Chapter 2
RAFFA
The executive lounge at Farnborough Airport is mercifully quiet when I walk into it, preparing myself to meet Ida in person for the first time.
If she actually turns up, that is.
I guess I wouldn’t blame her if she bottled it at the last minute. Going to a wedding with a bunch of strangers and pretending to be the girlfriend of a guy you’ve only ever talked to online is quite a thing to agree to do.
We’ve been direct messaging for weeks, after meeting in a chatroom for a game we were both obsessed with, then hiving off when a bunch of dickhead trolls started getting on our tits, so I feel like we’ve got a good sense of each other now.
And the video call last night helped; even if it was only brief. At least I know what she looks like and can be confident she’s not going to turn out to be a middle-aged dude called Dave.
She actually looked exactly how I’d expect a gamer to look: hair scraped back in a ponytail, large-framed glasses for computer work, oversized hoodie and no make-up.
She’s pretty, though, that was clear.
But to be honest, despite the flirty vibe we’ve had going, it’ll be better all round if there’s no real sexual chemistry between us. It’ll keep things simple and clean when we say goodbye at the end of this.
Pacing over to the huge wall of glass that affords me an uninterrupted view of the runway, I stare out at the row of private planes that are waiting to take passengers to destinations all over the world.
I have a moment of wonder as it hits me, for the first time in a while, just how much my life has changed since the sale of HelSkel. Before that, there was no way I could ever have considered hiring a private plane to go anywhere.
Yet here I am, about to take one to the other side of the world with a virtual stranger.
How in the hell has this become my life?
I’m aware that my pulse has picked up and I feel it throbbing in my throat. Not surprisingly, I’m nervous about whether this crazy idea is going to work out.
I should have just toughed it out and gone on my own, but I know if I had I’d not be left alone for one bloody second by my family and the opportunity for having some peace and getting some work done while I’m there would have gone right out of the window.
I can’t afford to take my eye off the ball with this new company deal I have going on.
Not when I’ve worked so hard to get it to where it is now.
At least if Ida’s there as my partner-shield we’ll be given some privacy.
They’ll assume we’re holing up together and fucking if we don’t make much of an appearance outside of the enforced social gatherings.
I’ve made sure the villa we’re staying in has two bedrooms so we’ll each have our own space and she won’t feel uncomfortable. The last thing I want is for her to think I have an ulterior motive for asking her to come along to this bloody wedding with me.
I hate the idea of giving her the wrong impression. I’ve got a lot out of our late-night chatroom chats recently and I’d be gutted to lose the easy friendship we’ve built.
Not that that should be my main concern.
I mean, this is wild, right? Flying halfway across the world to pretend – in front of my entire extended family – that we’re a real couple?
I guess that’s what happens when you spend the majority of your waking hours concentrating on your business and not allowing any time for dealing with anything else until you’re forced to.
Usually, I’d rely on my executive assistant to make sure everything external is in place and working as it should, but personal arrangements for this wedding is the one thing I really couldn’t ask her to organise. I’d feel pretty fucking weird asking her to magic me up a date for it, anyway.
She’s already been making noises about me carving out some time for a proper break and to see friends, which I’ve so far batted away, but dragging her into the middle of this kind of a hare-brained scheme is a whole other level of what-the-fuck.
I turn to scan the lounge.
Hmm. Where is Ida?
I’d actually joked with my friend Kit that I wanted to bring someone ‘unsuitable’ with me as my date to this wedding, but I couldn’t honestly do that to my stepbrother’s wife-to-be.
I really like Margot and I’d hate to upset her.
So, someone who can fly under the radar with me is my best bet right now.
Hopefully the other guests will leave the two of us well alone when they realise there’s nothing of particular interest about our ‘relationship’.
I really need this to be low-key and straightforward. I have no time whatsoever in my life for romance, as I think I made clear when Ida and I were messaging.
I’m way too busy for that. My lifestyle wouldn’t be fair on any partner I had.
She seemed cool with the idea of it just being a chance for a free holiday to the Maldives though, even after I revealed who I am. And I’ll deal with her request for an interview for her HelSkel channel when I’ve got the headspace for it.
If she turns up, that is.
I can’t tell you how hard my fingers are crossed right now as I continue to stare at the door to the lounge, trying to manifest her appearance.
