“So?”
I chuckle, a bit incredulous. I glance at the hallway that leads to our respective bedrooms. By the sound of it, Lexi’s taking a shower. “We haven’t seen each other in years, and we didn’t exactly part on good terms when I left for Hawaii.”
“Yeah? And why was that?” Evan asks, eyebrow cocked. “She was totally depressed for months, you know. She missed you.”
My chest tightens, but I know now, just as I knew then, that it was for the best. If Evan hasn’t figured it out yet, I’m sure as shit not spelling it out for him. “I missed you all, too.”
I look at the screen again, clamping down on the hope that glimmers. Nobody would be stupid enough to do this, would they?
“I think it’s worth a shot,” Evan says. “You should each submit your résumé and see what happens. You’ve got nothing to lose.”
It’s quiet for a long time as Evan putters in the kitchen, giving me time to digest and dip into a crazy daydream of getting my project off the ground again and finally wrapping it up.
When footsteps fall, I look up and watch Lexi as she comes into the living room. The fresh scent of her shower gel, soft and flowery, drifts over, and I can’t help but take in her ass in those butt-hugging shorts as she scoots past me. She slumps down in the corner of the sofa and hugs a throw pillow to her chest.
“I see Evan’s shown you his devious plan,” she says, her tone laced with snark.
“Yourdevious plan,” Evan says, his gaze volleying between the two of us.
“It’s crazy,” I say with a smirk.
“That depends,” Lexi says. “How desperate are you, Tristan?”
I search her eyes. It’s as if all barriers have come down. She’s freaking serious.
“Um…what I don’t get is the couple part. What level ofcoupleare we talking here?” I ask, then swallow hard. “Married couples?”
“Usually.” Lexi stares at me, unflinching.
“Okay.” I don’t know what more to say except that marriage is a farce. “No one is going to buy us being married.”
“Nope.” She snickers. “But if it isn’t beneath you to fake an engagement with me for the sake of the TV documentary you’re so desperate to wrap up, we might get a pass.”
“Fake an engagement?” I repeat.
“Forget it.” Lexi stands and steps away, but I reach for her hand.
Touching her almost burns; it feels so wrong and yet so right at the same time. “Just—” I start.
She removes her hand but doesn’t walk away, and her leg brushes mine, her body so close I can feel the heat radiating off her. I’m trying my hardest to keep our gazes locked, because the only thing I want to do is look down at her breasts.
“Let’s just work with this concept for a minute?—”
“It’ll never work,” Lexi cuts me off. “We have zero history, and anybody who goes on your Instagram account will see that you’re not the committed-relationship type.”
What the actual fuck?Zero history?“My Instagram account?” I deflect. “I just told you what I use it for. It’s purely business oriented. I don’t post anything private on my Instagram account.”
“Really?”
That’s a rhetorical question. I might not post about my private life on social media, but I’m not exactly a saint and I don’t do long-term relationships. I don’t see the point. My life is uncomplicated, and I like it that way. As for posts other people tag me in… Well, only friends or colleagues can tag me. It’s all business and exposure for me, and ultimately it drives money to the NGOs that need it most.
“Can you sit down?” One more second of her this close—“Please?”
Lexi groans but falls into her seat. We glare at each other as her words ricochet back to me in slow motion.Beneath me? To fake an engagement with her?Is this how she viewswhat happened five years ago? That I thought she wasn’t good enough?Fuck.It was more like the inverse—I wasn’t good enough forherand never would be. That being with me would only destroy what we had. At the time I thought it was obvious to her.
“If you think about it—” Evan’s voice cuts through the tense air “—you’ll both be working. Nobody at the resort is going to know you aren’t really engaged. PDA is frowned upon in the workplace, even between married couples. It’s unprofessional. Plus, you’ll probably be so busy, you’ll hardly have time to share a cuppa with each other in the morning.”
A weighty silence follows, during which Lexi grinds her jaw.
