The Boyfriend Experience (The Boyfriend Experience 1)

He caught his fingers beneath her chin and tipped her head back to keep her gaze on his. “No, not really. You just need to fucking own this incredible body of yours, including rocking the hell out of a one-piece.”

God, fake boyfriend or not, he was so good for her confidence. “We need to get going,” she said, not sure what else to say to his last remark.

He held her gaze for a long moment more, then finally let his fingers fall away as they exited her apartment. She locked everything up behind them, and he led the way to his dark gray BMW. She still didn’t fully understand how he could afford such a high-end vehicle working as a chauffeur, but regardless, she settled into the leather passenger seat that felt like butter against her skin and buckled up. Everything inside the car was so luxurious she felt as though she was traveling in first class.

As he navigated the way toward the freeway, he deemed her his copilot, which meant letting her have free rein of his satellite radio. It was all so new to her when she’d only ever used a regular radio and a cd player, but a short while later, she found a station that played contemporary country music, and after a few songs played, he openly admitted to liking the songs and artists.

“So, a small change of plans for this evening,” she said as they finally made their way out of the busy, early-afternoon San Diego freeway traffic. “My mother called to let me know that she already checked us into our cabin. Since none of the reunion stuff starts until tomorrow morning at breakfast, we’re meeting my parents for dinner before heading to the resort if that’s okay?”

“Of course,” he said easily.

She glanced over at him sitting in the driver’s seat, admiring his gorgeous profile. “They’re very excited to finally meet you . . . the other Eric . . . well, you know what I mean,” she said, because the whole thing seemed so confusing.

He smiled at her. “Evie, don’t sweat the small stuff. We got this.”

His voice was soft and so reassuring, and the way he said we got this with such conviction made it feel as though they were a real couple. When she’d hired him, all she’d wanted was a guy to stand in as her boyfriend so she didn’t have to be the single, recently dumped one at the reunion when her cousin would undoubtedly be flaunting her recent engagement. But as they headed into this family gathering, he made her feel confident and secure because, crazily enough, she trusted him. She knew that no matter what came her way this weekend, this man would have her back. She couldn’t say that she would have felt that same way if it had been her ex accompanying her.

“So, let’s talk about this spiteful cousin of yours,” he said, bringing up the one thing she had no desire to talk about, but Raquel was a big part of the reason she’d hired Eric to be her boyfriend, so it needed to be discussed.

The situation between the two of them was complicated, and she figured it was best to start from the beginning so he had all the inside information and he’d be able to meet her cousin with his eyes wide open and knowing what Raquel was capable of.

“My cousin Raquel is my dad’s brother’s daughter,” she said, letting that sink in for a moment so he knew which side of the family she was referring to. “We’re the same age, born the same year . . . but out of the two of us, I was always my grandfather’s favorite and I really think it had more to do with me spending more of my time with him than Raquel ever did. She never had the desire or the patience, so he doted on me because I was always hanging around him. Raquel was the beauty queen and cheerleader growing up, and I was the tomboy who loved going fishing with my grandpa. I loved listening to his stories, while she’d roll her eyes and walk away. I played checkers and chess and backgammon with my grandfather Randall, and Raquel had no interest in bonding with him in any way unless it benefitted her. And the closer my grandpa and I got, the more jealous Raquel became.”

“Which sounds ridiculous and petty since she clearly made no effort to get her fair share of attention,” Eric summed up accurately, his tone droll.

“Exactly,” she agreed. “Raquel has always been very spoiled by her parents, and she wanted that attention in materialistic things and not in time spent with Grandpa Randall. As the years went on, her resentment grew, and she decided to punish me for having a great relationship with our grandfather.”