Page 48 of My Real Love Affair

“I’m not.” I stopped. “Cleo, I barely know him.”

“And yet you’re smiling at your phone like he just wrote you poetry.”

I looked down. She was right. I was smiling. A stupid, giddy smile.

No. No, no, no.

“It’s just nice,” I said weakly. “Having someone pay attention like this. A man has never sent me flowers before. Never commented on my posts. Never any of this.” I gestured vaguely at everything.

“Never made you feel special,” Cleo finished gently.

“Yeah.”

She moved closer, took my hand. “Babe, I get it. I really do. Austin is charming and hot and he’s saying all the right things. But you need to remember this isn’t real. He’s doing this because you have an agreement. Not because he actually wants a thing with you.”

“I know,” I said just a little too irritably. “I know it’s not real. I’m not an idiot, Cleo. I know exactly what this is.”

She squeezed my hand. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I won’t. I have rules. Boundaries. We both know what we signed up for.”

“Rules can’t protect your heart.”

My phone buzzed again. Another comment from Austin, something funny and sweet that made my followers go wild.

I looked at the flowers on my coffee table. It was a little scary at how good he was at this. I would have to be careful because he would definitely make it hard to keep the lines separated.

Cleo was right to be concerned. This was dangerous. Because every time Austin said something sweet or he defended me, it got a little harder to remember it was all pretend.

But I couldn’t back out now. I’d signed the agreement. Made the plan. Posted the content.

I was in it for better or worse.

“I’ll be careful,” I promised Cleo. “I know what I’m doing.”

She looked skeptical but nodded. “Okay. But the second this starts feeling like more than business, you tell me. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Even if this was all pretend, it felt good to be wanted. To know what it would be like to be pursued. I would just have to remember not to fall for the illusion.

CHAPTER 15

AUSTIN

“Ithink I’m going to be sick,” Rodney muttered beside me, his face slightly green under the jewelry store’s harsh lighting.

“You’re being dramatic.”

“I’m standing in a ring store watching you look at engagement rings. I think I’m allowed to be dramatic.” He grabbed my arm. “Austin. Buddy. Friend. We can still leave. Just walk out. Nobody has to know we were here.”

“Except the three people currently filming us from across the store.”

Rodney’s head whipped around. Sure enough, a group of twenty-somethings had their phones pointed in our direction, trying to be subtle and failing miserably.

“Fuck,” he breathed. “This is really happening.”

“This is really happening.” I turned my attention back to the display case in front of me, where approximately a million dollars’ worth of diamonds glittered under the lights. “What do you think? The oval or the emerald cut?”