After the night I showed Jade her new office, things shifted between us. We no longer avoid each other, or at least not quite as much.
Development camp is next week. Rookies and future Wildcat prospects spend a week going through workouts and drills, a few scrimmages. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year. I’m not required to go, but I like working with the younger guys, giving them a taste of the pro league, while offering whatever advice I can.
After that, the countdown to the start of the season is on. I look forward to it all summer long, but never more than this year. The Stanley Cup was so close, I could taste it. I can’t wait to get back. The guys and I have been working out and skating most days, but there’s nothing like having the entire team back together.
Tonight, Jade and I are going to an event—the details I’ve already forgotten. She ran a list of parties and promotional work events by me, and this one didn’t conflict with anything. Also, Leo and Scarlett are going, so at least I’ll have another guy to talk to, while the girls socialize with people from the magazine.
Jade looks stunning. She always does, but tonight’s hot pink dress and gold shoes are something else. We walk in behind Leo and Scarlett, mirroring their body language. He has her hand tucked close to his body, so I do the same.
Jade peers over at me with a nervous smile before we step into the party.
It’s only the second one of these I’ve had to go to and the last one was not nearly this fancy, just a small company picnic at a local park. They had games and food trucks, all real casual.
But this place tonight is packed, and there are servers walking around in stark white shirts, carrying trays with hors d’oeuvres and champagne.
“Remind me what tonight’s event is for?” I ask as I take two flutes from a nearby tray and hand one to Jade.
“It’s a dinner and silent auction for a local charity. One of the magazine’s board members is the co-founder.”
“Nice.”
“There’s Melody,” Scarlett says, glancing back at us. “Should we say hello?”
Jade takes a sip before nodding. “Yeah, let’s get it out of the way first.”
I squeeze her hand for reassurance, and then we weave through people, heading toward a table with some of the execs I recognize from the picnic and a few others that have that air about them, like they think they’re more important than the rest of us.
Melody is the first to spot us. The corners of her lips lift with a small smile, and she steps forward. “Jade, Scarlett.” Then she nods to me and Leo. “I’m glad you all could make it.”
“Of course,” Scarlett says.
Melody angles her body to the people behind her and introduces us to each one. The last woman, Olivia something-or-other, moves to Jade after all the introductions are made.
“Congratulations,” she says. “I have been following since the beginning. I’m a huge fan. It’s like reality television meets bridal handbook. I can’t get enough.”
“Thank you.” Jade looks a little taken aback by the compliment. “That means so much coming from you.”
The woman continues to beam at Jade. “What are you writing about now?”
Warm brown eyes seek me out first before she answers. I wrap an arm around her waist and peer down at her as she begins to talk.
“It’s about cohabitating. All the new, fun things about living together, like slumber parties and lazy Sunday mornings cuddled up on the couch, as well as the tricky things like fighting over dirty dishes and deciding who’s going to take the trash out.”
“You two didn’t live together before the wedding?”
“Nope.”
We share a secret smile that Olivia seems to take as a sign of how happy and in love we are because she says, “Ugh. You two, I can’t take it. I miss those first years of marriage. Enjoy this time together before kids and hot flashes.” She waves a hand in front of her face.
“We will,” Jade says, still with a smile, but I don’t miss the tension that’s made her body go rigid under my touch.
“I can’t wait to read your article and everything that comes next. I won’t keep you. Go enjoy the party. The lobster tails are to die for.” With a polite nod, she moves along, probably to a food tray.
Jade keeps her perfectly-composed smile in place until I pull her away from the group. Scarlett and Leo are stuck talking to other people, but I don’t wait for them.
“Are you all right?” I ask, once we’re out of earshot.
“Yeah.” She lets out a shaky breath. “I just hate lying to all of them.”
“We are technically married and cohabitating. And you do leave like twelve mugs a day in the sink.”
“I drink a lot of coffee.” A real smile finally breaks free.
“Where’d you get the other stuff? Slumber parties and Sunday snuggles?” I cock a brow. We have definitely not done either of those things.
“Scarlett. She and Leo are my inspiration.” Her gaze moves back to them. “They’re so happy together.”
“Yeah. Seems so,” I say.
The next words come out quieter. “I know it’s probably my imagination running wild, but it feels like everyone is watching us tonight.”
I do a quick scan of the party. She’s not wrong. “Must be me looking all slick in this suit.”
She rests a palm on my chest, smoothing out the starched fabric. “You do look nice.”
“Back at you.”
“But that’s not it. I feel like,” she starts and then reconsiders her words. “I feel like they can all see right through me. I’m a liar and a phony. I hate that I’m tricking people. Before, with Sam, it never felt so malicious, but I just keep getting deeper into the lie. And now, if this blows up, I’ll lose everything.”
My hand finds her hip. “It’s not just you in this. If this gets out, it won’t look good for me either.”
Her expression becomes even more broken.
“All I mean to say is we’re in this together. For better or worse and all that.” I brush a strand of hair behind one ear. “You look beautiful. We’ve already established that I’m looking great. How hard can it be to convince a few people that we’re in love?”
“A few?”
