Page 24 of Faking it with my Bad Boy Crush

"Tessa, this is Ethan Caldwell," Maya said, and I noticed she hadn’t let go of my hand. "We're... reconnecting."

"Reconnecting." Tessa's grin was massive. "Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

"We knew each other twenty years ago," I explained, falling into the narrative we'd prepared. "When I worked at Honey & Hearth. We ran into each other in Seattle at a coffee shop started talking."

"And one thing led to another?" Tessa looked between us, clearly intrigued.

"Something like that," Maya said, her voice carefully neutral.

A customer approached, asking about prices, and Maya had to let go of my hand to help them. I felt the absence immediately—the warmth replaced by cool air, the connection broken.

"I should let you work," I said. "But I'll see you Monday morning? For coffee?"

"6:30 AM," Maya confirmed, her tone professional. "Don't be late."

"I won't be." I started to leave, then turned back, playing to the small audience of vendors and customers who were definitely watching. "Thanks for giving me a chance, Maya. I know I don't deserve it."

Her eyes met mine, and for a second, I saw something flicker there—surprise, maybe, or confusion about whether I was acting or being honest.

I wasn't sure myself.

I walked away from the booth, feeling eyes on my back, hearing the whispers that would spread across the island by sunset:Did you see? Maya Romano and that lawyer from Seattle. They were holding hands. Apparently, they have history...

By tonight, everyone would know. The narrative would take root. And I would have exactly one week to fix Maya's legal problems, protect her bakery, and prove that coming back to Lopez Island hadn't been a complete disaster.

One week to pretend to be someone worth dating.

One week to become the person Manuel Romano had believed I could be.

One week before I had to leave and never come back—again.

My phone buzzed. A text from Richard Sterling:"Saw you at the farmers market with Maya. Interesting development. We should talk."

I stared at the message, my stomach sinking.

Interesting development. That was one way to put it.

Another way: I'd just agreed to fake-date the granddaughter of the man who'd given me a second chance, while working for thepeople trying to destroy her livelihood, with only seven days to fix everything before it all fell apart.

What could possibly go wrong?

Chapter eight

Playing Pretend

Maya

Iwatched Ethan walk away from the booth, his tall figure cutting through the Saturday market crowd with the kind of unconscious confidence that came from years of commanding rooms. My hand still felt warm where he'd held it—a purely strategic gesture that had looked casual and natural despite being completely fake.

Except it hadn't felt fake.

That was the problem.

"Okay, spill." Tessa appeared at my elbow the second Ethan was out of earshot, her green eyes bright with curiosity. "Whenexactly did you and Corporate Hottie become a thing? Because last I checked, you were planning to go to war with him."

"Can we not do this right now?" I gestured at the growing line of customers. "We have actual work—"

"Don't you dare try to deflect with bread sales." Tessa grabbed a box of pastéis de nata and started helping the next customer, but she kept shooting me meaningful looks. "You held hands with him. In public. After calling him a corporate shark. And don’t think I buy that coffee shop story for a second. You would have told me.”