Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
MILES
Seeing the light on outside the shop apartment as soon as I walked out my front door this morning was like a slap in the face for every poor choice I made yesterday.
I made bad choices to take care of other bad choices.
I’m in my thirties. I should know better by now.
Fuck.
I’m fake dating Quinn Banks to keep Cherry away from me.
What kind of person does that?
Me. Apparently.
Is it a stupid plan? Yes.
Am I smarter than this? Yes.
Is this going to end in disaster? Yes, probably.
But am I also desperate? Extremely.
About four years ago, Cherry’s father came into my shop because he drove over a nail during a scenic mountain drive. He noticed the Mustang that was in the shop and asked me question after question about it. After an hour or so, I had him on my books for three different cars. The next day, he brought a friend to meet me—another booking. The next week, he brought me two friends. More bookings.
The amount of people those friends have brought me is incredible.
He could have booked his cars and just left it at that. But he clearly liked my work, and because of that, I owe a lot of my success to him.
Which is exactly why I can’t tell his daughter to just fuck off, as much as I want to. I tried the “I think we should be friends” and the “I don’t have feelings for you like that” and the “you deserve better than someone like me” and that straightforward “no, thank you.”
None of it has worked.
But me dating someone, even if it’s not real—well, it might actually work.
Still, I have got to figure something out. There’s no way Quinn and I are going to be able to pull this off.
My family, for starters, is going to be suspicious from the first time they see us together. However we do this, we need to do it right. I don’t want to look like a fool, and right now, I’m feeling a little like one for even going along with this.
But as I saw yesterday, a fake relationship does what I need it to do, so I’m giving it a shot.
I unlock the shop door and jerk it open, cursing when it sticks in the corner again.
I flip the lights on and walk right through the office to the shop. Apparently, Quinn is going to handle all of that now.
I let out a deep sigh.
Don’t even get me started on that whole thing. I only know her as someone who travels, takes pictures, and shares them for the world to see. I’m also aware that she shares different products for different companies online, but again, I have no clue how that is going to help her with the office shit I need her to do for me. Although, she sounded confident enough.
Fuck.
Did I really hire someone because she sounds confident?
I’m so in over my head here.
“Morning!” Quinn says right behind me, and I startle, spinning around to face her. As soon as I gather myself, I point at her.
“Rule fucking one, stop scaring me.”
She sighs and crosses her arms in front of her.
“I wouldn’t scare you if you weren’t so paranoid. Seriously? What’s your deal?”
Instead of answering, I point over her shoulder.
“You work in there, and I work out here.”
She nods. “Got it, straight to business—that’s fine, but maybe you can at least come show me exactly what you want me to do and where you left off.”
She's right, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to tell her that.
I walk past her, and she follows me.
“Sit,” I say and pull out the chair behind the desk.
She grins.
“A man who gives orders. I could get on board with that.”
Jesus.
“As your boss, it looks like you lucked out.”
“My boss and my boyfriend . Wow. We move fast.”
“Can you be serious?” I ask, moving to stand behind her so I can show her what to do on the computer. “This is my job. This is how I pay my bills.”
“Yes, I can,” she answers as she turns on the computer. “Sorry. I was just trying to make light of our situation, but clearly that is not the right move. I won’t do it again. So, what programs do you use? QuickBooks, NetSuite, maybe even Quicken. Personally, I think Quicken is a bit outdated, so I haven’t used it for a while, but I could get by. For what you’ve got going on here, between the labor hours and parts and materials, I think QuickBooks would be the best. But again, as I said, I can work with whatever you have.”
Zero. Words.
Labor hours? Parts? Materials? It’s all generic to what I’d have on an invoice, but everything just fell out of her mouth as if she’s said it a hundred times.
“You’re shocked. I get it. Most people are when I talk about anything other than traveling and which suitcase is best for a weekend getaway.”
“I’m not shocked,” I say quickly, even though I sure as hell am. “I just …”
“It’s fine, really. So, what software do you use?”
