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Holding Lily’s hand sent awareness up and down his arm, but he ignored it. Attraction wasn’t something new to him. There’s more with her, a voice taunted, and again he tried to think of something else. But his options seemed limited to things he didn’t want to think about, and he sighed, realising he would have to face at least one of them.
His brother won, Jacques thought as they reached the circle of people Nathan and Caitlyn were surrounded by. The easy air that Nathan carried around him—the way it translated into ease around people—had always been something Jacques had admired. Sometimes envied. Until he’d realised that people were overrated. One day they saw you as a hero, doing things they admired—the next those very things were criticised and that was how they defined you.
But Jacques knew it was also the easy way Nathan approached their less than stellar parents. How he was still in touch with them when Jacques hadn’t seen them in years. How he could still want to be a part of their family after all they’d had to deal with growing up...
He stopped that train of thought when he saw they’d attracted Nathan’s attention, and with a slight nod of his head Jacques indicated they go to a quieter corner of the room.
‘I’m glad you came,’ were the first words from his brother’s mouth.
‘You knew I would.’
Nathan sent Jacques a look that had a lance of guilt piercing his chest. It made him think about how he hadn’t seen either of his parents there that evening—Surprise, surprise, he thought, despite the relief coursing through him—and he realised it was disappointment, not accusation, that had Nathan doubting Jacques. And that it wasn’t exactly Jacques, but their whole family.
While Jacques sympathised with his brother, that feeling was capped by the memory of the thousands of times Jacques had warned Nathan to stop hoping with their parents. Jacques had learnt a long time ago that it would get him nowhere. His anger about it had ended his career, after all. Had taught him to stop trying. And, since he hadn’t seen them in seven years, he figured he’d succeeded in that.
‘Congratulations,’ Jacques said, remembering that this was the first time he’d seen his brother and his fiancée since they’d got engaged.
He brushed a kiss on Caitlyn’s cheek, enjoying the smile that spread over her pretty face, and then went in for the obligatory handshake and pat on the back with his brother.
‘While that was both amusing and touching,’ Lily interrupted with a small smile, ‘I know you both have to do the rounds, so we just wanted to tell you we’re going to pretend to be dating so that I can make Kyle feel a fraction of what I felt when I walked in on him and her—’ she nodded a head in the woman’s direction ‘—naked.’
By the time she was done Jacques could tell that she was out of breath. Which didn’t surprise him, since with each word the pace with which she’d spoken had increased. What did surprise him was what she had said—that Kyle had cheated on her. While he’d been amused at being roped in to being a pretend boyfriend earlier, he understood why she’d done it now. And he no longer felt amusement over the situation.
There was a stunned silence, and then Caitlyn said, ‘Honey, are you okay?’
‘I’m fine.’ Lily brushed one of her delightful curls from her face. ‘We just wanted to warn you in case you wondered. Or got asked about it. And, while we’re speaking about that, we’ve been dating six months. You and Nate introduced us.’
Jacques’s lips twitched at the way their story had evolved, but the amusement faded when he wondered how Kyle could have cheated on someone like Lily.
Someone like Lily? a voice questioned, and he realised it sounded crazy. He barely knew her—she might have cheated on Kyle first. But given what he knew about Kyle and the few moments he’d spent with Lily he highly doubted that she’d been in the wrong.
His opinion of Kyle dropped another notch, and the temptation to relive the night he had knocked the man out boiled in Jacques’s blood. He frowned, wondering where the intensity of his feelings—a mixture of anger and protectiveness—came from. And then he felt his brother’s gaze on him, and looked up into a flash of warning.
Since he’d experienced a surge of protection for Lily himself, he understood it. But it singed him to know Nathan was thinking about Jacques’s past with women. And it burned to know his brother’s warning was on point, considering what he planned to use Lily for.
‘You don’t have to worry, Cait,’ he said, distracting himself.
He knew Caitlyn was the one to win over if he wanted his plan to work. Caitlyn gave him a quick nod, then turned her attention to Lily.
‘You know I never liked him—especially after everything...’ She trailed off, glancing at Jacques. Then she quickly said, ‘I give my blessing for this fake relationship in the name of payback.’
Caitlyn had sparked his curiosity, but it was forgotten when Lily smiled and his chest constricted.
Simple attraction.
He willed himself to believe that when his skin prickled as she took his hand again. And when she looked back with those beautiful eyes of hers to check whether he was okay with it and his heart raced.
