The “last time” that Elouise was speaking of had been another football player, Merriweather, the same man that had hurt Linc on his first official game played against his old team, badly, had been caught in a scandal very similar to the one that Linc and I now found ourselves in. Only, two weeks after the ‘pregnancy’ had been announced, the woman had been found dead in her home with scant clues as to who had murdered her. And, she had been pregnant.
All fingers had pointed in Merriweather’s direction, yet nobody had been able to pinpoint the crime on him, and he’d been playing ball ever since.
In fact, he was currently on one of four teams left in the playoffs in the running for the national title.
Also, everyone knew he’d done it.
Merriweather was an asshole—apparently a murderous one.
“Balls,” I muttered.
“My best solution right now is to just live your life. Only time will prove that you’re not pregnant,” Elouise explained. “But…I do have a suggestion.”
I was almost scared of what this suggestion would be, and I had a feeling that I was sure the hell not going to like it.
“What’s that?” Linc asked with curiosity tinging his voice.
“I suggest that you appear to be dating,” she said hesitantly.
The automatic shout of “No!” halted on my lips when Linc said, “Oh. That’s a good idea. I think it’d work even better if she was my fiancée.”
My mouth fell open in surprise. “We can’t do that! Your dad and my stepfather are going to kill me when they find out it is all a lie!”
Linc grinned. “I’ll email you, Elouise, and let you know what we nail down. Sound good?”
I groaned when she agreed, and then pursed my lips when I looked at Linc to see him staring at me expectantly.
“You owe me,” he said.
That was true…but I didn’t owe him this!
No good could possibly come from this, I just knew it.
“Come on,” Linc cajoled. “You told me at lunch that you didn’t hate me.”
It was the lip that he curled downward into a pitiful pout that had me wavering.
I frowned. “I don’t hate you, Linc. But, I don’t particularly like being in the spotlight, which because of your job and who you are, is exactly where I’ll be.” I looked down, then without meeting his eyes, I whispered my biggest fear. “I also don’t want to be screwed over in the end. You may not intend to hurt me, but I just know that you will.”
He glowered. “I’d never, ever hurt you.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Your words hurt me when I thought we were going to have something. You didn’t mean to hurt me, but you still did. That’s what I’m saying. It’s inevitable. You won’t even mean to do it, but it will happen. And I don’t think pretending to be your fiancée will help anything. The media isn’t stupid—they’ll know if we’re faking. They follow you around enough that they’ll notice if I’m not around. It’s not something we can just say and not do.”
He crossed his arms. “I never said that I didn’t want to have a relationship with you, because I do. You may not be my fiancée, but you’ll damn well be my girlfriend.”
I snorted. “I won’t be your girlfriend.”
I couldn’t.
I’d barely recovered from having him pull out of my life so abruptly last time. If he did it again, I would for sure never recover.
Which was why I’d never let him get that close again.
A person knew their limits, and my limit was Linc James—or at least what he made me feel.
“Linc…” I stood up.
He did, too.
I felt a shiver run down my spine.
“It’ll be fine,” he promised, coming closer.
I didn’t believe him.
But that smile of his did me in every time.
All he had to do was curl those perfect lips upward and aim that smile at me, and I was putty in his hands.
“There are ground rules,” I relented.
He whooped in excitement. “You’ll do it?”
“I’ll be your pretend girlfriend,” I amended. “And nothing more than that.”
He studied me for a long few moments, and then that stupid smile of his slowly lit up his face again.
“We’ll see,” he challenged.
I shook my head. “We won’t see anything. I’m giving you three months. I have one more final to take tomorrow, and I’m off for the summer. In the fall, we have a public break-up, and by that point, they’ll be able to see that we’re not having a child together…deal?”
I offered him my hand, and he took it, but didn’t let go as he said, “I’m going to try really hard to change your mind.”
I smirked at him. “You won’t.”Chapter 8Wait for someone that tells strangers about you.
-Text from Conleigh to Linc
Linc
Day 1
“I have to go to an end of the year banquet,” he said. “I need you to come with me.”