I scratch my neck and grab my little notebook with passwords in it, handing it to her so she can log into the computer.
“Excel.”
She logs in without a word and then spins to face me. “Like for …”
Our eyes linger, waiting for the other to speak first.
“For …” She continues to wait for me to say… what? I don’t understand exactly what she’s asking.
“Everything.”
“Miles, seriously? You can’t use it for everything. You have a thriving business and need to be tracking this better. How long have you been using just spreadsheets? How far behind on billing are you? What’s your inventory like? What about payroll? How do you do that with a spreadsheet?”
Her questions blur together. I just make it work. It feels like a mess when I do it, but I get it done, and so far the guy who does my taxes hasn’t told me I’m doing anything wrong .
But now, I’m starting to think that perhaps hiring Quinn might not be as foolish as I thought it would just minutes ago.
“Here.” I open a drawer. “These are the invoices I’m behind on. You can use my spreadsheet; there is a folder on the desktop. It sounds like you’ll find it easily. You can use that to get started, or you can buy one of those fancy programs you just mentioned.”
She simply nods as she starts to go through the notebook that has my chicken scratch for billing on it. I’m possibly three, maybe four months behind.
I know. I know.
I wasn’t kidding when I said that I liked the hands-on side of this job better.
“I trust you to pick a good one.”
That statement gets her attention.
“Wow. Okay. I’ll get started on this right away, but I do think we need to set some ground rules. Especially for the dating part. We are about to spend a lot of time together, and we don’t want to mess this up.”
“I agree. We can go over it when we eat lunch. I need to get to work.”
“Okay.”
I turn to leave.
“Wait!” Quinn calls out.
“What are these?”
I glance over my shoulder to see she’s pointing to the sticky notes lined across the top of the desk with dates and names on them.
“That’s my schedule.”
Her eyes grow wide.
“Maybe you can organize that, too?”
“Oh, I will. This is?—”
I walk out the door before she can finish .
As I make my way to the vehicle that’s going to steal my attention for the next few hours, I can’t help but smile.
Who would have thought that hiring Quinn was going to be a good thing?
Not me.
Forget the Cherry part of this deal—if fake dating her gets my business caught up, I’m on board.
I better not fuck this up.
“Miles!”
I pop my head out from under the Chevy and find Quinn looking at me. Her arms are crossed over her tank top and sweater jacket thing. She looks annoyed, but I don’t focus too much on that because her bare legs have every ounce of my attention.
Why am I obsessed with her legs?
Am I a leg man and didn’t know it?
Maybe I should tell her that longer shorts are the dress code here.
“What?” I snap.
This might be the first time she’s interrupted me today, but seeing as how I’ve always worked alone, it annoys me that someone is interrupting me at all.
She rolls her emerald eyes and then narrows them at me.
“It’s almost two. Have you eaten?”
Oh, look, it’s me being a dick again, and she’s being nice.
“No.”
“Do you want me to go get something, or do you want to take a break?”
“I can’t take a break right now.”
“You can take a break. ”
“No, I need to work, Quinn.”
“And you need to eat, Miles. Plus, we need to set rules before word gets out.”
How in the hell would word get out if the two of us haven’t told anyone yet?
“Are you going to argue with me until I listen to you?” I ask.
“Yes. You can be the best at this kind of work and still take ten minutes to eat.”
I smirk, and just as I’m opening my mouth to comment on her comment, she holds her hand up.
“Don’t even start. I complimented you. Let’s move on.”
I let out a chuckle, but her bored expression remains.
“I’ll eat when?—”
Before I can finish that sentence, my stomach growls so loudly that Quinn actually steps back.
“Why don’t I just go get us something and bring it back?”
“Yeah, maybe that’s best,” I say.
Quinn turns and starts to walk out of the shop.
She didn't ask what I wanted or where to go.
