“Savy! Get over here!” I call out to her and she jerks away from the wall and moves toward me. She’s rambling before I even make it to her.
“Tate! Are you okay? That other player hit you so hard I thought for sure you would be carried off the field in pieces! I was so surpri…mpf!”
I cut her off mid-sentence by lifting her up against me with an arm under her ass and slamming my lips to hers. There are enough people in this hall to get the rumor mill started so I go all in and devour her mouth. She’s stiff for a half second and then her hands come up and slide into my hair and surprise, surprise, clench into fists to pull me closer. Her mouth opens and her hot little tongue meets mine like we’ve done this a thousand times. I wanted tongues to be wagging about me kissing her but the crowd disappears when she moans into my mouth and my mind goes blank when all the blood rushes to my dick at the sweet sound. I pull her even closer and my other hand slides down her hip ready to take a handful of her ass when a laughing voice beside us has Savy jerking back from me and pressing against my chest to let her go.
“Damn, man, you didn’t tell me you picked Amy from the Big Bang Theory! You’re going to have to keep kissing her like that for anyone to believe this is the real deal.”
I let Savy slide back to her feet but I’m still looking at her face when I see her completely shut down at Jude’s awful comparison. She takes a few steps away from me with a red face and downcast eyes. I shake my head to clear it from the kiss and turn and hammer a punch into his arm.
“Shut the fuck up, you dick.”
I turn back to Savy and yank her towards me so I can loop an arm over her shoulders. “Don’t listen to him. His brain has leaked out of all the holes he’s pierced through his body. How did you like the game?”
She looks cautiously over at Jude before blinking big blue eyes up at me through her glasses.
“It was…extreme. Exciting but I didn’t expect it to be so…violent.”
My brows furrow. “Savy, was this your first football game?”
She nods, making me laugh. This girl, it’s like she’s lived in a box her whole life. It’s going to make some of this a challenge but I’ve got all the skills and reputation I need to pull this fake girlfriend thing off. Jude leans into us and winks at Savy.
“What did you think of my moves? I was the one scoring all the points.”
She gives him a flat, blank look and shrugs one shoulder.
“Oh, are you a player too? Sorry, I didn’t notice you.”
His eyebrows shoot up in shocked surprise, causing me to laugh again. The guy is used to women gushing over him. This is probably the first time a female hasn’t fallen at his feet in worship and it makes me like Savy even more. I shove him away and guide my new girl down and out of the hall, smirking at all the looks we’re getting. Yup, the rumors will be circulating fast and furious after that kiss and it’s exactly what I hoped for. We’ll hit the party next and I’ll put on a show that will guarantee everyone will believe Savy and I are a couple. This is going to work out perfectly for me.
SAVY
This is going to be a disaster for me. I can’t believe I agreed to this farce. I know better! Maybe I’ve read too many fake dating trope books that end with a happy ever after and that’s why I let myself go along with Tate’s ridiculous deal. Now though, standing next to him at this too-loud party where I most definitely don’t belong, I just want to find a corner and hide.
The sneering looks of contempt being sent my way by most of the gorgeous sorority girls have my skin crawling and me wishing the floor would open up and swallow me whole. The irony is that I thought this was what I wanted for this year. I wanted to go to football games and parties and maybe end up with a boyfriend. I just never expected it would be a completely fake one.
I rub the corduroy material of my skirt between nervous fingers and keep my eyes down. I keep thinking about what Tate’s friend, Jude, said about me. Amy from that TV show was considered a super geek and often made fun of. I’m not science smart like her character was but I do get really good grades. I pull my cardigan closer around my body as some guy screams a rebel yell while chasing a laughing girl in a bikini past us. Jude must have meant that I look like Amy, dress like her, and…he’s not wrong, I guess.
Our housekeeper, Martha, who was probably the closest thing I ever had to a mother, did all my clothes shopping for me while growing up. I never cared about how I looked or if the clothes she picked for me were stylish. I’m now starting to see that maybe I dress a little too much like a sixty-something woman instead of an almost twenty-one-year-old. I have plenty of daring outfits in my closet but there’s no way I could wear any of them outside my cage without my mask on.
I sigh and glance around the party as Tate chats with some of his teammates about the game they just won. He laughs at something one of them says, snagging my attention, and I take a minute to study him while his attention is elsewhere. He’s so effortless in his confidence and I wonder what that would be like. To just know that you fit, that you belong.
My gaze drops down to his mouth and remembering the way he kissed me after the game, a warm glow fills my stomach. I know it was fake, but my God, that kiss did things to me that I didn’t expect. Granted, I only have Hunter to compare him to and his kisses were kind of sloppy and brief. I tear my eyes away from Tate’s mouth and push down the regret of picking the wrong guy to have my first sexual experience with.
I’m lost in thought so I don’t realize Tate’s talking to me until he slides one of his big hands down my back and pulls me up against his side.
“Savy, have you met Beckett Hart? He’s one of my best friends and lives with Jude and me.”
I focus on the guy in front of me and have to tilt my head back to meet his eyes. The man is freaking huge, his broad shoulders straining the seams of the shirt he’s wearing. He’s even taller than Tate and I feel like a munchkin standing in front of him. Another man that God played favorites with and I wonder if my fake boyfriend’s friends all have to meet the drop-dead gorgeous criteria to be in his circle. That has me glancing around nervously. I’ve never met Jude and Beckett before but I’ve seen them and Tate at my bar boyfriend’s table at the club. Nerves thrum through me that Asher James might be the next person Tate introduces me to. When I don’t spot him in the crowd, I focus back on Beckett.
He has a beautiful gold skin tone that signifies a lot of time outdoors. His brown hair waves back away from his face and has hints of auburn streaks in it but it’s his striking blue eyes under thick brows that mesmerize me. He reminds me of a young-looking Henry Cavill but with the adult Witcher’s broad build.
The confusion in those eyes as he flicks them between me and Tate and the, “Really?” that comes out of his mouth in a half laugh wipes away any admiration for his looks. This is the second one of his friends that has found me wanting based on how I look and I’m seriously over having my self-esteem gutted for one night so I look away from him with a frown.
“Yes, really. Beckett, meet Savy. She’s my girl.” Tate introduces us.
“Right, got it.” He says in a smooth deep voice that has a hint of the south in it and then holds out a massive hand for me to shake.
I might be socially inept but Martha at least made sure I had manners so I offer him a strained smile and shake his hand in return.
