“Okay. We’ve officially launched this partnership and swapped our secret squirrel agent powers, now what?”
Gigi stifled a yawn. “Some of us intend to clean the kitchen and go to bed early, since we were up half the night dragging dead bodies around and dealing with stubborn jackasses who don’t appear to have enough common sense to know when to come in out of a tropical storm.”
“No. I’ve got this. You’ve been on your feet all day. I’ll clean up.”
“Whoa. Who are you and what have you done with the real Nico Yanez?”
“This is merely my way of thanking you for providing me with a bed and shelter in my time of need. Don’t go misreading my intentions or in any way getting attached.”
“Attached?” What the hell did he mean by that crack?
Yanking open the dishwasher, Nico began loading it. “With or without this curse I don’t do love or relationships. So you need to remember all of this between us is just pretend.” Straightening up Nico chanced a glance her way, expecting to see resentment or outrage brimming in Gigi’s eyes.
A bubble of laughter erupted out of Gigi, that she tried to halt but failed dismally, as merriment suddenly had her almost doubled over for a few seconds. “Who knew you were hilarious.” Wiping her eyes. “Get attached to you? You? As if.” She grinned broadly, shaking her head in clear disbelief.
Something sparked in Nico’s gut at Gigi’s reaction. That she could so blithely dismiss the idea of ever falling for him because if he decided to put in some real effort, he’d have her on her back, naked, wanting, needy, pleading. Saint Medard, he was crazy.
Worse, Nico’s pride was irked, unable to shut the hell up for some reason. “We might have our differences, Cookie. But we’re about to spend a lot of quality time together over however long it takes for me to crush this curse. Assuming the creator of the curse reveals themselves eventually, and we smack down their evil ass. In the meantime, staying within fifty feet of one another is going to be challenging enough. On top of which we’re being forced to play make believe couple out in public. I don’t want you getting confused when all I’m doing is acting like a good guest.”
“Huh.” Gigi’s grin hadn’t dropped. “I’d already considered the ramifications of what might happen between us given all this enforced time together we shall inevitably be sharing. Perhaps it’s a guy thing that you went down that particular path, assuming that we’ll probably end up fucking. Oh, sorry, I meant making love, given you’ve cast me in the role of wide-eyed ingenue, one who will be unable to stop herself from foolishly succumbing, thanks to sheer proximity, to all your rough, irritating grumpy charms and fall in love with you by the sound of it.”
“And there’s no danger of that happening?”
“Please. None. You and me hooking up? Never. And even if by some crazy chance we did, don’t worry, I’d never be naïve enough to assume any real emotions were involved. It’s funny though, once I knew I was stuck with you for the foreseeable future, I instantly assumed we’d inevitably end up killing one another. Perhaps that’s just me? But I’m pretty sure I’ll eventually be making an attempt on your life. So heads up and all that.” Her cheerful smile never wavered. “Which reminds me, I need to rearrange things in my freezer. It’s starting to get a little crowded in there but never fear, there’ll always be room for one more. Night.” On that breezy note Gigi sauntered off to her bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind her, leaving Nicoat the kitchen benchtop, locked in place, cleaning cloth in hand forgotten.
Had Miss Happiness – let’s everyone put their best foot forward – Gigi DeWitt just threatened his life? Yes, he thought she had. And why, by the storm tossed seas, did he find that so incredibly hot?
Mierda.
***
It didn’t seem possible, but day two of faux dating Nico Yanez was even worse than day one. As a relentless never-ending wave of curious and well-meaning relatives streamed into Gigi’s shop, keeping Daisy, Bee and Gigi mega busy. Every customer feeling impelled to impart a little bit of advice before they left. The most common theme being to remind her of how suave, debonair, and worldly Nico was, broadly hinting that Gigi was more than a little out of her depth.
It was beyond frustrating. Her dating track record was pretty solid. Full of smart, capable, dashing men. Yet, her family, for some strange reason, were convinced Nico swam with sharks both on land and in the water on a regular basis.
It was proving harder and harder as the day progressed to keep her cheerful dynamic entrepreneurial smile in place. She was a competent business woman. A grown up. Thirty was looming rather near on the horizon. Yet it felt like the entire family had held a secret meeting overnight and taken a vote of no confidence when it came to the idea of Gigi and Nico in a relationship.
If Gigi had a dollar for every time someone patted her on the hand and with the best of intentions asked if she’d really thought this through, well, she would be draining her fourth very expensive cocktail right about now. Hmmm, cocktails, Nico was a bartender, perhaps there was a perk to this whole farce that she hadn’t factored in yet.
Which would be nice, just one perk.
Because so far, Gigi was feeling kind of put out. Here she was keeping Nico sane and safe from potential hordes of drooling lust-struck femmes, and what exactly was she getting out of all this? Besides a full cash register, a blister on her right heel and another burgeoning headache?
Hah, headache, no faux sex for Nico tonight.
Heavens, and now she was thinking about sex with Nico again. Okay, faux sex. But ever since he’d brought up the topic last night she’d been kind of like a needle on a record, stuck.
She’d given herself a pat on the back for her snappy retort when he’d mentioned it. Of course it helped that he’d intimated that if they were to have sex, it was a foregone conclusion that she would fall in love with him. Fall in love? With Nico Yanez? The man would have to have a magic cock then.
Although maybe that was part of the curse deal, gifting him a magic cock.
Bloody hell. Stop thinking about Nico’s cock. Concentrate on smiling, being polite and filling up Great-Great-Aunt Margot’s purple and white striped foil bag with her favourite Espresso Mocha Latte Truffles.
Head down. Just get through the day. As soon as they closed the doors, Gigi intended to soak in a bath whilst quaffing several glasses of medicinal wine.
And perhaps she might have made it through the work day unscathed, but as she handed over the bag of truffles, Margot - means well, big of heart - patted Gigi consolingly on the hand and imparted some sage advice. “Guard your heart, dearest girl.”
Guard her heart! Guard her heart? Like she was a virginal romance heroine under siege by some nefarious rake. It was too much. Gigi let her entrepreneurial cheery persona drop for just a split second. Great-Great-Aunt Margot was quite deaf, and stubbornly in denial. A bright smile would be response enoughand her relative would never hear her whispered sarcastic response. “No need. I’m just using him for sex.”
