Page 11 of Mistletoe Hearts
"I know it probably wasn't a good idea, but I was desperate. She was constantly trying to set me up with girls. They would show up at the hotel. At my gym. I had to get her off my back. So I made up the perfect girl that would never have to be seen. One that was so busy with her career. Problem is, now Grandma Lucy wants me home for the holidays. And she wants me to bring that girl."
I stared at him for a long moment, blinked several times, and tried to open my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Finally, I managed, "Jensen. She's sick. What are you going to do now? You clearly can't tell her that you made up a girlfriend. That will stress her out."
"I know. I know. I should never have lied. But I can't just confess the truth because now she's sick. She'd supposed to stay calm. I'm caught between a rock and a hard place."
I tried to force my brain to work. "You need to figure this out. Is there someone in your roster? I'm assuming by the holidays you mean Christmas?"
"Christmas." He nodded.
"Well, I'll think of something before then."
"Youdon't have to think of something. I already have a solution." Jensen grinned.
"Yeah? What's that? If it involves hiring a hooker, you're crazy. Maybe it's better to tell her the truth and not dig a bigger hole for yourself."
Jensen's brows snapped down. "No. I'm not telling her the truth. She needs me to have a girlfriend, so I’m going to have a girlfriend. I'll do anything to make sure she gets better and on the road to recovery."
And that was part of Jensen's problem, he was always wanting to be all things to all people. But he never spent too much time worrying about what would actually makehimhappy.
"So what can I do? Am I supposed to help you audition girls?" I asked. “Because that’s approaching awkward territory.”
"Well, since you're dying to make me feel better,andyou are my best friend in the entire world, I was sort of hopingyou'dpretend to be my girlfriend."
My heart leapt in an attempt to escape from my chest, beating so hard and so fast that I was sure there would be splinters and shards of my rib cage floating around.
Calm down, silly. Listen to his words. Pretend. Girlfriend.
And suddenly my heart stuttered and skipped to a stop. The pain so immediate and so hot, I had to fight to not show any expression. He was asking me to help him because he needed a way out of this mess. Under normal circumstances, I would do anything for him.
Except this.
Because if I did this, then he would know.
He'd know that I'd been lying and carrying a torch for him this whole time. And I wasn't going to expose myself like that. "Jensen, I love you, and you know that. But I'm not going to pretend to be your girlfriend."
Chapter5
JENSEN
Hell.
She said no.
I really hadn't considered that possibility. "Alex look, I know you hate to lie, and you're not very good at it. But I am up the creek with no paddle. I need my wing girl. Wing woman. Whatever, you know what I need. It's just for a couple of days, and it’s not like we weren't going to spend the holidays together anyway."
We did have a plan for Christmas. Christmas Eve would be at her place, and there would be takeout and alcohol and holiday movies. Then Christmas Day we would start at my place. I was pretty good at breakfast. My grandmother had taught me. That was the best day, opening presents.
Most of the artwork I had in my place were her pieces. And though each of them were given as gifts, I knew full well how much they were worth. To me, they were priceless, but to the rest of the world they wereexpensive.
In the evening, we would go to the big Christmas spread at my hotel. It was a tradition I'd started the first Thanksgiving we were open. It was so successful, I did it again for Christmas, with employees and guests alike.
I hadn't been dating anyone over the last few holidays. Which was fine by me. But if I ever was, she'd just have to get used to the fact that Alex was in my life.
Yeah, how well do you think that's going to go when your new girlfriend realizes that sometimes you have inappropriate thoughts about your bestie?
I shoved that thought aside. And to be fair, I hadn't had inappropriate thoughts in oh, days now. That was something, right? It wasn't my fault. She was stunning, with all that beautiful café au lait skin that always seemed to glow it looked so healthy. And her hair that always managed to somehow smell like lemon meringue pie. I almost loved hugging her just for that.Almost.There were other reasons I liked having her in my arms. Reasons I wasn't going to explore right now. I needed to get her on board.
"Look, I know this is a huge imposition."
