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Like he was pleasantly surprised I wasn’t burning the party to the ground.

And as ridiculous as it was, it felt a little…

good to have him look at me like that. I felt a bit like a kid who was amped to have made their parent proud.

I didn’t know Declan Powell, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like him if I did, but in this moment, it felt good to please the big guy in the suit.

“I’m going to go find the bartender,” Declan said to Theo, “because Abi here got herself some wine but completely left me empty-handed.”

“I assumed, Declan Connor Powell, that you were capable of getting your own drink,” I said, teasing like I would if he were actually my boyfriend.

It felt like an actor breaking the third wall when he gave me a playful grin and said, “You actually used my middle name.”

“Of course I did,” I replied, grinning back.

His eyes moved over my face for an extended moment, like he was considering something about me, and then it was like he decided. I’m not sure if I earned his trust for the evening or if he was testing me, but he led me farther into the room and we proceeded to become Team Social Butterfly.

My fake boyfriend owned the room.

He helloed everyone and their brothers, smiling and back-slapping as the string quartet played Ariana Grande and I pretended to belong.

He led every conversation, introducing me as if I was the love of his life before quickly guiding the attention away from me so I didn’t have to answer any questions.

Every time we finished one conversation, someone else was ready and waiting to engage with Declan. It was a little nauseating, to be honest, the way everyone jostled to kiss his feet, but he had an air about him, like he was next in line for the throne or something.

“Abi!” Declan’s mom appeared in front of us, grinning like she was having the very best time. I’d noticed that even though Declan’s parents were retired, they appeared to still be very involved in the company. “I wasn’t finished with you.”

“You mean you didn’t get to ask her twenty questions while my back was turned?” Declan asked.

“Exactly,” she said, laughing. “I was going to hit Abi up for the details of who you really are as a boyfriend. When no one else is around.”

“Gross,” Declan said, and I laughed out loud at his tone.

He was kind of funny when he wasn’t exuding untouchable, rich, and powerful.

“So are you looking for a cute anecdote that shows how romantic your son is?” I asked, doing my best not to grin like the cat who ate the canary as I looked at Declan.

His face gave away nothing, but I knew he wasn’t amused. It was one thing for us to share a quick moment of collusion while in our act, but it was another thing entirely for me to tell lies to his parents.

I knew I should probably care, but I was so powerless in our situation that I felt the need to grasp this tiny little morsel of power.

The only power I had.

The power to mess with him.

“Yes, please,” she replied, smiling. Then she turned to a lady in a long silver dress and said, “Come over here, Barb, you need to hear this.”

The woman came over and Declan’s mom said, “This is Dex’s girlfriend, Abi, and she was just about to give us an example of Declan being romantic.”

I refused to look at Declan. I said, “There are so many great stories, it’s hard to think of just one.”

And I smiled like a lovesick idiot.

“Maybe don’t, then,” Declan muttered.

“I’ll start with my favorite,” I said, lifting a hand to brush fake lint from his jacket sleeve.

“One day, he wanted to buy me a kitten because I said it was cute, right? It was so thoughtful of him, but I had to be honest because I’m deathly allergic to cats.

I was all thank you, babe, but I like breathing . ”

I beamed up at him, and he kind of looked like he wanted to murder me.

So I kept going.

“But instead of letting it go at that, he did all this research to find a hypoallergenic cat and surprised me with it—Little Dexxie—along with a bouquet of albuterol inhalers and EpiPens.”

“You’re kidding!” Barb cackled.

“She is kidding,” Declan said with a straight face. “That is not its name.”

“And the kitten was nice, Barb,” I said, feeling like a legend as the power went straight to my head, “but the bouquet is what really swept me off my feet. I mean, asthma medicine is not cheap.”

That made them laugh like he was the most romantic man in the world, so I gave him an eyebrow raise that said See? I know what I’m doing.

“And the things Dexxie says,” I said, unable to stop the chuckle that wrapped around my words when I saw him literally flinch at the nickname. “Whenever I’m working in Denver, he has flowers waiting for me at my hotel with love poems he wrote attached.”

“Poems?” his mom asked, looking surprised.

“The most amazing spicy poems you’ve ever heard,” I said, setting my hand over my heart.

“He’s a legend with the desk clerks at the Denver Hilton, like a naughty Shakespeare.

And sometimes when I get off the plane in Omaha, he’s just there at the airport, waiting for me, because he says he ‘missed me too much to wait another second.’?”

“What can I say? She’s easy to miss,” he said with a grin, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer.

I looked up at him like this was normal, even though I was a little shaken by the unexpected physical contact. I said, “You really are a lucky guy.”

His lips were still in a smile, but I just knew he wouldn’t agree. I’d seen in his eyes that the naughty poetry was too far. I was pushing too much and knew without a doubt that King Declan would never bow to me.

Instead, he used his elbow to pull me even closer, nearly putting me in a headlock as he moved his mouth to my ear. To anyone watching, it looked like he was telling me the dirtiest of secrets.

But he said in that deep, deep voice, “You really are a little shit, you know that?”

When he pulled back, I met his gaze and grinned. “I do.”

“They are so cute,” his mom said to her friend, and I realized that the two ladies were beaming as they watched us, like we were two adorable baby giraffes at the zoo, on display for their entertainment.

“Come on,” Declan said to me, grabbing my hand and leading me away from them and toward yet another curious onlooker.

“You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?” he said as soon as we were out of their earshot, pinning a fake smile onto his face that would fool anyone.

Anyone but me.

I could see the tension in his face, and I could see the distrust that was still in his eyes when he looked at me.

“I’m just being the very best girlfriend I can be,” I said with a shrug. “That’s all.”

The rest of the cocktail party was smooth sailing. He introduced me to person after person, and I didn’t have to do anything other than look like I was enamored of him. I tried adding a few anecdotes, but he was onto me and shut it down really quick.

