Page 26 of Fiancé for Hire

For the next hour, he hung out with his boys. Though his head was still spinning with concerns about him and Antika, he did feel a little more relaxed.

Montez looked at his watch. “Damn, I didn’t know it was so late. I gotta get out of here. Let me out, Dre.” He tapped Drevon’s shoulder, trying to get him to slide out of the booth. “I have a date.”

Drevon didn’t budge. “A date, huh? With Desiree?”

“Yes, and I don’t want to be late.”

“Man, Montez, you and your girl must be getting serious,” Jet said.

“She’s not my girl. We’re just hanging out and having a good time.” He nudged Dre. “Now, will you move?”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Dre, just move your ass out the way before I move you.” Montez shoved him, bringing back memories of when they horsed around as kids.

Drevon started laughing and stood. “Jet, I think there’s more to this hanging out than he’s letting on. Our boy has it bad for this woman. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

“Well, at least I’m not engaged to a stranger.” Montez chuckled as he strolled away from the table.

His parting words hit Drevon straight in the heart, and he dropped back into the booth with his hand on his chest. Before he could say anything, Jet started laughing.

“Man, you are so screwed. I have never messed up the way you did today.”

“No?” Drevon said. “Because I have a feeling you’re breaking one of At Your Service’s rules—no dating a client.” Jet opened his mouth to speak, but Drevon lifted his hand. “Save it. I’m pretty sure that was Amaya I saw you with the other day. You two looked like a lot more than friends. If you’re going to sneak around, at least be more discreet about it.”

For the next few minutes, they exchanged verbal jabs, talking and clowning about their individual situations. All was well until Jet glanced at his phone.

“Well, my friend. Time’s up. Your big news is out into the world.” Jet turned his phone around and on the screen was a picture of Drevon kissing his new fiancée in the staff lounge. The caption read:She said yes!

“Ahh, hell, and it begins. I need to warn Antika.”

ChapterFourteen

“How’s it feel to be engaged for over twenty-four hours?” Tamera whispered, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” Antika ground out between gritted teeth.

She wasn’t in the best of moods since she hadn’t slept well the night before.

One of her coworkers had posted a picture of Antika and Drevon on social media. The captionShe said yes! would’ve been sweet, had the engagement been real. Despite the #weddingbells, #famousmodel, #kissing, and how Drevon was tagged in the post, so far, it didn’t seem like the news had spread. But Dre said it was only a matter of time.

Finding out their business was out there in the world had been scary enough, but then this morning, Drevon had showed up on her doorstep…with a real engagement ring.

Antika had hyperventilated.

Her reaction hadn’t been just about the ring, it was the whole situation that freaked her out. She knew this wasn’t going to end well and had stayed up most of the night worrying. When she saw the ring, it triggered her, and she lost it. Her abnormal breathing after receiving the ring had scared Drevon so much that he had insisted on taking her to an emergency room.

Antika smiled at the memory. Thankfully she’d been able to calm herself down, but every time she looked at her hand, her heart rate increased.

She glanced at the gorgeous engagement ring on her finger. It was perfect. It was as if he knew her, knew what she’d liked. The two-carat halo diamond was set in white gold and had smaller diamonds that went around the band. It was delicate, understated, yet elegant. She hadn’t been able to stop looking at it.

“I can’t wait to meet my fake future brother-in-law,” Tamera said, that mischievous glint still in her eyes. “He has amazing taste in jewelry, and the fact that he said that you can keep the ring when this is all over says a lot about him.”

Antika couldn’t argue with that, but her chest ached at the reminder that this was temporary.

“Okay, I can see you starting to freak out.” Tamera hugged her. “I won’t say anything else about the engagement tonight, but can we talk about your outfit? I’m so proud of how you’ve been stepping out of your comfort zone, ’cause,girrrl,you are wearing the hell out of that dress!”

Antika grinned as she ran her hands down the sides of the white strapless dress that stopped above her knees and hugged her body like a second skin. She had never been skinny nor fat—somewhere in between—but she usually avoided skin-tight clothing as to not draw attention to herself. Except recently, she was embracing her womanly curves. She was getting a little bolder with her style, and not a moment too soon with Drevon temporarily in her life.

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