11. Claire
11
CLAIRE
W as I in?
I looked at him and tried to find the right answer.
Pretend to be Derek Scott’s girlfriend.
Fake dates with this sexy man seated across from me.
He watched me with the hint of a smile on his rugged face. His beard wasn’t so thick that I couldn’t see his expressions, but it seemed like a layer he could hide behind.
Obviously, he was hiding to an extent if he was overly eager not to have women hitting on him. I saw how he’d turned them down, both in shooing away that blonde who’d walked up here and tried not to acknowledge my presence and in ignoring those other women trying to engage him in a conversation.
If he wasn’t gay, what was his hang-up with finding a woman to be with?
He was hot. He seemed well off. He didn’t have a problem setting boundaries to tell them to back off.
What gives?
“I’m confused,” I admitted, rubbing my brow. I kept a smile on my face so he wouldn’t think I was upset. “I don’t understand why you’d want to go to such extremes.”
“Because I’m tired of being bothered. Stacy, my sister, seems to think the holidays are the ideal time of the year for people to hook up. She’s been on my ass to find someone. And with all the holiday kinds of things going on, I’m forced to be out and about more than I’d usually want to be.”
“Would it be too intrusive of me to ask why you don’t just… have a girlfriend?” I winced as the words left my lips. No matter how I delivered the question, it felt nosy. We’ve only just met! That wasn’t a question anyone should be asking too soon.
“I don’t want one.”
Oh. Wow. I did my best not to react with a flinch. His reply was so final, so cold.
“I’m not ready for one,” he amended, perhaps belatedly realizing how firm he sounded. “Since my wife passed away, I’ve focused on raising Naomi the best I can.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I told him sincerely.
“Thank you. It’s been years. She passed away during childbirth.”
“Oh, whoa. So Naomi never even knew her.”
He shook his head. “No. But we’ve… been fine. We’ve figured out how to make this work.” He furrowed his brow, glancing to the side for a moment. “Just the two of us. Unfortunately, my sister disagrees and is convinced that I have to find a woman to make us ‘complete’.”
“I bet she’s thinking that Naomi would benefit from having a maternal figure in her life.”
“Yeah. A female role model. I get that.”
“But she’s her aunt, and from the little I saw at the market, she’s involved.”
He nodded.
“And there’s nothing wrong with being raised by a single parent.” I couldn’t speak from too much firsthand experience on that note. My mother passed away when I was older, but her absence was a hard thing to adjust to. Dad had done the best he could with Grace and me going into our tween and pre-teen years without a mother to guide us. But I had known her. She hadn’t passed away when giving birth to either of us like Naomi’s mother had. That made a difference. “My dad raised me and my sister. And we turned out fine.”
Mostly. I held back a cringe as I wondered if anyone could ever claim to be fine and a wholly adjusted adult. Grace was reckless. I was a workaholic. No one was perfect.
He smiled. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Are you…” I pursed my lips, lowering my gaze. “Are you just waiting for the right time?” These still felt like intrusive questions and the answers wouldn’t be my business. “If you’re not ready but might be when Naomi is older, wouldn’t it be wiser to avoid a fake dating ordeal and bide your time for the real thing?”
“You’re acting like this is a grand plan I’ve been sitting on for a while.”
“Is it?” I asked.
“No. I just thought of it.” He chuckled lightly. “Just coming in here and seeing them all flocking like that. It’s annoying. It’s getting old, no matter how many times I tell them no, thanks.”
“Ah. The pains of being sexy.”
Oh. My God. My cheeks went warm again.
“Thanks?” he said, voicing it like a question yet not.
“So, um, no worries about this lasting, then? This fake…” I gestured between us. “Fake dating.”
“Just until the end of the year. Just for some peace and quiet. I don’t want to be too forward, but you’re… I like being near you. It’s not hard. It’s not like I have to deal with any pressure. You’re easy to get along with, Claire. We’ve only just met, but you even get along with Naomi.”
I scrunched my face. “Well, of course, I do. She’s funny. And smart.” I hated the thought of another adult implying that curious little girl wasn’t easy to handle.
“You’re saying that if I do this, you’ll sell some of your property?” He had plenty of it to spare, but I doubted he’d be letting go of anything too close to his home that he shared with Naomi.
“Yeah.” He didn’t look me in the eye for long.
“How much?”
“Some.”
Hmm. That was vague. Still, I smiled, sticking with this weird mesh of mixing business with pleasure. Well, not that kind of pleasure. Fake pleasure? We were talking about a deal, and I had to keep my eye on the end goal. “I doubt you’re planning to move or anything…”
“No. Not at all. Naomi and I love our home.”
As I suspected. “Right. And that makes me curious about what you’re offering me.”
“Some property. That’s what you said you were in town for.”
I had. And I was. But I couldn’t be stupid about this. I had to make sure I was agreeing to something that would benefit me. Even if what he’d offer me wasn’t enough to bring in all that Grace had lost, it would be a step in the right direction. Maybe it’d be enough to persuade others that we weren’t nosediving into bankruptcy, that at least one person in charge of Barone Realty was responsible.
