Chapter Eight #2
Alex’s back straightened and he placed his hands on the table and leaned forward.
‘Please, be my girlfriend,’ he pleaded. ‘Just for a short time. Richie says I need to distract the press. Show them that I’m happily in love with someone else and don’t give a shit about their wedding or that they’re together.
It will solve all of our problems, and the awards ceremony can be our relationship debut – the big reveal.
You saw how things were earlier outside your house, how they stopped asking about Liam and Savannah and started asking about you. It worked really well, didn’t it?’
‘Sure.’ If you liked to be the centre of attention, which she didn’t. But then again, it must have been a relief for Alex.
He took a deep breath. ‘After the wedding, everything will die down, the press will get bored and we can decide publicly to remain friends.’ He used air quotes and winked at the last bit.
It made her stomach drop – David had said they were just friends when he’d not wanted to admit the truth.
‘You’d be doing me a real solid, Ellie.’
‘Why?’ she asked, unsure of how best to word the hundreds of questions scrolling before her eyes like a knock-off Matrix.
Why me?
Why not some actress or supermodel?
Why a plus-size nurse from the East End?
What the hell is going on?
Alex leaned forward, his expression confident for the first time since he’d ended his call. ‘I can trust you. I’m not saying it won’t be tough. People will have a lot to say about me dating again. There will be plenty of scrutiny…’ He paused. ‘But it will be worth it.’
She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. ‘It will?’ So far, it sounded like her worst nightmare. Dating a hot man who would ultimately reject her in front of the whole world – been there, done that.
He nodded. ‘That flat you wanted? I can buy it for you… and I can give you an allowance too, for while we’re together. Or a lump sum? Just name your price.’
‘Oh.’ Why was she disappointed? Erm, maybe because he’s turning you into an Only Fans account? ‘That seems a bit… much.’
Alex shook his head. ‘It’s not. You’ll need a dress for the awards night – it’s black tie.’
‘I was going to make something. I like dressmaking… it’s a hobby of mine…
I made this dress that I’m wearing.’ She cringed.
She was babbling like a lunatic. Plus, she didn’t want to admit the real reason why she made most of her clothes from scratch – because she’d spent too many of her teen years crying in clothes store changing rooms.
His eyes lit up. ‘Perfect! But,’ he barrelled on quickly, as if he was ripping a plaster off, quick and efficient and mildly painful, ‘you’re going to need money for accessories and fabric and so on.
I’ll get Richie to send you a cheque. And you’ll have to take time off work for Savannah and Liam’s wedding too, at least ten days, buy clothes for the wedding, as it’s in the Bahamas. See, there’s a lot of costs involved.’
‘The Bahamas?’ she gasped.
‘Yes, and my mum will insist we all stay together at their house. I mean, it’s a very big house, but I’m still not looking forward to it.’
‘They have their own house in the Bahamas?’ Why was she even surprised? His normal was so far out of her comfort zone, it was practically on another planet.
‘It’s their holiday home,’ he said casually. ‘What do you say? Ten days in the Caribbean and an apartment for the price of one fake relationship? Sounds like the deal of the century to me.’ Why was he acting like a second-hand car salesman?
‘This feels wrong, and a flat? That’s a huge… gift.’ She winced. ‘Payment’ would have been a more accurate word. Was she really going to sell herself and become an employed girlfriend? She cleared her throat. ‘And what about buying your own place?’
‘I can do both.’
‘Show-off,’ she grumbled. ‘Look, why me? You could get any one of your celebrity friends to help you.’
Alex winced. ‘I don’t have that many friends. Not anyone I could trust, at least.’ That hit her hard; and then he leaned closer, a teasing glint in his eyes that was utterly charming. ‘Not people who would protect me from the paparazzi in only a bathrobe and slippers.’
‘Don’t remind me,’ she groaned.
‘Please? You can have a great vacation, a home of your own in just a few weeks. No need for overtime, or waiting years to build up a deposit. You can choose whatever path you want in life and not have to worry about a mortgage.’
‘I said I wouldn’t date again,’ she whispered weakly.
Alex visibly sobered, the light in his electric eyes dimming slightly. Did he realise how hard she was finding it to pretend she felt nothing for him other than friendship? How close she was to falling?
‘It wouldn’t be real, and afterwards you’ll be in a position to settle down, just like you always wanted.’
‘With my cat,’ she whispered, and he grinned.
‘With your cat.’