I’m about to shout that just a burger from Hudson’s is great, but she reappears, speed-walking toward me with her head down.
“Cherry is outside.”
“What?” I duck as if someone is swinging a bat at my face. “I thought you got rid of her.”
“Well, I did my best, and she’s not exactly outside the shop, she’s just near it, so there is a good chance she’s not here to see you. But if I walk out there and you are not with me, she will know that?—”
“I’m in here alone. Shit,” I finish her ramble.
“Yeah.”
I let out a big sigh and then grab my rag from my back pocket and wipe my hands .
“Let me wash up. We can go eat together.”
“Great. I’ll grab the spreadsheets I printed earlier with the different programs on it, and we can go over them.”
Spreadsheets?
I finish at the sink before Quinn reappears, so I head toward the office because, let’s be honest, I’m not about to walk outside alone.
I’m not scared of Cherry.
I’m annoyed with the situation I put myself into, and the more she keeps popping up, the more I’m worried that I might say something I’ll regret and all that business that comes my way will go poof, bye-bye.
“How many spreadsheets did you?—”
I stop dead in my tracks.
My office is … holy shit, it’s so clean. I slowly look from one side to the other.
The cabinets are labeled alphabetically, the white chairs that were starting to look light brown are white again, I can see the top of the desk and the little basket things I bought once thinking they’d help me get more organized are stacked with papers in them. Even the dish my nephew Max bought me on my last birthday for my peanut M&M addiction is out of the box and filled with the little chocolate candies.
I pop the lid off and grab a handful as I continue to observe the room.
“When did you buy a plant?” I ask her, pointing to the one in the small window behind the desk, then toss an M&M into my mouth.
“It’s from the apartment. I thought I could place one in here to make it a little homier. Also, I saw the pictures you’ve taken of past projects in one of your computer files, and I think we should get them printed and hang some of them up in here.”
I glance from the small plant to Quinn .
“I know that’s not what you hired me for, but like I said, your work is good. I think we need to show it.”
I don’t really know what to say. It’s not often I get compliments that aren’t from customers, and Quinn just gave me two in the last ten minutes.
I nod, give her a half-ass smile, and then nod to the door. “Let’s go eat.”
Quinn doesn’t move. "You really don’t have anything to say back?”
“I do not. Let’s go eat.”
“I’m sorry, but I need a moment to just … I left Miles Asher speechless. And you didn’t argue with me. Wow. Is this a reflection of how you listen in bed? I bet you get laid a lot if so. No wonder this girl is obsessed with?—”
“Okay, let’s move on and eat,” I all but growl.
I do not need to be thinking about how often I get laid—which isn’t as often as she’s suggesting—and about Quinn at the same time.
Hell, I’m still annoyed with myself for bringing it up yesterday. The way her lips parted, her cheeks flushed, and her gaze darkened had me hard in a matter of seconds.
Talking sex with Quinn needs to always be off-limits.
I touch the small of her back to gently encourage her to get moving.
“I mean this is?—”
“Do you ever stop talking? Or can you ever let someone else have the last word?” I cut her off.
“No and no.”
I let out a small chuckle as we step out of the shop.
At least she’s honest about it.
“Hearing you laugh is not something I’m?—”
“Hi,” Cherry says, stepping in front of us as soon as we are outside and twisting her fingers together as she glances at Quinn. “I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“Oh,” Quinn says softly. “I’m actually working in the office with Miles now.”
“You two are dating and working together?”
The question is clearly directed at Quinn. She nods.
Quickly, Cherry looks at me. “I just wanted to say hi since I hadn’t seen you yet this summer and I’m back. Not that it matters now, but yeah, hi.”
If there was a time to feel like a dick—well, a bigger dick—it’s now.
Cherry is kind, but she’s a little clueless when it comes to taking a hint.
“It’s good to see you,” I tell her, and her face lights up like a fucking Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. I cringe on the inside.
It’s a common remark to the average person, but Cherry is not average.
