“Well, you said the relationship is just a ruse so he can access his inheritance, right? You get to be his girlfriend and eventually his wife, but it’s all fake,” she says. “I guess I don’t know if I’d be good at that.”
“At what? At living in a rich man’s house and enjoying the benefits?” I ask.
“At kissing him and not falling in love,” she says, and I laugh.
“I’m not worried about that,” I tell her. “I may have a crush on him, but I’m not too worried about falling in love with him.”
“How do you figure?” she asks.
“Because I know him, and he’s kind of a jerk. All we do is fight half the time,” I say. I look at the boxer shorts and tank top before apprehensively throwing them in the box too.
“That’s called flirting,” she says.
“It’s called annoying,” I say. “Also, in case you forgot, I’ve already slept with the man, and I know I’m not in love with him.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you’re just in denial,” she says. “Either way, it’s going to be pretty hard swimming in his pool every day, being wined and dined every evening, and getting busy in the bedroom every night.”
“That’s not part of the agreement,” I tell her, closing the locker.
“Sex? You’re going to marry the man and you aren’t going to bang him?” she asks.
I shake my head. “The rules of our engagement are that we have no physical relationship behind closed doors.”
“Well then, do it outside. I hear beach sex is fun, though I’d bring a blanket,” she winks. I just shake my head.
“I’m serious, Lainey, we’re not going to have sex,” I tell her.
“Why not? I mean, I think that would be a great perk to all of this.”
“Because that was a one-time thing,” I say. “Because if we had sex, it would complicate things.”
“Why?”
“Because…it just would,” I say, unable to think of a reason.
“You know what I think…”
We both turn to see Brynn standing by the door of the locker room.
“Have you been eavesdropping this whole time?” Lainey asks, but Brynn ignores her.
“I think that if you and Dom have this little scheme going, the playing field needs to be even,” she says.
“What do you mean?” Lainey asks with narrowed eyes.
“Yeah, what do you mean?” I ask. I didn’t know she was standing there, listening to everything we were saying. I had no intention of telling anyone but Lainey about the fake relationship. I am curious about what she has to say, though.
“So he has to be married to access his inheritance,” she starts, opening her locker to get ready. “And he chose you. Interesting choice in my opinion, but to each his own.”
Lainey snorts and shakes her head.
“Are you interested in my opinion or not?” Brynn asks.
“I’m not interested in what you think about anything,” Lainey says, and I hold up a hand.
“What are your thoughts?” I ask. “Since you know the situation. You have a lot more experience around men like him than I do,” I say.
“The way I see it, Dom is using you to get what he wants. It’s not easy dating men like him,” Brynn says.
