Chapter 6
six
. . .
Rosalie
CheWellsnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire
I’m seeing red, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the cinnamon red-hot snowflakes in the display case in front of me.
“Are you freakin’ insane?” I screech, taking a giant, much-needed step away from Wells with his stupid, charming smile and strong, calloused fingers that felt entirely too good swiping along the small sliver of skin that peeked out from beneath the hem of my sweater.
“Actually, don’t even answer that because I already know that you are, in fact, insane. What the hell were you thinking?”
His lips tug upward, and he shrugs unabashedly, as if he didn’t just implode my life even more in the five minutes he was standing here.
“That you desperately needed saving from your asshole ex, who came into your store flaunting around his fiancée and her big-ass ring? You know, if anything, you should be thanking me.”
My mouth falls open before I sputter, “Thanking you? Do you have any idea how much of a mess you just created? You literally just told my ex that we’re dating, and now the entire damn town is going to find out about it before you even walk back out of that door.
Hello, Mistletoe Falls? Population four thousand?
God, not to mention, now I’m somehow catering his freaking engagement party?
” A groan spills out of me. “Could this get any worse?”
I probably shouldn’t have even said that, seeing as how every time someone says, “Can this get any worse?” it always inevitably gets worse.
I guess there is one thing that Wells is right about.
Bradley is definitely an asshole. I didn’t forget that much about him.
I was just in shock, and my brain was having a hard time computing the fact that he and his fiancée were standing in my candy store, asking me to cater their engagement party, like he didn’t break my heart and make me feel absolutely worthless about myself for the entire time we were together.
I was never planning on seeing him ever again since he’d moved to New York or Los Angeles or wherever the hell he actually lives, and I avoid his family at any and all costs.
The audacity is truly astonishing, and it’s part of the reason that my brain stopped working.
Suddenly, the smell of fresh pine and man surrounds me, and I glance up to see Wells standing directly in front of me again, so close that all I can feel and breathe is him.
“Okay, I am sorry for the fake boyfriend thing. Honestly, I just kind of started talking on the fly, but… tell me the look on his face wasn’t worth it?” His lips curl into a grin that has my stomach flipping and my heart pattering erratically in my chest.
God, he’s so annoying, but he’s also hot and so big that it’s just outrageous.
Despite trying to bite back my smile, it breaks through, and my eyes roll. “Fine. It felt slightly good.”
He chuckles, deep and low, so raspy that I can feel the sound.
My brow arches, and I lift a finger, poking it not so softly into his rock-hard chest. “Don’t laugh. It’s not funny. Stop laughing, Wells.”
Of course, he doesn’t listen. That only makes him laugh harder, like I’m an ant trying to poke a giant. His palms lift in surrender, another shrug lifting his thick shoulder. “It’s a little funny.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
Realizing I’m still touching him, I quickly yank my finger away from his chest before I drop my face into my hands, hanging my head with a low groan.
“The entire town is going to think we’re dating once word catches.
Do you know how humiliating this is going to be for me when Bradley finds out that it was just a lie?
He’ll think I’m even more pathetic for pretending to have a boyfriend.
I’m sure, given the size of his ego, he’ll assume it’s because I still have feelings for him, Wells!
Jesus, this is so embarrassing. Even seeing him today was horrifying, and this just makes it even worse. ”
Just thinking about how that will unfold has my stomach clinching for an entirely different reason.
I have a lot of feelings when it comes to Bradley, just not the ones he’s going to assume when he finds out that I made up a fake boyfriend after seeing him for the first time in years.
“Okay, so what if we don’t tell everyone we’re not dating?” Wells’ gruff voice has me lifting my head and pinning him with a sharp glare.
“I mean, it’s going to be fairly obvious when we’re constantly bickering. Couples don’t argue 24/7.”
“Sure they do. Keeps things interesting.” He simply laughs, and I narrow my eyes at him, trying to take him out with the intensity of my glare.
“I have an idea. Just hear me out, okay? So people will think we’re dating…
Okay? Fuck it, who cares? Your ex will think you’ve found someone way hotter, with a much bigger di—” I reach up and twist his nipple, and a strangled mixture of a groan and laughter spills past his lips.
