. The Cavalier’s feathered tail whipped back and forth. “Good answer.”
“We might have a problem, though.” Jace tipped his head ever so slightly toward the senior center’s floor-to-ceiling windows. “What do you suppose are the odds that there are a dozen senior citizens with their noses pressed against the glass watching our every move right now?”
“One thousand percent,” she said without missing a beat. “We might need to give them a show. I’m sorry.”
I’m not.
Jace took a step closer and cupped her face with both hands. He reminded himself this was all an act, but anticipation flowed through his veins all the same. Warm and sweet, like wild Texas honey. “Stop apologizing. It’s a necessary evil.”
Then he ran the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip and lowered his mouth toward hers. Just before their lips met, he paused, and Adaline’s breath hitched. She felt it too, didn’t she? The tantalizing blur of fact and fiction...the deep, dark truth behind the lie.
It’s not real. It’s only a holiday fantasy, like flying reindeer and Christmas magic.
Then his mouth came down on hers, and the boom of his pulse pounded a steady beat.
