Chapter 32
FAKE FIANCéE TIP: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A SAFE WORD. #SAFETYFIRST
DAKOTA
“I’ve invited three major influencers to this evening’s dinner,” Rebecca announced, her manicured fingers flying across her phone screen without bothering to look up.
“What?” I stopped pacing mid-stride, my bare feet sliding slightly on Axel’s hardwood floor.
The words took a second to register. My mind had been elsewhere. Not just replaying Mathew’s harsh words, but stuck on that crawling sensation that had followed me all day. Ever since leaving my parents’ house, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.
Which made sense actually. Jace had insisted on sending a bodyguard with me. The guy kept his distance, professional and discreet, but he was still there. Watching. That had to be why my skin kept prickling with awareness. What else could it be?
“This is supposed to be a work dinner only,” I managed, forcing myself to focus on Rebecca. “Axel’s business associates and the brand leaders for my deal.”
“And it is. The influencers will be here too.”
Oh, that’s just … fan-freaking-tastic.
“This night was already risky enough,” I reminded her, probably a little too sharply.
“My brand deal just got CPR after flatlining, and it can’t handle another shock to the system.
Axel’s business associates are already side-eyeing our relationship like we’re a bad Lifetime movie.
Did we really need to compound the potential disaster by adding influencers to document our every potential misstep? ”
Honestly.
“You both said you need to sell this story as quickly as possible.” She finally glanced up, her perfectly contoured face set in that I know better than you peasants expression I was growing to loathe. “So we need to make each event work twice as hard.”
Work twice as hard or crash twice as spectacularly?
I tugged at the hem of my oversized sweatshirt, struggling to find another branch in my argument. “You should’ve run that by us first. I didn’t organize enough food for extra head count.”
“I took care of that. Ordered catering and staff.” Rebecca waved a dismissive hand. “And speaking of extra head count, I took the liberty of inviting your friends.”
My jaw dropped. Literally. “Excuse me?”
Rebecca was already back to typing, her acrylic nails clicking against the screen. “It would look suspicious if influencers were invited to your dinner with only business associates attending. We need to round out the guest list to make it less obvious.”
“We never agreed to drag our friends into tonight,” I argued.
Rebecca stopped typing and leveled me with a glare.
“We also never agreed about telling your friends about the fake engagement. You and Axel are the ones who dragged your friends into this in the first place. And we also never agreed to send Axel to a business meeting in a ridiculous pink convertible. We wouldn’t even be having this dinner if it weren’t for that stunt. ”
“Hold up.” Axel pushed off from the kitchen counter, looking inconveniently good in gray sweatpants and a fitted T-shirt. His hair was doing that messy thing that probably took zero effort. “They were already suspicious before the car thing.”
Something warm unfurled in my chest at his defense, but I pushed it down. “I don’t want our friends to lie for us.”
“Me neither.” Axel’s voice was firm. “Uninvite them, Rebecca.”
“No can do.” She didn’t even look up from her phone.
I bit down on the inside of my cheek. “Then uninvite the influencers.”
“It’s too late for that.”
“We still have two hours.”
“If I suddenly canceled the influencers with this late of notice, that would raise a hell of a lot more suspicion. And by the way, make sure you’re both dressed and ready to go early. I don’t want them waiting.”
Yes, Mom.
“I’m sure they’re already suspicious.” I started pacing again, my anxiety manifesting in restless energy. “I mean, why do they think they’re even coming here?”
“To witness a potential business investment and the finalization of a brand deal with one of the biggest influencers in the country.”
“Rebecca, you need to run all major decisions by us first.” My voice was getting sharper, tension coiling in my shoulders.
“I’m doing my job,” she argued, finally setting her phone down with a sharp click against the marble countertop.
“We hired you,” I shot back.
She looked to Axel for support, probably expecting him to take her side, like most people did when faced with Rebecca’s particular brand of confident manipulation. Instead, Axel stepped closer to me.
“You heard her.” His voice carried an edge. “You work for us, not the other way around.”
Holy shit. Was Axel actually taking my side? Again?
Rebecca’s perfectly applied foundation couldn’t hide the flush creeping up her neck. “Do you want to sell this love story or not? Because when it comes to selling this story, tonight is live TV with no chance for retakes.”
Axel and I exchanged a look. One of those wordless communications that had been happening more frequently lately.
“This was supposed to be intimate, Rebecca,” Axel said, running a hand through his hair. “This is spiraling out of control. With this many people at the table, do you know how many things could go wrong?”
“They won’t go wrong. You two will be on your best behavior. You’re madly in love.” She gathered her designer purse and jacket. “You kill this dinner, guys, and you might be home free.”
I felt a strange mix of relief and something else at the thought of this all being over. Something I didn’t want to examine too closely.
“I have to go,” Rebecca said, already typing furiously on her phone again.
“You two get ready. Early,” she repeated, in case we didn’t catch that the first time.
“If anyone shows up early, we don’t need them realizing you get ready in two different rooms. Speaking of which, lock that office door so a snooper can’t get in there.
Make sure your stuff is in his master suite shower.
And, Dakota?” She paused at the door, her smile as sharp as glass. “Don’t forget to wear the ring.”
I rolled my eyes as the door clicked shut behind her.