Quinn elbows me, so I clear my throat.
“We are heading to lunch. I’ll see you around.”
“You will?” Cherry lights up again, and Quinn practically jerks me forward.
“Bye!” Cherry says with a lot more enthusiasm than when she started our little conversation.
Quinn and I both wave.
“Looks like you have the jealous girlfriend thing down pretty good,” I say.
Quinn snorts. "Or maybe she thinks you’re into her because of your comments.”
“Oh, come on, those are nothing specific to one person. Everyone says them.”
“Not to people they are trying to avoid. Good to see you. See you around. Those are trigger words for a girl in love with a man who doesn’t love her back.”
“She’s not in love with me,” I say as we turn onto Main Street.
“If she’s not, she’s damn near close. This might be harder than we thought.”
“Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t do this. It’s already complicated enough.”
I open the door to Hudson’s, and Quinn walks in. I’m right behind her, pointing over her shoulder to the bar. I’m a pretty routine guy, and sitting where I can see the doors is my go-to move. I like to be ready for anything.
It isn’t until I rest my hand on the back of her chair, leaning in to make a suggestion for lunch —solely for the purpose that we order, eat, and get back to work—that I see both of my brothers watching me. One two chairs down eating lunch himself and one behind the bar.
This might not have been the best choice for lunch today, but it's too late now.
“What?” I direct the question at Luca and Hudson. Quinn shifts from studying the menu to looking at my brothers, causing her body to brush against mine. From their view, I have no doubt that Quinn and I are looking pretty cozy on this lunch “date.”
“Hey, guys,” she says in a cheery tone. I’ll be completely honest. Before our little arrangement, I wanted to roll my eyes because she’s so damn happy all the time, but now I want to do it because, in just the past twenty-four hours, I’ve learned the voice she’s giving them isn’t her real one. It’s not fake per se, but it definitely screams I need to be extra cheery because I may or may not be fake dating the guy next to me .
My fault completely.
Apparently, I’m a bit of a mess .
Of course, it would be Quinn Banks who brings this to my attention.
I wave with two fingers to my brothers, but that’s all they get in greeting since neither have yet to say a word.
Quinn nudges me with her elbow again, and I flinch.
“Stop doing that,” I say between gritted teeth.
“Stop being weird,” she mimics me, keeping a smile on her face.
“What are you two up to?” Luca, who found his words, practically sing-songs as he strolls over. He sits right next to me and props his chin up on one hand as he leans on the bar.
“We are eating lunch, Luca. What does it look like?”
“Well, for starters, it seems like?—”
“I’m helping in the shop and renting the apartment behind it,” Quinn cuts him off.
It makes me want to smile. She doesn’t even live here full time, and she knows my brother well enough to know he was about to just let all his thoughts fall from his lips like a kid with food poisoning. Uncontrolled and way too fucking much.
“Oh,” is all Luca says.
“And he invited me to lunch after we spent the morning together.”
She gives me a wink.
I’d laugh if I weren’t so terrified at how calm she is right now and a little alarmed at the innuendo she clearly just made that leaves my brother speechless.
Instead, I just stare at her.
She takes a breath, clearing her throat and letting her gaze flicker to my hand behind her. It wasn’t exactly a natural move, but Luca is too shocked to notice, and Hudson is busy working.
I move my hand from the back of her chair to her back and give her two small strokes.
“See anything you like? ”
“Oh, I’ve always loved the food here.” She smiles at me.
Okay, so it might be a little overkill right now, but I don’t care. Luca remains silent. I’m going to enjoy that for a little while longer.
"I’ll take a bacon cheeseburger with fries and mustard.”
I fake gag. “What? Did you mean to say ranch?”
“No.”
“Pretty sure you did. Or even maybe ketchup or fry sauce or even barbecue sauce, but you definitely said?—”
“Mustard. I know.”
