Christine blinked awake, disoriented for a moment at the unfamiliar surroundings. The something—someone—moved next to her and the previous night came flooding back.
She turned to find Gavin asleep next to her, lying chest down with his hair rumpled and a shadow of stubble covering his jaw. Somehow they’d both ended up under the covers. He still wore his white T-shirt, and she was in her dress. The last thing she remembered was James Bond being served a shaken-not-stirred martini.
Now pale light spilled in from the room’s picture window. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Seven in the morning.
Well, she’d successfully missed the end of the reception, but if she didn’t leave quickly, she might run into the Fortunado family heading to breakfast.
With as little movement as possible, she slipped out of the bed. Gavin made a snuffling sound but didn’t wake. Christine grabbed her shoes and purse. Without bothering to look in the mirror, she let herself out of the room.
She didn’t need to see her reflection to know that she wasn’t a pretty sight. She had no intention of allowing Gavin to see her this way, either.
The door closed with a soft snick, and she turned, only to come face-to-face with Valene, the baby of the Fortunado clan.
Her brown eyes widened. “Hey, Christine.”
Christine smoothed a hand over her tumbling hair. “Hi, Val. Going to work out?”
Valene wore athletic shorts and a fitted tank top. Earbuds dangled from either side of her head. Her wavy blond hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. “Yeah. How about you?” One delicate brow rose. “That’s Gavin’s room, right?”
“Is it?” Christine’s voice was a croak.
“And you’re wearing the same dress from the wedding last night,” Valene pointed out, none too helpfully as far as Christine was concerned. “Schuyler said Gavin left the reception early because he wasn’t feeling well.”
“I think he’s okay now,” Christine answered, purposely ignoring the question in the other woman’s dark eyes. “Well, I should be going. Have a great day.”
Without waiting for a response, she hurried down the hall, only taking a few steps before realizing that she’d be waiting for the elevator with Valene. Why did decisions made late at night rarely hold up to the light of day?
She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed the sign for the stairs, pushing open the door and racing down four flights. The stairwell led out to the parking garage. She shoved her feet back into the heels and made it to her Subaru hatchback and then away from the hotel without seeing anyone else she knew.
Thank heaven for small favors.
Quite small since she understood that although Valene had been shocked enough to allow Christine to escape this morning, there would be no avoiding the Fortunado sisters for long. Valene worked out of the real estate agency’s Houston office but visited Austin regularly to help with establishing a new client base. Even if she didn’t see Valene right away, the sisters would talk. Gavin seemed sure they didn’t have anything to worry about, but Christine remained unconvinced.
Walking into her condo, she was greeted with an enthusiastic bark. Diana trotted toward her, tail wagging and ears pricked up. Christine smiled despite her tumbling emotions. Nothing like unconditional love to work as a distraction.
“Hey, girl.” Christine crouched down to love on the dog. “Did Jackson take good care of you last night?” At ten years old, Diana was fairly mellow and low maintenance. As she did on nights when she worked late, Christine had asked her neighbor’s preteen son to dog-sit Diana.
The dog pressed her head against Christine and gave a soft snort, making the tension in her shoulders lessen slightly. “Let me shower and change, and we’ll go for a walk.”
The dog turned in a happy circle at the mention of her favorite word.
“You would not believe the night I had,” Christine said as she placed her purse on the counter and headed for the bathroom, Diana following close on her heels. The dog had been her roommate and companion for so long, she thought nothing of carrying on a one-sided conversation.
She told Diana about Gavin and their arrangement. The dog inclined her head, as if truly listening. Christine was grateful for the sympathetic canine ear. Most of her girlfriends were in the real estate industry or knew the Fortunados, so she couldn’t share the arrangement with any of them.
Her sister would have a field day giving Christine grief about only being able to find a fake boyfriend. Even as adults, their relationship was fraught with teasing, all one-sided. Christine had never allowed herself to think much of it, although it was strange that they couldn’t seem to shake their childhood roles.
Aimee was beautiful, popular and funny. She worked as a hairdresser in a busy salon in one of Austin’s tonier suburbs. She had tons of friends, a steady stream of rich boyfriends and remained the apple of their father’s eye. Yet she never seemed to tire of pointing out Christine’s shortcomings.
It had been easier when Christine lived in Houston. She’d come up with plenty of excuses over the years as to why she could only return to Austin once or twice a year for family functions.
But now that she’d moved back to her hometown, her mother made it clear she expected to see more of her.
After her shower, she dressed in a sweatshirt and loose jeans, laced up her sneakers and headed out the door with Diana. As always, the dog was thrilled to check out the scents along the walking trail situated about a block from the condo.
