Page 30 of Love ad Lib
‘No! God, Lucas, no! There’ll be separate bedrooms. And he wants to draw up a contract to protect me.’
‘Good. No-one takes advantage of my girl.’
She put her hand to her chest and closed her eyes for a mini swoon.
‘How much is he paying you?’
Libby hesitated, then remembered they were friends and didn’t have any secrets.
‘Five grand.’
He whistled. ‘Fucking hell,I’dsuck him off for that.’
‘Lucas!’
He snickered. ‘Sorry, Lib-Lob, I don’t mean it. Why does he need you to be his fake girlfriend? What’s wrong with him?’
Her swoon was rapidly disappearing. ‘There’s nothing wrong with him. I think he’s just shy. His family want him to get married, and he told them he had a girlfriend to stop them from interfering.’
‘Do you know who they are?’
‘I know his parents are the Duke and Duchess of Somerset and their lifestyle is a little, er, eccentric.’
He snorted. ‘They’re over-sexed nobs. They’re so inbred they’d shag a horse hoping it was their cousin.’
‘Lucas! Henry’s not like that. He’s a really sweet guy. He even said he wanted to meet my boyfriend to explain himself.’
‘What boyfriend?’
‘I know I don’t have a boyfriend. Henry just assumed I did, then got off the call before I could correct him.’
‘Humph.’
This was it. She’d given him the perfect opportunity.Come on!
‘When are you meeting him?’
‘We haven’t arranged it yet. A couple of days maybe? Enough time to draw up the contract I suppose.’
‘Okay, I’m coming with you. I’ll be your boyfriend.’
OMG! YES!‘Are you sure?’
‘Yeah, yeah. I want to make sure your interests are protected. And if some posh git can fake it with you, then so can I. I’ll text you a time and a place and you can let him know.’
Libby: Hi, I spoke to Lucas and he wants to know if you can meet us midday on Friday at Coffine House in Soho?
Henry: Yes, of course. I’ll be there. Thank you. I really appreciate the two of you giving me the time.
At eleven forty-fiveon Friday morning, Libby met Lucas around the corner from the coffee house. She was wearing the dress she believed was his favourite and a clip with a red bow holding back one side of her hair. She was so nervous she hadn’t been able to eat since the previous night. India guessed something was up, but Libby didn’t want to break Henry’s confidence, so told her housemate she was worried about what to do now that Claire had given birth.
Lucas sauntered towards her, wearing a knock-off Ramones T-shirt, his jeans splattered with paint, and held out his arms.
‘Girlfriend?’ he asked, cocking his head to one side.
She blushed and stepped towards him at a speed that was intended to be casual but ended up being halfway between a skip and a jog.
Lucas hugged her and took a deep breath.
