10. Vincent
10
VINCENT
“ S weetheart, you need to stop worrying about me,” Nana Dee chastised gently over the phone. “I’m fine . Good as new, actually. Like I spent a few days at a spa, that’s all.”
“I can’t think of a single spa that offers hourly blood pressure checks and glucose monitoring,” I replied.
“Let’s call it a med spa then,” she laughed. “Maybe I can sneak in a facelift as well?”
Nana Dee was finally out of the hospital but not out of the woods, because I knew for a fact that she still wasn’t back to her old self. I could hear it in her voice. It was softer, weary.
Yeah, I was still worried. I paced around my office, trying to come up with ways to take the reins. To fix everything.
“Do you have follow-up appointments scheduled?” I asked. “I can have that arranged for you if not. I can get in-home care if that’s your preference. Just tell me what you need.”
She sighed. “Sweetheart, what I need you to do is give me all the gossip about the young lady you brought to dinner with your father. He told me she’s an absolute delight! I want all the details, then we’re going to figure out a weekend for the two of you to come visit me.”
My dad and Nana Dee had forged their own relationship years ago, and now it felt like they were related to one another as well.
I’d meant it when I’d told Piper that Nana Dee would love her…but introducing the two of them would add a wrinkle I hadn’t considered yet. Her one goal in life was seeing every one of the Lost Boys wifed-up and happy, and I could only imagine how hard her campaigning would become once she met and fell in love with Piper.
The pressure from my father was more than enough for now. And besides, Piper and I had an expiration date. There was no point in getting Nana Dee’s hopes up. On the other hand, it wasn’t like we could avoid her completely. If nothing else, we’d all be at Paul’s wedding together.
“Piper is one-of-a-kind, that’s for sure,” I admitted.
“So? Grab your calendar and let’s pick a date!”
My office door flung open, and the woman of the hour practically skipped into my office. I held up a “one moment” finger, and she responded by doing a little dance in place, grinning maniacally.
I had to look away because she was in a dress that bounced up her thighs when she hopped. Those legs were killing me.
“Hey, I’m sorry but I need to run—I have a meeting, Nana Dee. We’ll figure everything out, okay?”
“We’d better,” she scolded. “I expect to hear from you soon, got it?”
“Of course. Take care. Love you.”
“Love you too, sweetheart,” she cooed.
I sighed as I hung up and turned my focus on Piper. “You look like you’re about to burst. What’s up?”
She punched the air triumphantly. “I did it!”
There was only one thing it could be. My pulse kicked up. “Please tell me you’re not kidding.”
“I would never kid about something so important.”
“So…we’re going to Hawaii? You actually got them to agree to it?”
“Yup! They’re one hundred percent in. Let’s get those tickets booked.” She broke out into another spontaneous dance party.
I chuckled. “Tickets? Please. Piper, we’ll be taking my private plane.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she jogged a little closer to me. “Oh my gosh, seriously? This just keeps getting better and better.”
“Hey, I’m impressed you made it happen,” I said. “Congrats.”
“I told you I would,” she fired back, wagging her finger at me. “I’m a woman of my word, and now I get to hang out in paradise as part of my payment!”
“I hate to burst your bubble, but we will be working on this trip. There are contracts to be signed,” I cautioned.
“Yeah, um.” Piper cleared her throat. “Jean said we’ll sign on our last day there.”
Doubt kicked up inside of me. “Well, that’s odd. Why wouldn’t we just set up a meeting, tour the fields, and get everything signed right away?”
Her grin slipped. “Um, well, in order to make this happen, I had to lean into the couple aspect of our relationship pretty hard. Jean is very invested in us now. She loves the idea that we have a working partnership.” Piper hesitated. “And once I realized she liked that about us, I really played it up. Talked about how romantic you are, and how you love to surprise me. I even made up a convincing lie about why you were such a jackass at Paul’s party.”
I frowned. “What did you tell her?”
“I said you’d planned a romantic surprise yoga retreat in India, and you’d just been notified that it was canceled.”
“ Piper ,” I sighed. “Why did you have to embellish?”
“Because it was how I hooked her! She’s a romantic at heart. She’s so excited to host us now. She’s insisting we spend the whole trip with them instead of at a resort. She even sent photos of the little bungalow we’ll be staying in.” Piper snorted. “It is not little, at least not by my standards.”
Shit. We’d be rooming together? I wasn’t expecting that development. How was I going to resist her twenty-four hours a day?
