Page 15
“Fuck, Trouble. Making you speechless might be my new vice.” He l leaned in and kissed the tip of my nose. “Let’s do this. Then I’m taking you home. Understood?”
Words failed me, sassy or otherwise while my body imagined the things he’d do to me at home. Our home. Where we both lived. Together. And where Travis was not going to be because Nia’s mom took the kids to the aquarium and then out for pizza for the day.
“Hey Theo! I pulled the books you sent over and prepped them. Descriptions all set, just need you to sign them, and then-” Nia grinned and handed Theo a stack of brown paper wrapped books for the Blind Date wall along with a Sharpie.
“They’re all ready to go. And here’s the last one you asked for,” she added with a sly glance my way.
Ironically, Theo and I decided to use the Blind Date wall to our advantage since it spoke to both the bookstore and his reading romance thing. He thanked Nia, and went to work, adding his signature to each book.
The last one, I knew, was integral to the whole play we were about to act out.
As was the Sharpie. My fun idea to draw all over Theo to not only irritate him but fed my doodle habit was the perfect addition to our sweet and hopefully swoon worthy fake proposal.
We both read enough romances to know what notes to hit.
I chatted with Eden, mostly because I wasn’t worried about hiding anything from her like I had to with my cousin, while he finished signing them all.
When Nia led him over to the wall, the small crowd of giggling and whispering women and girls parted like the damn Red Sea and I had to suppress my sigh. Eden giggled at my distress. “I know it’s fake, but it’s still sweet. I wonder what book he picked?”
I shrugged. “Who cares as long as they eat it up and buy all the books?”
Eden let out an exasperated sound, and faced me.
Hands on her hips, my friend tilted her head to the side.
“Ugh! I know you had kinky hate sex, Indie. I know! And especially since you refuse to sit down, I’m betting all my favorite rainy days he ‘taught you a lesson’ just like at the haunted house! ”
“Eden! Secrets!!! Public!! Shhh!”
She laughed. “Please, they’re all so focused on his delicious ass. Don’t tell Cole I said that. Though, maybe tell him. He chases so much better when he gets jealous,” Eden added.
“While I love knowing all your kinks, and even sharing a few, maybe we don’t get teammates all riled up during the playoffs?
” As much as I loved messing with Theo, the Triumph were my home team now, and had always been my favorite, so if I messed up the post season vibe…
let’s just say I’d rather not. Theo chose that moment to tip his chin at me with a wink.
Signal received, I thought and blew him a kiss. “It’s showtime.”
I made my way through the crowd of appreciative women, a few who were in fact checking out my fake boyfriend’s ass, until I stood in front of him.
Nia, thankfully stood to the side, speaking animatedly to someone about a Blind Date book trope list. Theo went to hand me the last book, with a roguish grin on his face.
“Found one you might like, Trouble.”
Yep. The pet name he picked for me was now a part of our story. The more our ‘romance’ had a truth filled elements, or elements, the better. No lies to remember.
“Oh yeah?”
He nodded. Just as my fingertips brushed him, the book dropped to the floor. I didn’t need to fake the way his touch suddenly affected me, or that I couldn’t hold the book. When it landed, I went to retrieve it, but Theo stopped me. He kneeled in front of me, and handed me the book.
Picture perfect proposal pose. Girl gazing down at adoring boy on his knee, offering up the thing he retrieved just for her.
A few of the girls gasped as they realized what might be happening. And when I asked, “What are you doing, Theo?”, they giggled even more, and one girl clutched her friend’s arm.
“Read the tropes, Trouble.”
Theo had refused to let me see what he and Noah, yep, Goalie Noah LeCavalier, came up with. My eyes went form his to the wrapped book.
“Childhood friends. Second Chance. Marriage Pact. Age Gap,” my mouth twitched at that one. “He falls hard. Nanny/Single Dad. Best friend’s little sister. Protector.”
He forgot Enemies to Lovers and Fake Relationship, but that would spoil the ending, wouldn’t it?”
“Sounds like a familiar story,” I teased, and this time at least, I wasn’t lying. I had dreamed of this moment with Theo once upon a time. But not any longer.
His chin jerked, blond hair tousled and falling over his forehead. “Open it.”
I did, and gasped. Because Theo had picked my favorite book. But not only that, it was a special edition cover that was so scarce that I hadn’t been able to track down a copy. I carefully opened it, and it was signed by the author. And there was a slip that said:
Marry me, and be my HEA?
I knew it was all fake, but my eyes filled with tears, and the hand holding the book shook as he said, “Don’t you need to say the words out loud or they don’t count?”
My eyes found him, and the moment felt so surreal, like a dream that would never come true. But right now, I could pretend. I clutched the book to my chest and nodded.
“Indie, growing up, I knew I had to watch over you. Make sure no one hurt you, but even more than that, make sure you knew how to take care of yourself. I know you can. And finding you again, knowing the woman you’ve become has made me realize so much. Marry me, and be my HEA?”
Cheers erupted as I nodded, and Theo stood up. Wrapping my arms and legs around him, I let myself live the fairytale, even if it meant my heart would eventually break.