Page 46 of Faking the Pass

The Whole Truth

R osie

This wasn’t happening.

Not only was I having a conversation with my movie industry hero, I was about to have to lie to her.

“Actually, our story goes way back,” Presley volunteered before I could say anything. “We were high school sweethearts.”

Elka nodded eagerly. “I think I heard about that.”

“No one knows the real story though,” Presley said, and I cringed, anticipating the embarrassment that was on its way.

She was going to be disappointed when she found out just how un -romantic our dating past was, that after getting to know me in high school, he’d dumped me without a look back.

“I’d had my eye on Rosie since freshman year,” Pres said. “I went to every one of her plays—every performance. I was smitten. But I didn’t work up the guts to ask her out until we were seniors.”

I gaped at him. This was not part of our official, rehearsed story for the media. Why was he ad-libbing now?

“That’s so cute,” Elka said, clearly eager for him to go on.

“We only dated for about a month in high school before our college plans tore us apart,” he said.

Three weeks, but who’s counting? And it was his disdain for me that had “torn us apart.”

I couldn’t say a word, waiting for him to go on with the tall tale.

“But I never got over her,” he said. “Rosie was the most remarkable girl I’d ever met. Talented, sweet, beautiful… and so smart.”

Now I knew he was just making stuff up. No one had ever thought I was smart—certainly not my teachers who’d publicly called me out on daydreaming and missing half the lesson.

One had actually suggested my mom take me to a hearing specialist to find out if I had hearing problems, which I didn’t.

Attention problems, yes, particularly when it came to subjects I didn’t exactly love.

The theater program was the only place in school where I hadn’t felt like I was always lagging behind or a step off from everyone else.

“Presley,” I said, hoping to get him to stop. But he didn’t.

“Unfortunately we lost touch. I thought about her over the years, but I didn’t think she’d want to hear from me,” he said. “But when I saw her again, all of it came back as if we hadn’t spent a day apart. And then we all found out what a scumbag Randy R—”

Don’t say it, don’t say Rump , I pleaded silently.

“Ryland is,” Presley said. “And I couldn’t stand to see her marry a guy like that when she deserves so much better.”

“I’ve always hated that guy,” Elka muttered too quietly for any groups nearby to hear.

Presley didn’t seem to have heard her either. His eyes were locked on mine as he lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles.

“She deserves better than me, too, but here we are. I don’t know what I did to earn a second chance, but I’m grateful for every day with her. The truth is, I’ve been in love with Rosie basically my whole life.”

He swallowed and gave me a tender smile that broke my heart into a million fragments.

“How could I not be?” he asked.

His voice and his eyes seemed completely sincere, and I was literally speechless.

Though my brain knew he’d made it all up, my heart was bouncing around like a cheerleader on one too many energy drinks.

Oh no. I love him.

This was a disaster.

Elka crossed her hands over her heart. “That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re making me want to slide into my high school boyfriend’s DMs.”

We spoke for a few more minutes about his recent injury and recovery process and Elka’s Oscar wins, but honestly, I missed most of the conversation. My head and heart were in a tailspin.

Falling in love with my fake husband was the dumbest thing I could possibly do, but it seemed to be beyond my control at this point.

Because as artificial as that story had been from his end, I really had been in love with Presley my whole life.

I’d been kidding myself that I could marry him in name only and get through this experience without a shattered heart.

Now I was completely at his mercy, and when the end came, it might just do me in for good.

We started making our goodbyes, exchanging pleasantries with Elka about how lovely it had been to meet.

“Rosie, it really has been my pleasure,” she said.

“I’ve had you in the back of my mind ever since seeing you in that play.

You were green, but the talent was undeniable.

I wanted to let you ripen a bit, but now that you’ve got a film under your belt, I’m thinking we should find a project to work on together. ”

I nodded rapidly, my heart in my throat nearly choking me. “Yes. I would love that. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

Even once we’d returned to the hotel, I still felt like I was in a daze.

