Chapter 16
Sixteen
Tate
I paced the length of our cramped office, one block off of Main Street, my heels clicking against the refinished hardwood floor. The framed magazine article that had started this whole mess hung on the wall, mocking me. My stomach churned.
“Would you sit down?” Kellan lounged in his chair, feet propped on his desk. “You’re making me dizzy.”
“How are you so calm about this?” I stopped in front of him, arms crossed. “Sandra Chen is going to walk through that door any minute, and we have to lie to her face.”
“We’re not lying.” He caught my hand, tugging me closer. “We’re together now, aren’t we?”
“Yes, but—” The warmth of his touch sent tingles up my arm. “That’s not how it started. The original article was based on a lie.”
My eyes drifted to the photo on Kellan’s desk—us at the cookout last week, his arm around my waist, both of us laughing. When had he even had time to get that printed and framed? The ease in that captured moment wasn’t fake. Neither was the way my heart skipped when he touched me now.
“A lie that became truth.” His thumb traced circles on my palm. “Everything in that article about how well we work together, how we complement each other—that was all real.”
“You don’t understand.” I pulled my hand back, missing his warmth instantly. “If people find out I lied about us being together, we could lose clients. The business could tank.”
But that wasn’t even the worst part. The thought of disappointing his family made my chest ache. His mom had cried happy tears when she hugged me. His dad had pulled me aside to say he’d always hoped I’d officially become their daughter.
And Kellan... God, Kellan. What had started as pretend had sparked something real and terrifying and wonderful.
The way he kissed me in the morning before work.
The electricity when his fingers brushed mine passing tools on the job site.
The nights we spent tangled in my sheets, his breath hot against my neck as he whispered how long he’d wanted this.
I’d fallen for my best friend. Hard. The fake engagement had merely given voice to feelings I’d buried so deep I hadn’t recognized them.
“If Sandra digs too deep into our story…” I bit my lip.
“Then we tell her the truth about now. About us.” Kellan stood, backing me against his desk. “That we finally stopped dancing around what everyone else saw.”
His hands settled on my hips, and my traitor body leaned into him. “It’s not that simple.”
“Why not? The article brought us together. Made us face what we really wanted.” His forehead touched mine. “That’s a pretty good story.”
“But—”
“No buts.” He pulled me down onto his lap, and I went willingly despite my protests. “Stop overthinking this.”
My fingers played with the collar of his shirt. “I just hate feeling like a fraud.”
“You’re not a fraud.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “You’re my partner in every way that matters.”
A knock at the door made me jump. Kellan’s arms tightened around me before letting go.
“That’ll be Sandra.” He stood, straightening his shirt. “Ready?”
I smoothed my skirt, heart hammering. “No.”
“Yes, you are.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Just be yourself. That’s who I fell for, anyway.”
The simple statement hit me right in the chest, momentarily stealing my breath. Before I could respond, he opened the door.
Sandra Chen swept into our office like a fresh breeze, her silk scarf trailing behind her. My throat went dry as she air-kissed my cheeks.
“You two look even better together in person.” She pulled out her recorder and notepad. “The photos didn’t do you justice.”
Photos? What photos? The original article hadn’t included any. I shot Kellan a panicked look, but he just smiled and pulled out a chair for Sandra.
“Coffee?” He touched the small of my back as he passed, and despite my anxiety, my skin tingled at the contact.
“Please.” Sandra’s gaze followed him to our tiny break room. She leaned closer to me, lowering her voice. “You know, when I first interviewed you, I sensed there was something special brewing. But seeing you two now?” She clasped her hands together. “Absolutely adorable. The way he looks at you…”
My cheeks burned. The worst part was, she wasn’t wrong about how Kellan looked at me. That intensity in his eyes when we were alone, the soft smile he saved just for me—it was all real now. But it hadn’t been then, when she’d first written about us.
“I mean, childhood friends to business partners to lovers?” Sandra sighed dreamily while flipping through her notes. “It’s like a romance novel come to life.”
The clinking of mugs from the break room provided a welcome distraction from my spiraling thoughts. I focused on that instead of the knot in my stomach, instead of Sandra’s knowing smile, instead of the voice in my head screaming that I didn’t deserve any of this.