“Are you two ready to order?” Hudson asks as he joins us. Then he looks at Luca, who is still stunned, watching Quinn and me. “What happened to him?”
“I’m not sure,” I say, quickly followed by “two of the usual but one with mustard.”
Even Hudson looks at Quinn with disgust.
He walks off to place our order while Quinn and I pretend Luca isn’t here.
“So,” she starts and pulls out her folder with the printed spreadsheets. “I looked at three different software programs and put their comparisons here.” She hands me the papers. “It’s pretty clear which one you’ll want to get based on price and what you want out of it.”
“Why didn’t you just buy one?”
“Because I wanted you to see your options. ‘Just buy one’”—she uses fake air quotes on the last three words—“isn’t a smart business move.”
I raise a brow and look her in the eyes.
She shoves my shoulder.
“Stop. I wasn’t insulting you as a businessman, okay. I’m just saying”—she lowers her voice and leans in closer to me—“I know you’re significantly thrilled to work with me all day every day, but I’m not going to let your need to quickly get out of my presence hurt your company, even if it is something as silly as buying software.”
Who is this woman?
I mean, I know what I see online and what I’ve seen in short meetings over the time she’s visited Lovers, but the way she is talking right now, it’s … I don’t know, but it bothers me, too.
“Well, I think?—”
“Quinn,” a deep voice says behind us.
She spins quickly, her knees hitting mine and forcing me to turn with her. We come face-to-face with a man in a suit. He’s got his arm around a petite brunette whose eyes grow to the size of saucers as she squeals.
“Quinney! Oh my gosh. Sully here said he saw you, but I was like ‘what are the odds that we run into her two days in a row?’”
“Andy.” Quinn stands and hugs her. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I was in such a hurry and didn’t give you a proper welcome.”
Andy keeps squealing while jumping as they hug.
“I’m just so excited that we get to spend the summer in Lovers. It’s been one day, and I already love it here. It’s so quiet.”
“I told my brother that you were here, and he’s excited, even if you do have a boyfriend or whatever.”
We just decided to fake date yesterday. How do Quinn’s friends know already? Did she call them right after I agreed?
“Your brother is here already?” Quinn slowly sits down and her hand falls to my thigh.
I’d be concerned about the move she’s making, but I’m too distracted by the way her hand is shaking.
“Yeah, he’ll be here tomorrow. God, now he can shut up about seeing you again. ”
Now Quinn’s leg is bouncing, so I take my turn and put my own hand on her thigh.
“Oh my god, what is happening?” Luca says and leaves quickly.
Ignoring him, I glance back to the couple and stand. I’m taller than this Sully guy by a good foot and about twice his size in muscle. Not that it matters, but I’m aware of the way he looks up at me and his eyes widen. “Hi, I’m Miles.”
I offer my hand.
“Oh my god!” Andy squeals. “You’re Miles.”
Quinn is biting her bottom lip as she watches the interaction.
“Hey, man,” Sully shakes my hand. “I’m Sullivan, but everyone just calls me Sully. This is my fiancée, Andy. It’s so good to finally meet you.”
What does he mean by finally meet me ?
Hudson comes over to grab their drink order, so I take the chance to lean in Quinn. "Who are these people?”
“Friends,” she says quickly.
“Yeah, and they are eager to meet me because …”
Her nose scrunches and she shakes her head.
“Tell me right now, Quinn.”
She leans in even closer, her breath on my ear, but Andy speaks first, her voice thick with excitement.
“Anyway, so Danny and most of the group will be here tomorrow. This is kismet, Quinn. All of us being in the same place at the same time before the big day. I know I’ve said this already, but this summer is really going to be the best one.”
Quinn’s face turns pale as she looks up at me, those green eyes begging me to help her.
I don’t show any reaction.
She’s hiding something from me, and as much as I think it’s going to be hard to pull this off and that pretending to date isn’t the right path to go down, one thing is clear.
I’m going to be Quinn Bank’s boyfriend for the next eight weeks.