“So we have to pretend to be a couple for the whole time we’re there?” I asked. “We can’t just book two rooms in a hotel and meet with them for a quick tour?”
“Nope.” She bit her lip. “If you want that contract signed, we need to deliver on what they’re expecting. You have to pretend to be utterly, head-over-heels crazy in love with me.”
“And what about you?” I demanded.
Piper held her hand over her heart and batted her eyelashes at me. “Oh, that won’t be an act. I simply adore you, Mr. Forde.”
She collapsed into giggles.
“You’re going to be obnoxious, aren’t you?”
“Snookums, whatever do you mean?” She batted her eyelashes so hard, it looked like she was trying to start a breeze.
“This,” I gestured to her. “You’re going to try to embarrass me.”
“Try?” Piper’s eyes went wide. “Oh Vincy-poo, just you wait. I’m going to be the clingiest, sappiest, most devoted fake girlfriend to walk the earth! By the end of it, you’re going to be convinced it’s for real.”
I could only imagine how corny she was going to be, and how much fun she was going to have trying to make me squirm.
Ridiculous.
So why did my heart trip out of rhythm at the thought of it?
Looking at the world through Piper’s eyes was a revelation.
I was used to women who acted like they were owed everything they received and then some. Piper, on the other hand, was open and expressive in her enjoyment of every single luxury I’d long since gotten in the habit of taking for granted. She was having the time of her life, and we were only two hours into the flight. Everything delighted her, from the personalized toiletry set waiting for her in her seat on my plane to the snacks hand selected just for her.
Little things that would barely warrant a “thank you” from my former companions made Piper beam with pleasure.
“I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this,” she sighed as she settled into the buttery leather chair. “I keep pinching myself!”
I felt the same way. I didn’t like admitting just how much I enjoyed having Piper around, because our time together had a hard stop. I had to keep reminding myself of that fact.
“I’m glad you’re already having fun. I’m sure we’ll be able to make the most of the trip, so long as we keep our eyes on the prize.”
“I can’t remember the last time I traveled,” she continued like she hadn’t heard me. “I mean, I get to go places for photography jobs every now and then, but it’s not like I’ve had much of a chance to travel for fun.”
“Piper, this is still work,” I reminded her gently. “You need to take photos for the web site and social media posts in addition to getting that contract signed.”
“ And play the part of your adoring girlfriend,” she said with a cheesy grin. “Doesn’t matter, it’s still a good time!”
She got a chuckle out of me.
“Where’s the last place you went for fun?” Piper asked.
I paused to consider her question, trying to ignore her bare leg just inches from mine. It made my mind wander. Were we going to be forced to go to the beach? Did she pack a bikini? Would we have to be lovey-dovey in swimwear ?
I felt myself getting hard at the thought of it. Getting that contract signed was going to be enough of a task without having to fight my attraction to my fake girlfriend.
“Well?” Piper demanded, startling me out of my sexy daydream. “Last vacation spot?”
“Uh,” I squinted as I tried to remember. “I think it was Spain with my ex.”
“ Ooh ,” Piper exhaled. “I would love to go there!”
I’d assumed Maya would be equally excited to explore Spain with me, but she preferred tipping off the paparazzi so we had an audience no matter where we went. She spent the entire trip posing and pretending to eat.
It was miserable, and we’d barely done any sightseeing.
“Did I send you the itinerary from Jean and Joe?” Piper asked.
“You did, but I was too busy to look at it before we left. Let me pull it up now.”
I scrolled through my endless inbox to the message. “Okay, here it is.”
I opened the document on their farm letterhead, which featured a heliotrope blossom woven into the font. I was so close to getting what I wanted. What I needed. I couldn’t let the temptation Piper presented derail me from my work.
“What?” Piper demanded. “You look grumpy all of a sudden. You don’t like what they have planned?”
I snapped out of it. “I haven’t even looked—I was just strategizing.”
“Always working,” she sighed.
I glanced at the incredibly full itinerary. “Hold on, hold on…did you sign off on all of this?”
She hunched up her shoulders and bit her lip. “Full disclosure? Jean and I planned it together. It was part of the wooing process.”
“ Piper ,” I scolded. “I am not going horseback riding!”
“Why not? Didn’t you grow up playing polo, or going on fox hunts?”
“No.” I frowned as I read through the impossible plans.
“Hold on…” Her voice softened, taking on a concerned note. “Do you have a problem with horses?”
I looked up from my phone. “Why would you ask me that?”
Piper shrugged. “Just a hunch.” She paused a beat. “Am I right?”