It was an exhausting couple of hours, but also a tiny bit fun.

I mean, how often did you get to pretend you were someone else? This was Cinderella territory, with Abi Green living the romantic life that was a world away from my actual life .

That being said, relief settled into every one of my bones when Declan leaned down and said, “Let’s go say goodbye to my parents and then we’ll take off.”

“Dex,” I heard from behind us as we reached them, and I turned to see an older gentleman walking in our direction. He had silver hair and glasses, and he was smiling like he was genuinely happy to see Declan. He looked sweet, so my smile came easily when he reached us.

“Warren,” Declan said, reaching out a hand to shake Warren’s, which made me snap to attention. So this was the Warren who seemed to require so much of Declan’s attention. “I’d like you to meet Abi. Abi, this is Warren Hathaway.”

“So nice to meet you,” I managed, holding out my hand in spite of the shock zipping through me as it all made sense.

Declan’s Warren was Warren Hathaway.

The billionaire .

The man was literally the richest person in the country.

Maybe the world.

“I can’t believe you’re real,” he said, giving me a warm smile that made his eyes squint at the corners. “Dex took so long bringing you around that I was starting to think you were a Niagara Falls girlfriend that he made up.”

I wanted to snort at that, but I just grinned and said, “You know Dex; he does things on his own timeline.”

“Did you bring me a muffin?” he asked.

“Was I supposed to?”

Was I supposed to bring a muffin for Warren Freaking Hathaway?

“I got so busy today that I didn’t get a chance to ask her,” Declan said, setting a hand on my back. He looked down at me and said, “Warren heard about your amazing baking from my parents, so he kind of wanted a muffin tonight.”

“Well, if your dad hadn’t eaten so many, maybe Warren could’ve had one,” I said, loving it when his father started laughing. These people didn’t matter to me, and later they would never remember me, but I took pride in my work so it felt good, excelling at my fake girlfriending.

“Are you coming to the activities tomorrow?” Warren asked.

Declan jumped in and answered for me. “Unfortunately not.”

He was probably desperate to ensure I didn’t insert myself into his life after tonight, which made total sense.

“Aww,” his mom said, pursing her lips into a pout.

“No Abi tomorrow?” his dad repeated, giving me almost the exact same expression as his wife.

“Everyone else’s spouses and families are forced to endure the shareholder weekend,” Warren said with a teasing smile, “so why does Abi get to miss it?”

“Obviously, I wear the pants in this relationship,” I said, which made him laugh. “And I have some previous commitments.”

Warren gave his head a shake and looked genuinely disappointed. “Well, that’s too bad because Dex’s face looks better when you’re with him.”

“Does it?” I asked, grinning at Declan, who looked like he hated hearing that.

“The kid’s always too serious,” he said. “It wouldn’t hurt him to relax a little sometime.”

“Oh, I don’t think you want me to relax too much,” Declan replied, “because then I might start ignoring your calls at three thirty in the morning.”

Warren waved a hand. “I’m willing to risk it.”

“Safe gamble,” I said, knowing it was the truth even though I truly knew nothing about Declan and these round-the-clock phone calls.

“We have to get going,” Declan said. “Because Abi’s going to turn into a pumpkin if I don’t get her home in time to feed the animals.”

It was ironic, this lie about my having a hypoallergenic cat, because that was the one truth I’d uttered all night. I really was allergic to basically every animal with fur, and it wasn’t just a sneezy kind of allergy, either.

My pet allergies were the kind that settled into my lungs and brought on severe asthma attacks and unwelcome hospital stays, hence the expensive medication and need for Benny’s Natural Grocers health insurance.

“Well, I’ll let you kids get out of here,” Warren said. “But you should reconsider about this weekend, Abi. Surely you need to take a break from commitments to get some fresh air and socialization.”

“With thousands of shareholders?” Declan commented with a smirk, and I found it interesting the way he was so comfortable teasing this world-famous billionaire.

“I’ll think about it,” I said, liking Warren even though his massive bank account meant he was probably a monster underneath the grandfatherly exterior.

We said goodbye to Declan’s parents before leaving and exited the building without speaking.

It wasn’t tense, though. I didn’t get any murderous vibes from him even though I probably deserved it for my little anecdotal surprises, but it just felt like there was no reason for either of us to talk when we were about to go our separate ways forever.

It wasn’t until we were in the car and he was pulling away from the restaurant that he asked, “Was that absolutely necessary?”

His face was illuminated by all the lights of the fancy car’s interior, and it probably spoke volumes about how attractive he was that I thought, he looks good in dashboard lights.

His tie was loosened but everything else remained perfect, giving him the appearance of one of those hot guys in luxury cologne commercials.

“It absolutely was,” I replied, reaching out to turn on his radio because I needed to drown out the awkwardness that was sure to accompany us on the ride home.

I scanned for songs, going around the horn over and over again because I couldn’t find anything good, and his sigh told me he wasn’t enjoying it.

Am I obnoxious? I wondered. I usually wasn’t, but something about Declan brought out the inner shit in me, the snotty teen who wanted to push back on everything.

So I just kept scanning.

When we finally pulled up in front of his building, I was ready to bolt. I reached for the door handle and said, “So we’re good now, right? I don’t owe you anything else?”

He looked at me for a long moment, green eyes trying to figure me out, before giving a terse nod. “You’re good. Just don’t trash my place, and be out by next Friday, okay?”

“Okay,” I said, stepping out of the car. I had no idea how to say goodbye to this man I hadn’t even known yesterday at this time, so I just said, “Well, thanks for the date, then, Dexxie.”

I slammed the door and headed for the entrance, forcing myself not to look over my shoulder as his shiny black car zipped away.