3. Theo
3
THEO
“ Y ou two are a lovely couple,” Ford said, smiling at Max across the table on the deck. Now that he had proof I was off the market and uninterested in Pam, he’d relaxed considerably. “You remind me of me and Pam, when we first met.”
I had to stifle a snort. I didn’t know much about Max, but I could tell that she was nothing like Pam. For one, her small talk was focused on getting to know the people around her, not on telling old, boring stories about her high-flying modeling days to make herself look good.
The other difference between Max and Pam was how real she seemed. Sure, there was the surface differences. Max had minimal make-up, short nails, and natural beauty that made it hard to look away from her, while Pam was attractive in a way that made me think she paid a lot of people a lot of money to maintain it. But there was a deeper difference too. Max and I might have been lying about our relationship, but when she smiled at me, it felt real.
Pam, meanwhile, hadn’t even seemed to like me when she was flirting with me. She was a bored, frustrated woman willing to use the people around her to entertain herself, no matter the damage it caused for everyone else.
Ford was still smiling expectantly, waiting for a response.
“It’s quite a compliment to be compared to you two,” I lied.
“How did you and Pam meet?” Max asked Ford. “I love hearing origin stories.”
Pam finally refocused on the conversation. “I did a modeling campaign for a local car dealership. I was very successful, basically Miami’s only supermodel. Ford saw my picture on a billboard and was so struck by the sight of me that he tracked me down.”
Ford interrupted her, his smile smug. “She was dating someone else. Some loser friend of hers. But I wouldn’t take no for an answer. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.” Ford brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. It should have been sweet, but it also felt uncomfortably possessive. A mark of ownership.
For the first time, I found myself feeling a little sorry for Pam. I wasn’t a relationship guy, but I imagined it was hard to have a healthy marriage with a man who still saw you partly as a trophy he won.
“Aww,” Max said. “I love that.”
I couldn’t tell if she was lying, or if she was enough of a romantic that she could see the best in everyone, even these two.
“And how did you two meet?” Ford asked, his gaze jumping between us.
Max glanced at me expectantly, an eyebrow raised, as if she was saying I told you they would ask .
My phone rang, interrupting whatever sappy fake story I was about to spin.
“My lawyer,” I said as I picked it up. “Probably wants to know when I’ll be sending over the signed contracts. Excuse me for a minute.”
It was not my lawyer, it was my assistant, but I couldn’t resist using the call as an excuse to remind them what we were supposed to be doing. I stepped away to take the call, and by the time I finished going over the schedule changes with Connie and rejoined the others, Max was already well into telling “our story.”
I grimaced, wondering what bullshit she was going to come up with. Sharing an umbrella in an unexpected rainstorm? Her dropping an armload of books and me swooping to collect them?
I sat down, grabbed my glass of whiskey and took a huge gulp. So much was hanging in the balance. Could I trust her to make our origin story believable?
“So this was a shoot with a new clients, on a yacht for a bathing suit company, and I was running late.”
“You’re always late,” I teased, hoping to add some realism and take control of the conversation. “Actually, I’ve got to tell you about this hilarious story about one time when she was running so late that?—”
Max shoved my shoulder, a little harder than necessary. “Oh, you . Stop interrupting. Anyway, I’m running down the dock and I realize that I can’t remember the boat name or slip number. It was super early and there was no one around, it was like six in the morning, but I finally spot this handsome guy standing next to what I assumed was the right one. I start babbling to him about needing to set up and I board. Meanwhile, he’s just watching me from the dock, staring at me like I was speaking another language. But I was too frazzled to deal with that, so I just pushed ahead.”
… Well okay. She came up with a decent story.
She looked up at me expectantly. I realized that was my cue.
“I had no idea what she was talking about,” I jumped in, “but I was so captivated by her that I just let her keep going. I probably would’ve let her take the wheel if she’d tried.”
Ford laughed. Pam glowered.
Max smiled at me, confirming that we were now on a roll. Her smile spread through my chest like sunshine on a cold day.
Max continued, “So I’m walking around the … what was the name of that boat again? I can’t keep track of all of them.”
“The Abundance ,” I said, naming one of my fleet that worked for her scenario.
“Right. I’m walking all over the place, scouting locations, and I start unloading my bag where I assume the models are going to set up. He finally comes up to me and tells me I’m on the wrong boat. And I’m so frustrated and behind schedule that I actually argue with him!” Max gave me a wry grin. “But he was so sweet , he just listened patiently until I took a breath. Then he led me to the rail and pointed down the dock to where everyone else was arriving. I was mortified!”
Pam snorted but didn’t say anything.
“Max had to run off, but I managed to get her number first,” I added.
“I assumed that he’d be more interested in the models I was about to shoot,” Max added sheepishly.
