Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
RYKER
“Are you fine with not seeing anyone? I guess I should have asked if you have a boyfriend?” I asked.
Logically, since he was the one who came up with the plan, he should be single, but I still wanted to hear it for myself. It wasn’t any of my business, but I wanted to know everything that concerned him…
Besides, my supposed fiancé shouldn’t be seeing any other men except for me, right?
My heartbeat hitched, then came down just as fast when Sam shook his head.
“Nope, I’m done with the dating scene for a while, too,” he said with a sigh.
That news shocked me. Sam was an objectively good-looking dude, and his petite size stirred up my protective instincts. I was surprised someone like him hadn’t been snatched up already.
“Can I ask why?”
I blurted out the question, even though I knew we weren’t close enough to be having conversations like that. I braced myself to be shut down, but was surprised when he answered.
“Honestly, my luck with men is terrible. Most are either in the closet or bi-curious and want to use me to experiment. My last date, the one that really sealed the deal to scrap dating, was with a man who was married,” Sam said gravely.
I winced. I had no doubt in my mind that Sam wouldn’t have been involved with someone if he knew they were already attached. He wasn’t that type of person.
Sam nodded. “I hadn’t known…at least I hadn’t until his wife came to the restaurant and crashed the date.”
My eyes widened. “No way?”
Sam nodded again. “She stormed him and started screaming the moment she caught sight of us. She marched right up to our table, and get this…”
He leaned in over the table, so I leaned in as well.
“The woman, half his size, mind you, grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of the restaurant.”
He reached over and gently pinched my ear to demonstrate. The touch was only a brief second, but I could feel the area he touched instantly burn up.
“I really think she took the long way out of the restaurant just to embarrass him,” he said, then pretended he was being pulled by the ear as he pleaded for forgiveness.
When he’d finished his reenactment, we stared at each other for a second, then both of us burst into laughter.
The situation was nowhere near funny, and I felt horrible that Sam had to experience something like that, but the image of a grown-ass adult being dragged away by the ear like he was a naughty child caught stealing was too amusing.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized when the laughter died out. “What happened to you is anything but funny. It’s just…”
“I know,” Sam grinned, then pretended to be pulled by the ear again, which earned another snort from me.
“So yeah. No dating for me for a while,” he said, this time more somber.
I wanted to take his hand and comfort him, but I firmly kept my limbs to myself.
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re a great guy. Men like those are pieces of shit,” I said.
A soft smile graced Sam’s face, and the gold flecks in his eyes twinkled as he thanked me.
“Well, I guess that solves the first problem. No dating while we’re living together,” he reiterated, sitting up straighter.
A thrill shot through me at those words. While we lived together, Sam would be all mine, and that shouldn’t have sounded as good as it did. I wouldn’t have been able to keep the smile off my face even if I wanted to, but then Sam spoke up again.
“But that doesn’t have to be set in stone. If you find someone you’re interested in, we can improvise. Maybe even tell people we opened our relationship or something.”
“No,” I said a little too forcefully.
“No?” Sam repeated, a questioning expression on his face.
I knew tons of people had no problem sharing their partner, but I’d always been the possessive type.
I didn’t share.
Even if my relationship with Sam wasn’t real, I still didn’t like the idea of Sam possibly being with someone else when he was supposed to be mine.
But it wasn’t like I could tell him that, so I cleared the frog in my throat and tried to play off my answer.
“What I mean is that I won’t be interested in anyone else.”
“How can you be certain?”
“I just am,” I said, and he must have heard something in my tone because didn’t push further.
“Okay, then. So, we pretend to be a couple out in public, but what about in front of our friends and family? Are we telling them the truth?” he asked.
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about my family since they don’t live here, but I doubt I can keep this from my close friends. They know how to keep their mouths shut, and I trust them.” Then, more sheepishly, I added, “I already told Jones about it, but he promised to take this to his grave. He’s not even going to tell his boyfriend.”
“Okay, good. Because I might have already told my sister,” Sam said, looking relieved.
I nodded.
I didn’t expect him to hide this from her, especially when I knew how close they were. They’d always stuck together, even as kids. It wasn’t surprising that she was his closest confidant, and that she was the first person he’d told that he was engaged…
My cheeks burned at that thought. Even if it was all fake, most people in town were going to believe that we planned to make a vow to each other…
I’d imagined being married before. It wasn’t exactly uncommon for people to get married early around these parts, and I figured that was where my life was heading as well. I never thought my first engagement would be a fake one.
“Now that we have that established,” Sam said, causing me to focus my attention back on him. “I think we just have to pretend to be engaged for a year. Once the year is up, we can reevaluate the situation, and if we want to part ways, we can just tell everyone that the engagement didn’t work out and we parted on good terms.”