To my surprise, this appears to work as a moment later a woman strides into the lounge, gazing around her.
I know immediately that it’s her.
She’s wearing a baseball cap over her raven-black hair, which is once again pulled into a ponytail and threaded through the hole above the adjustable snapback strap, and she’s dressed in joggers and a loose T-shirt.
I recognise the same laid-back confidence in her that she displayed on the video call, which convinced me at the time that this fake relationship could actually work.
As if sensing I’m staring at her, she looks over to where I’m standing a few feet away and my stomach does a strange kind of flip.
Her dark brown eyes, behind her large-framed glasses, flare with warm recognition as our gazes meet and she flashes me a half amused, half shrewd smile.
There’s a weird prickling sensation rushing over my skin now, like some part of me knows something my consciousness hasn’t caught up with.
Swallowing past my dry throat, I raise my hand in a wave of acknowledgement, tell myself to pull it the fuck together, and wait for her to walk over to where I’m standing.
‘Hey. Ida?’
‘Yeah. Raffa?’
‘In the flesh.’
I offer her my hand, but she ignores it and instead opens her arms and makes a come-hither motion with her fingers, a wide grin breaking across her face. ‘Bring it in, boyfriend.’
I freeze for a second. I wasn’t expecting this kind of physicality right off the bat. But then I guess we’re going to be pretending we’re a real couple so I’m going to have to get used to being touched – and touching her.
The thought of this sends another fizzing kind of shiver across my skin.
Again, I wonder what I’ve got myself into here.
Still, nothing I can do about it now that the cogs are fully in motion.
Pressing out a tight smile, I move into her open arms, wrapping my own around her back, but making sure to keep a few inches of distance between our bodies.
She smells great.
Like cinnamon rolls.
‘Thanks again for agreeing to this lunacy,’ I say, stepping away from her the moment it feels polite to do so.
I see she’s still smiling, her eyes shining with mirth.
‘Yeah, it’s not something I ever thought would happen to me, but there you go,’ she says, cocking her head to one side.
‘Life can throw the most bizarre curveballs at you and you can duck and cover, or you can catch them. I’ve been telling myself for a while to say yes to things, even if they scare me.
To grab opportunities when they come my way.
’ She forms her hands into two tights fists in front of her.
‘That’s how the memorable times happen, right? ’
I can’t help but smile at that. ‘Yeah. I guess so. Well, I hope I’m not too scary in person?’ I joke.
‘Nah.’ She bats a hand through the air. ‘I don’t scare easily. And I’ve done my due diligence. Don’t worry about that. Thoroughly checked you out,’ she says, waggling her eyebrows in a way that makes my entire body heat with awareness.
I make myself grin, aware it must look really fucking fake this time. I’m properly on the backfoot by the way I’m physically reacting to her in real life.
This, I was not expecting.
Oh well. I can probably use it to my advantage. We need people to believe we’re attracted to each other, and this way I won’t need to pretend.
I’m suddenly aware that she’s looking at me strangely, as if she was expecting a different reaction to the one I’m giving her.
‘Uh, yeah. Well, good. I want you to feel completely comfortable with this,’ I say.
‘I do, I do,’ she says, though with a bit less confidence than before.
‘I know it’s a bizarre thing to be doing, but I promise you I’ll give you as much space as you need when we’re alone.’
‘I believe you,’ she says, then gives her head a small shake. ‘I just haven’t had my second coffee of the day yet so I’m a bit fuzzyheaded.’ She follows this with a grin.
‘Okay. Well, let’s rectify that right away,’ I say, gesturing to the leather sofa next to us, which is strewn with bright red velvet cushions, then waving to get the attention of one of the hospitality staff.
I wait for Ida to sit down then take the seat one away from her.
‘I’ll have a flat white, please,’ Ida says to the server who arrives to take our drinks order the moment I’ve sat down.
‘I’ll have the same,’ I say.
The server moves away, leaving us shifting a little in our seats – or at least, I am.
When I look up and our eyes lock, she smiles at me, her expression alive with amusement.
It’s weird, after being so comfortable chatting with Ida online, to feel this awkward around her.
I genuinely thought we’d be able to be as airily friendly as we have been in the chatroom for the last few weeks without there being any kind of complication.
I guess this shows just how much I haven’t been thinking about how this whole thing might play out.
My bad.