Last Minute Fiancé

Chapter 6

Addison

“So, how are we going to do this?”

I looked over at Luca, who had driven us here, and sighed. We sat in his car in the driveway, the engine off, both of us having taken off our seat belts but not making another move to get out. There was an almost silence in the car, when the engine cut off but you could still almost hear the vibrations in your inner ear canal. It didn’t make much sense, but the silence felt deafening.

“I feel like we keep asking ourselves that question.”

We hadn’t found any answers. We were going one step at a time and ignoring the largest step, the one we should have considered first.

But I didn’t want to trap him in this. I didn’t want to force the conversation and force his decision.

I would rather be a single mom who had to figure out her life, where work didn’t make sense and the emotions rammed at you from all sides, than force Luca to be by my side.

And I wasn’t quite sure that I was ready to look into the details or complications of that yet.

There was seriously something wrong with me, but it wasn’t time.

We had another obstacle to deal with first.

“I got the time off from work, thanks to my staff being amazing, and so we’re on this trip. And they’re going to want to know why. And by they, I mean my staff and my brothers and sister.”

I turned to Luca and nodded. “So, we’ll tell them I needed a fake partner.”

“Fake fiancé,” he said dryly, and I winced.

“It’s ridiculous. I shouldn’t have to fake a relationship in order to get a promotion. Who does that?”

“Patriarchal societies that we can’t escape. However, we’ll get through this part, and then we’ll get through the things that matter.”

His voice was raised at the end, and I nodded.

“Okay. That is what we will do. We will tell them about the ridiculous situation we’re in with my work, but nothing else.”

He raised a brow. “At some point they’re going to notice when you start showing. But of course, we will probably have answers before that happens.”

I opened my mouth to say something, and then nearly jumped out of my skin when someone rapped their knuckles against the window.

I turned to see August standing there, a frown on his face and a grocery bag in his hand.

“You two just going to sit there all night? Everything okay?”

His words were slightly muffled through the glass, but I could hear him just fine.

I waved him off and he took a step back.

“We’ll talk soon,” I said quietly to Luca, who shook his head because he didn’t believe me.

I didn’t believe myself either.

But if we talked, then everything was real. And nothing felt real at this moment.

So we would, eventually. Once we had more answers. And once I was done allowing myself to be afraid that he would leave.

Because he said he would be there, but what did “there” mean?

Luca again shook his head as I opened the door to get out.

“Everything okay?” August asked again, frowning as he looked at me, then over at Luca as he walked up.

“Everything’s fine. Just a long day at work.” I winced. “But you understand that, you have to deal with students.”

“I don’t know, I’d rather deal with high school students dealing with hormones and rage versus finance bros.”

“Okay, you’ve got me there,” I said with a hollow laugh.

August looked between Luca and I, brows furrowing, before he shook his head. “You know what, I don’t want to know. Just, whatever it is, know that we’re here.”

“We’re fine,” Luca growled before he held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s go inside. It’s going to rain soon.”

I looked up at the gray clouds, the dreariness settling in to match our moods, and nodded.

“You’re right. Let’s go.”

Without thinking I put my hand in his and he pulled me towards the front door. I didn’t miss August’s curious look, though I ignored it. There wasn’t time for that. There wasn’t time for anything at this point.

Everything was about to change, monumentally. Or perhaps it already had changed and I was just trying to catch up.

“You’re here!” Devney said as she threw her hands up. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

“I’m so glad that you’re here. Come on inside. It’s just the six of us tonight. I hope that’s okay. Greer and her men are off on a trip.”

I still held Luca’s hand, and I hadn’t even realized I was, but as Luca and I were always close like this nobody really noticed, other than August. Probably because I was acting weird, not August. After all, Luca and I were constantly touching each other, near each other. Though we were just friends. We didn’t even have benefits except for that one night, and now we had a very huge result from that benefit. Not that I was going to dwell on that tonight because we had other things to talk about first.

I suppose fake marriages came before real babies, although I didn’t really want that bumper sticker on my SUV.

My SUV that would soon need a car seat and a baby carrier and I would need a bag to hold all the baby things. How would I make my office into a nursery, or should I move? Or would Luca want us to move in with him, or maybe just the baby with him and he would want full custody? No, that wasn’t Luca. And he was also not the kind of guy to just run away.

We would be forever bound, and not just from our friendship.

Everything was changing and I couldn’t keep up.

“Addison?” Devney asked, worry in her tone.

I quickly pushed thoughts of my own impending reality away and smiled at Devney. “Sorry. Long day.”

“At work,” August said, disbelief obvious in his tone.

