Chapter 10
Apparently, a well-worn Vibe Killers band T-shirt and a pair of crumpled-up jeans didn’t scream good first impression.
The look of horror on Livi’s face when I presented her with the only semi-decent clothing I owned was adorable.
Her horror only continued as she sifted through the box of my clothes, muttering under her breath in Spanish at each new disaster she found.
Throwing unsuitable options into a pile, I knew she was likely regretting ever agreeing to our fake relationship.
By the end of her search, my entire face was hotter than the surface of the sun from sheer embarrassment as she stood with her hands on her hips, surveying the tiny pile of potentially suitable choices.
Why did I think letting her come over here was a good idea again?
Thing was, I didn’t need nice clothes. As long as I had a clean pair of scrubs knocking around, the rest didn’t matter. Sure, I used to put a bit more effort into my fashion sense, but when I learned the money I spent on clothes could be used in a casino, I stopped.
It didn’t help that, in my panicked move to New York, I only bundled up half of my wardrobe, leaving the suits and ties behind. I was trying to make a clean break for it, to get out of Frederic’s home before anyone noticed.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because, of course, I picked the day Frederic was working from home to uproot my life.
He knew something was wrong—he always knew when something was wrong.
It was like his superpower. And when I lied to his face, spinning a story about not wanting to live in his house anymore and in need of my independence back, the hurt that flashed in his ice-blue eyes would haunt me till my dying breath.
When I closed my eyes at night, I could still see the disappointment lining his face as I walked out the door.
Thankfully, the shame I felt about spending every dime he gave me was enough of an incentive not to let him get in my way.
But it was going to be okay, I was going to fix it now that I had Livi. She was the key to getting me the promotion, the key to me replacing every cent in my empty trust fund.
Then I could finally start putting my life back together again and do what I promised Adam seven months ago. No more gambling. No more pills. No more alcohol. No more numbing myself to the life around me.
I just needed a little more time.
Livi drummed her fingers on her chin. “You could always pair that shirt, which we need to iron first, with those trousers.”
“I thought you said the only place those trousers belonged were in the garbage?”
She smiled sweetly. “Did I?”
“Something about them being a crime against fashion?”
“Because that’s what they are. I am not lying to you when I say they are the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“You call them ugly. I call them practical.”
She surveyed them with disdain. “Honestly, Elliott, why did you buy trousers that can double as shorts?”
“For when it gets hot?”
Her laughter filled the apartment, awakening something inside me that I had forgotten existed. It was hard not to get lost and bask in it. In her.
“Oh, where did I put that black jumper?” she thought out loud. “The one with the hole in the armpit? There’s a sewing kit in my handbag, we can patch it up and it’d work.”
Before she showed up at my apartment, I purposely tried to make the place look less depressing.
For the first time in seven months, I opened all the windows and let the spring air chase out the staleness.
No empty vodka bottles or random pieces of paper I ripped from my journal littered the ground.
I had even gone as far as making the bed I rarely slept in.
Not that I expected her to go anywhere near my bedroom—even though I found myself imagining how perfect she’d look lying on my bed, flushed, sweating, naked, and with my name being whimpered between her moans.
Obviously, they were extremely stupid thoughts.
Okay, I might have been slightly attracted to my fake girlfriend. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Livi was breathtaking, not only physically, but everything about her was beautiful. Being around her was like feeling the sun on my skin after years of rain assaulting me.
But for the sake of everything, I needed to figure out a way to suppress my attraction to her.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I cringed as she picked up the black jumper. “Sorry about all this. I swear I have better clothes back in my old place.”
“Don’t worry about it, there is something here we can work with.”
“Doubt it,” I mumbled.
“You know it’s not that big of a deal, right?”
“Meeting your girlfriend’s family is a big deal. After everything you’ve told me about your family, first impressions seem to be pretty damn important to them.”
“Fake girlfriend, remember.”
“Fake or not, this is important. From what you’ve told me about your mother, I don’t want to give her any excuse to doubt our ‘relationship’.”
She exhaled softly. “My mother is impossible to please. You could show up in a million-dollar suit made of gold and diamonds, and she’d still find fault. That’s how she is, even I am not safe from her critiques.”
