Page 6 of Fake Dating Adrian Hunter
“What’s your point?”
“I want us to help each other out of a sticky situation.” Adrian scrunches fingers through his hair, cringing. “Look, this is painful for me to ask, but do you wanna pretend we’re here together? Like, dating?”
I burst out laughing. “Okay, I must need my ears checked because I know you didn’t suggest what I think I heard.”
“I’m serious. You’re Verena Valentine. The world loves you. It will be the perfect antidote to my dilemma. My ex will be jealous if she sees me with you. They say you always want what isn’t yours, right? By the end of the week, she’ll be begging me to take her back. And I’d be doing you a favor, too. No one will pity you.”
“Wow. You are really something.”
“Is that ayes?”
I continue to my bungalow, purposefully wheeling my luggage over his foot. “It’s afuck you, Adrian.”
ChapterThree
“The dickhead asked me to be his fake girlfriend—so he can win his ex-girlfriend back—after he said I’m fat and pathetic!” I shout into FaceTime back in my bungalow. I’m perched on the bathroom counter wearing nothing but a towel as I shave my legs for tonight’s welcome dinner. And okay, Adrian didn’t use the wordsfatandpatheticto describe me, but he implied as much.
“What a jealous piece of shit,” Darius’s deep voice growls through my phone screen while he sits at the sewing machine in my New York office.
As my personal assistant and best friend, he’s dressed in the best, sporting a pinstriped suit I designed for him. His signature slicked back, dark hair is a mess from the number of times he’s raked angry fingers through it during this conversation. If I ever decide to sell menswear, Darius has the exact look I want modelling the line. The exact look when he’s not fuming over Adrian, that is. Everything about Darius is sleek and suave. The bone structure in his face is strong and masculine. His dark skin adds extra depth to the shredded muscles in his torso.
Yeah, I’ve seen him without his shirt on multiple times. It’s a nice view.
“Verena, women kill to have your curves. You want to know what Adrian’s problem is? He’s annoyed that you’re the one who came out on top after all these years.” Darius has never met Adrian. He’s just heard me rant about him non-stop in the lead-up to this wedding. Regardless, his words are a comfort.
“I need you here.” My voice comes out as a whine. That’s how desperate I am. “There’s no way I can survive the week without you.”
“You’re not stealing Darius from me,” a second male voice says from Darius’ end of the call. Though the owner of the voice is out of sight, the depressed tone tells me it’s my other closest friend, Zac. “Penny and I are on the rocks again and I need Darius’ support. I don’t know if I can save our marriage this time.”
Darius repositions his phone camera, bringing into view Zac, who’s lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling with a look of despair on his face as if he’s given up on life. So, nothing out of the usual for him. “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you we have company,” Darius says. “You see the stress I’m dealing with? Two friends in crisis and meeting business deadlines for you while you’re vacationing in paradise.”
I run the razor up my leg. “What happened with Penny this time?”
“We had a fight last night.” Zac smooths a hand over his black hair. “A gossip site reported that I’m sleeping with my co-star for this new musical I’ve been cast in—which obviously isn’t true. But Penny has it in her mind that I’m trying to get even for the affair she had. She never came home last night and hasn’t answered any of my calls.”
I so badly want to give Zac my speech ofWhy are you fighting for your marriage when she cheated on you? Leave her! I left the asshole who cheated on me and I’m better off,but he’s heard those words hundreds of times and my input has never changed his mind. Despite the miserable mood the marriage always has Zac in, he’s a romantic at heart and remains committed to Penny. He says he doesn’t want to lose his high school sweetheart and that they’ll work through their issues. He knows my opinion on that too, that all she’s working through is his money. Right now, though, he needs an ally on his side. A friend to support his decisions. I’m not here to rub salt in his wounds.
“Can I do anything to help?” I ask him.
“There’s nothing anyone can do.”
“I don’t know about that. It sounds like you and Penny need an escape from the media and a chance to reconnect with each other. What if I organize for you two to spend a weekend in Paris? You always say how much you loved your honeymoon there.”
“That’s nice of you, but the media can still find us in Paris.”
“Ahh!” I throw my arms up, rejoicing as a brilliant idea hits me. “Why don’t I fly you both to the island I’m on? I’ve gone to so many lengths to stop the public from knowing I’m here.”
Zac sits up with a sudden look of determination. “You actually make a good point. This could work. Maybe a vacation isexactlywhat Penny and I need.”
“Yes!” I squeal. “Darius, you have to come to Australia too. I’m having a mental breakdown over Adrian and need you with me for moral support.”
Darius cuts a thread from the garment he’s sewing. “What’s the point of me being there if you have Zac?”
“Zac’s focus will be on his marriage. I need you for all the times he won’t be around.”
“You’ve left me with a ton of work in the office.”
“Screw the work. It can wait.” I toss my razor in the sink and rummage through my perfume collection.