“Yeah, that makes more sense for him,” Pam said with a condescending sniff as she eyed Max from head to toe.
“Why, Max could be a model,” Ford exclaimed, making Pam’s frown shift two shades darker.
For some reason, I didn’t like the idea of Max being dragged any further into Ford and Pam’s weird feud. Even if I was the person who’d dragged her into this mess to begin with.
“That’s exactly what I think,” I said, grabbing her hand again. I looked down at Max, making sure she knew I meant it. “My girl is absolutely gorgeous.”
Max’s eyes widened slightly, and her lips parted.
Without meaning to, my gaze dropped to her mouth.
“Oh please,” Pam made an exasperated noise. “Nobody wants a model with tattoos.”
“Then it’s a good thing I have no aspirations to be one, right? I’m happier behind the camera,” Max said, trying to regain control of the story. She refocused her attention on Ford and Pam. “Anyway, I never thought he’d call but he did, before the end of the day, and he invited me to have dinner on the Abundance with him that night.” She snuck a glance at me. “Normally I’d play hard to get. Wait for a man who showed more manners. But for some reason I couldn’t wait to see him again.”
I grinned at her little inside joke. And her face just lit up.
Why did my heart stutter out of rhythm for a second?
This was all an act. Max was nothing like the type of woman I usually dated.
For starters, she seemed like the kind of woman who wanted a relationship. Who deserved a relationship.
Max finally looked away from me. “And that brings us to the present.”
“On a very important day,” Ford said. “Theo, why don’t you and I take a walk and talk through the final details? Then we can grab our pens and make it official.”
Victory shot throw me. “Absolutely.”
Ford and I stood.
Pam started to get up. “I’m coming too.”
“Oh, I’d hate to bore you with the details,” I said. I couldn’t risk her messing up my deal again. “Why don’t you and Max get to know each other?”
Max glared at me. Apparently even kind-hearted Max didn’t want to spend time alone with Pam. Well, tough shit. This was what I’d wanted all along—time to talk things through with Ford and nail the agreement down. Max would just have to take one for the team. I gave her an encouraging nod. She definitely wasn’t happy…but she also wasn’t actually my girlfriend, so I decided that an uncomfortable half hour or so for her was a price I was willing to pay.
Ford nodded. “Agreed. Let’s leave the women to their gossip.”
Now Max looked like she wanted to kill me and Ford.
Pam didn’t look particularly happy either.
Maybe she and Max could bond over the annoying men in their lives.
I clapped Ford on the shoulder and lead him to the room where I’d left the contract.
“ W e need to wait.”
After my walk and talk with Ford, we’d reconvened at the teak table on the deck, the contract in a sleek leather binder between us. Pam had pulled Ford away for a few minutes, and now he was dropping a bombshell that had me clenching my fists in anger and frustration.
I glanced between a sheepish looking Ford and triumphant Pam without hiding my confusion. “I’m sorry, what ?”
“Pam thinks—I mean, we think we should have our lawyer take one last look at the contract before we sign.”
I slapped the leather binder on the table. I didn’t know what the hell was going on in their relationship. But I was fed up and done letting it affect this deal. “This is the exact same contract your lawyer reviewed and approved three days ago. Nothing has changed. You’re welcome to read through it again to prove it.”
Pam wrinkled her nose. “We just want to be careful. This partnership is risky for us.”
“But how ?” It was a struggle to keep from shouting at her. “It’s clearly a win-win, Pam. We’ve been over this a dozen times.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Max watching the whole shit-show, wide-eyed. Probably enjoying my misery.
“Theo, you have my word that we’ll sign—we just want to take the actual document to our guy,” Ford said.
If only I could believe him. Ford would never admit it, but at the end of the day, he was an insecure man. Whatever Pam had said to him had gotten in his head. I wondered if delaying the signing was her way of punishing me for not giving her what she wanted.
I counted to five before answering, hoping it would be enough to keep the venom out of my voice. Getting aggressive wasn’t going to help my cause. “Fine. Take a few days. Excuse me for a moment, I need to talk to Captain John.”
I pushed back from the table and headed to the cockpit. I’d planned for a leisurely cruise back to the dock as we celebrated our partnership, but now I wanted John to take us back as quickly as the Brilliance could manage. The back and forth with the Petersons was exhausting, and I was in no mood to fake camaraderie with them.
Fuck . I was so angry I wanted to break something.
Hell, I’d faked a relationship for these people. What more could they possibly want from me?
Once John had the directive, I took a few minutes to collect myself, staring out the window at the blue horizon, hoping it would calm me.
“Hey, you okay?”
I turned abruptly and found Max standing behind me, frowning.
“So now you’re sympathetic?”