“Not even together for a full day and you’re already trying to get rid of me?” I teased.
A sweet heat crept up Sam’s face. This was the first time I’d ever seen him embarrassed. Sam had always had this confidence about him, almost like he could really take on the world if he put his mind to it.
Honestly, I trusted that he really could do anything he set his sights on, even pulling off this little charade of ours.
“I just mean you probably don’t want to be engaged to me longer than you have to,” he finally stammered.
I merely smiled in reply.
Oh, if only he knew just how much I didn’t hate the idea of being tied to him like this.
“So, I guess we’re really doing this,” he said, his finger absentmindedly stroking the table. “Our own secret, fake vows.”
Sam laughed, and I looked away.
After we finished discussing all the specifics of our arrangement, we moved on to figuring out our living situation. Sam leaked that he was currently sleeping on the couch and planned to move as soon as possible, so I suggested we move in the following day.
My friends had confirmed they could help with the move whenever I wanted, and since Sam’s house was on my way to our new apartment and he didn’t have much stuff, we could pick him up.
Sam was hesitant to accept, but when I mentioned us moving there on the same day would make us look more like a loving couple eager to live together, he readily agreed.
Even after we’d finished discussing the specifics of our new arrangement, we stayed long after our food was done and our drinks refilled. We talked about what we’d been up to since we’d last seen each other in high school.
I told him how Jones and I started working at his brother’s construction company straight out of high school. In the beginning, there hadn’t been many jobs in town, so it wasn’t unusual for us to travel to different sites for weeks on end. That was the reason I’d decided to continue living in my childhood home and save for my own piece of land.
It was an unfortunate stroke of luck that property prices skyrocketed at the same time my family moved out of town. And while I wasn’t struggling with finances after saving all these years, that didn’t mean I wanted to take a huge chunk out of it to afford rent prices that had been driven up by all the newcomers. And that was how I’d ended up living with Jones, and now in this situation with Sam.
Sam had gone off to Texas for higher education. This I’d already known. What I hadn’t known was that he’d gotten an almost full-ride offer to his college in Houston, and that was why he’d picked the university.
Sam had always been smart, so it wasn’t surprising to hear about the scholarship. What I was surprised to learn was that he’d actually spent a few years as a yoga instructor, then helped his best friend open up his own yoga studio before moving back here.
I’d traveled out of the state before for construction work, but it felt like Sam had such colorful experiences during his time away. I didn’t hate my life—I loved it, in fact—but even I had to admit it was more on the monotonous side. But that kind of life suited me just fine.
I wondered if that was just the Sam effect and he simply had a way of attracting these unique experiences toward him. I could see that being a thing.
When we finally left the restaurant, it was already late. We chatted on the drive home. While it was about nothing serious or important, chatting with Sam was so easy that even after we arrived at Jones’ place, I was reluctant to part, even if I had to sit in his uncomfortably tiny sedan.
I did leave, eventually, when I saw Sam couldn’t hold back his yawns anymore. His nephew had been sick for a while, so I was sure he was tired from staying up all night and taking care of him.
Wishing him a good night, I got out of the car, only to turn around and bend over to look at him.
“Text me when you get home, okay? I want to know you made it safe,” I said, maybe a little too forcefully since it practically sounded like a demand, even to my ears.
Sam didn’t get angry. Instead, something in his eyes softened as he murmured an agreement. I stayed by the front door as he pulled out and waved until his car drove out of sight.
Jones had gone over to see his boyfriend, so I had the house to myself. After being in Sam’s lively presence, the quiet of the place was eerily unsettling.
It was only when Gray sauntered up to meet me by the door, purring as he rubbed all over my leg, that I shook off the feeling. I bent over to pick up my big boy and carried him to the living room for a cuddle session.
I lay flat on the couch and Gray positioned himself in his favorite spot—right smack dab over my chest. He never learned that he wasn’t exactly small anymore, and all twenty pounds of him felt like he was pressing down directly on my heart.
I didn’t move him, though, because that was practically illegal. Especially after Gray settled into the perfect loaf without a single limb or bit of his tail visible. He squinted his eyes and loud purrs echoed in the room and vibrated from his body down into my chest.
I closed my eyes for what felt like a moment but popped them open again when I heard my phone alert me to an incoming message. Sam had texted to tell me he was home. Another message came a second later, saying he’d see me tomorrow. Then one more wishing me a goodnight sent along with a smiley face.
I stared at the texts for entirely way too long before finally shooting him a goodnight message as well.
Gray’s purrs continued, completely ignorant to the rapidly thrumming heart he was sitting on top of.