The Art of Falling in Love with Your Fake Fiancé: A small town closed door romantic comedy (Sweetkis

10. Georgie

TEN

I’ve never moved into an apartment unseen. But because I’m now on crutches, it’s the way things are going. First time for everything, right?

When I dropped my phone two days ago and it hit my foot, I’d gone to bed that night with it kind of hurting only to wake up around two in the morning with a searing pain shooting up my leg. It was the kind of intense pain that happens if you break something, only I knew I hadn’t broken anything…or at least I thought I hadn’t.

I made it through a very sleepless night and dragged myself to the local doctor the next morning. After an hour of examining me, taking a scan, and doing some reflex work, he could only figure that I’d managed to hit a nerve and irritate it, inflaming it. I was prescribed a few days on crutches, some aspirin, and rest. It’s not even a cool injury, like I can’t tell anyone I did it skateboarding. “I was trying to perfect my Crooked Grind, when all of a sudden…” No.

This is evidenced when Austin sees me as he arrives at my apartment building to pick me up and the first boxes of my things to go to the new place.

“Okay, how did this happen again?” He shakes his head incredulously. “I mean, Levi told me, but I really want to hear it from you.”

Oh, these Porter boys and their humor. They should take it on the road.

“Save it for your podcast,” I grumble, tilting my head to the side.

“It’s on summer hiatus,” he says with a wink. He points at my foot. “Did your phone really do that?”

“I know, it’s nuts, but yes.” I half laugh, half cringe as I sit on the porch holding Toto’s leash, watching Austin load boxes. “It’s pretty embarrassing.”

“Good timing, too. Not like you had to move this week or anything,” he says as he tosses the last box into the bed of his pickup truck and reaches for one of the three suitcases I’ve got packed. “You know, you don’t have much out here for a woman who’s moving into a new space today.”

“It’s only temporary. The rest of my things are being picked up by a moving company later today and taken to a storage unit.” Not that they need to be saved; I mean, the bed maybe, but the rest of it is due to be replaced. But since my rental company did finally pony up and say they’d pay for storage and reimburse me up to two thousand dollars for the inconvenience, I decided to take the storage unit.

Austin picks up the last piece of luggage and closes the back of his truck.

“You and your brother are being really nice to offer me this place,” I call out from my perch.

Austin turns and looks at me, cocking his head to one side. “Well, considering you’re marrying him—”

“Let’s not get crazy.” I cackle, nervousness teetering in my laugh as Levi’s SUV appears on the street. He slows and blocks the road as he flicks on his hazards and jumps out. Mary, his mother, is right behind him. Is it wrong of me that I hope she brought some ice cream?

“Hey,” he says easily, his smile fading as he sees the state I’m in. “Oh, wow, you’re really hurt, aren’t you?”

“Did you think I was making it up?” I tease back. Holding out my crutches, I hop around in a circle, slowly, like a supermodel showing off the latest in bespoke crutch-wear. “It’s very sporty, but also sleek with the right pair of shoes.”

“This is exactly why cell phones are dangerous,” Mary says as she wags a finger in the air. She comes over and gives me a hug.

“Tell me about it. I’m rethinking having my landline put back in.” I eye the older woman suspiciously. “What are you doing here?”

“I had to come by and say hello, considering you’re now engaged to my son.”

My eyes slam into Levi’s and he cuts his to the side, avoiding me. I look back over her way and force a tiny smile. “Yes. Well, I see the cat is out of the fake bag.”

Mary holds a hand up in the air, cutting me off. “I don’t want to be privy to any other info other than what I know now. Best to not tell me anything.”

“We get why you guys are doing it, but Mom doesn’t want to be guilty by association.” Austin laughs as he hops behind the wheel of the truck. Luckily, the windows are rolled down because he realizes he forgot something. “Hey, is Toto coming with me?”

“Yes, please,” I say, handing the leash off to Levi who leads him to the pickup truck. The plan being for me to ride with Levi, and Mary, too, I guess, over to the new place. “Thanks again.”

Austin eyes my baby as he walks toward the truck, drooling. Toto can’t help it, it’s a Rottie thing and I love it.

“Don’t be scared, Austin,” I call out playfully. “He’s only injured one man in my life and that’s because he was making fun of me.”

Austin grimaces as Levi opens the passenger-side door and helps hoist my big old, dragon-like dog into the seat next to Austin. “You look good with a dog in that truck, Austin. They’re a lady magnet, you know.”

Austin and Toto give each other side-eyes. “If this dog is a lady magnet, I’m the governor of North Carolina.”