“What do you mean you’re not safe?”
“Look, I’m well used to it now. It’s just she loves to tear me down and make me feel smaller than an ant most days.”
“What about your sister?”
She arched a brow and plucked a loose thread from the jumper. “What about her?”
“Does your mother judge and critique her like she does with you?”
“Not exactly.” Her shoulders bunched close to her neck before she forced a weak attempt at a smile.
“Maya is the apple of my mother’s eye and cannot do anything wrong.
Hell, she fucked Daniel behind my back, many times, and is now marrying him without a single repercussion.
Maya can do no wrong, while I can do nothing right. ”
“And your mother accepted that your own sister hurt you like that?”
“Whatever Maya wants, Maya gets,” Livi said plainly.
“I didn’t go into the career she wanted.
I took a loan from her husband to start my own business without consulting her first. I didn’t handle the whole Maya-Daniel situation gracefully.
I stopped counting my calories like she taught me.
I’m the black sheep of the family, so I get front row tickets to my mother’s ways. ”
Families weren’t easy; I understood that better than anyone, with my own family being as functional as a drought in the desert. But the more Livi told me about her family, it wasn’t any wonder that she ended up in the emergency room.
I hadn’t even met her family yet and I already disliked them.
Dinner was going to be fun.
“I’m sorry for asking,” I said. “I am only trying to understand your whole family dynamic, get a better idea of what I am about to walk into.”
“You, my friend, are walking into a lion’s den.”
“Well, then I think it’s a priority we do everything to make sure your mother believes I am somewhat good enough to be with someone like you.” I took the jumper from her and tossed it aside. “And me showing up in a jumper that looks like it survived a bear attack won’t do.”
“What do you mean, someone like me?”
“You know, way out of my goddamn league.”
The smile that broke free on her kissable lips was a dangerous thing. Not only could it disarm an atomic bomb, but it was also just as likely to obliterate any chances I stood to keeping my attraction to her under control.
I cleared my throat. “Anyway, maybe I should go and buy something to wear.”
“?Idea perfecta!” She clapped her hands together.
“Grab your coat, Dr. D, we are going shopping.”
“You’re coming with me?”
“Someone has to be there to stop you from buying another pair of those god-awful trouser-shorts.”
“Give me a twirl.” Livi wolf-whistled as I reluctantly obliged. “I mean, did or did I not say those trousers would look good on you?”
“You have good taste.”
“Good? Are you trying to insult me? My taste is impeccable.”
“It matches well with your humbleness.”
She snorted as she handed me an olive green blazer to match the trousers. “Well, thanks to my taste and humbleness, your ass looks grope-worthy right now.”
“Did you seriously just use the words ‘grope worthy’?”
“It was a toss-up between that or bitable, but you get the idea.”
My lips quirked upward. “You think I have a nice ass?”
“Don’t let it go to your head.” She rolled her eyes playfully before she took another glimpse in the mirror behind me. “It’s amazing what a decent pair of trousers, ones that don’t transform into shorts, can do.”
Without warning, she closed the gap between us and held two belts against the material of the trousers on my leg, dangerously close to my all-too-aware cock.
My brain turned to complete mush as I attempted to put on the blazer.
She stood so close to me, it was almost impossible to concentrate on anything except the scent of her coconut shampoo working its way into becoming a permanent resident in my senses.
The dark curls falling loose around her face dared me to brush them behind her ear.
The way the light of the changing rooms caught the curve of her neck, highlighting her smooth, warm skin, had me wanting to run my tongue down the length of it.
Her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth as she mulled over the two belts.
A purely innocent act, because that’s what it was—innocent.
She was simply picking a belt as if she wasn’t the most captivating thing in my whole world right now, or how the back of her hand kept brushing my upper thigh, sending alert signals to my cock.
Fuck, I really need to stop.
Fumbling with the buttons of the blazer, I told myself to stop staring at my fake girlfriend for five goddamn seconds and to think of something to stop the blood rushing to the one place it didn’t belong.
“Putain de boutons à la con,” I grumbled, trying and failing with another button.