He gave her a quick nod, and she started towards the doors that led to the side of the balcony that held the pool. Before he could take more than a few steps with her, someone touched his arm and he looked back.
‘Please...be careful with her,’ Caitlyn said, looking at him with eyes that reflected her plea.
‘I... I will,’ he answered, before he could think to say anything else, and the gratitude that shone from her face had his stomach dropping.
He glanced at his brother, saw the frown that suggested Nathan didn’t believe him, and his stomach dropped even further. He turned back to Lily, following her until she stopped next to the pool, and tried not to think about the interaction he’d just had. It made him wonder what it was about Lily that inspired the protectiveness he’d seen in the two people he’d just spoken to—the protectiveness that he’d felt himself.
He cleared his throat. ‘Are we going for a swim? I didn’t bring my swimming trunks...although I have nothing against stripping down to my birthday suit.’
‘What?’ she gasped, and a smile spread across his face.
‘I’m kidding, Lily. Unless...?’ he teased, and enjoyed the way red tinted her olive skin.
The colour made him think of the other women he’d dated—he used that term loosely—who spent hours in the sun trying to get that tone. Something told him that Lily would never spend so much time on such a vain endeavour. Not when he was sure the messy auburn curls surrounding her face hadn’t been tampered with. When he was sure her beautiful face bore almost no make-up. Her hazel eyes weren’t highlighted by mascara or liner. The blush on her high cheekbones wasn’t artificial, nor was the pomegranate hue of her full lips.
As attracted as he was to the outside—he took a moment to enjoy the way her body filled out the dress she wore, just as he had when he’d been coming down the stairs—he found himself more intrigued by what the outside told him. How many women did he know who would come to an upper-class party without plastering their faces with make-up? How many would leave their hair in its natural state when every other woman had hers sleeked up in some complicated style?
Certainly none of the women he knew, he thought.
And her reactions to his teasing were so refreshing. Endearing. It made her feel more authentic. And it made her perfect for his plan.
It also made him realise how little innocence the women he’d spent his time with in the past had had. But then innocence wasn’t exactly something he’d been looking for in the past. No, he’d been looking to forget the way he’d screwed up his life. And then the public had turned on him—had destroyed him in the media—and he’d begun to wonder what the point of trying was. If they wanted a bad boy, that was what they would get. And they had—for an entire year. The worst time of his life...
‘I don’t know why I let you fluster me.’ Lily’s words tore him from his thoughts. ‘I know you’re teasing.’
‘And if I wasn’t?’
She sent a look at him that had him smiling.
‘Nice try, but it isn’t going to work again.’
‘It was worth a shot. How else would I be able to see the wonderful colour your cheeks turn when you’re flustered?’
She shook her head, and with her bottom lip between her teeth looked away.
Because he saw the very colour he’d been talking about again, he grinned. ‘This is fun.’
‘For you, maybe,’ Lily answered, but she didn’t seem upset. ‘What did Caitlyn say to you when she called you back?’
‘You saw that?’
She nodded, and it took him a few seconds to decide what to say to her.
‘She told me to be careful with you.’
Lily nodded again, her face pensive, and then her eyes shifted to something behind him. She moved closer and gave him a whiff of citrus and summer. It was a heady combination, he thought as his body tightened, and he assured himself that that was the only reason for his reaction.
‘Our plan seems to be working.’ Her curls shook as she lifted her head to look at him. ‘Kyle barely seems to be paying attention to his—’
Her eyes widened and she bit her lip again. The prickle in his body became an ache.
‘Date?’ he offered, to distract himself, but couldn’t help the hand that lifted to tuck a curl around her ear.
‘Sure—let’s go with that,’ she murmured, and fluttered those dark lashes up at him.
The ache was replaced by a punch to the gut.
‘Why do I need to be careful with you?’
It suddenly seemed imperative for him to know.
‘You don’t...’ she breathed, and electricity snapped between them.
‘Are you sure?’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m tired of being treated like I’m going to break. My fiancé cheated on me. I was—’ She stopped, and there was a flash of vulnerability on her face before it was replaced with a fierce expression. ‘You don’t have to be careful with me. Treat me as you would any other woman.’
CHAPTER THREE (#u4251f1d2-486d-519b-9800-37c01c75f833)
JACQUES’S EYES FLICKERED down to her lips, and Lily realised how her request sounded. Under any other circumstance she would have been mortified at the implication of her words. Now, though, she wanted Jacques to take advantage of the ambiguity. She wanted to be taken advantage of...