The penthouse fell into charged silence. Axel was still looking at me with that expression I couldn’t quite read, and suddenly, the space between us felt heated.
“I should”—I gestured vaguely toward the bedroom—“get ready.”
He nodded, but his eyes never left mine. “Dakota?”
“Yeah?”
“We’ve got this.”
The certainty in his voice made something warm flood my system. Oddly, I felt like with Axel by my side, I was safe from the hidden dangers of tonight, no matter how irrational that sounded.
After giving him a nod, I slipped into the bedroom and took great care in transforming myself from ordinary woman to fake fiancée extraordinaire.
I applied the perfect makeup that gave me a pore-less, airbrushed look, added false eyelashes, styled gentle curls in my strawberry-blonde hair, and slipped into a sapphire custom-tailored dress donated by one of Chicago's high-end designers.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I tried to do a little pep talk.
“You can do this,” I whispered.
After locking the office/guest bedroom door so you could only get in with the key in Axel’s master suite, I emerged and entered the living room.
I swear I saw the air leave Axel’s lungs.
His hungry gaze swept slowly from my face to my feet and back up again, like he was memorizing every inch. The path his eyes traveled left a fiery buzz across my skin, as if he’d actually touched me.
“You look …” He cleared his throat, his voice rougher than usual. “Stunning.”
Heat crawled up my neck. “You do too,” I managed, nodding toward him.
God, did he ever.
He was wearing a suit I’d never seen before with fitted black fabric that looked like it cost more than a small island, paired with a shirt that was exactly two shades darker than my dress.
Color-coordinated. Making us look like we’d stepped out of a magazine spread for “Perfect Couples Who Definitely Aren’t Faking It. ”
Axel walked toward me, pulling a small velvet box from his pocket. The engagement ring. Right. Our little prop.
Per Rebecca’s explicit instructions, I’d cleaned it earlier and left it in the box until showtime. Massive sparkles were needed for this massive fraud, evidently.
“May I?” he asked, opening the case.
The diamond caught the light, throwing rainbows across the ceiling. I lifted my hand, wishing my skin didn’t come alive every time he touched me.
With one hand, he gently gripped my wrist, his fingertip brushing against my pulse point, which was currently hammering like a hummingbird’s wings. With the other, he slipped the ring onto my finger slowly.
Before it reached its final position, Axel looked up and locked eyes with me.
God help me.
Axel Pierce was the most gorgeous specimen of man I’d ever seen.
Eyes that could sparkle with mischief one second and darken with heat the next, making you feel like you were the only person on planet Earth.
Beautiful, full lips that would quirk up at my sarcastic jabs before spewing out equally sharp barbs right back.
And that jaw. Damn, that jaw was something I could stare at for hours.
Get a canvas and paint it over and over, trying to capture the way his dark stubble caught the light.
As if his model-perfect face wasn’t enough, the body underneath that suit spoke to years of dedication, turning those muscles into art. The suit looked like Axel was doing it a favor by wearing it.
“You’re staring, Sunshine.”
I blinked, snapping back to reality. Shit. My jaw was literally hanging open.
“You look …” I stepped back from this bubble of intoxication before I did something stupid. “Nice.”
Nice? Really, Dakota? The man looks like sex in a designer suit and you go with nice?
His shoulders rounded as he casually slid his hands into his pockets, tilting his head to study me with those penetrating eyes.
“Nervous?” he asked.
“No,” I lied.
He moved to my side, close enough that his heat wrapped around me like a warm hug. “We don’t have to do this, you know.”
“Yes, we do.”
He sighed, staring at me with a slight frown. “You need to escape, you look at me,” he said. “We end the dinner. Period.”
My muscles’ tension began to unwind. There was something so comforting in his words. “You’re being awfully nice to me.”
His eyes pierced mine, traveling a path of heat straight to my soul.
He opened his mouth to say something. Something kind and warm by the looks of it.
It wasn’t lost on me how different everything felt right now.
His protectiveness. The way he’d sided with me against Rebecca.
Like something fundamental had shifted between us.
But it also wasn’t lost on me that he’d never admit it out loud.
“Ice cubes,” he said instead.
“What?”
“You need to escape, you say ice cubes. I’ll kick everyone out.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Ice cubes?”
He shrugged, that cocky smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. “It can be our safe word.”
I snorted. “Are we becoming friends, Axel?”
“Never,” he said, but his smirk betrayed him. “I still owe you for that glitter cat ride. Did you know the horn actually meowed?”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “You have to admit, that was masterful.”
“I’ll never admit to that.” His eyes sparkled with delight. “But theoretically, it might’ve been the best prank I’ve ever witnessed.”
“If all it took was a bouquet of black roses for you to be nice to me, I would’ve sent you some years ago,” I quipped.
Something flashed across his face then. Pain maybe. Regret. The playfulness dimmed, replaced by something deeper, more vulnerable.
Wanting to ease back into lighthearted territories, I nodded toward the good lighting. “Come on. We should snap some photos of our epic romance.”
I pretended snuggling up against him wasn’t continuing to spiral me into a new level of want. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was something else about this night that was going to be hard for me: pretending to be in love with Axel.
Because it wasn’t feeling like pretend anymore.