The scary part was, meeting Elka and talking about working with her—something I’d literally dreamed about—wasn’t the most affecting thing that had happened tonight.

I kept reminding myself that Presley’s story hadn’t been true, but I was nervous around him in a way I hadn’t been since the first day on the island.

It felt like everything had changed in the past few hours, like I was in a speeding car with no brakes, heading for a ravine.

As we entered our hotel room, my eyes went to the bed, and my stomach performed a double somersault. I stepped out of my crystal stilettos and sighed, stretching my feet.

“Need me to help with your dress?” Presley asked.

“No, I—”

The response had been automatic. It was also wrong. With its elaborate back hooks, I’d never be able to escape this contraption on my own.

“Yes please,” I amended my answer. “I seem to have a habit of wearing impossible to maneuver dresses.”

“I’m happy to help you maneuver them,” Presley said and then chuckled. “Though I’m better at taking them off than putting them on.”

My pulse quickened, and liquid heat bathed the place between my thighs.

With my back turned to him, I took a breath and attempted to continue conversing normally.

“Thank you for everything you did tonight. Especially for making me suck it up and go talk to Elka. That was a life-changing conversation.”

In more ways than one.

“You’re welcome. It was my absolute pleasure,” he said. “I predict you’ll be hearing from her soon about making a movie together.”

“Well, she’d probably had a few drinks. I’m not sure she really—”

Presley turned me to face him, holding my shoulders. “No, Rosie. She was sincere. I could tell. She wants to work with you.”

My heart was pounding wildly now, whether from his touch or the delicious rasp of his voice here in the quiet room, I wasn’t sure.

“Only because you made me sound like such a dream to be around.”

His voice lowered, turning huskier. “You are a dream to be around.”

My acrobatic little heart didn’t flip this time. It simply melted.

I bit my lip, staring at his lips. His mouth was so sensual, so sexy.

All of him was sexy.

And tall and big and muscular and gorgeous and…

Don’t kiss him, Rosie. Don’t. It’s only going to hurt more later if you do.

I wanted to do far more than kiss him. I wanted to consume him. I wanted to plaster myself to his awe-inspiring body and then melt and sink into his pores.

I wanted him to strip off my clothes and kiss me all over and make me shiver and scream the way he’d done so many times on the island.

I wanted him to love me the way I’d always loved him.

“Well, I appreciate you being all charming and making up that story about us in high school,” I said, blushing. “I could tell she really liked it.”

“I didn’t make up anything,” Presley murmured. “That story was a hundred percent true.”

What? Was he for real?

I blinked a few times, my breath picking up speed. “But… you broke up with me. You said I was a ‘flaky theater freak.’”

Presley’s head dropped back on his shoulders, and he let out a groan.

“You heard that?”

I nodded. “I heard it—loud and clear.”

“I didn’t realize you’d heard me. I’m sorry Rosie… that was just… something I said.”

“I know. And you wouldn’t have said it if you didn’t mean it.”

“I didn’t mean it,” he argued. “I didn’t really think that. I never did. I thought you were brilliant. And you were an incredible actress, even then.”

“So why did you say that about me to your friends?” I asked, incredulous at his denial.

Taking my hand, he led me to sit on the edge of the bed and knelt in front of me so I wasn’t straining my neck to look up at him.

“They were asking me about the breakup, why I’d let such a ‘hot girl’ go, and I could just see from the looks on their faces, they were chomping at the bit for their turn, looking for a green light from me that they wouldn’t be stepping on toes or whatever.”

He paused for a moment, looking ashamed. “I couldn’t stand the thought of any of my friends dating you—it made me want to punch through a wall. I knew I couldn’t have you… but I didn’t want any of them to, either.”

My head was spinning from the topsy-turvy reframing of that horrible moment in the school hallway.

“It was really selfish of me, and I know I should probably apologize for it,” Presley said, “but I wasn’t sorry. I’m still not, to be honest—except for the part about you overhearing.”

“I don’t understand.” My voice was hollow with shock.

