Bexley lifted one shoulder and dropped it again before smiling at me.
That was all the go-ahead I needed.“You see, my mom has been hounding me about getting back into the dating pool since …” I hesitated, unable to remember the last time I talked about Eleanor since her passing. “Since my wife died. We had two kids, Thomas and Sophie. They’re young and no longer have a female figure in their life. So, my mom’s been bothering me about dating and finding somebody to complete our family.”
Her eyes widen.
Maybe I was giving more information than somebody could process in a few minutes. “Look, I know this is a lot for having only been together for an hour and a bit, and I understand if I completely freak you out—”
She held up her hand. “It’s okay,” she said with a smile. “I’m in the music industry. I know who you are. I know about your family, about your—” she paused and smiled sadly. It was the same pitying look I’d grown accustomed to whenever anybody mentioned Eleanor. “—your wife.” she said.
I stared at her for a minute. I mean, I guess I should’ve known. I hated to think of myself as a celebrity, but I supposed, in a way, I kind of was.
Finally, I nodded. This at least made it easier to jump into this part of the conversation. “That’s good. Is that what you wanted to say?” She nodded, smiling as she returned the wine glass to her lips and sipped it.
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“I thought maybe you knew I was the kids’ club singer, so I didn’t want you to think this was about who you are.”
I considered it for a moment before nodding my head. “Of course. But I still would like to hear you play, if that’s something we could do this week?”
She inhaled slightly and smiled. “I would love to get your opinion.”
It dawned on me that maybe I could spin this as a tit-for-tat situation. I’ll help her; she helps me. My breath hitched for a moment before I cleared my throat to continue. “So, my mom’s been pressuring me to get back out there. She’s always trying to get me to date her friends’ single daughters and whatnot. I wanted to get her off my back, so I told her I had a girlfriend. But then we booked this trip, and I stupidly said my girlfriend was coming with us. Now I’m stuck trying to figure out how to tell her there isn’t a girlfriend and—”
Bexley cut me off, “—so you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend for the week?”
I nodded, unable to say the words because it sounded crazy, and honestly, I liked her. It didn’t feel right to get off on the wrong foot by being fake, but then she smiled.
“Sure. I’d love to.”
“Really?” I asked like it was unimaginable that she’d want to see me for a second night.
Bexley laughed, warming me through as she shifted closer and held my gaze. “I honestly would love nothing more.”
We stared at each other for a long moment before I reached out and touched her cheek, lifting a strand of hair as I weaved my fingers around it.
“I’d like to kiss you again.”
“Okay,” she said with a shy smile as I leaned in, brushing my lips against hers. Her taste was intoxicating, reminding me of spun sugar and cherries. Diving for more, I twisted on the sofa and pinned her against the cushions and arm. My body hovered over hers, her breasts brushing my chest as she folded her knees around my hips.
Everything about this felt so good. From how she fit perfectly against me to how in sync we were. But most embarrassingly was how good it felt physically, making my cock respond, tenting in my shorts between us. As she rolled her body against mine, she brushed along my hard shaft, making me moan.
“We need to decide how far we want to take this,” she managed to whisper breathlessly against my lips.
My eyes opened again to find hers closed as she brushed her tongue along her lower lip.Moving the hand that still cupped her face, I traced the same path her tongue made with my thumb before booping the tip of her nose.
“I want to go all the way, Bex. But not if you’re not ready, I’m happy to take my time and show you I meant what I said on the porch—fake girlfriend or not.” She would think I meant sex when I said, “all the way.” While that was a part, “all the way” was also something much deeper for me.
I could see a future with her, and now I had one whole week to show her what that looked like.
Chapter6
Bexley
We held off on sex,spending the rest of the night determining the parameters of our fake relationship and getting to know each other.
The story we planned to give his parents was as close to the truth as possible. We met in the industry, I was an up-and-coming artist, and he produced a song for me. Things took a less than professional turn when we found out how much we liked spending time with each other, so we started dating.
Once that was cleared up, we learned more about each other. Like how he was an artist in his own right but found his success producing music more than performing it. He also liked mayo on his fries, he always came in seventh place at Mario Kart no matter how bad or good he was. The one day that he would want to be his Groundhog Day was the day his kids were born, and since his wife’s death, he was a staunch advocate of maternal mental health.