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  He frowned at her. “Why?”

  “Because they are my family and I know what a pain in the ass they can be. Trust me, I was doing you a favor.” She ran her fingers through her hair as she took the albums away from him. Sara placed them on the floor before taking a sip of her steaming coffee. Her moan of appreciation filled the room.

  “We need to get our story straight. I don’t want to look like a fool.”

  “Well, we met on the stairs, and you helped me move into my apartment. That can stick, but there is no way we’ve been dating for the past five years and they don’t know,” she said.

  They were silent as they contemplated how their relationship started up.

  “Ah.” His hand went up in victory. “I know, the opening night of Cube. The club with the band and the celebratory night led to us realizing our feelings for one another.”

  “Hey, you could say something about your jealousy over the lead singer. You knew in that instant you were in love with me and you couldn’t put it off any longer.” Her imagination ran away with her. Already she was thinking up a storyline for a new book she was working on.

  “You can tell you’re a romance writer,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “That would never happen. Not in real life.”

  She thumped him in the arm. His very words highlighted the struggle she was facing with her writing. “There could be men out there who are not completely brain fried to the idea of a little romance.”

  “Nothing ever happens like the way they do in the books. It’s a fact, and that is why they’re fiction.”

  Sara growled in annoyance. “Only because men usually have the emotional capacity of an apple pip, but it doesn’t mean it can’t happen,” she said, arguing her point. For some reason she felt the need to argue with him about romance.

  “An apple pip? Are you sure you’re a writer? You’ve got a lot of negative energy about the opposite sex.”

  “Could we please not talk about sex? Men are the reason marriages are on the decline.”

  “It’s an archaic institution.”

  Sara paused and turned to him. “You don’t believe in marriage?”

  He shook his head. “No, I don’t believe that two people need to pay a large sum of money for a blasted piece of paper to say they’re married to the eyes of the world.”

  “I can’t believe I never knew your views on marriage.” One day she wanted to get married and be happy like her parents.

  “Why do you think I’m not married?” The sarcasm in his voice couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than that.

  She stood up and was angry with his horrid views on marriage. “I can’t believe I asked you to be my fake boyfriend.”

  Andy didn’t even bother to get up. He glanced up at her, and she felt the heat of his gaze go through her body. She shouldn’t be so affected by a glance.

  “Well, we’ve had a real argument to back up our fake relationship,” he said, joking.

  “You’re a horrible person, and I wish I hadn’t asked this of you.”

  She turned around and stormed out of the apartment. Sara got as far as the top of the stairs when she realized what she’d just done.

  Laughing at her silliness she walked back to the apartment. His door was wide open, and Andy stood in his kitchen area pouring another cup of coffee.

  “If we need a reason to break up with each other I think we just got our reason,” he said without looking up.

  Sara couldn’t believe they’d just argued over marriage. They were not even in a real relationship.

  But you want to be.

  She closed the door and took the cup he offered.

  “Breaking up will give us both an out if this goes too far,” she agreed.

  They sat down on the sofa once again.

  “So, we’ve handled how we met, the turning point in our relationship, and the practiced breakup. What do you think is next?” he asked.

  Sara looked at him and laughed. “This could be fun.”

  She sipped her coffee as they worked through the rest of their plan. By the time they were finished it was late evening. Sara ordered food and took a quick shower. She used his shower instead of going to hers.

  “Do you think we’re ready for next weekend?” she asked.

  Andy finished his stretch and nodded.

  The following weekend couldn’t come fast enough.

  Chapter Five

  The week flew by for Andy. He spent a great deal of time organizing his clubs so he could have the two weekends off. His friends were ribbing him every chance they got. For the most part he ignored them. Then there were the times when he lay in bed at night, alone, and wished Sara was by his side. He no longer craved just the physical either. Andy wanted her by his side to cuddle against. He was turning soft in his older years. The nights were long, and the days felt too short.

  Since their agreement he hadn’t seen Sara. She was working on her next book for her publisher. He’d tried to find out her pen name only to be shot down at every turn. Andy made a note to ask her family what it was the first chance he got.

  As the days passed he woke up on Friday morning ready and wired for the coming weekend. He looked forward to having an excuse to touch her.

  He made a pot of coffee and waited for the sound of Sara’s panicked steps.

  Within twenty minutes of him being ready and waiting, Sara charged through the apartment. “I can’t believe it’s here already. How can a week fly by so fast? Are you sure we can pull this off? I don’t want my family to know we’re only friends.”

  She talked fast, and her pacing sped up. He found it adorable to witness for the first few seconds. When he saw the panic on her face he intervened.

  “Stop.” He cupped her cheeks in his hands. “We’re the best of friends. We can pull this off, Sara. I’ve got your back on this. Stop panicking.”

  “You don’t know my family.”

  “They love and care about you. I care about you. I can handle this. Besides, it should be fun, and I’ll get all of your childhood stories told to me this weekend.”

