Page 89 of Decidedly Off Limits

Sighing, I trudged into the kitchen and studied the contents of the fridge. A few minutes later, I had whipped up an omelet, grabbed a fork and a beer (to prevent my man card from being revoked), and returned to the couch in time for the hockey game to begin.

My cell phone rang.

Still watching the TV, I answered it. I didn’t even bother to check who was calling.

“Hello, is this Trent Salway?” an unfamiliar woman’s voice asked.

“It is.”

“Hi, I’m Jodi Mckenzie. Kelsey Quade passed your number on to me. I’m involved in the Albright Heritage Charity event.” She went on to explain the charity, what the money would be used for, and about the event. She didn’t give me a chance to say anything—and I didn’t feel like being an asshole and hanging up on her.

The more she talked, the more I thought about my aunt and how she would have loved to see something like what the charity was organizing. Not the part about auctioning off hot bachelors, although she would have thought that was hilarious. No, she would have loved to see a place where women dealing with cancer could go to be pampered and not feel self-conscious.

“Would you be interested in helping out?” Jodi finally asked.

“Possibly. Can I get back to you about the photos?” It was my body and my choice as to what I did with it, but I needed to ensure Bristol Mathews was okay with it too. Especially since there would be no way to keep what I’d done out of the media…if I said yes.

“Does that mean you’ll participate in the auction?”

“That much I can do for sure.”

I didn’t think it would be an issue.

As long as I wasn’t expected to do any sort of erotic dance on stage.

Phone Kelsey and let her know you’re participating in the auction.

I ignored the pain-in-the-ass voice in my head, the one that always thought it knew best. It wasn’t like Kelsey needed to know. She only needed to know if I decided to participate in the calendar, and Jodi could tell her that.

Call me a coward, but part of my decision not to talk to her had to do with missing her. If I talked to her again, chances were good that I would agree to go back to our fuck-buddy arrangement—and that was only if she would even have me after how I had spoken to her.

Regardless, that arrangement would’ve just left me screwed.

36

Kelsey

Life sucked.

That was my new mantra—ever since Trent walked out of my life, proving once again that I was a failure at love.

Granted it hadn’t been true love—not when it had only been one-sided—but the sentiment was the same.

My doorbell rang and I opened the door to let Erin in.

“I still can’t believe he convinced you to pretend you two are engaged,” she immediately said, without even a “hi.” The plus side of Trent’s and my breakup was that now I didn’t have to tell Erin. She never had to learn the truth—that I had ignored her my-friends-aren’t-allowed-to-be-involved-with-my-brother rule.

I sighed and followed her to the kitchen. We’d already gone through this a few times about Owen. But at least she had finally gotten past the part where I was attending the event with him. “I’m helping him because he needed someone to go with tonight and save him from the meddling matchmaker,” I reminded her.

Her eyebrows pinched together in a dubious frown. “So there’s no way he’ll be able to convince you to give him a second chance?”

“I promise there’s nothing he could ever say to convince me to change my mind. And I don’t think he would even try. He’s long since over me.” That was part of the reason our relationship fizzled. I suspected he had been “over me” while we had been engaged, but had been too busy to admit it to himself.

“So you’re okay with him pretending you’re still engaged?”

“It’s not a big deal. He’s already promised that he’ll tell them the truth.”

Erin gestured for me to sit at the kitchen table and began searching through my beauty supplies. “When? Right after you two have your fake wedding? Right after you return from your fake honeymoon? Or when you announce your fake pregnancy?”