His Pretend Fiancee. Victoria Pade
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to yourself. And think how happy you’d make Mom,” he finished with another of those smiles that weakened Josie’s knees.
And that was the biggest problem with this idea, she thought when it happened. Sparks had already flown between them. She already knew there was an attraction between them. A combustible attraction. An uncontrollable attraction. The kind of attraction that had landed her in bed with him for the most passionate, the most mind-boggling sex she’d ever experienced. How could she now move in with him, be in close proximity to him, play at being in a romantic relationship with him, and keep it platonic?
“I don’t think it would be very wise,” she said in response to her own misgivings.
Which he seemed to read like an open book. “Because of Labor Day weekend. I know, I’ve thought about that. It was pretty fantastic and it would be hard…difficult to avoid the temptation to repeat it. But we’ve already agreed that that isn’t what we want and so far we’ve stuck to it. We haven’t seen each other again. And believe me, I’ve thought about calling you. So I think that if we make a pact just to be roommates, friends—”
“Coconspirators.”
“Okay, coconspirators and partners in crime, and we really put our minds to it, we can keep Labor Day weekend in the past and stay this new course for the future.”
Josie didn’t have time for a rebuttal because there was a loud pounding on her door just then.
She crossed back to it and opened it, too lost in her own thoughts to ask who it was first. But even so she was surprised to find Mr. Bartholomew standing outside in the stairwell. Still looking furious.
“Here,” he said, shoving a sheet of paper at her. “I called my lawyer—”
“At midnight on a Saturday night?”
“If I can’t sleep, neither can anyone else!” the paunchy man in the undershirt snarled. “My lawyer says to put in writing that you’ve broken the lease and either you get out or I can evict you, your dog, and the rest of the occupants of this apartment. So there it is. You’re gone tomorrow or else. Legally.”
Josie had no idea if he was bluffing or not but the landlord turned tail and stormed up the stairs, leaving her with a handwritten paper saying just what he’d told her it said.
So much for trying to cajole him into letting her stay a little longer.
She closed the door but remained facing it for a while, staring at it and considering her options.
She could get rid of Pip.
But she loved the big bull mastiff and she wasn’t going to do that.
She could gamble that Mr. Bartholomew couldn’t really evict her the next day and that maybe she could find a place for them before he actually could throw them out.
But if she was wrong he could very well kick out her three roommates, too, and that wasn’t fair. Besides the fact that she honestly could end up on the street because if the landlord did evict her suddenly she doubted a hotel or the YWCA could let her in with a dog.
Or she could take Michael Dunnigan up on his offer.
She could move into his brownstone, live rent free, and pretend to be his fiancée.
Actually, it didn’t seem as if she did have any options.
“Do you absolutely, positively guarantee that this will be a purely platonic arrangement?” she heard herself say before she’d even turned around to face Michael Dunnigan again.
“I absolutely, positively guarantee it. You’ll never even see me without a shirt on.”
Josie closed her eyes as if that might keep her from seeing the image that came into her head at just the mention of him bare-chested. The image of him in the kitchen between lovemaking sessions over Labor Day, eating out of a carton, nothing on but a pair of boxer shorts, his V-shaped torso a work of art…
“I don’t even want to see you without shoes and socks,” she said almost as if she were in pain.
“Okay. Not even without shoes and socks,” he agreed.
Josie opened her eyes and took a deep breath, sighing it out resolutely. “All right,” she said softly. “I guess we can give it a try since I don’t have anywhere else to go. But just for the record, I’m not happy about lying to your mother.”
“I’m not happy about it, either. But she won’t listen to me when I explain why I can’t get married and have kids right now.”
Funny, but after their Labor Day weekend together, Josie had had the impression that he simply hadn’t wanted to be tied down. But something in what he’d just said made her think there was more to it than that.
Of course she’d said basically the same thing to him and she had reasons that ran deeper, too.
But it was too late to get into all of that now so she let it lay and finally turned away from the door.
“I guess we have a deal then,” she said, looking at that oh-so-handsome face and hoping they really could abide by their pact.
He smiled again, a thousand-watt grin that made her doubt her own willpower already. “So, will you marry me?” he said, joking.
Josie rolled her eyes. “Well, I’ll make it look like I will, anyway.”
“Good enough.”
“I guess I’ll have to move in tomorrow,” she said with a nod back at the door where Mr. Bartholomew had just appeared and disappeared. “How are you going to explain to your mother that you went out with her podiatrist on Saturday night and have a live-in fiancée on Sunday?”
“I’ll make up something. She’ll be so thrilled she won’t pay attention to too many details.”
“So when do you want me?” Poor choice of words. “I mean, what time do you want me to move in?”
“Anytime. Do you need a truck or something for furniture?”
“I only own what I can fit into my car.”
“That works. I’m fully furnished.”
Somehow that sounded like a double entendre but since he’d let her slip of the tongue slide, she didn’t comment on his.
“So, I guess that’s it,” he added. “I’ll see you when you get there tomorrow.”
“I’ll have to pack my stuff and load the car so it probably won’t be until the evening.”
“Whatever. I’ll be there,” he assured.
He got up from the arm of the chair and headed for the door himself.
But before he reached it, he paused near enough to Josie for her to smell the scent of his aftershave. Near enough to bend and, with a warm brush of his breath against her ear, say, “Want to seal our engagement with a kiss?”
Josie gave him a withering look that made him laugh this time.
“Just kidding,” he assured as he straightened and went the rest of the way to the door.
But with one hand on the knob he smiled at her yet again and said, “Thanks for this. You don’t know what a relief it is to think that I’ll be free of my mother’s matchmaking.”
“It’s a relief to me to have somewhere to go with Pip,” she admitted.
Although that wasn’t completely true.
Because while it was a relief to know she finally had a place to live peacefully with her dog, she was still worried about who she’d be living with in that place.
And as Michael Dunnigan finally left she had to wonder if she hadn’t just exchanged one set of problems for another.
Chapter Two
“How