We watch in silence as the odd couple pulls away and makes their way down the street. My eyes flick from Levi to his mother and back to the SUV. I really want to be in that car right now, in the backseat, without her inquiring eyes watching me. I feel very judged right now for my decision and part in this whole situation.

It’s temporary, Georgie. It’s a fake engagement for a friend and we’ll go back to normal…right?

As if he’s read my mind, Levi reaches out and takes the crutches from me, handing them to his mom. “Come on, let’s get you moved in.”

Laughing, I watch as my walking utensils disappear with Mary into the SUV. “How am I supposed to get in the car now?”

In one swoop, Levi wraps his arms around my waist and cradles me close to his chest, carrying me down the sidewalk to the SUV. I can feel his strength when he does, biceps flexing under his soft cotton T-shirt.

And it’s also quite nice to be pressed up against his chest.

Startled, I go to wrap my arms around his neck to hold on, but find my hands stopping as they graze one of his biceps instead. I can’t help it, I am such a bicep girl. I palm his bicep and then, the audacity, I keep it there for a second or two more just because of the thrill it sends into my system.

What is it about the flex and bulge of a man’s muscle that can make a woman quiver deep inside in a way she simply can’t control?

“Like what you feel?” Levi growls in my ear as he approaches the vehicle. Snapping to look his way, I find him chewing back a grin.

“Can’t argue,” I manage to say, my voice a touch shaky. “It’s a nice, ah, muscle you’ve got there, friend.”

Friend? What am I even saying? I mean, I can say my voice is shaky because I’m obviously injured, but these words of mine are like a salad of ridiculousness.

Levi shakes his head and has no time to respond because the back door of the SUV opens. When I glance over, my smile grows wider when I see Duncan waiting there and waving.

“Hey, buddy,” I coo as Levi places me on the seat beside him.

Mary turns in her seat to face us.

“Look,” Duncan says, placing a stack of old comic books in my lap. “Do you see these? I found them this morning when we stopped at the gas station. Comic books. At a gas station! How cool!”

I stare at the comic books. Archie and Friends. “You’ve got great taste, Duncan. These were my favorites when I was a little girl.”

“Really?” He grins at me as he tosses a Betty and Veronica comic book in my lap. “I got this one, too.”

“For me?”

He nods, and as he does, I notice the cookbook is on the floor at his feet.

“Are you studying up on how to make me dinner, too?”

Duncan giggles. “I thought you may like to borrow it while you get settled. I’ll want it back, though.”

“Of course you will, but I thought it was a present?” I flick my eyes toward Mary in the front seat.

Duncan shrugs. “I decided I need to do something else for her.” He looks at the cookbook. “I wanted it because my mom loved Jamie Oliver.”

I pick up the cookbook and place it in my lap. “Then I will take very good care of this and make sure to give it back to you as soon as I’m done with it. Or maybe we’ll make something for dinner together one night. What do you say?”

“Cool,” Duncan says, done now and turning to look out the window.

Up in the front seat, I’ve noticed two heads moving and turning. Mary’s movements seem stunted, as if she’s in shock at the conversation she’s bearing witness to.

“Will you have Netflix at your place?” Duncan asks, turning his attention back to me.

“Probably,” I say with a shrug. “If not today, soon. Why? Do you want to watch something on Netflix?”

“Riverdale. Duh.” He winks at me. “It’s Archie’s show, you know.”

Laughing, I throw my arm around my new little best friend. “We’ll talk to Levi and see what he thinks about you watching it, okay?”

The car slows outside my new building, which I know is mine only because of the photos Levi sent me yesterday so it wouldn’t fully be a “sight unseen” situation. The building is fairly new with retail spaces on the first floor and apartments above, all except one—a three-bedroom unit that takes up both floors. It boasts a fenced-in backyard, much larger than the one I have at my place and perfect for Toto, plus a large balcony stretching across two bedrooms in the back.

Levi opens the door and helps me out, Mary handing me my crutches as he jogs over to help Austin. The Porter brothers race in and out of the building, taking my things inside with Duncan helping as Mary and I make our way up the steps.

We’re at the base of them when she stops me, placing a hand on my arm.

“Okay, I know I said I didn’t want to know any more info, but I have to ask”—her eyes flick toward the building, making sure the boys are not within earshot—“if you really are okay with this fake engagement thing?”

When my eyes meet hers, I see a mother’s worry. Not that I have much experience with it, considering my background, but I have my intuition around what it would be like. Mary’s always been nice to me, but I know she’s protective and loves her sons with all of her heart. I can only imagine that she must be worried for Levi and now Duncan, too.