Christine waved to neighbors and tried to keep her thoughts from straying to Gavin. Why had she agreed to be his pretend girlfriend?
She had no answer, other than the fact that it was her best—and possibly only—chance of ever spending time with him.
Maybe that was a good enough reason.
Diana whined softly as they got to the open meadow that bordered the trail. Christine unclipped the dog’s leash, and Diana sped off to investigate the nearby trees.
Christine’s phone dinged, and she pulled it out of her pocket, drawing in a quick breath at the text message.
I missed you this morning. Talk soon?
She and Gavin had exchanged numbers in his hotel room, but it still shocked her to see his name on the screen.
How to respond?
Last night had been one of the best of her life, even though nothing had happened between them. Okay, she was disappointed nothing had happened. She’d spent the night in a man’s bed and all he’d done was snuggle her. Did that say more about Gavin or her? She was afraid the answer was the latter.
Yes, she knew he respected her and she’d heard him tell his sister that Christine was special. Now, that felt like an excuse for keeping things basically platonic between them.
But he missed her.
That was a good sign, right?
She tapped in the start of several responses and almost immediately deleted each of them. Too sweet. Too trite. Trying too hard.
Finally, she sent a smiley-face emoji.
And immediately regretted it. Her mother sent smiley-face emojis about everything. All Christine needed was to add an “LOL” along with several exclamation points and she’d officially become the fuddy-duddy she was afraid might be her destiny.
Diana barked at a squirrel, and Christine pocketed the phone with a sigh. She wasn’t sure what she’d gotten herself into with Gavin Fortunado, but there was no doubt she was in over her head.
“Where’s Christine?”
Gavin made a show of checking his watch as Schuyler dropped into the chair next to him. For the morning-after brunch she’d traded her bridesmaid dress for a pair of slim trousers and a pale pink sweater, her blond hair in a low ponytail. He had the sudden urge to tug on it, as he had to annoy her when they were kids. “It’s ten o’clock. Isn’t that too early for an interrogation?”
“One question does not an interrogation make,” she countered, forking up a piece of pineapple and popping it into her mouth.
“Hey, you two.” His youngest sister, Valene, slipped into the chair on his other side. She wore a gray sheath dress and an understated pendant necklace around her neck. When had the baby of the family grown up so much? “What’s the deal with you and Christine?” she asked Gavin.
He glared at Schuyler. “So much for keeping things on the down low.”
“I didn’t say anything,” she told him, arching a brow at Valene.
“She didn’t need to.” Val sipped her glass of orange juice. “I caught Christine doing the walk of shame from your room this morning on my way to work out.”
“Seriously?” Schuyler demanded, eyes narrowing. But to Gavin’s utter shock, her stare was focused on Valene and not him. “You worked out already? Stop making me feel like a slacker, Val.”
Val rolled her eyes and winked at Gavin. “So...”
“She wasn’t doing the walk of shame,” Gavin said through clenched teeth, wishing for something stronger than coffee in his china cup.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Valene told him, ignoring Schuyler’s continued glare. “I approve. She’s a definite improvement over that bimbo you were dating when I came to Denver last year.”
“She’s probably too good for you,” Schuyler added absently. “How did you get her to take you on in the first place?”
“Feels like an interrogation,” Gavin muttered under his breath.
Schuyler chuckled. “You know I’m joking. You’re a catch, Gavin.”
“It’s just a surprise that you’ve let yourself be caught.” Valene bit into a slice of bagel slathered with cream cheese.
“I don’t want to talk about this with either of you.” He inclined his head toward the rest of the family, who were gathered around Maddie and Zach on the other side of the room. “Especially not here.”
“You need our expertise,” Schuyler told him. “Christine is amazing. She’s the kind of woman...”
“I’d want at my side for always,” Gavin whispered, unaware that he’d spoken aloud until both of his sisters gasped.
Schuyler grabbed his arm. “Are you saying...”
“Did you ask her to marry you?” Valene leaned closer. “Are you and Christine engaged?”
Gavin felt his Adam’s apple bob in his throat as he swallowed hard. “I didn’t say that.”
“It’s true, though. I can tell by the look in your eyes.” Valene let out a little squeal of delight then lifted her bagel and smiled blandly at the group sitting at the next table. “Try the blueberry cream cheese. It’s amazing.”
“Can you two be more obvious?” Gavin tugged his arm out of Schuyler’s grasp.
“You’re getting married,” Schuyler told him, and he didn’t dare contradict her. “You can’t keep it a secret.”
Fake dating to fake engaged in twenty-four hours. His stomach pitched as he thought about Christine’s reaction to this new development.
“And there’s no reason to.” Valene dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin. “Everyone loves Christine.”
“She’s a private person,” he said, realizing the excuse sounded lame.