“Fuck, alright, alright. Alright. Look, what if we just fool everyone for a few weeks, until his party and the holidays are over. Then he’ll be gone, back to wherever the hell he came from, and will have no clue that he got played. ”
I lift a brow and cross my arms over my chest. “Oh yeah? So you’d be fake dating me out of the goodness of your heart? Doubtful. The only thing in that big, ridiculously muscly chest of yours is coal, and we both know it, so why? What’s in it for you?”
His expression darkens for a moment before he finally says, “Might benefit from a fake girlfriend myself. A holi-date, if you will.”
“That makes sense because the only girl who would willingly date you would have to be compensated in order to do so,” I smart back, a pleased smirk splitting my face. “Your sparkling personality and all.”
That is, until he steps closer, and every hard inch of him is pressed against me in a way that makes my throat feel tight, causing my hands to tighten into fists against my chest.
He dips his head slightly, holding my eyes. “Trust me when I say I don’t need to beg a woman for anything, Rosalie, unless she’s into that kind of thing, and then I can be a very good boy.”
The low timbre of his words slides over my skin, creating a buzz beneath the surface.
Shit, why does that make me want to press my thighs together and scream at the same time? I’m honestly not even sure what’s happening right now, but it feels like I’m having some type of out-of-body experience.
“Right,” I respond, my voice sounding nothing like my own, raspy and breathless. I take a step back and suck in a shaky breath, watching as he rolls his lips together. A knowing smile moves along his face, and for a second, I think about throttling him.
The only thing I need right now is space.
So I can freaking think straight.
“I realize it sounds a bit… bizarre, but I’m serious.
Just think about it,” he says. “You need a fake boyfriend, and I need a fake girlfriend to solve our problems. The solution is easy: we fake it until after Christmas, and then you can go back to pretending you can’t stand me.
Although I think we both know that’s not true. ”
I roll my eyes and lift my chin. “You know, when you put it that way, it sounds so easy. God, why didn’t I think of this on my own? Oh, that’s right… because this is not a freakin’ Hallmark movie, Wells. Fake dating—fake holi-dating—is not a real-life thing.”
Wells shrugs. “Could be.”
“Why is it that you even need a fake date for the holidays? Actually, what does that even mean?”
I honestly can’t believe I’m even asking that because I’m not seriously considering this.
At all.
Am I?
His posture changes as he rubs his large hand over the thick hair dusting his jaw before sighing warily.
“My mom has this thing where for Christmas, all she wants is all of her kids under one roof. At my parents’ cabin up in Cedar Ridge.
We’re all spread out over the country in different cities now, and this is the one time a year that we all get together.
We put our phones in this present box and do nothing but whatever she has on the itinerary.
Board games, family dinners, all kinds of shit.
My mom is obsessed with the holiday, so she goes hard decorating, doing everything themed.
She’s got a Christmas village collection that’s about as big as the actual house. ”
It still doesn’t answer why exactly he needs a date, so I arch a brow and shake my head, telling him to continue.
“All my siblings are coupled up, most with kids. And I’m just tired as fuck of the questions about when I’m getting married and when grandkids are coming.
It’s exhausting, and if I bring a date, I’m hoping that’ll get everyone to chill out about my personal life.
Appease my mom that I’m on the path to being settled down. ”
Well, okay, that does seem fair.
“Honestly, I know exactly what that’s like,” I start, followed by a sigh. “My grandparents, as much as I love them, are way too involved in trying to hook me up with any and every single man in this town.”
Wells nods. His tongue drags along his full bottom lip, and he blows out a breath. “Then you know what I go through every single Christmas. It would be nice to not have to worry about it, and it works because we could help each other out. It’s a win-win. You help me, I help you.”
Fake holi-dating sounds absolutely ridiculous, but also, I have to admit…
it’s not that bad of an idea. Yeah, it’s a little crazy and feels like something out of a book, but then again, it could totally work.
Granted, I wouldn’t be in this deep if it weren’t for him popping in here and pretending to be my fake boyfriend to begin with.
But he was right—it was absolutely so worth it to stick it to Bradley and his too-perfect fiancée, even if just a little bit.
It’s exactly how I find myself saying, “I’m in.”