It was as if my hands and mind were no longer connected.
“Take these.” She handed me the belts and made quick work of buttoning the blazer. “How does it all feel on?”
I swallowed hard as she smoothed out a crease on my lapel. “It feels good.”
“Let me fix one thing.” Livi reached up and carefully adjusted the collar of my shirt. “I think we need to lose the tie, it’s too much. Looks like you’re trying too hard. We want smart but casual.”
My heart pounded against my chest violently. No matter how much I begged myself to focus on recounting medical textbooks to keep my cock from standing to attention, my mind outright refused to think of anything other than how insanely magnetic her touch felt on my skin.
Think of anything else—anything!
I was half a second away from pitching a damn tent in my trousers.
When her fingertips brushed against my throat, I was a fucking goner. One touch from her, and all rationality deserted me, and I yearned to discover if her lips were as soft as they looked.
Her hands worked the tie off, throwing it to the ground. She rested her hands on my chest. “There. That’s much better.”
“Do I look like fake boyfriend material?”
“You clean up well,” she hummed, the noise vibrating through her into me. “Turns out your scrubs aren’t the only thing that makes you look good.”
My throat bobbed thickly.
She didn’t move away. Her hands remained firmly on my chest. Her heavy gaze found mine from beneath her lashes as her lips parted.
Wait, did she want me to kiss her?
I knew I wasn’t exactly the best when it came to women, but there was no denying the way her pupils dilated and breath hitched.
Maybe it wasn’t only me who was fighting this bizarre pull.
Before impulsivity got the chance to take control and I did something I wasn’t entirely sure I would regret, her eyes flicked to the mirror behind me, and in a flash, her whole body turned to stone.
Glancing over her shoulder, it didn’t take me long to find what, or rather who chased her beaming light away.
Maya was everything Livi wasn’t.
Where Livi’s beauty was effortless and had the ability to draw me in like a moth to a goddamn flame, Maya was something pulled straight from those fashion runways I didn’t understand. Sharp cheekbones, too thin, and lips that were pinched into a plump pout.
Beside Maya was the man who I already felt a deep burning hatred for.
I know they say opposites attract, but fucking hell, Daniel looked like he came from a different planet.
Dressed in something that I’d only seen cowboys wear in television shows, he gave me the impression of someone who enjoyed spending their time riding horses and herding cattle, not sitting around the country club discussing the stock market and sipping fine wines.
This was the batard who had broken her heart, who betrayed her, and walked away from her in the most painful way possible.
It was clear as day that he was punching well above his weight when he was with Livi.
He was certainly not what I imagined Livi being attracted to. Blond, baby-faced yet gruff around the edges, and looked like he didn’t need anxiety tablets to keep him stable—my exact opposite.
Livi shifted, her hands falling limply from my chest. The warmth of her touch lingered, but I forced myself not to think about it or how good it felt.
She turned from me and slowly focused on her ex, who was too busy laughing at something Maya said to notice us.
Not giving it much thought, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her into me.
“I don’t think I can do this,” she whispered. “We could make a break for it before they see us. There’s a fire exit to your left.”
“Livi, you can do this. It’s all going to be okay.”
“I think I am going to vomit.”
“Take a deep breath for me, just like that. Good, now exhale slowly.” I watched each unsteady breath she took. “Think of this like a practice run before dinner.”
Taking another uneven, long breath, she nodded stiffly despite her hands trembling at her sides.
“You’ve got this, trust me.”
“Your faith in me is truly misplaced.”
“I don’t think so.” I gave her waist a gentle squeeze. “Don’t forget me, and my grope-worthy ass will be right beside you the whole time.”
The loud snort of laughter that escaped from her was our undoing. Both Maya and Daniel snapped their attention to us, with the latter’s attention locking onto the arm I had firmly wrapped around Livi.
Good. Let him fucking stare.
“Looks like it’s freaking showtime,” she muttered, offering her sister a small wave. “Dios, sálvame.”
Now or never.
Burying my nose into the curls atop her head, I took a long, steadying inhale. “Remember, fake it till we make it, Peaches.”