Schuyler nodded just the same. “I get that, but she’s like one of the family to us. She’s going to be one of the family soon. How soon? Have you set a date?”
He shook his head, trying to reel in his thoughts. What was he doing here? “Not yet. We didn’t want to take any attention from Maddie and Zach.”
Both of his sisters nodded in agreement.
“I’m sure that was Christine’s idea,” Valene said. “She’s so thoughtful. We’ll make sure she knows how welcome she is.” She looked past him, her eyes widening. “Oh, they brought out a fresh tray of pastries. I need to get to them before Everett and Connor snag the best ones.” She pushed back from the table. “I’ll be right back. Who wants a donut?”
“Me.” Schuyler raised her hand. “Bring one for Gavin, too. He’s probably hangry and hungover.”
“I’m neither,” he said, although his head was starting to ache. Was it too early for a shot? “But I’ll take a Bloody Mary, please.”
Valene laughed as she walked away.
Schuyler wasted no time. She turned to Gavin and started in on him again. “Christine is going to get the wrong impression if you try to keep her a secret much longer, especially since you’re in Austin for the rest of the month. She needs to start wedding planning, and I can help. Think about it, Gavin. She’s going to be your wife. I get the business about being private, but if you make her feel like everything’s okay, she’ll believe it.”
“Do you think I haven’t?”
“I think you don’t have much experience with a woman who you can be proud to bring home to Mom and Dad.”
“That’s not—” Gavin stopped, ran a hand through his hair. It was exactly the truth. Even though his relationship with Christine was a complete fake, he hadn’t dated anyone with her amount of class and elegance in years. Christine was the kind of woman a man thought of spending his life with, and Gavin’s stomach pitched at the realization.
“Bring her to the family reunion,” Schuyler told him, breaking into his tumbling thoughts.
“What family reunion?”
“The one I’m planning to introduce everyone to the new Fortunes.”
He shook his head. “I thought we were the new Fortunes.”
She leaned forward, her eyes dancing with excitement. “There are more, Gavin. Dad has a half brother, Miles. He lives in New Orleans and has seven kids. Ben and Keaton put me in touch with the youngest son, Nolan. He’s recently moved to Austin.”
Ben Fortune Robinson had spearheaded the search for his illegitimate siblings after discovering that his tech mogul father was really Jerome Fortune, who’d faked his death years earlier. Jerome reinvented himself as Gerald Robinson and built his tech empire, but in recent years the family’s focus had been on their new siblings. Keaton Whitfield, a British architect who was now living in Austin, had been the first of the secret illegitimate Fortunes Ben had tracked down. Together, the two of them had worked to uncover Gerald’s other grown children and bring them into the fold.
Schuyler was the Fortune expert as far as Gavin was concerned, so he knew from her that Gerald’s estranged wife, Charlotte, had actually known about his other children for the duration of their marriage and hidden the information from everyone. To learn there were even more previously unknown Fortunes out there... Gavin didn’t know what to think.
“Schuyler, last year you were the one who wasn’t sure if the Fortunes could be trusted. That was the whole basis for you infiltrating the family through the Mendozas.”
She smiled wistfully. “Thank heavens for that brilliant idea. Otherwise, I never would have met Carlo.”
“Can we keep on topic?” Gavin asked. Once again he wondered what it would have felt like to grow up an only child.
“We have to welcome the New Orleans Fortunes into the family, just like the Robinsons did for us. They’re as innocent in all the family intrigue as we were, but we can’t deny the connection. I’m going to make sure it goes well.” She rubbed her hands together. “The reunion is going to be held at the Mendoza Winery. Nolan seems like a good guy. He promised he’d get his brothers and sisters to attend. I’m not sure about his parents yet, but I’m still hopeful.”
“You never give up,” Gavin murmured with a smile.
“It’s one of my best traits,” she answered. “I think the Fortune Robinson siblings are going to come, as well. I talked to Ben last week and he seemed amenable to the idea.”
“What does Dad think of all this?”
Schuyler shrugged. “He’s going back to enjoying his retirement after Maddie and Zach return from their mini-honeymoon, but I know he’s curious about our new extended family. He and Mom have agreed to drive up and meet everyone. We’ll all be here. Except maybe Connor. I’m not sure about his schedule and you know how dedicated he is to the search firm. He promised to try. Either way, the rest of the Fortunados will show a united front in welcome.”
“It looks like you’ve worked out all the details.”
“I’m doing my best. Now that Maddie’s happily married, I can turn even more of my attention to the reunion.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “And to making sure you don’t mess things up with Christine before your big day.”
I can’t mess up something that doesn’t really exist, Gavin thought to himself. Although he wasn’t sure that rationale actually held water. It felt as if he’d already made a huge misstep by asking her to enter into a fake relationship.