I shook my head, trying to dislodge the confusion.

“Why would you say you couldn’t have me?” I asked. “I was head over heels for you. And in case you don’t remember, you were well on your way to ‘having’ me. A few more weeks together, and you would have.”

“I remember,” he said. “Believe me, I remember all those times in my car and in your room when your mom was at work. And I wanted you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my life. But I couldn’t let it go there. If I had, I never would have been able to leave you.”

My mouth literally hung open, my brain whirling with this influx of new information.

“We were getting so close, and it was harder and harder to stop every time—at least for me,” Presley said.

He went on. “You were planning to move to L.A. to pursue acting, and I was committed to go to Washington. I felt like I had so much to prove back then. I wanted—needed—to prove that I was just as good a player as Wilder was, that I wasn’t a loser.

I couldn’t let anything stop me from being the player I wanted to be.

I couldn’t afford the distraction. You were the biggest distraction ever. ”

“And what about now?” I asked. “You still say that—that you don’t want any distractions. Why did you even come tonight? I can’t imagine a bigger distraction.”

“I haven’t said that in a while, Starfish,” Presley said. “Not sure if you’ve noticed. I’ve spent pretty much every available minute with you since you got seasick.”

Now that he mentioned it, that was true.

“So you’ve been planning all those outings because… you wanted to be with me?”

He smiled. “I think we can safely say everything I’ve done since I found you sleeping in my bed like fucking Goldilocks has been because I wanted to be with you… even if I didn’t admit it to myself at first.”

Presley began rubbing my calves, and I had to bite my lip to suppress a moan of pleasure.

“What I didn’t have any way of knowing back in high school was that I’d never meet anyone like you, no matter how many years went by… and that I’d never stop thinking about you.”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple rising and falling. “I just hope I didn’t ruin my chances with you by being such an idiot back then.”

I leaned forward, sinking my hands into his hair and pulling his head toward me.

“You were an idiot,” I whispered against his lips, completely unable to keep myself from moving closer to them.

“And all this time I’ve thought I was, too,” I admitted. “Because everything inside me told me you felt the same way about me that I felt about you. But then you just vanished from my life, you wouldn’t even talk to me, and I knew I’d been wrong.”

“You weren’t wrong.”

Presley rose from the floor and crawled onto the bed, easing me backward so that he hovered above me.

“I wanted you every bit as much—probably more,” he said. “Which is why I couldn’t let myself stay friends with you or be anywhere near you, really. Graduation day was the biggest relief of my life because I didn’t have to be tortured by seeing you every day.”

He dropped down to his elbows so that his face was right above mine.

“I’m so sorry, Rosie,” he said softly. “If I could go back in time, I’d do it all differently. I would have held onto you and never let you get away.”

He punctuated that astonishing statement with a kiss. A deep, drugging one that promised a return of our honeymoon bliss—plus interest.

It felt amazing. And it sounded too good to be true.

Randy’s cruel words rushed back into my brain, dashing the smoldering fire building inside me with a bucket of cold water.

I turned my head, breaking the kiss. “Presley…”

“Yeah? You okay?”

I nodded. “I need to ask you something.”

He blinked and drew back so he could see my face clearly. “Yeah?”

“At our wedding… well, someone said you looked like a man being led to execution.”

“Who the fuck said that?” Presley asked, his face angry. “Not one of my idiot brothers? If it was, they were making a bad joke, which is nothing new.”

“No, no,” I assured him. “No one who was there. Someone who saw the video. Anyway, I was just wondering… you know, if that’s how you felt. If you regretted our deal that day but it was too late to back out or something.”

Presley’s large hands bracketed my face, holding me in place so I couldn’t look away from him.

“I didn’t even think about our ‘deal’ that day. All I could think was that I had the most beautiful wife in the world and that I was the luckiest bastard who ever lived to be standing there beside you. That is how I felt that day. And I’ve felt that way every day since then.”

“Presley,” I whispered.

“Yeah Starfish?”

“I want you to make love to me.”