The moment he’s in the car and his door is closed, I lose it.
“What was that?” I exclaim, turning to him with wide eyes. “Why did you do that? In front of the whole arena? There was press there!”
“That was the point,” he tells me. “Doing it so publicly makes it harder for our families to have any doubts that it’s real. The media narrative is already in motion. All our families can do now is go along with it.”
That’s when it fully hits me. My parents are going to see it. Oh, God, what will they think? They’ll probably be upset with me. Might even think I humiliated them on purpose! That I went behind their backs just to spite them. What if they see right through this whole thing? Figure out I lied to them? Not that I ever said I was with Jayce, but I can’t just explain this away so easily, can I?
“Hey,” Jayce’s calm, firm voice breaks through my spiraling thoughts. He grabs my waist and pulls me over the center console and onto his lap, then takes my hand and presses it to his chest. Mirroring the movement, he presses his hand to my chest over my heart. “Look at me.”
I blink and meet his gaze. I hadn’t realized just how badly I’ve unraveled. There are tears in my eyes and my chest is rising and falling heavily as I heave and try to breathe properly. My anxiety is making my stomach twist so bad, I think I might actually be sick.
“Breathe, Starling,” he orders gently, sucking in air through his nose and slowly releasing it from his mouth. “Just like that.”
I mimic him, and strangely enough, the steady beat of his heart beneath my palm as well as his guidance is helping ground me again. I’m able to pull myself from my mental spiral and slowly calm down as I stare into his deep blue eyes.
After a few more moments of breathing together, the corner of his mouth twitches into a half smile and he nods.
“That’s better.”
Swallowing, I pull my hand from where it’s resting on his chest, and he drops his as well, though he keeps his other arm wrapped around my waist so I remain firmly in his lap.
“Thanks,” I murmur, my cheeks heating with both embarrassment and the full awareness of being so physically close to him. “Sorry you had to see that.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He touches my chin and rubs his thumb along my jaw. “Not with me.”
His touch is so gentle it makes my heart twist with yearning.
Needing to focus, I clear my throat and ask, “Why did you do this?”
He lets go of my chin and answers, “I know springing the proposal on you like that was a bit of a dirty move, but I know we can pull this off. We don’t need to get married, just fake an engagement for… how does six months sound? We could just do three, but six buys us more time.”
“Why are you so set on this plan?” I ask, genuinely curious. “You know my situation, but I don’t really understand yours.”
Sighing, he runs a hand through his blonde hair.
“My parents are in an arranged marriage,” he murmurs. “They can’t stand stand each other, and have never made that a secret. I’m not really a believer in true love or marriage, but my grandfather expects me to settle down and be a responsible family man to really show I’ll be a responsible CEO. If we can pull this off, you can be the one to break things off. That way, we both look like we gave it a try and are left heartbroken, and maybe our families will back off and not bring marriage up to either of us for a long time. We’ll both be able to pursue our goals without their interference then.”
I bite my lip as I consider his words. Honestly, the disbelief and hesitation I felt the first time he proposed this plan is all but gone now. I’ve warmed to the idea quite a bit since we last saw each other.
“So, here’s the thing,” I begin. “I’m in town to land a big contract with Jackson Romero.”
His brows shoot up in surprise. “No shit? For the performance center project? I heard about that. It’ll be a huge job.”
I nod. “Exactly, and if I can land it, I’ll prove to my parents that I can take over our company and grow it all on my own. This is just the kind of project that’ll do the trick, but an engagement on top of that would also get my Mom off my back about Leon. Once I land the contract, I’ll go back to New York until construction actually begins. We could end the engagement then. It’s not like I’m going to stay in Colorado forever, and you’re not going to leave, so that could be a realistic reason for us to end things.”
He grins, looking almost impressed. “I totally agree. We can play it off that we tried our best to make long distance work, but the separation was just too difficult and it’s not something we can keep doing. It’s a good plan. So, can I take that to mean you’re in?”
“I’m in.” I chuckle. “You’ve got yourself a fake fiancee.”
He laughs. “It’ll be a pleasure working with you.”
There’s a moment of awkward silence before I say, “Uh, so… I don’t want to lie to my friends, and they kind of already know the proposal wasn’t real. Is it okay that I keep them in the loop?”
Jayce nods. “Yeah, that’s fine. If you trust them to keep the secret, it’s all good.”
I grin, feeling a sense of relief wash over me. “Okay, well…I suppose I should go back to Grace’s apartment. Or, Carson’s. It’s really his, right?”
I start to move to get off his lap but he holds me in place. “You should move in with me.”
