Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
“Penny?”
“Don’t rush me. I’m thinking,” I bite out, and he holds up his hands. Closing my eyes, I press my lips together, knowing I should say no, but greed gets the best of me. “All right.” I let out a breath and meet his gaze. “I’ll do it.”
“Really?” His shoulders relax, and I nod.
“Yeah.”
“Great.” He hands me the box, and I take out the ring that is so gaudy it has to be fake. Or I hope it is anyway.
“Hopefully it fits,” he says, watching as I slide it on.
I have to use a little extra force to get it over my knuckle, but once it’s on, the fit is almost perfect. Actually, I’m surprised I could even get it on at all. I’m sure whoever he had chosen to be his fake fiancée for a week was not considered plus-size by today’s distorted beauty standards.
The weight of the metal and stone feels foreign, and as I hold up my hand, all I can think is, It looks ridiculous. “Who picked this thing out?”
I look over and notice him pulling papers out of a bag that looks like a briefcase. “Becky.”
“Food poisoning girl?”
“No,” he mutters distractedly as his phone starts to ring. Looking at the screen, he sighs, then glances at me. “I have to take this.” He stands, then hands me a stack of papers before moving to the back of the plane.
I look at the first page that has some information about him, then set it aside and look down at my hand, wondering what the hell it is I’m thinking.
Oh, I know. I’m an idiot!
Chapter 6
Faking it
I startle awake when something cold touches my cheek and sit forward, blinking up at the man standing over me. It takes a couple of seconds for the fog to clear and to remember why Jace is above me and I’m not home in bed.
“You fell asleep,” he says, taking a step back, and I look past him and see that Tom is opening the door of the plane.
“We landed?”
“About five minutes ago.” He lifts his briefcase from his seat. “Grab your bag. Our car is already waiting for us.”
Without a word and still a little out of it, I pick up the papers he handed me earlier and put them in my bag before I unhook my belt. I follow him past Tom and Henry, thanking them before I carefully take the steps down off the plane. When my feet land on the tarmac, I take in the rolling hills off in the distance and draw in a deep breath.
“Are you coming?”
“Yes.” I pick up my pace and meet him at the back of a navy-blue Jeep that is parked near an open hangar. “Is this your car?” I ask him when he opens the trunk.
“Why would I have a car in Washington?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you come here a lot and need something for when you visit.”
“Did you look over the papers I handed you?”
“I—” I start to tell him no, but Tom rolls up with our bags right then, and Jace’s attention goes to him. As the two of them talk about our return flight that will happen next Sunday while loading our bags into the trunk, I walk around to the passenger side of the Jeep and open the door.
It takes me a minute to get my bottom in my seat, and as soon as I do, I open my bag and start to take out the papers to see what’s on them but stop when my phone rings.
When I see it’s my mom calling, I get lightheaded, and my heart begins to flutter inside my chest. For the first time in my life, I think about not picking up her call, but I know that if I don’t answer, she’ll worry.
With a curse, I slide my finger across the screen and put the phone to my ear. “Hey, Mom,” I greet, hoping she doesn’t hear the panic I’m trying hard to hide.
“Hey, sweetheart. Is everything okay?”
“Oh yeah, great.” I look over at Jace as he easily slides in behind the steering wheel. When his eyes land on my face, I hold a finger to my lips in a silent plea for him to be quiet. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, just sitting around with your aunt, drinking coffee. We’re going to head to the mall this afternoon to do a little shopping,” she says as Jace starts the engine of the Jeep.
“That’s fun.”
“What are you up to?”
“Um….” Oh, Lord. I hate lying to my mom, but if I tell her what I’m actually doing, she will be on the next flight back to San Francisco. “I’m just hanging out.”
“Please tell me that you haven’t been sitting around watching TV all day?”
“I’m not. I promise.” I fiddle with the handle of my bag. “I’ve been keeping busy.”