‘I wouldn’t be pretending to be your boyfriend if you were any other woman.’
His voice broke into her thoughts and she blushed at the direction of them, wondering where they’d come from.
‘Why are you doing this for me, then?’
The heat she’d thought she’d seen earlier in his eyes cooled into an enigmatic expression.
‘Besides the fact that you basically forced me to on the stairs?’
She nodded, feeling her blush deepen.
‘At first because I couldn’t imagine anything better than making Kyle Van der Ross uncomfortable. Now it’s because I want to make him jealous.’
He looked at her, and she realised they were having this conversation in an awfully intimate position. She took a slight step back, to give herself some air—and to prevent herself from being distracted by his scent—but stopped when he placed a hand gently on the small of her back.
It sent her next question stammering from her mouth. ‘Wh...wh...why?’
He smiled at her—a soft smile that was in stark contrast to his intimidating masculine presence—and she wondered what she was missing. A man like Jacques wouldn’t be interested in her. And even if he was the last thing she wanted was to get involved with someone who could shatter the self-esteem she had fought so hard for.
The self-esteem she was still fighting for.
‘He cheated on you, Lily. And only the most despicable of men hurt the women they claim to love in that way.’ His face no longer held an easy expression. ‘Besides, I like helping you. And before you ask me why, it’s because I like you.’
‘You barely know me,’ she retorted. It was easier than acknowledging the truth of his words.
‘I know that you had the guts to leave someone who cheated on you. I know that you’re loyal enough to come to your best friend’s engagement party even though you knew your ex would be here. You’re innovative—I don’t think I know many other people who would come up with the idea of a stranger pretending to be their boyfriend—and you’re thoughtful enough to let your friends know about the charade so that they don’t get upset. What more is there?’
He grinned, but she couldn’t bring herself to respond. Hearing him describe her like that sent a gush of warmth through her body. But it didn’t seem right. Not when she was used to harsh words. Not when she was used to people telling her how she should look. How she should be. And from her parents—from Kyle, too, she’d realised too late—how much better she could be.
‘Fine—you know things about me,’ she said, when the silence had extended a tad too long. ‘How about you share something about yourself, then?’
‘Sure,’ he replied easily, and touched her waist to shift her to the left. ‘It’s easier for Kyle to see you like this.’
Her skin felt seared at his touch, and her thoughts went haywire for a second. And in that second she saw herself pressed against Jacques, kissing him until she no longer knew who she was.
She shook her head, thinking that she didn’t know who she was now. This woman having inappropriate thoughts about a man she barely knew was definitely not her. She’d never gone that far—even in her most lonesome of days.
When she’d been overweight it had been easier to avoid attention. And even when she’d lost some of her weight she had still been too afraid to put herself in a situation where men might hit on her.
It had been on the one night Caitlyn had convinced her to go out—in their final year at university—that she’d met Kyle. He’d been the first person to treat her like a woman, and not like ‘the girl who lost weight’. His attention had been flattering, overwhelming. She’d fallen hard, and had been swept into his world like a commoner into a castle.
His offhand comments about her looks—he hadn’t seemed to have a problem with her weight, but her hair, her face, her clothing were still fair game—hadn’t mattered when he could make her feel like the most beautiful woman on the planet with one look. His suggestions as to how she should act, what she should say, how she might do better had been irrelevant when he was treating her to fancy dinners, to expensive gifts.
‘What do you want to know?’
Jacques was watching her, and her face heated even at the thought of him knowing what she was thinking.
‘How’d you get the scar?’
He frowned, as though he wasn’t sure what she was talking about. And then his hand lifted and he rubbed his thumb over the scar. Lily was hit with the desire to do the same, and she clenched her hand, determined not to be caught in this attraction between them.
‘I was in a fight.’
‘Kyle?’
He smiled, though his eyes were hooded.
‘He didn’t land a punch that night. No, there have been other fights.’
His eyes glinted dangerously, and her knees nearly went weak.
What is wrong with you, Lily?
‘Next question. What do you do?’
‘I own a sporting goods company.’
‘What does that entail?’
‘Well, there’s a shop where the public can buy sporting equipment, but mostly we do bulk and international orders.’ He slanted a look at her. ‘You’ve never heard of Brookes Sporting?’
‘Hard to believe, isn’t it?’
He smirked. ‘Just a little.’
‘And that’s what you chose to do after your rugby career ended?’
There was a beat of silence before Jacques asked, ‘How did you know I played rugby?’
