‘Morning!’ A deep voice that was unmistakeably Ben’s snapped me out of my thoughts.
That was close.
I spun around and saw him walking towards me.
‘Jess, I’d better go. Ben’s here.’
‘Have fun!’ Jess said. ‘And don’t forget to text to let me know you’ve arrived safely.’
‘Will do. Bye.’ I ended the call, then sighed.
‘What’s up?’ Ben frowned as he stood in front of me.
And of course he looked incredible. Like always.
‘Nothing. Just… I’m kind of having second thoughts,’ I confessed. ‘And I’m generally feeling pathetic about the fact that I’ve had to arrange a fake boyfriend to come to my brother’s wedding.’
‘I offered,’ Ben corrected. ‘And it’s going to be fine.’ He rubbed my shoulder gently, and goosebumps scattered across my skin. But only because the action took me by surprise. I’d have to get used to that kind of contact if we had a chance of pulling off this ruse.
‘I hope so,’ I said.
‘Come on, taxi’s already here. Let’s go.’
I followed him to the street.
Luckily the train arrived not long after the taxi dropped us off at the station.
Ben carried my case onto the carriage and I thought back to the first time I’d seen him on the train. I never thought I’d end up going to my family’s wedding with a man who hated romance novels. But here we were.
He sat in a table seat and I slid in opposite him, then pulled out my phone. I knew that if I stared at Ben for the whole journey, I’d melt into a puddle, so I needed something to keep my mind off him.
I’d finally posted the first video with me and Ben last night, so wanted to check how it was going.
There were already a fair amount of comments on how hot Ben was. And as I’d expected, some followers said that if I didn’t want to date him, they would. All of this engagement was good.
The number of views, likes and saves were decent too, although not as high as I’d hoped, but it was still early days. Hopefully it’d pick up soon.
I replied to all of the comments, but I still had loads of time to kill and I was determined not to spend it staring at Ben, who thankfully was scrolling on his phone.
‘Do you mind if I read?’ I said.
‘Go for it,’ he replied.
I’d survived the journey with Ben. The taxi had just pulled up outside the hotel, so the first part of this challenging weekend was done.
Thanks to my paperbacks and Kindle, it hadn’t been too bad. I’d read on the train, then again throughout most of the flight. I’d even spotted a romance reader and couldn’t resist giving her a copy of a book I had in my hand luggage just in case. Seeing her grateful smile made my day.
Then during the taxi journey, Ben was on the phone to Theo about something to do with the book bar, so that took up more time, and now we were here.
‘I need to pop to the gents’,’ Ben said after he’d wheeled our cases into the hotel. ‘Will you be okay on your own?’
‘Course!’ I said, trying to convince myself. ‘I need to text Jess anyway to let her know I’m here.’
‘Cool. Back in a sec.’
I pulled out my phone, fired off a quick text, then thought about whether I should go to the loo now too or wait for Ben to come back.
Just as I was contemplating leaving our cases at reception, I spotted Esme walking towards me and my blood ran cold.
