Chapter Fifteen #2
Cam pressed on, frustration simmering under every word.
“This is Brittany’s revenge. She couldn’t stand being embarrassed last night.
This is her way of calling my bluff—daring me to make a stink, knowing that if I try to fight it, it’ll blow up even bigger.
She’s gambling that if I stay quiet, she wins. And if I make noise, she wins twice.”
His hands curled into fists in his lap. He was losing the calm he’d fought so hard to keep.
“My company’s barely taken root here. If the CEO of Omega gets called a liar—or worse, looks unstable because of a scandal—it could affect stockholders.
Reputation is everything when you’re trying to expand.
Britt nearly destroyed me once. She damn near wiped out my family’s savings.
If the company had gone under, Craig, Becky, even my mother would’ve paid for it, too.
I can’t— I won’t let her try again. I won’t let her touch you either. ”
His voice cracked a little, as though the weight of it all was catching up to him.
Gently, I put my hand on his arm and squeezed, bringing his focus back to me.
“Cam. Stop. Breathe.”
He did. Slowly.
“I know you were just trying to protect me last night,” I said quietly. “And let’s be real—I was ready to claim we were married and had six kids if it meant getting her plastic ass out of our faces. She baited us both. I wanted to shut her up, just as much as you did.”
I glanced down at the newspaper again, forcing myself to look, to think clearly.
The photo in the restaurant was actually kind of... beautiful. Nothing sleazy or cheap about it. My dress covered me modestly. No drunken giggling, no wardrobe malfunctions. Just two people laughing, touching, looking at each other like they belonged together.
Surely there was no crime in that?
I sighed. “The article could’ve been worse. It doesn’t say we’re engaged, or married, or expecting triplets. Just hints. It’s mostly the pictures doing the talking.”
I looked back at him, finding a shaky smile. “You told Brittany we were in love. So what? People fall in love every day. Sometimes it lasts, sometimes it doesn’t. This doesn’t have to be the end of the world.”
Cam stared at me. “You’re incredible.” A slow smile broke across his face. “Seriously, are you always this much of an optimist?”
“Not even close.” I chuckled softly. “Usually I’m all doom and gloom. But today... I guess I’m feeling strangely brave. Or maybe just too tired to panic properly.”
I felt it then—a shift inside me. A little click, like a key turning in a long-rusted lock. Strength I didn’t know I had settled into place.
I got up and headed for the kitchen. “I’m making coffee before my courage wears off.”
When I returned a few minutes later, balancing two steaming mugs, Cam reached for his gratefully.
“Thank you.” He took a long sip and smiled. “You make real coffee. Not that motor oil Sebastian drinks.”
I curled up next to him on the couch, and for a few minutes, we sat in a fragile, heavy silence. Sipping, thinking. Steam rose in lazy curls from our mugs, and my earlier bravado started to drain away with it.
Grim, terrifying scenarios started lining up in my mind again. What if the parents demanded my resignation, claiming I wasn’t a good role model for their kids? What if my old-fashioned dad decided to bring his shotgun at the Easter dinner? What if—
Cam’s voice cut through the fog of anxiety.
“What if we were engaged?” he said quietly.
I blinked. “W-what?”
“Engaged,” he repeated patiently. “You said the school would frown on you showing up in a tabloid kissing some guy, but what if that guy wasn’t random? What if he was your fiancé?”
I stared at his face, waiting for a wink, or some other clue that he was joking. But his expression didn’t budge. His eyes were steady, his eyebrows arched in a silent question mark.
I set my coffee down before I dropped it. “You can’t be serious. A fake engagement? What is this—a rom-com?”
His lips quirked, just slightly. “Well, we’ve got the romance. Still waiting on the comedy.”
He leaned in, tone maddeningly reasonable.
“Think about it. It solves everything. For you, for me, for the mess Brittany’s trying to stir up.
It protects your job, gives you cover with your family, and it makes me look like a man who’s moved on from the past—which I have, by the way.
Besides, it’s respectable. A fiancée isn’t scandalous.
No one can condemn a kiss between two people who are engaged. ”
I stood and paced, needing to make the wheels of my brain move.
“Let me get this straight. You want me to pretend we’re madly in love and engaged for.
.. what? A few days? Weeks? Months? People are going to ask questions, Cam.
Wedding dates. Venues. Invitations. And my mother—oh God, she’s going to lose her mind. ”
He followed me with his eyes but stayed seated, calm as ever. “Only if you want to keep it going that long. We can end it whenever you’re ready. You break it off. Blame it on my obsession with work or my compulsive sock-folding. Whatever you want.”
His voice softened. “I’m not trying to trap you in some elaborate scheme. This is just... a temporary patch. One that buys us both some peace.”
He stood and reached for my hands. “Not everyone who gets engaged actually gets married, you know. It happens all the time. Hell, I’ve got the track record to prove it.”
“Same,” I muttered, a bitter laugh catching in my throat.
We stood there a moment—two walking cautionary tales of modern romance—and still, the idea didn’t feel insane. Risky, sure. Unorthodox, definitely. But not impossible.
Cam’s thumbs brushed over my knuckles. “As long as we’re enjoying each other’s company, we’re winning. And when it stops working, we walk away friends. No harm done.”
I let out a breath. “Do you think Brittany’s going to let you go that easily now that she’s single again?”