She shrugged. “I mean, you’re not my favorite person, but I’ve decided I like you better than Ford and Pam. Not that that’s a very high bar.” Max glanced over her shoulder to where Pam and Ford were seated, just beyond the tinted glass doors. “I know it’s probably not my place to say anything, but she is awful . Just a small-minded, bitter woman. She didn’t stop complaining the whole time we were alone together. And she low-key insulted me a few times. Meanwhile, the only time Ford ever says anything kind about his wife is when he’s talking about her looks. So yeah, I wish this hadn’t ended with both of them causing you unnecessary problems.” She shook her head. “Why do you want to work with him again?”
I sighed. “Once the agreement is signed, I think I’ll be able to get away with crossing paths with her just a handful of times a year, at social events. And when he’s focused on work instead of his personal life, Ford’s not that bad. He crafts genuinely gorgeous yachts. He’s one of the best in the business.”
“If you say so.” She sounded so skeptical, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Max looked back again through the tinted glass doors. “I think they’re watching us. Should we do something couple-y?”
“I don’t think it matters at this point,” I grumbled. I glanced at her. “Thanks for coming up with that story about how we met. Almost as good as what I would’ve said.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I had to bite back a wince. Shit, had I messed up the moment by teasing her again? Honestly, I didn’t know what it was about her that made me want to needle her a little, but I couldn’t help myself.
To my relief, she just laughed. She had a gorgeous laugh.
“Oh really? You think you could’ve come up with something better?” she asked. “Like what?”
“I don’t know, maybe we both went to the same personal trainer or something? And you saw me finishing my workout and you just had to meet me?”
“How … creative,” Max said, then pressed her lips together in a smirk.
“We made a good team out there.”
“We did,” she agreed, then grudgingly admitted, “You’re not that bad.”
I clapped a hand to my heart. “An actual compliment. I think I’ll die of shock.”
She rolled her eyes.
I smiled over at her. “I do think we sold it. You’re quite the actress.”
“Maybe it wasn’t acting. Maybe I’m completely and totally in love with you, Theo Barnes,” Max said, clutching her heart just like I had a few seconds ago and fluttering her lashes at me.
“You wouldn’t be the first.”
Max laughed at me, like what I’d said was preposterous.
But something in the air between us shifted. What had been casual and relaxed a second ago now crackled with unspoken tension. Even though we were faking it, I couldn’t deny a very real attraction to the beautiful, inconvenient woman standing in front of me.
“Uh-oh,” Max said, glancing beyond me. “Incoming.”
I turned to see Pam heading inside, staring at her reflection in the glass and smoothing her hair and adjusting her breasts.
“Fuck,” I sighed. “I’m in no mood to deal with her. Do you think if I offer her a thousand dollars, she’ll do a U-turn and leave us alone?”
Max snorted. “No. She’d only leave you alone if…”
“What?”
Max didn’t say anything.
“Max, what are you thinking?”
“Okay, don’t read anything into what I’m about to do,” Max said quickly. “This is purely a Pam-evasion maneuver.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.
“Just answer: Do you trust me, yes or no?”
“Yes.” Maybe I shouldn’t—I usually wouldn’t, not with someone I barely knew—but for some reason, with Max, I did.
I heard the door slide open as Max moved closer to me.
“Sorry for breaking the rules,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms behind my neck and pulled me into a kiss.
I was shocked, but it only took me a half second to relax into it. I pulled Max closer and took the lead, pressing my lips to hers to make it clear she didn’t need to be tentative with me. Whatever she threw my way, I could handle it. I wanted it.
We might be faking it, but the kiss was one hundred percent real.
I could feel Pam watching us, so I amped up the show, dipping Max back a little. I felt her mouth curve in delight as she tightened her arms behind my neck.
“ Excuse me,” Pam said. “Am I interrupting something?”
I straightened Max up slowly, regretting that I had to pull away from her to deal with Pam.
“Sorry about that,” I said, giving Pam a cheeky smile. “It’s hard to keep my hands off of her. We should probably go find somewhere a bit more private. We have a…conversation…to finish.”
Max giggled and swatted at me playfully.
“I was just coming in to use the ladies’ lounge,” Pam said, aiming for dignity and falling short.
“Okay, we’ll meet you back outside,” I said, taking Max’s hand.
“How much longer until we dock?” Pam asked as she stormed through the room.
“About thirty minutes. We’re at top speed now.”
“Good.”
I glanced down at Max as we headed outside. Only a half hour left with the woman I’d impulsively hired to be my date.
Thirty more minutes of a fake relationship that was suddenly feeling shockingly real. As someone who usually avoided romantic entanglements like the plague, I wasn’t at all sure whether I liked that or not.