  He laughed when he saw the face she pulled.

  “Lighten up, have some coffee, and then we’ll hit the road and drive to your parents’ house.”

  Andy handed her the cup and watched her sip the dark liquid.

  “There is something I forgot to tell you about my family,” she said.

  He stood leaning against the counter waiting for her to tell him. “I’m waiting.”

  “My family is, erm, are … they’re well off.”

  Her face heated at her words. The beautiful red flush of her cheeks contrasted with her hair.

  “Your family has money?” he asked, trying to clarify what she was trying to say.

  “Yeah, a lot of it. So, it would be great if you didn’t bring up money or plans for the future and all the stuff like that.”

  He processed what she was saying. “Do you think your family is going to assume I’m a gold-digger after your money?”

  She nibbled her lip. The sight went straight to his cock. Watching her nibble her lip had a deep effect on him. Andy didn’t know what it was about her nibbling her lip that affected him so.

  “They wouldn’t come right out and say it, but they’d try to get information out of you and … erm … they might mislead you on certain topics.”

  He cupped her cheek, stroking the delicate flesh. Andy wanted to do more to her, but touching her cheek was enough at the moment. “Sara, I own several successful clubs. I’m paying off my loans, and I’m not starving. I’ll never be after your money. Please, don’t panic. We’ve got this.”

  Andy wasn’t going to say anything to worry her with regards to her family. He was already getting the huge picture that they were rather protective of their little sister.

  “Also, my sister is very pretty.”

  Again, he’d seen the picture, but to him, Tracy didn’t match Sara in beauty. He had been taken by Sara from the instan
t he met her. A picture did not make a woman, or at least to him it didn’t.

  “I don’t care what your sister looks like. I’m there for you and no one else. You need to trust me.”

  She smiled and then put the coffee cup down. “If we want to avoid a lot of the morning traffic we need to get going.”

  “I’ll come and meet you by your door.”

  Sara left his apartment as he finished locking everything up. The security inside the building was good, and he wasn’t worried about any break-ins. He picked up Champion and his suitcase and then made his way down to her apartment. She stood in the doorway looking like she wanted to throw up.

  “I’m sorry. I packed a little more.” She pointed to two suitcases, her laptop bag, and her purse.

  “We’ll be gone for three days, and you’ve packed like we’re staying the month.” He shook his head. There was no way he would ever understand women. They were a complete mystery to him.

  He didn’t say the words out loud. She took her purse, the laptop bag, and Champion while he carried their suitcases down to his waiting car. The apartment block owned an underground parking facility, which was perfect.

  They rode the elevator down to the underground section. She crooned to Champion, and he struggled with all of their cases. “What do you have packed?” he asked, throwing the cases into the trunk of his car.

  “When you see my family you’ll understand why I pack for every occasion.”

  Sara put Champion in the back of the car then climbed into the front.

  “I’ll give you directions, and you drive,” she said.

  “Sweetheart, there is no way I’d let you drive my baby.”

  “It’s a car.”

  “But it’s my car. This is the first car I bought after the profits from my first club. She is sentimental to me.” He stroked the leather interior of his baby to emphasis his point.

  “Whatever, it’s a car.”

  She put her seatbelt on then waited for him to start the car. He turned the engine over and listened to his baby purr to life. The engine was a dream. He didn’t know a lot about cars. What he did know was he loved the sound of his car turning over.

  Sara gave him an odd look. “It’s still a vehicle that pollutes the air and causes global warming.”

  His good mood died along with her attitude. “What’s up your ass this morning?” Andy put his car into gear and pulled out of their apartment building.

  “Nothing. I’m just nervous about this whole weekend.”

  They were silent while he got onto the freeway.

  “What about you? Do you have any family gatherings coming up?” she asked.

  “No, my parents died before I moved to the city.”

  “What? Why didn’t you ever tell me?” She turned to face him in the small vehicle. Andy quickly glanced in her direction and saw the sadness on her face.

  “Don’t worry about it. My folks didn’t have me until they were quite old. My mother was forty-five when she gave birth to me. They were good to me even though I exhausted them.”

  “Wow, that must have been hard,” she said.

  He nodded recalling some of the horrors of his youth. “When I was a teenager they used to think my folks were my grandparents. They were good, and I never let any of the comments bother me. Kids can be cruel and all that.”

  Sara was silent beside him. He didn’t like it.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  “I’m amazed. There is so much about you I don’t know. It makes me wonder what I’ve been missing all these years.”

  He laughed. “There’s not much to tell. I never talk about my parents because it puts a downer on the conversation. I knew in advance my folks weren’t going to last. When they found out about their illness—they both had advanced cancer—they let me know what they were doing. I wasn’t shocked by their death. It hurts, but I lived through it. They brought me up to believe that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I live with that policy throughout my life.”

  “It sounds like a great policy. Their passing must have hurt though.”

