“So he’s still a player,” I say it with fondness.
“Always has been, always will be,” Grant agrees.
The conversation slowly stirs away from our families to topics that are more fitting for an actual date. We need to know more things about each other if we want this to work, after all.
Almost an hour later, we finish up our desserts and then head outside, our hands linked. Grant kisses me on the cheek, right next to the corner of my mouth, before he opens the passenger door. It’s sweet and intimate too. I thought this part of pretending would be the most difficult one, but it’s turning out to be almost effortless.
I smile and quickly slide inside his black Mercedes-Benz. I know nice cars, because my dad is a fiend for them too, but this S class is in a league of its own. Cars will be an easy thing for my dad and Grant to bond over.
For our next date I’ll just head over to Grant’s place for the night. No one needs to know that we’re just going to be having pizza and watching a couple of movies, and that nothing romantic will actually be going on. In fact, the whole point is to convince everyone that we’re super, ridiculously serious about each other.
I end up getting home close to eleven. The front porch light is on but my father, despite his grumbling, has long gotten over waiting at the door for my sister and I to come home. Both of my parents are already in bed, so I take to the stairs quietly and head to my room.
I open the door. The lights are already on, and Heather is stretched out over my bed, playing on her phone. She’s clearly fresh out of the shower because her blonde hair that matches my own is twisted up in a towel. She turns to look at me and smiles so brightly that it shows off all of her teeth. “There you are!” She scoots herself more to one side of the bed and pats the new empty space she’s made. “Come on, tell me all about it.”
Pulling the door shut behind me, I put my purse down on the end of my desk, slide off my shoes, and hurry over to join her. “Always.”
For the most part, I just tell her how nice the restaurant was, and how the food was delicious but still not as good as Grant’s cooking. I embellish a little about the tension between us, and when she looks over at me and she asks, “Did he kiss you?”
I’m able to be honest. “Yes.”
No one needs to know that it wasn’t some passionate fling against his car. From the look on Heather’s face, I can tell that’s what she’s picturing, which just works in my favor. I let her draw her own conclusions and then usher her out of the room.
“Come on, I want to get some sleep. We’ll talk more tomorrow. I promise.”
Chapter five
Grant
Thenexttwoweeksgo by in a blur, but it’s one of the best blurs I’ve had in a while. We need this to look like a whirlwind, fall hard and fast kind of relationship, or else my proposal in London won’t make any sense at all. To pull that off, we spend as much time with each other as we possibly can, going out in the evenings or Ashley coming over and spending the day.
We need this relationship to seem as though it’s passionate, as though we’re able to truly pull the air out of each other’s lungs. There should be a brightness, a sharpness, a lightness, a harshness to it. I know that she’s doing her part, going out of her way to talk about me non-stop. And every chance we get, we’re taking pictures together to post on social media.
Even if we wanted to, there’s no way for us to make this quiet. Our families are too well-known for that. It has got to be big, brilliant, and foolproof. There’s something about the idea of being able to pull this ruse off that is freeing.
No more being hounded after by my father. No more worrying about what he’s going to say during this business trip. I have a date. I’ll have a fiancé soon enough. Ashley and I just need to figure out this hoax one step at a time. And before I know it, I’ll be the CEO of Denfield Global.
It’s like every other bit of business that I’ve been involved with.
You start at the bottom, and you work your way up, all the way to the very top. Right now we are laying the foundation so we need to make sure that this section of the plan is golden. That’s why we need to make sure that Ashley’s parents are able toseehow much we ‘love’ each other. So it’s not just public dates or us hiding in my house.
We take a few long walks around the lake, holding hands, when we know that her father is home. His office window looks out on the lake, so there’s a good chance he’s seen us. John has been the hardest family member to win over by far. But Ashley thinks that she’s finally convinced him that our relationship is going to be the good look that he wants for his campaign, even with our age difference.
But Mary, who apparently is all for whirlwind weddings, and Heather are thrilled that Ashley has finally found someone that she loves, someone that she enjoys being around. They were both ready for her to be with that special someone so convincing them I’m that person was pretty easy.
The cards have been dealt, and so far, they’re all turning up in our favor.
By the end of the second week, I’ve told Ashley that she should move in with me, and she’s told her parents that she’s moving out. This one turned out to be a bit more of a wrinkle in things though—her father is an old hat when it comes to how things are supposed to be done. He likes tradition and moving in with a man that you’ve only been dating for two weeks—that’s not how tradition is meant to be done.
The loud knocking on my door proves that he’s not willing to let this move happen that easily.
“Good morning, John. I was expecting you.” I move aside to let him in.
He studies me for a second, his expression completely blank. Politicians are supposed to have charisma, and knowing John, he’s always had an abundance of that, but now—It’s run out.
“What’s going on with you and my daughter?” he asks.
The dreaded question. I thought my times of hearing it were over a long time ago.