“I’m just happy to be of service,” I said lightly, pacing slowly across the room. “As long as they’re buying it, the truth doesn’t matter so much, right?”
Alex hummed his agreement. “This was the right move. Just keep it up, okay? Whatever story you’re eventually going to sell when you speak to them, get it straight with her. The truth might not matter so much to you, but it will tothemif you slip up.”
“Yep. Sure. Don’t worry, bro. I got it.”
It wasn’t like I could say,Actually, Alex. Funny story, but I might be in deep, irreversible trouble here because it’s not fake anymore and also I might be an idiot.
Yeah. No. That wouldn’t work.
We talked for a while longer, but I kept quiet about the fact that faking it wasn’t going so well. I also kept quiet about the fact that somewhere along the way, this had stopped feeling like a controlled arrangement and had started feeling like something I didn’t have a single clue how to handle.
Honestly, I wished I could talk to him about it. He was my big brotherandhe was happily married, but if Alex knew what was going on in my head right now, he’d shut me down immediately. I couldn’t bear the thought of that.
“Keep it clean,” he said finally, after updating me on the arrangements for the gala and a few other things we needed to get done next week. “I mean it, Jesse. We can’t have any unexpected surprises or scandals on this one. Zach needs it to be flawless.”
“You don’t have anything to worry about,” I lied. “I told you, I’ve got this.”
“Just make sure you do, okay? Anyway, I have to run, but thanks again, Jesse. Seriously.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Give Cameron a kiss for me.”
Alex chuckled and agreed, then hung up. I turned back toward the bedroom, my steps slower than they had been when I’d raced out. She was still asleep when I got there, her dark hair a mess behind her and her breathing soft.
I leaned against the doorframe, watching her for a moment, this woman who’d upended my life without even knowing it. This really wasn’t fake. Not for me. Not anymore. But that meant that a side of me I rarely let out to play was suddenly banging at its cage, demanding to be let out.
After considering it for only a second, I dragged a hand through my hair and lifted the phone back to my ear, hitting redial. Alex picked up on the second ring.
“Did you forget something?” he asked.
I backed into the hallway and kept my voice quiet. There was every possibility that I was going to regret this when it came out, but that was the problem with having a reckless streak. I didn’t often let knowledge of potential future problems stop me.
“Yeah,” I said. “Actually, I did. Do you happen know what hotel the guests of last night’s fundraiser are staying in?”
CHAPTER 24
JACQUELINE
Ibasked in the early autumn sunlight, still in bed but alone now, with only the faint imprint of Jesse’s presence still lingering. It was closing in on late morning, practically noon, which meant that I’d slept later than I ever had in my adult life, but hooking up with someone new for the first time since my college days had been amazing—better than I’d thought and much easier than I had anticipated.
Jesse is to thank for that,I thought. There had been no awkwardness or clinical dissection of whether or not I should be doing it. It’d just happened. Naturally. I stared up at the ceiling with a slow, disbelieving smile spreading on my lips.God. Jesse.
Although I’d given him grief earlier for having this exact same thought, Ialsocouldn’t really believe how good it had been to hook up with a friend. In my case, however, I knew that it wasn’t so good with just any friend.
Thomas had been one too, after all, but Jesse being exactly who and what he was had made the experience something to remember. I pulled a pillow over my face and groaned softly into it, willing my heart, body, and mind to calm down about him.
It was time to get up and get on with it. If I stayed in bed much longer, I was going to start replaying things in dangerousdetail, and I had exactly zero interest in getting caught up right now.
I am an adult, not a teenager. I do not lie around in bed all day, thinking about a man. Up. Up. Up. Come on.
It still took a few beats before I managed to force my lazy ass out of bed, but I pulled on an oversized sleep shirt and a pair of pajama pants, then shuffled to the kitchen, trying not to pay too much attention to the delicious aches that spread through me with every movement.
Halfway through making another cup of coffee, since the one Jesse and I had made at the crack of dawn had long since gone cold, the buzzer rang and I sighed. The only thing that convinced me to answer it was the fact that it might behim.
I had no idea where he’d gone or when, but I also hadn’t checked my phone yet to see if he’d left a message. At least there hadn’t been a fucking note.
Honestly, it had been a bit of a relief to wake up alone after my nap. I’d needed some time to collect myself, and while I wondered where he’d gone off to, I was rather confident he wouldn’t disappear again.
Another flutter started up in my belly just thinking about how attentive he’d been, how verbal, and into it.Yeah, he’s not going to be gone long.
