Chapter 29
Harper
Tonight we’reat a restaurant and bar opening for one of the other guys on the team, Gabe. I know who he is from watching the team play but I’d never met him in person like I had some of the other guys. He’s just opened the place and half the team is here alongside a whole group of VIP invites celebrating opening night. I feel ridiculously out of place. At the charity event, even though it was black tie, I at least knew a lot of the people attending because of our involvement in the same events and conferences. But here? In this restaurant that’s dripping with high-end atmosphere and cool-kid vibes, I’m not exactly in my element. The guys, including Alex, are off on a tour of everything behind the scenes with Gabe, so the girls and I are busy having drinks and chatting.
“Oh, try this one.” Mackenzie slides her drink to Violet, and she tastes it.
“Wow, that’s really freaking good.”
“Right?”
“I need one of these. So do you Harper. I’m gonna head to the bar. Be back in a few.” Violet runs off and Mackenzie smiles at me.
“I feel like I’m not cool enough for these places.” Mackenzie looks around the room, and I follow her gaze.
“I’m glad it’s not just me.”
“Oh no. It’s not just you at all. I love getting a night out with Waylon and you guys, but I feel like I’m too old or too married or too much of a mom sometimes to be here. One of those things.”
“You fit in here way better than me. I’m just happy to be included.”
“Oh, you fit in. We love you. I’m so glad you and Violet found each other when she moved here. And it’s been great having you around more with Xander. I’ve never seen him look so… smitten. Christ. I don’t think I ever expected to use that word when talking about Xavier. I thought he was incapable.”
“Yes, well… don’t get too excited. Remember this is mostly for show.”
“Mostly?” Mackenzie’s eyebrow raises.
“I mean we are friends of a sort. He is attractive. I don’t have to fake everything.” I grin.
“I bet you don’t.” She laughs, taking a sip of her drink. “And attractive? I think he’s a little more than attractive. Attractive is the barista with the cute glasses or your optometrist who has the cute lopsided grin. Xavier is… well I guess what Waylon would have become if he didn’t get me as a ball and chain in college.” She grins.
“I think Waylon would describe you a little differently.” The man absolutely worships the ground she walks on. I’m fairly certain he thinks she’s a goddess in mortal form.
“Oh, it depends on the day I think. Like… did he leave his socks on the floor and a container of peanut butter open on the counter? Or was it game day and I’m ready to devour him by the time I finish watching him play?”
“So married bliss then?” I laugh and give her a knowing look.
She laughs for a moment and then her smile falters a bit.
“I’m sorry. What your ex did to you. So fucked up, and if Waylon ever did that, I don’t think I’d ever recover. I had an ex like that myself, and I don’t take for granted how lucky I am with him. I hope you get your own version of that.”
I shrug, “It is what it is. I’m certainly having a better time faking it with Alex than I did the last year or so trying to make things work with Drew. So focus on the positives, right?”
“Right.” She smiles at me.
Violet returns with our drinks and begins telling us how excited she is for us to meet her friend Joss who’s coming to town soon, giving us some gossip on how talented she is and how many famous people she’s had the opportunity to photograph. We talk about how we all have to get together and go to the latest exhibit at the museum, and meander into some side discussions of Violet’s current client projects while the guys continue on their tour.
After a while,I head to the bar to get a refill and a glass of water when I see Alex talking to a stunningly gorgeous woman. She’s tall, even by my standards, blonde, with pale blue eyes, and effortlessly gorgeous in the outfit she’s wearing. She has the kind of face that’s just come off the pages of a magazine and I feel the same jealousy I’d felt the other night flicker up my spine.
This was the problem with the way we’d been crossing boundaries and blurring the lines between what was real and fake. Because at the end of the day, we are fake. His loyalty to me is only because of the need to save his career, not because he’s given any indication that he actually wants to be in a relationship with me. Flirting? Kissing? Hooking up? All in his wheelhouse. Especially when it’s time limited by this act we’re putting on, and he’s stuck with me.
But more than that isn’t something we’ve discussed, and it’s not even something I’m sure I want to discuss. Especially now when things between us are pretty good. I’m having fun, enjoying the time with him, and getting to go to events like this one with Violet and Mackenzie. It definitely beats sitting around my house watching reruns and eating TV dinners by myself while I scroll dating apps for other divorced people. I’m not in a hurry to wreck the good parts of it by stressing out Alex with my concerns about what it all means and whether or not he wants more.
What would more even look like? Drew would die if he knew some of the things we’d done already. Die or murder us both, one or the other, assuming he wasn’t too distracted by his current girl of the moment to notice.
The bartender slides me a drink and I slide my card back in return, glancing up again to see the woman touching Alex, running her fingers over his arm. In his defense, he pulls back, putting distance between the two of them but it’s clear that she wants him even from here. When the waiter gets back to hand me my card and the receipt, someone comes up next to me.
“Well shit, I’m a second too late. I would have put that on the house.”
I look up and it’s Gabe McGregor, the owner of the restaurant and the kicker for the team. Where the other guys are big and broad, Gabe is built more like a soccer player, tall and lean but still muscular and tattooed. I’m pretty sure I heard that he’d played soccer before switching teams in college. He’s a little bit older than the other guys but every bit as good looking and charming.
I smile at him. “Your place is beautiful.”
“And she knows who I am.”
“Wasn’t that a requirement of attending tonight?” I match his tone.
“Fair, but I feel like I’m at a disadvantage, that I don’t know who you are.”