I step forward and place a kiss to her forehead. She smells so damn good. It’s a struggle to pull away, but I do. “We’ve got this.”
I lace my fingers through hers again. “Now, let’s go find Leo and Scarlett. I need to study his moves.”
A carefree laugh finally slips from her lips and the happy sound makes the air around us lighter. “I thought you were mimicking him earlier.”
“You said it yourself, they’re good inspiration.”
She leans into me and we walk slowly toward our friends, taking our time and stopping to see what kind of food they’re serving.
Jade takes a canape from a tray and stops. “They’re not us, though. We wouldn’t be like them if we were a real couple.”
Leo can hardly keep his hands to himself and Scarlett isn’t any better. Doesn’t seem so bad.
“How would we act?”
She studies me for a beat. “At a party like this?”
I nod.
“We’d show up late, probably because we spent too much time kissing in the car or at the house before we left. And once we got to the party, we’d spend time together, of course, but we’d be confident in what we had, so we could each go our separate ways to chat with people, too. You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who wants to hang around and talk about magazine business or one who needs to show his affection constantly.”
In the past, maybe she’d be right, but I’m not so sure when it comes to Jade.
“But every few minutes, we’d find each other’s gaze across the room, a sort of reassuring smile and reminder that we were thinking of each other. And when you’d had enough socializing or I was itching to get home, so I could work, you’d give me a look and we’d sneak out early, without saying our goodbyes to anyone.”
I’m stuck in a trance, imagining all that. Sounds nice. Too nice.
“Or something like that,” she adds, a hint of embarrassment pinking her cheeks. “I don’t know much about being a great couple in public. Sam and I rarely went anywhere together.”
“Why?” I ask.
“We didn’t share a lot of friends, and aside from the occasional party with his frat brothers, he wasn’t a fan of going out after he quit his job with the karaoke company. I think all those late nights at bars and parties got old for him.”
I stay quiet because nothing I have to say about her ex-fiancé is nice. We reach Leo and Scarlett, who have finally escaped the group of people they got stuck talking with and are looking over the auction items along three tables on one side of the party.
“Anything good?” Jade asks her friend.
“I’ve got my eye on the spa package. Thinking I might hide the clipboard.”
Leo chuckles. “Let’s not resort to stealing from charity.”
Scarlett makes a face at him but sets the clipboard back down.
Jade and I do our own slow perusal of everything up for bid. It’s a lot of local businesses, offering everything from dog grooming services to a thirty-foot boat.
“What should we bid on?” I ask my date.
She arches a brow, but grins. “A year of house cleaning so you don’t divorce me over coffee mugs?”
“Eh.” I shake my head slowly.
“Signed baseball?”
“There’s a lot of baseball stuff here. I’m feeling really underrepresented.”
“Maybe the Twins are just more generous.”
Laughing softly, I pick up a clipboard and write my name down. Jade leans over to see what item I picked, and her eyes widen in surprise. “If you win that, I may be down one best friend.”
“Nah. I’m sure Leo won’t let me off that easy. Just driving the price up a bit.”
Looping her arm through mine, Jade’s laughter hangs in the air around us.
“Now what?” I ask.
“Well, dinner isn’t for a while yet, so I guess we hang around and mimic Scarlett and Leo for a bit.”
We glance at them at the same time and just in time to see Leo grab a handful of Scarlett’s ass. We both laugh.
“Not really my style,” I say.
“No? I seem to remember you being pretty fond of my ass.”
“Oh, I’m fond of it, all right, but I have a little restraint.”
“Hmmm.” She turns on her heel and sticks out her ass toward me, as if testing said restraint.
Eventually, we find our way to a table for dinner. Scarlett and Leo are with us, as well as two other couples. When Leo puts his arm around the back of his date’s chair, I wink at Jade and do the same. It becomes a sort of game between us.
Scarlett leans toward Leo and nuzzles into his shoulder, and thirty seconds later, Jade does the same to me.
It’s little brushes of hands and looking adoringly at one another, simple stuff, but it still has heat rushing through my body each time.
They start announcing the auction winners and our friends go from a little flirty to thinking about going at it right at the table.
When Leo, very obviously, scoots his chair closer and drops a hand to Scarlett’s lap, I do the same. I keep my palm firmly in place on Jade’s knee, but it still has her sucking in a breath.
It’s a dangerous game we’re playing, but I can’t seem to stop.
I don’t hear a lot of what’s happening around us. My every sense is locked in on Jade.
At some point, they announce Leo as the winner of the spa day package. Real shocker. I knew he’d make sure Scarlett got it.
Jade and I share a knowing look, and then watch as Scarlett hugs him and presses her mouth to his. What looks like it might be a quick kiss turns into much more when Leo cups the back of her head, keeping her close and deepening the kiss.
My mind isn’t even on imitating them anymore, I’m just watching them thinking how easy their love seems. But then Jade’s linking an arm around my neck and looking at me in a way that has my pulse racing.
Her expression bounces between emotions, like she’s trying to decide just how far she’s willing to go to keep everyone around us believing we’re a real couple.
I open my mouth to say something dumb like, ‘we don’t need to do this,’ but then she closes the distance.