It isn’t like it’d be hard to pretend we’re spending time together. As unorthodox and unconventional as this meeting was, I wasn’t suffering. It wasn’t hard to sit here with him and talk.
“Talk to me, Claire. What do you think?” He smiled, lowering his gaze, almost like he was sheepish. “I know this is out there, but we’d both get what we want.”
True.
“I’m in.” I swallowed hard after blurting it out. “But?—”
He laughed louder, a deep, rich sound of pure amusement. I wanted to hear it again, giddy that I’d made this aloof and slightly gruff man laugh.
“I knew you’d say that.”
I smiled. “But,” I repeated, “I want to know more details. I never enter a deal with the stakes undefined.”
“I’d expect no less,” he said. “I looked you up and saw a bit of your portfolio. Barone Realty is in the big leagues in Colorado real estate.”
Hopefully, it can stay that way. I smiled, proud. “My dad, John, began the company.”
“Keeping it in the family.”
I nodded. “Now, these details.” I folded my hands on the table, needing something to hold on to, to ground myself with. The surface of the cool tabletop was solid and hard, something to lean on. It felt lost and untethered, entering this iffy deal with him, but I wasn’t turned off. I was excited about how this could work, if we’d both—like he predicted—get something that we wanted. If it would be a mutually beneficial arrangement.
“What would you need from me?” I asked. I wanted to know more about the specifics of the land he’d want to sell. He could probably give up half of it and still have more than enough left over for space. But I didn’t push for those details. Oddly, I knew I could trust him. Somehow, I suspected he was legitimate, a man of his word. I was a woman of my word, and I appreciated this feeling that we were kindred souls in that regard.
“I’d need you to pretend to date me. To look like my girlfriend.”
“Okay. Um.” I bit my lower lip for a second, hurrying to think this through. “Where would I need to be seen with you? What would I need to prepare for?”
“Let’s see. Naomi’s holiday recital is Friday. I’ve been dreading that because it’s so damn clear who’s single and who’s got a significant other.”
I nodded. “All right.”
“So I’d need you there. And there are a few other things in town. Holiday parties that other parents put on, community activities that Naomi’s interested in.”
“Mostly things with her, then?” I asked.
He nodded. “I don’t go out of my way to have a social life.” He shrugged, as if that gesture would lighten that admission. “Most of what we do is what she wants to do. I won’t be such an antisocial person that I deprive her.”
“Okay.”
“Are you able to handle that?”
“Your being slightly antisocial?”
“No. The events I described. If your office is in Denver…”
I shook my head. “My sister left this morning to go back to the office. Since I’m, um, redirecting my interest in properties around here, I’m staying in town—well, in Macomb—until the new year.”
That was what made the most sense. I had yet to even look at all the land that Dad had suggested I consider for deals. Honestly, I wanted the break from Grace. With us both staying at home with Dad, she was idle and away from the busy city life that she enjoyed. And in that idle time, she was prone to lamenting how she’d screwed up, that I’d never forgive her, and wondering why Dad “hates” her. The worst was when she got carried away with the doomsday fears about us losing the company. Deep down, I doubted Dad would let it come to that. He’d intervene if I couldn’t fix it.
I hope.
But I was working on a solution now. It wasn’t a traditional means of doing business, bartering with my time as a fake girlfriend, but I was accomplishing an agreement of some kind. I’d get it in writing later.
Derek seemed like a man of his word.
So long as he didn’t try to be a man who’d mess with my heart.
Pretending to date him was something I could walk away from in the end. But getting involved any deeper would be an obstacle to my dedication to my career.
“I really only need to be seen with you. To deter them.”
“Yeah.”
“For it to look believable instead of my just telling them to back off.”
“Yeah. I see that. Wait!”
He jerked back at my louder remark.
“What about Naomi?”
“What about her?”
I cringed. “I don’t like the idea that I’d be lying to her. We wouldn’t tell her, right?”
The responding smile he gave me was slow and sweet. Like he was touched that I’d consider her feelings.
“I don’t mind pretending and lying to everyone in Preston, but she’s just a kid and…”
“We won’t tell her. She can see us being together and form whatever opinions she wants.”
But what about afterward? I didn’t like the chance of hurting her at all.
“And then after the new year, we can just… break up. A mutual breakup as you go back to Denver for work.”
“Sure. That’s… Sure.”
“Think you can do it?” he said teasingly.
“Pretend to date you?” I blew a raspberry and rolled my eyes. “Easy.”
“You’ve got a secret background in acting?”
“No. But it can’t be that hard.”
He furrowed his brow. “You’re not seeing anyone, are you?”
I laughed. “A little late to check on that detail. No, I’m not. For so long, I’ve focused on work. On my career. It’s been go, go, go for years, and I’ve never really had the time or energy to concentrate on finding dates or seeing if any men would stick.”
He studied me, seeming to search my face. For what, I didn’t know. “Well, now you can have a taste of a different perspective of life for a while.”
I smiled, not as intimidated by that prospect as I thought I might be. Slow down? Be laidback and take it easy? It sounded so foreign.
As I looked into Derek’s deep blue eyes, I realized this change of pace might just be what I needed for the holidays.
And it’ll help me recover the loss and save the company, too.
It would be a win-win.
Right?