“Harper.”
“Harper. I like that name.” His eyes flick over me with interest.
I’m flattered, and for a momentary second, I think of what the possibilities might be if I wasn’t faking things with Alex—the opportunity to flirt with someone who wasn’t required to flirt back. But I’m the loyal sort, even stupidly so, to my fake boyfriend who was currently falling prey to one of the most gorgeous women in the room. But I could still talk to him, right? That isn’t illegal.
“I like your bar. What made you decide to open one?” I try to redirect the conversation.
“Ah well, I’m getting up there in years, you know? I gotta start thinking about what’s after football. And I’ve got a daughter to think about too. Figure this would be the kind of thing she could inherit and make use of. Might let her work here a few nights once she’s old enough to bus tables in a couple years.”
“Hit them with the work ethic young. Sounds like my parents.” I smile.
“No kids of your own?”
“Nope. Too busy with the career.”
“I hear that. If I hadn’t had her young, who knows? What career is that?”
“Museum. I’m a curator.”
“Well, that’s fucking fancy. I like that.”
“When was the last time you were at a museum?” I smirk because this guy didn’t look like he’d ever set foot in one.
“Probably when I was a kid. But I’d be at them more often if I knew you were there.” His eyes drift down to my ring finger. “No husband?”
“Not anymore.”
“Huh.” He smiles. “So if I offer your next drink on the house, you think I might be able to get a number to keep this conversation going on a night I’m less busy? Maybe a private tour at the museum if I’m lucky?”
“No.” Comes a voice from behind me, an arm quickly encircling my waist and pulling me against him. His fingers are warm against my stomach and the way my body responds to the possessiveness of his tone is… new and a little bit concerning.
“Well, fuck.” Gabe frowns, looking at me for half a second and then grinning back at Alex. “Nate!” He yells to the bartender. “Get this man a scotch neat if you still want to have a boss to issue your paycheck next week.”
Nate laughs and pulls a glass out.
“Enjoy you two.” He looks at Alex and then his eyes flick down to me, “And next time maybe a warning about who I’m pissing off?”
“He’s not pissed.” I laugh and turn around to see Alex looking grumpy as fuck. My face falters. “What?”
“You over here flirting up a fucking storm with our kicker. That’s what.”
“We were just talking.”
“Must have been a riveting conversation that he wanted to continue it on a private tour.”
“Maybe it was.”
“You remember you’re with me, right?” he asks in a tone that riles me a little.
“That’s rich, considering you were just over there having your own little sidebar with whoever she was.”
“That was Tobias’s sister. She’s in town for the game this week. Even if I wasn’t with you, I don’t have a death wish. Tobias might spare me on the basis of friendship after I let him get a few free shots to the face, but Easton and her father would gut me alive for thinking it.”
“Well, she seemed to like you.”
“I’ve known her a long time. She’s like her brothers—friendly.”
“You’re not helping her by comparing her to Tobias given what I know of him so far.”
“Not like that. I mean she’s a sweet girl. But I think of her as a sister.”
“Right. Well, I think I’m going to head home after I finish this drink. So I should say goodbye to Mackenzie and Violet. It’s getting late.”
“I can take you home.”
“Nah. I’m gonna get a car. You stay.” I say bitterly. It’s stupid of me. He’s not mine. We’ve just been blurring lines in a way that makes him feel that way and given everything I just went through with Drew I’m letting feelings get involved where they shouldn’t.
“Saint… What’s wrong?”
“Nothing I just… he was nice. It was nice. Someone just casually flirting with me for once. It made me feel wanted, I guess.”
“I don’t make you feel wanted?” There’s a hint of irritation, and I feel like we’re about to have our first fake couple fight.
“No, not really.”
“Did I hallucinate the last couple of times we’ve been together? You on my counter? You on that couch?” His voice is low so only I can hear.
I will myself not to blush at the thought of those moments and then try to give a casual shrug.
“You’re bored. Forced celibacy isn’t your thing. You’re stuck with me. It’s compulsory flirting and we both know we’re faking it. What I meant is it was nice to have someone just organically flirt with me, okay? It’s fine. I know it can’t go anywhere while we do this.”
“It can’t go anywhere, ever.” His eyes darken, and I don’t like his tone.
I stand straighter because I might do what he wants right now but if he thinks he has any say when this is over, no fucking way.
“Why because your ego couldn’t handle the fact that a woman might move on from you instead of the other way around?”
I can practically hear his jaw click and his teeth grind at that. I see him gearing up to say something that we will both probably regret if his temper gets the better of him and he actually says it out loud.
“I’m sorry,” I say before he can speak. “That was out of line. We shouldn’t do this. Out in public like this. I’m cranky. It’s been a long day. A long week really at work, and I’m up way past my bedtime. I’m gonna get a car and go home. You stay and have fun with your friends. I’ll see you for the game this weekend, okay?”
Several emotions flicker over his face but his eyes soften just a tad, and his brow unwrinkles enough that I’m not as worried he’s about to lecture me.
“Saint—“
“Let’s just talk tomorrow when we’ve both had some sleep, okay?”
“Fine.” He relents.
I pull out my phone, calling a car and then say goodnight to my friends before I head home for the evening. I’m glad to put some space between the two of us because I probably need to have more perspective when it comes to him than I’ve had lately. I keep getting too caught up in the fantasy when I need to stay grounded in reality if we’re going to make this work—and avoid us arguing in public.