Well, I didn’t believe myself either, but I didn’t need him to press so hard. Mostly because I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing in this moment.

Devney frowned between the three of us before gesturing towards the dining room.

“Come on, I’ll pour you a glass of wine.”

I bit my lip, because I wasn’t ready to talk about the baby. I couldn’t even talk about it with myself, let alone anyone else. But it was Luca who took care of it.

“She’s driving me home tonight because she lost the coin toss, so I get the wine.”

He smiled then, and Devney rolled her eyes.

“You know, that is probably a good thing. Don’t you have an early day at the job tomorrow?”

I nearly tripped over my feet and frowned. “What?”

“Unless you have a set day off the next day where you can recover from a single glass of wine, let alone how much you had at my birthday, you don’t usually drink much at these things anyway. Because you’re always working. I mean, I love that you’re so great at your job, but you work more hours than any of us do, and that’s saying something.”

“Considering that many of us own our own businesses, pretty much,” Heath said as he came forward, two glasses in his hands. He handed Luca a glass of red wine, and me a sparkling water.

“If you want something else just let me know. But I know you like this stuff.”

I smiled, actually grateful for the bubbles to settle my stomach. And it wasn’t just nerves this time. “Thank you,” I said before I took a deep sip, letting the bubbles settle me.

Luca met my gaze as he sipped his wine, and I ignored the way his throat worked.

Why was I noticing Luca Cassidy and the way his throat worked as he swallowed?

Yes I had always found him attractive. He had always done something to me, but he had been my friend first. And I hadn’t wanted to complicate that or ruin that friendship. It didn’t help that our lives were so complicated and connected that even a couple who were formerly married were now forced to sit in the same room together and we all had to pretend we didn’t know they were most likely fighting.

Because we were all friends and Paisley and August were doing their best to be adults about it, but it was still something we didn’t talk about.

And it seemed that Luca and I were going down a similar path. Not precisely the exact same one, but close enough.

And speaking of Paisley, the other woman walked slowly into the dining room, her red hair pulled back into a chignon at the base of her skull. She had on a killer green dress with tall heels and looked fucking amazing. She also had her eyes on her phone, frowning as she typed what appeared to be a million words a second.

We all stopped to stare at her, because honestly, how could you not stare at Paisley? She finally looked up and blushed when she noticed all of us staring.

Paisley was always so sure of herself, so strong and confident, except when it came to a few things.

Like the man standing on the other side of me, and the fact that she was terrible at dating.

“Oh. Sorry. Work.” The phone buzzed again and she looked at it, though her shoulders softened a bit and a smile played on her face.

“Not work,” August grumbled under his breath, and Paisley just shrugged before setting the phone down on the table.

“Yes it was work the first time, but no that was Jacob.”

I raised a brow inquisitively. “And?”

“And we were setting up our next date. Look at that, a fifth date.” She held out both hands and shrugged. “I can’t stay for long, not because of my personal life, but because I have a meeting and a cocktail dinner to go to.” She rolled her eyes. “I so love when clients add last-minute events. But it’s okay. Hence the dress. I didn’t dress like this for a casual dinner.”

She walked over and hugged me tightly, and I hugged her right back.

“It’s good to see you. And that dress is killer.”

“I feel a little self-conscious in it, because I usually wear black, but the green works?”

“Green on a red head is sort of the whole point,” Luca said, and there wasn’t any awkwardness with them. I knew there was a little bit with Heath and Paisley, but considering that she used to be married to his twin, that made sense. August, however, wasn’t saying anything. He just stood in the corner sipping his beer.

They were always cordial with each other. But I knew there was something there. I didn’t know what that something was, either hatred or animosity, or something more.

But just as I wasn’t going to think about Luca or talk about what truly needed to be talked about, I wasn’t going to force the situation with them. After all, that would just make me a bigger hypocrite than I already was.

“Anyway, how are you guys?” Devney said. “We have appetizers out, and dinner will be served soon. Come on, let’s talk about our weeks.”

I looked over at Luca, who shook his head slightly. I saw Heath notice the movement, but I didn’t say anything, and neither did he. Instead, we all went to the dining room and took our seats, our conversation moving from the bar Heath worked at and owned and operated, to a new upcoming project that Devney and Paisley were working on together.

“I’m so excited to work with these clients.” Devney beamed. “Seriously, they’re so great.”

“I think so too. Although I am kind of annoyed that you’re not coming with me to this event tonight with these other clients.”

“Because I don’t have to deal with them. That’s all you. After all, you’re the boss.”

Paisley rolled her eyes. “I hate being the boss sometimes.”