  Andy recalled the pain when he was woken in the morning by the hospital. “When they went it was the hardest few months of my life. I just can’t believe they both went at the same time.”

  “Then what happened?”

  He smiled recalling the moment. “A couple of months after their passing I met you.”

  She gasped. “Really?”

  “Yes, I met you, and for some reason I knew the world was going to be okay.” He reached over and tapped her knee. “I was right.”

  Andy saw she was thinking. Turning to glance at her quickly he saw her brows were furrowed in concentration. “What’s going on in that mind of yours?”

  “Would your parents have liked me?”

  The question caught him off guard. In his mind he saw his mother sitting at her kitchen table looking Sara over. He saw the approval in her face. His father would have said the red hair was a testament to a fiery temperament and quick wit.

  “They would have loved you.”

  Thinking about his parents made him realize what he was missing out on. He tightened his hold on the steering wheel as she put on the radio. Sara turned on some classical tunes. He listened to the sounds and thought about his parents.

  He hadn’t been lying about his parents. They would have adored Sara. She kept Andy on his toes, and his father would have seen something in their friendship.

  Shit, this weekend might not be the best idea after all.

  ****

  Sara tapped her fingers on the dashboard as she gazed out of the window. She felt like a bad friend for not knowing about Andy’s parents. They sounded like good people. She pointed to Andy to turn off the intersection. The number of times she’d driven up and down this very road was more than her poor fingers could count. There was the time after prom when she left Dylan in the motel room he’d organized. Unlike Dylan she hadn’t been ready to leave her virginity behind in a damp, cheap motel. That night she’d debated leaving her family and the small town she grew up in—behind.

  Deciding against leaving her town behind, she’d gone home instead of back to Dylan in the motel room. She had gone to college and gotten her degree in English literature and begun her writing career. In between all of that time she dated Dylan, finally lost her virginity to him on Halloween night, and then she turned down his proposal. After she refused his proposal because she’d caught him making plans with another girl, she’d left him and her family without looking back. Getting away from her family and from Dylan had been important to her.

  Her family had thought she’d return home having failed. Instead, she’d continued to fight for her independence. She refused to use her family’s name and influence to better herself. Her writing was her baby, and no one, not even her family, could take away her success.

  “This is where you lived?” he asked.

  She nodded her head and got him to continue off the main road and down a narrow country road. He cursed the roads, but soon the road opened up. They drove through the long town. Several shops were already open for the day’s business. “I bet they’re no clubs around here. I wonder if I can invest here.”

  Sara laughed. “You’re not in the city anymore. You’ve got no chance.”

  The directions continued until she pointed down a long stretch of street. The houses were large with each one having a white picket fence.

  “Why do I get the sense you haven’t been telling me everything,” he said.

  “Well, my family has a lot of money, and erm … they pretty much support the town.”

  She pointed off the street to the largest house in the street. “My family lives there.”

  Andy paused outside a dominating, large white house. She pointed three floors up to the window on the far right. “That’s my room.”

  He turned to her. “You live in a mansion?”

  “No, my father owns Carroll Industries and is also respo
nsible for the fishing dock down by the mainland. My Dad has helped to keep the town afloat with constant employment and the Carroll name has run on for generations.”

  “You’re an heiress?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I like to think of myself as a writer. I’m not fussed with other names.”

  Sara glanced up the driveway and nibbled her lip. From the number of cars along the street and up the driveway most of the folks were probably in the house.

  “Sara, before I go and make myself look like a complete and total fool, what exactly do your parents do?” he asked.

  “Well, my father took over as the head of Carroll Industries when my grandpa retired a couple of years back. Before then, the Carroll name helped to set up this town.”

  “Your great-great-great-grandparents were responsible for this town?”

  “Among others.”

  “Shit.”

  “What?” she asked, concerned by his sudden outburst.

  “I thought you were just a simple country girl trying to make it in the city. I didn’t realize you were pretty much loaded and it didn’t matter if you failed or not.”

  “It does matter. I’m still the same girl you gave a cup of coffee to this morning. Don’t treat me any differently just because my family comes from a long line of money.” She pointed at her chest, hurt by his words.

  “I can’t believe this,” he said.

  “What can’t you believe now?” She turned to him placing her back against the door.

  “You’re not the you I thought you were.”

  She frowned. “I may come from money, Andy Green, but that does not mean I’m any different from you. I’ve never been treated differently, and my parents are firm believers in everyone starting from scratch. We don’t force our way in because of our name. We have all earned our right in our own areas.”

  Andy held his hands up. “Okay, I believe you. Compared to this, Sara, I’m broke.”

  She leaned over kissing his cheek. “You’re a success. You’re going to see there is nothing different about my family compared to yours. We just have different ways of doing things.”

  They got out of the car. Sara let Champion out. The little dog refused to leave her side. She reached down and stroked his back. There was no way she was going to tell Andy that Dylan was a successful millionaire in his own right. That conversation could happen between the men.