I sighed and turned to her. “Let’s just say I had a bad experience as a child.”
Her hand shot out to clasp my wrist. “Oh no! Were you hurt?”
“I don’t remember much of what happened because I was very young, I just know there was a horse that didn’t want me on its back, and then I remember my mom crying.”
I didn’t remember anything about the incident, but it had become lore in my family. I’d grown up hearing my mom tell people “horses don’t like Vincent,” which made me feel like there was something wrong with me that would make the majestic beasts universally dislike me.
I was in no mood to test it, especially during such an important visit.
“Maybe we can just visit with the horses, instead of riding them?” Piper suggested.
“Or maybe we can focus on the blooms?” I picked up my phone and scrolled. “Piper, yoga ?”
She squinted at me. “Umm, that was Jean’s idea, since our yoga retreat was ‘canceled.’” She made air quotes with her fingers. “She tracked down the most famous yogi on the island and got her to agree to do a private session with us. It would be really bad form to opt out.”
I sighed in frustration. “So the farm tour isn’t until the second day?—”
“So we can get over our jet lag,” Piper explained.
“And we have a dinner with them tonight?”
“Yup, we get to start the show right away. No rest for the weary! Are you ready to pretend to love me?”
Piper batted her eyelashes at me again, and despite the horses and yoga and dinner bullshit, I had to laugh. Was I ready?
Yeah, more than I wanted to let on.
“I’ll make it work,” I finally said.
Piper smiled and pushed the recline button on her chair. “I need my beauty rest,” she said as she fished the eye mask from her little toiletry bag.
No, she didn’t. Piper looked flawless. But I didn’t argue. It would be easier for me to focus if she was resting.
She drifted off to sleep while I spent the next hour answering emails. I finally succumbed to my own exhaustion and closed my eyes for what I’d assumed would be a cat nap. To my surprise, I didn’t wake up until the pilot announced our descent.
Piper and I both stretched and repositioned ourselves as the cabin pressure shifted.
“I guess we both needed that,” she laughed.
It was rare that I let myself go and slept. Piper was right, I must’ve been more tired than I’d realized.
“I’m going to go freshen up,” Piper said.
I followed suit, because I had a feeling Jean and Joe were going to be waiting for us when we landed. I felt prickly about the hands-on-ness of the trip, but I was willing to do whatever was necessary to secure my blooms.
Except horseback riding.
We settled back in our seats, the soft hum of the plane filling the silence between us. Piper glanced over at me with that familiar provocative glint in her eyes.
“So, how good of an actor are you, really?” she asked.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we’re supposed to be in love, right?” She smirked. “You think you can pull it off?”
“We’ve done it before, haven’t we?”
“Oh, please…we’ve pretended for a couple of hours. This is different. This is the real show.”
“Are you doubting my ability to pretend?”
She shrugged, but I could see the challenge in her expression. “I’m just saying…We’ll be in close quarters for an extended period of time. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not get called out for being a bad actor. Maybe we should…”
“Should what?”
She gave me a wicked grin. “Maybe we should practice.”
My heart kicked into overdrive, because I had a feeling I knew what she meant. “Practice?”
“Yeah. Work out how we’re going to show that we’re really in love.” Her voice was so casual, like we were talking about the weather, but her face…
Her sweet face was so open and beautiful in that moment, so thoroughly kissable that I had to force myself to keep my hands to myself. I wasn’t sure exactly what she was suggesting, but I could almost guarantee it wasn’t kissing. No matter how badly I wanted it to be.
“And how would we go about it?” I asked, my voice coming out lower than I intended.
“We could try a baby step…” she reached over and slid her hand into mine.
I reflexively closed my hand on top of hers, relishing how we fit together.
“Not too bad, huh?” Piper asked.
I grinned at her understatement. “Not at all.”
In fact, it felt so good, so right, that it made me feel impetuous. I pulled her closer and paused when she was just inches away.
“How’s this for romance?” I whispered, watching her face closely to make sure I hadn’t misread what she wanted.
Bold Piper was suddenly shy, her cheeks flushing a soft pink as she looked up at me. But she didn’t move away, and it was enough of a greenlight for me to close the gap between us and press my lips to hers.
The sweetness . It was a brush of a kiss, but it was enough to make me imagine what could come next. We pulled apart slowly, right as the plane touched down.
“Welcome to Hawaii,” I whispered, my lips still tingling from the kiss.
“Thanks,” Piper whispered back, grinning mischievously. “Now let’s go have some fun.”