“No you don’t,” Luca said with a laugh. “I mean, the paperwork sucks, but that’s why we have business partners and helpers and staff that actually know what they’re doing with that.”

“Yes, Nathan’s not great with people, but he is great with paperwork,” I added.

“It’s really why you need that odd couple situation, so your opposite is there to pick up the pieces, and vice versa.” He shrugged as he took a bite of the antipasto.

“I’m just glad that I don’t have to make all the big decisions,” Devney put in.

“You’re the boss of your department though, so there’s that,” Heath added. “Making all the decisions is complicated, but I do like the freedom that comes with something that you own.”

“As I can’t own a school, I don’t mind being a high school science teacher.” August shrugged. “But you entrepreneurs can do your own thing.” He looked over at me. “When are you going to be the big boss?”

I stiffened before I looked over at Luca.

“After all, you kick ass. I assume you already did the corporate ladder taking over the world without having to do espionage or some shit like that.”

We weren’t going to get any other better segue into what we needed to talk about, but it wasn’t going to be easy. My stomach rolled, and I didn’t know if it had to do with nervousness or being pregnant.

And I really need to stop thinking the P word because that was going to stress me the fuck out again.

“What is it?” Devney asked, frowning between us.

“Um. Well.”

“I’m going on Addison’s work trip in a day or so. Should be fun. You know all those finance bros that we just can’t get enough of.” He sipped more of his wine while everybody frowned at us.

“Why on earth are you going on that trip? I was pretty sure that Addison didn’t even want to go on that trip,” Heath asked.

I looked at Luca, who I realized wasn’t going to help me here. He was already helping me enough. Great.

“I’m up for a big promotion, but in order to get that promotion, I need a husband.”

Everybody stared at me. Paisley blinked a few times and then leaned back in her chair, shaking her head at me. “Harrington-Wells III strikes again?” she asked, her voice dry.

Everybody frowned, and I had forgotten that Paisley was working with Nathan’s wife, and also worked in a similar sector. Plus, Harrington and Paisley were on the same level of entrepreneurship. I was pretty sure Paisley was doing even better than Harrington, not that I would tell my boss that, ever. I was already lying to keep my job, I didn’t need to add harsh truths to it.

“What’s going on?” August asked, leaning forward.

“I’m up for a promotion, but so is Travis.”

“Asshole,” Devney growled. “I mean Travis, not you. But both of you guys going up for the promotion? Is he going to try to cut your feet out from beneath you like always? He’s always been conniving.”

“He wasn’t conniving the whole time we were dating, just at the end. Hence why he’s not my boyfriend now. But yes, he’s going to try. And because the junior partnership is something that brings in a new sense of responsibility, it also brings a different lifestyle.” I shook my head. “I’m not saying this correctly.”

“What she isn’t telling you is the fact that Travis is engaged, and her boss really likes that Travis is now going to be part of a perfect family and is going to have the 2.5 kids with the happy adopted dog. So, what did you do about that, Addison?” Luca asked, raising a brow.

I knew he was trying to help, but none of this made sense or was making it easy.

“I told them that I was engaged, and I was going to bring my fiancé to the company work trip. Because that totally makes sense.”

Everybody started talking at once, while Luca just sat back and stared at me.

“Are you kidding me? How’s that legal?”

“Enforcing the legalities versus the perception are two different things,” Paisley put in.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” I said, mostly to myself, though I was still trying to calm everyone down.

“It is fine,” Luca said as he reached forward and gripped my hand.

Everyone stared at the gesture, and Luca sighed.

“We’re just going to pretend we’re engaged for the trip and then we’ll figure out the next step. She needs this promotion, she deserves this promotion, and we’re already best friends. What’s a little fake engagement between friends?”

“I’ve seen that movie, it doesn’t end well,” Devney said flatly.

I grinned. “No, but the only other choice is to tell my boss that I lied because I was nervous and incompetent and going through too much. It’s fine. I realize that there’s not an easy way out of this, but we’re going to stick with it for now. And we’re going to kick the patriarchy and my boss in the balls, and then I’m going to get the promotion and everyone’s going to forget the fact that I had a fiancé for one weekend.”

Nobody looked as if they believed me, and frankly I didn’t either.

There was really no easy way out of this, but I was the one to put my foot in my mouth, and Luca was trying to save me.

So we would deal with this.

Even if nobody at this table believed me, even myself.

It didn’t help that he was still holding my hand, and I didn’t want him to let go.

The fake engagement thing was the easiest part. That was the part we could talk through.

The fact that I also wanted him?

That was the part I knew would twist everything.

But there was no going back now. And I was truly afraid there never had been.