“Here we go.” Kellan returned with three steaming mugs. His fingers brushed mine as he handed me my coffee—two sugars, splash of cream, exactly how I liked it. How many mornings had we shared coffee before this became real? How had I never noticed the way his touch made my pulse race?
Sandra pulled out her recorder. “Shall we begin?”
Sandra clicked her recorder on. “So, tell me about your love story. How did the engagement happen?”
My mouth went dry. But Kellan leaned forward, his easy smile never wavering.
“Actually, Tate proposed to me.” His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Sort of ambushed me right when I got off that bus.”
My cheeks burned. He wasn’t technically lying—that kiss had been my desperate move. But the way he told it made it sound romantic instead of what it really was: pure panic.
“If she hadn’t, I would have. I just couldn’t wait another minute,” he continued, reaching for my hand. “Being apart that long, you start to realize what really matters.”
Sandra clutched her chest, clearly eating up every word. “And you’d been holding these feelings in all this time?”
“Sometimes what you’re looking for is right in front of you.” Kellan’s thumb traced circles on my palm. “You just need a push to see it.”
The gentle touch sent shivers through me, just like it had last night when we’d tangled together in my bed, his lips trailing down my neck, whispering how beautiful I was. That had been real. This… this was a carefully crafted lie.
My stomach twisted as Sandra scribbled notes. She’d been nothing but kind, genuinely invested in our story. And here I sat, letting Kellan spin this fantasy version of events.
But was it really fantasy anymore? The way his hand felt in mine, how my body responded to his touch, the quiet moments we shared in the morning over coffee—all of that was true now.
“I think we both needed that push.” Kellan squeezed my fingers. “Sometimes the best things in life catch you by surprise.”
The sincerity in his voice made my heart ache. Because that part wasn’t a lie at all.
Sandra leaned forward, her recorder inching closer. “So, how did these feelings develop during the deployment? Did you exchange letters? Video calls?”
The coffee turned bitter in my mouth. We had exchanged letters and calls, sure—as friends. Nothing romantic. Nothing that hinted at more. My hands trembled around the mug.
“I...” The weight of weeks of lies pressed down on my chest. Every congratulations, every happy tear from his mother, every genuine moment we’d shared since that first desperate kiss—it all crashed over me at once. “We wrote, but—”
Kellan’s fingers tightened around mine. A warning.
But I couldn’t stop the words bubbling up. The truth felt like acid in my throat, burning to get out. His family deserved better. Sandra deserved better. Even our clients deserved better than this carefully constructed fantasy.
My eyes burned. “Actually, we—”
Kellan’s head snapped up, his expression urgent. He shook his head slightly, but the dam had broken.
The confession hovered on my lips. One sentence would unravel everything—the article, our reputation, this beautiful thing growing between us. But the guilt was crushing me.
“We’re not really engaged!” The words burst from me like water through a broken dam. “This was all a misunderstanding!”
The office went dead silent. Sandra’s pen froze mid-stroke, her mouth forming a small ‘o’ of surprise. The recorder kept running, capturing every excruciating second.
Kellan’s hand went slack in mine.
My chest constricted as the full weight of what I’d just done crashed over me. The careful facade we’d built, the delicate balance of truth and lies—I’d shattered it all with four desperate words.
“I’m sorry.” I stumbled to my feet, knocking my coffee mug. Brown liquid spread across Sandra’s pristine notepad. “Oh God, I’m so sorry.”
My hands shook as I grabbed tissues, making everything worse as I tried to clean up. Tears burned behind my eyes. I couldn’t look at Kellan. Couldn’t bear to see his expression.
“I have to—” The words stuck in my throat. “I can’t—”
I bolted for the door, my heels catching on the threshold. The hallway stretched endless before me as I ran, my pulse thundering in my ears. Behind me, I heard Kellan call my name, but I didn’t stop.
Shame and panic chased me down the stairs. What had I done? We’d built something real from this lie—something precious and new. And I’d just blown it up in front of a journalist.
My chest heaved as I burst out into the parking lot. The engagement might have started as pretend, but Kellan’s kisses weren’t fake. The way he held me at night wasn’t a lie. The feelings growing between us were real.
And I’d just thrown it all away because I couldn’t handle the guilt.