He snorted. “Britt’s not after me, Sue. She’s after the version of me she thinks she can use.
Right now, she sees me as a possible route back to luxury.
But once she realizes I’m not selling stock, not funding her lifestyle, and not buying back into her drama, she’ll find someone else to play with.
Someone richer, or at least more gullible. ”
“She really did a number on you, huh?”
“She did. She hurt a lot of people. She burned Charles, wrecked the company’s foundation, and very nearly broke my mother’s heart when she saw what Britt was turning me into. I should’ve known better. But I didn’t. And I let her make me look like a fool.”
He looked at me then, and there was something raw behind his usual ease. “I shouldn’t have tried to one-up her last night. That was stupid.”
I squeezed his hand. “Hey, we both got sucked in. She knew exactly how to bait us. I was two seconds from telling her we had twin boys and a golden retriever.”
That earned me a laugh, and the tension in his shoulders loosened.
I smiled. “I once read that Kate Middleton saved Prince William at a party by pretending to be his girlfriend when some woman was all over him. No idea if that’s true, but I want it to be. It’s romantic.”
His lips curved into a smile. “I don’t know who’s saving who, but I don’t care. I just want to fix this mess.”
Both of us leaned back on the couch, heads resting against the cushions.
I blew out a slow breath. “I guess we don’t have much choice other than to fake an engagement.
We’ll have to figure out how to make this work for a little while.
Mrs. West might call it a conflict of interest, though.
She could ask you to have someone else represent the company, or select someone else to be the staff liaison. ”
Cam turned his head toward me, a small smile tugging at his mouth. “Then I’ll send Dawna. She’s great, knows the program inside out. I’ll smooth it over with a generous donation to the scholarship fund and maybe toss in some free upgrades while I’m at it. That should soothe any ruffled feathers.”
He reached for my hand, warm and steady. “And who knows? We might even enjoy it. I already like spending time with you. You’re smart, funny, gorgeous—sexy as hell.” He grinned. “I promise I’ll be the best fake fiancé you’ve ever had.”
Sexy. He thought I was sexy. Cue the fireworks!
I tried to stay grounded, but the truth nudged at me.
This wasn’t real. It was a placeholder, a patch job.
Something we’d both walk away from once Easter rolled past and Brittany found her next victim.
After Cam—after this—I’d be back to solo Friday nights, Netflix, laundry, wine facials, and frozen pizza.
And I had a sinking feeling those things wouldn’t feel so comforting anymore.
But I smiled, keeping it light and easy. He didn’t offer forever. Just now.
“Okay,” I said quietly. “You’ve got yourself a partner in crime. Let’s take it one day at a time. When it’s over, let’s walk away as friends.”
Cam nodded. “Deal. And just so we’re on the same page, Sebastian and the guys won’t know it’s fake. They all saw you that night at Sebastian’s place, and if they knew, they’d be circling like hawks. I think they thought you and I had a fight, and I didn’t contradict them.”
“A fight over what?”
His grin was sheepish. “Maybe because you shot me down at school.”
God, if only I hadn’t gone out with Sam. If I’d just stayed home that night… what might’ve happened instead?
Almost like he read my mind, Cam’s gaze found mine. “By the way, that date you mentioned—was that real or just a clever way to get rid of me?”
I grimaced. “Unfortunately real. My friend Ange set me up. He turned out to be the kind of guy who collects murderabilia and talks about serial killers over a vegan lunch.”
Cam’s jaw had tensed, just briefly, and then relaxed at my words. Had that been jealousy? No. That would be ridiculous. My ego was just trying to flatter me.
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I’m relieved to hear you didn’t like it. I couldn’t compete with that. As for our backstory, Sebastian already knows I’ve been interested in you for a while. I hounded him for details about you. He’ll believe I’m head over heels. Lust, love—take your pick.”
His face turned faintly pink, and something fluttered inside my chest.
“What about you?” he asked. “How will you explain me to your parents?”
Busted. My stomach did a little barrel roll. It was time to come clean.
“Okay, so… Remember when I told you I may have told my mom I was seeing someone?”
“Yeah?”
“Well… I told her it was you.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Me? When?”
“Last Sunday,” I admitted, rushing through the words. “The day after I walked in on you at Sebastian’s. She told me they were coming to New York for Easter and that Neil would be there, too. She wanted him to have Easter dinner with us. She still thinks we’re perfect for each other.”
He winced.
“Exactly. So I panicked and said I had a boyfriend. It wasn’t the first time I invented one, but in the past they were always conveniently unavailable. One even died, he was hit by a train.”
“Ouch.”
“So this time, they called my bluff. Mom asked for a name, Michelle asked for a description, and Paul made some crack about me dating the invisible man. I got mad, and your name just… fell out of my mouth.”
Cam was already laughing, holding his stomach. “Let me guess—your father looked me up?”
“My brother, Paul. He found your social media, confirmed everything I said, and my dad said I should hold on to you.”
Cam rubbed a hand over his face, still grinning. “Well, that actually works out. Now, they’ll see the paper and think everything fits. That might be the only good thing Brittany’s done in years.”
He stretched and stood, energy returning to his voice. “Come on, let’s grab brunch. I’m starving.”
He reached down and tugged me to my feet, the warmth of his hand lingering long after he let go.