She bit her lip, and he stared at her with a knowing confidence, as if he knew how difficult it would be to refuse him – how difficult it would be for anyone to refuse him anything.
My own home. No more living at home with the family – and if she was mortgage-free? Well, that opened up a world of opportunity. Spare money to save, help out at the shop, travel and visit Hannah. It would be life-changing – but weirdly, most of all, she didn’t want to disappoint him.
Could she bear another break-up like the one she’d had with David?
She had to think of her vulnerable heart. She was only just getting over Hannah leaving and was now dealing with her family’s financial worries; she wasn’t sure she could cope with any more disappointment or humiliation. But, her own home? How could she say no?
‘So, if it’s not real… Do you think people will believe it?’ She squeezed her hands together beneath the table. Of course people wouldn’t believe it. Someone like her with a Hollywood star? Seriously?
Alex’s blue eyes glittered like sapphires in the candlelight, promising endless possibilities if only she were brave enough to agree.
‘We’d have to pretend in public. I know you’ve never done professional acting, but I’ve seen you sneak past security with no problems. You just need to fake it.
Look at me like you’re in love. A few kisses here and there. ’
Her face went numb. ‘Kisses?’
‘Purely Disney kisses. Nothing X-rated, don’t worry,’ he reassured her quickly.
She gave an emphatic nod, followed by a wheezing nervous laugh. ‘Yes, of course, thank God, was a bit nervous there for a minute!’
For fuck’s sake, I may as well have said, ‘No sex for me, please.’
‘Good.’ He nodded quickly and her heart sank.
‘It’ll be better all round this way. Nobody will get hurt.
’ Ellie wasn’t sure about that; she was already a little hurt and they’d not even started.
‘However, I don’t want my family to know that it’s not real.
In public and in front of them, I’d like for us to pretend we are dating.
If they found out I was lying, it would be humiliating, and if it got out to the press? They’d tear us to shreds.’
‘Yeah, I get it.’ She didn’t. It was one thing to lie to nosey strangers, but lying to his family felt wrong.
However, who was she to judge? She couldn’t wait to escape hers.
‘But, are you sure you want to lie to your family? I’m sure they’d understand if you talked to them about how much this has affected you. ’
‘Look, I love them, for all their faults, and they love me. But they walk on eggshells around me and it’s driving me crazy.
I can’t bear their pity.’ He looked genuinely exhausted, and Ellie’s heart softened.
She knew what it felt like to be drained emotionally by those who loved you.
‘If you came with me, they’d stop fussing.
I know it’s a hell of a lot to ask. Anyone else would sell the story of me even asking you to do this. ’
‘I would never do that.’
‘I know, and that’s why I insist you have something in return for helping me.
Hell, you can come and help me pick out a home for each of us.
Whatever you want. Seems wrong that you should struggle to save for a place of your own, when I can afford more than one house.
Or name a figure if you don’t want to decide now, and I’ll have it in your account before Liam and Savannah say I do.
’ If it wasn’t for the pulse she could see fluttering rapidly at the base of his throat, she’d have assumed he propositioned women like this all the time. ‘Deal?’
Ellie was torn. Her friend needed her. Her closest friend right now, with Hannah gone. How could she not help?
‘Then…’ She reached forward, about to take his hand in hers.
‘Dessert?’ asked the waitress, who had seemed to pop up from nowhere.
‘Jesus Christ!’ Ellie yelled, and then tried to hide her mortification with an overly bright smile. ‘Sorry.’
‘Would you like to take a look at the dessert menu?’ She offered them two little gold embossed cards that reminded Ellie of wedding invitations, and her stomach churned in response.
‘No harm taking a look,’ she squeaked in reply, snatching both cards and not even bothering to check with Alex first, desperate to get rid of the waitress.
Shit, what if she overheard Alex’s proposal?
By the benign expression on the waitress’s face before she turned away to leave them alone once more, she’d guess not.
‘Ellie?’
She met his eyes for a split second before she stared down at the menu and tried her best to concentrate on the words swimming in front of her. ‘Oh, erm, I didn’t really want dessert,’ she answered swiftly. After a moment, she realised he was still holding out his hand to her.
‘Deal?’
She slipped her hand into his, the warmth of his skin sending a shiver up her arm. ‘I’m in. Deal.’
Have I really just said yes to fake-dating Alex King?
Yes, and not because of the trip to the Bahamas, although a holiday from her life would certainly be nice, and not because in one fell swoop he’d solved her housing issue.
No. The real reason was because he needed her, and she was a sucker when it came to people needing her.