CHAPTER 33 KAYLEE
I take a shower while he’s working out, and once I’m dressed, I scan through my closet for something to wear to this weekend’s event. Once I locate the perfect dress, I email Bentley to ask him for the specific language in my dad’s will regarding my inheritance.
He responds a few minutes after I send the email with my dad’s exact wording in his email to Bentley not long before he suddenly passed away:
Kaylee will receive her sum upon earning her degree at graduation.
My intent is for Kaylee to use the money to buy a house and get started on her adult life as she begins her first career in a field I hope she loves.
My top priority for her is her happiness.
She has always allowed her brothers’ interests to come first, but she deserves to put herself first, too.
I stare at the words—my dad’s words—and I feel for a moment like he understood me far more than I ever gave him credit for.
And that sort of settles it. While he intended for me to use the money as I started on my teaching career, his next statement was that he wants me to be happy. Teaching doesn’t make me happy.
But doing this thing with Ben might.
Not worrying about pleasing my parents or doing what others wanted me to do might.
Making my own decisions and forging my own path might.
Gaining sponsorships and selling products on social media to earn money for charity might. It’s an unconventional job, but it allows me to use the gifts I was born into in a positive way.
It feels like a giant weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and what little weight remains will certainly be lifted when I’m able to tell Janet that I’m not returning.
I’m lying on my bed scrolling my phone when I hear his voice at my doorway.
“Need a hand?”
I laugh. “Maybe just a couple fingers.”
He steps into the room and offers me a grin. “I think I could get used to being in a fake relationship with you.”
I’m starting to think I could get used to being in a real relationship with him.
I shake off the thought.
Aside from the age gap standing between us and the fact that he’s Jack’s best friend, I don’t date football players, and there’s more than one reason why.
But the more I think about those reasons, the more ways I can find to invalidate them.
I don’t date football players because they always think they can use me for my brothers. But Ben doesn’t need to use me for my brothers. He’s already best friends with Jack. He already plays on the same team as them. He already has access to game day tickets.
I don’t date football players because I don’t want my entire life to be the game.
But Ben seems to understand that based on the conversations we’ve had, and he’s also mentioned that he knows his playing days are limited.
Knowing what I know about the league, I’d give him another couple playing years at best. Could I give in on those couple years to be with him long-term?
Is that even something he’d want?
There are far too many complications at play here. We have good sex, and that’s all this is.
It’s not about the talks we’ve had about what we want out of our futures or the secrets it seems we’ve shared with one another.
It’s not about how he seemingly puts my feelings first. It’s not the way he makes me feel just by looking at me the way he does or those smoldering gazes he sends me across the room.
It’s not how I feel like we’re teaming up together on a charity or this fake relationship thing.
It’s not all the laughs we share or the fun we have together.
Oh, hell. Who am I kidding?
It’s all those things.
I’m falling for Ben Olson, and that is one dangerous admission to make.
“I’m excited for our first fake date tomorrow night,” I say. “I went through my closet and found the perfect dress. The press will see us together, and I’ll be the unidentified gorgeous woman on the hot football player’s arm.”
“Until your students get wind of it,” he says. “I bet they’ll identify you.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Yeah, not looking forward to that, but it’s less than a month of school left now anyway.
Besides, I’m already used to faking it with you,” I tease as I flash a wink at him.
Apparently teasing is my defense mechanism as I try to brush away those feelings we’ve agreed won’t be part of this deal.
He laughs, and then he lowers his voice. “Oh, you haven’t had to fake a single thing with me, Peaches.”
The rasp in his voice sets me positively on fire. “Ain’t that the damn truth,” I murmur.
“Everybody’s busy downstairs with the kids.” He takes a step into my room and glances behind him to indicate the rest of the people in the house. We hear laughter coming from the family room as if to prove his point. He raises a brow. “Want me to prove how very much you don’t need to fake it?”
“The last time I told you to prove something to me, you left me wanting more,” I point out.
He chuckles. “Yeah, but I took care of that, didn’t I?”
“Oh, God, yes,” I moan.
“Good practice for what I’m about to make you say while I’m inside you,” he says. He turns to shut the door, and just as he’s closing it, it gets stuck and stops short. He backs up, and we both watch as the door opens and Kate’s friend—or ex-friend, as the case may be—Shannon steps in.
I didn’t even know she was still here.
“So let me get this straight,” she says, and her eyes flash between the two of us.
“You’re faking a relationship but you’re really doing it in private?
” Her brows dip. “Hmm, why would someone want to fake a relationship? And who exactly are you hiding the real one from?” She stares between the two of us as she tries to click all the pieces into place.
My eyes widen in horror, but Ben just narrows his gaze at her. “None of that is any of your business.”
“Oh, I think you’ll see things differently.” She offers a smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes, and frankly, it’s a little terrifying. Her crazy eyes fall to me. “It’s very much my business. Or, at least, it’s very much to my advantage.” She holds up her phone and clicks a button.
We both listen as Ben says, “I think I could get used to being in a fake relationship with you.” A moment later, I respond with something about our first fake date.
I glance at Ben, but his eyes are on Shannon.
“You both know how the rest of the conversation goes.” She slides her phone into her pocket.
“You see, I’ve gone through quite a lot over the last few months because of the people in the Dalton family.
First it was Jack ruining my wedding. Then it was Jack and Kate ruining my marriage.
I’m divorcing the man I thought was my soul mate because of their actions.
So now it’s time to get what’s coming to me. ”
Ben doesn’t lose his cool even though I’m basically flipping out on the inside. I don’t say a word. Instead, Ben speaks first. “What, exactly, does that mean?”
“Let’s see here…I know Ellie’s MO, and she’s a real believer that being in a relationship is a great way to get the press to stop publishing articles about the bad boy lifestyle.
I’m sure the press would love to know the two of you are engaging in something fake.
So if there’s some reason you need to be in a fake relationship, Mr. Olson, you’re going to do it with me, and what’s even better is that you’re going to pay me to do it.
That way I get to flaunt my new boyfriend in front of the ex who has suddenly turned into a douchebag, and I’ll have the funds to find my own place to live after I’m done with you. ”
“You’re nuts,” Ben says.
She shrugs. “Maybe, but I’ve got very little to lose since it’s all been taken from me. How about you?” She gives us that weird, evil smile again. “Either of you two got anything to lose?”
Ben and I glance at one another.
It took a little convincing on both our parts, but now we’re both all in on this fake relationship thing as we’ve gone over all the ways this could be advantageous for us both.
And now we’re discussing the idea of creating a charity together, and I’m starting to see a different path for my future—a real path that I never saw before—because of it.
I’m ready to give my notice at a job I can’t stand, and I even feel like I have my dad’s blessing when that’s been weighing so heavily on my mind for so long.
And he’s ready to start a new season in a couple months without the threats of his boss on his back. He’s ready to work on his image and accept new sponsorship deals as together we forge a path that will benefit whatever charity we decide to create.
Yeah…I think we’ve both got more than a few things to lose.
But how do we stop a loose cannon who has evidence we’re already lying before we’ve even gotten the lie off the ground?
TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK 2, TIGHT HOLD