“It’s quid pro quo, isn’t it?” I say as I hand her my crutches again and balance myself, holding the rail so I can hobble up the steps. “I needed a place to stay and Levi needs to look like he’s settling down.”

Emerald-green flecks appear in hazel eyes that flash with curiosity. It’s as if this woman has a way of seeing into my soul. “Is it playing house for you?”

Ooofff. Talk about being put on the spot. “It’s about making sure Duncan ends up with the right person to raise him.”

“And it’s also about getting a free place to crash, right?”

Turning my head to the front door, I look up and find Levi at the top of the steps, one hand on his hip as he stares at his mother. “I told you, please don’t insert yourself into this, Mom. I know you’re not a fan of this plan, but it’s what I’m choosing to do.”

“You inserted me the day you told me,” she says, trudging up the steps, shaking a finger at him. “So you shush and don’t tell your mother how to feel.”

“It’s only temporary,” I call out, hoping to make it all sound better than it must. “Once the case is settled, Levi and I can quietly call things off.”

She watches us both. “I’m not trying to poke holes or make you change your minds, I just want to make sure you both know what can happen here. Plus,” she says as she looks at me, “it is now quite clear to me that you, out of all of us, have a very special kinship with that child. We all need to be very, very careful.”

As she disappears inside the building, Levi and I share a look. He lifts both shoulders, letting them drop. “It’s not that she’s mad, she’s worried.”

“I know.” And I do, but I also can’t take the gravity of all of this right now. I forgot to put on deodorant and I’m starting to feel ripe. Gripping the metal banister leading to the front door, I place all my weight down and start to do my lift and hobble move, but Levi is back at my side, coming to my rescue again.

“Stop that,” he says, his tone filled with gravel and heat. “Let me.”

For the second time this morning, he scoops me up like a sack of feathers and carries me over the threshold. Literally.

The front door opens, and my heart drops. This is the most beautiful open space I’ve ever seen. High ceilings, lots of light…a blank canvas needing some serious interior design love.

“It’s even more stunning than the photos made it seem,” I breathe out.

The few boxes I brought with me are stacked in the center of the living room, which Levi somehow had time to furnish in the last forty-eight hours. He points to the overstuffed L-shaped sofa. “You’re to rest there; I’ll go grab Toto.”

I park myself on the couch, smelling its newness. “Did this just come out of the factory?”

Levi chuckles. “No idea, but it did just arrive this morning from Mr. Altman’s store.”

“We should get going,” Mary announces, looking pointedly at Duncan. “Are you ready, boss?”

He nods, keeping his eyes on me as he does. “But I want to help at the bookstore again this week.”

Tilting my head to the side, I smile warmly and, with a flourish, wave my hand across my leg. “Me and my bum foot would love that. I could really use an extra pair of hands to help.” I glance over at Mary. “As long as you’re not needed at the farm for anything, that is.”

She shakes her head. “It’ll be good for him to be at the bookstore; he really seems to enjoy it.”

“I do,” Duncan confirms. “I like the smell of books, when you open them and put your nose to the pages.”

“Me, too, Duncan,” I say with a nod. He’s like a mini-me and it’s cool. “I’ll even spring for some fresh squeezed lemonade. Deal?”

He nods as there’s a bang and slam outside the entryway. A moment later, one giant Rottweiler is barreling inside, making a beeline for me. Toto makes a quick pitstop to sniff a giggling Duncan before halting at my side.

“Can I come back and see you and Toto?” he asks. “Here. At your place.”

“Well,” I say with a laugh, “let me talk to Levi and see what we can do. I’m not here for very long, Duncan.”

“Do you like this place, Duncan?” Levi asks as he enters the room, holding Toto’s leash in one hand. When Duncan nods, Levi stands up tall. “Good, because we may move in here in a few weeks’ time.”

Seeing the confusion register on the little boy’s face, I jump in. “Once I move out, that is, sweetie. I’m only here for a little bit while my apartment is being fixed. You’ll move in after I go.”

Duncan doesn’t say anything; he only nods, his eyes cutting back and forth from Levi to me, over and over. Mary, seeing the break in conversation, takes the opportunity to grab his hand and usher him and Austin out the door.

“We’ll leave you to get settled,” she says, looking at Levi. “See you back at home?”

Levi nods, and we both watch as the small crew files out the door, leaving us alone.

Just me and Levi.

Me and my fake fiancé, hanging here together.

As he turns slowly to face me, a ripple of excitement makes its way across my flesh, causing me to shiver.

Oh, seriously. Who do I think I am?

Can I really play this part and keep my feelings in check?