He actually liked Christine quite a bit. More than he’d expected and definitely more than he had any other woman he’d recently dated. But it would complicate things if he tried to turn their pretend love into something real. Plus, despite what his sisters now believed, he still barely knew her. There was no explaining the connection he felt between them, yet he couldn’t deny it.
“Don’t tell me you’ve already done something stupid,” Schuyler said, studying his face.
“No,” he answered automatically then schooled his features. His sister was far too perceptive for his own good.
“You’ll bring her to the reunion?” she asked again.
“You know she wants to keep our relationship private,” Gavin argued weakly. “A Fortune reunion is the least private activity I can imagine.”
Schuyler waved away his concern. “Valene saw her leaving your room, so someone else might have, as well. Besides, she’ll want to start planning the wedding. Does she have a dress yet?”
“Um...I don’t think so.”
“Val and I will take her shopping. We have to plan the perfect bridal shower, too.”
“Slow down, Schuyler.” Gavin held up a hand like he was giving a command to an eager puppy. “All of this is going to overwhelm her. I don’t want that. Even though we’re engaged, Christine and I are going to take things at our own pace. If she wants—”
“You’re in Austin until the end of the month, right?” his sister interrupted.
“Yes.”
“Then it’s no longer a long-distance romance where you can sweep her off to Colorado and have her all to yourself.” She speared a piece of melon from her plate. “I assume that’s what you’ve been doing. Unless you’ve been secretly coming to Austin for clandestine dates? Where did you get engaged, anyway?”
Gavin’s heart started to leap in his chest. There were so many moving parts in this situation. He needed to talk to Christine to make sure they both kept them all straight. Hell, he wanted to talk to Christine again just to hear her voice.
“Colorado,” he told his sister, deciding it was best to stay away from any pesky details. “Everything has been in Colorado.”
“That makes sense,” she agreed.
Good thing it did to someone.
“Austin is different than a lot of places. It’s a big small town in some ways. You know that. It would be silly for you to try to keep things a secret, and I doubt it would work anyway. If you talk to Mom and Dad, they’ll understand, but you can’t keep trying to hide it. Mom will drive you crazy with attempts to nose into your love life, anyway.”
Gavin pointed his fork at Schuyler. “I guess you get it honestly.”
“Does that mean you’ll bring Christine to the reunion?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Gavin saw Everett and Lila approaching the table. He might have to take his sister’s advice and go public with his relationship with Christine, but he didn’t intend to reveal it this morning. “I’ll invite her,” he promised, “but the decision whether to attend will be hers.”
“Oh, we can convince her,” Schuyler assured him with a smile.
“No pressure,” he said, pushing back from the table. “I mean it. I don’t want you or Maddie or Valene to make her feel like she has to accept.”
“Gavin, you have a protective side when it comes to your future bride.” Schuyler grinned. “It’s adorable.”
He shook his head. “I’m going to talk to Mom and Dad. Let me tell them about Christine and the engagement, okay?”
“Sure,” Schuyler agreed. “But I’ve already told you, the family loves her as much as you obviously do. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Gavin’s stomach pitched at the mention of the L word. Those four letters were definitely cause for concern. Fearing that Schuyler would be able to read his emotions, he turned to greet Everett and Lila then made his way toward the rest of the family at the other side of the room.
He knew he needed to talk to his parents about Christine but didn’t relish the thought of lying to them outright about his relationship. He told himself it would be better if he waited to speak to his dad in private. Although guilt sat heavy in his gut, he made it through the rest of the brunch then retreated back to his room, changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants and headed out for a run.
He expected to miss the bright sunshine and crisp air in Colorado but it felt good to be back in Texas. After a four-mile loop around downtown Austin, he showered, changed and then texted Christine to see if she could have dinner.
The challenge was knowing what to call the invitation. A fake date? A business meeting? In the end, he left it at “Want to grab dinner?”
His chest constricted when her return text lit up his screen. She had plans for the evening. Should he read more into the terse message? Was she angry that he’d texted instead of phoning? Could she be regretting their agreement enough to call off their arrangement?
Disappointment crashed through him, both because she wasn’t available and due to the thought of her possibly backing out of the pretend relationship.
This discontent was new for him. Gavin didn’t usually allow himself much time for reflection or self-analysis. Deep thoughts weren’t really his deal. As a middle child in a big family, he’d learned early on that the best way to get noticed was action as opposed to introspection, which suited his restless nature just fine.
He’d climbed trees, raced his bike along dirt paths and generally careened through his childhood with an abandon that seemed to both amuse and terrify his parents. He knew they’d been happy when he finally settled on law school, and the constant challenges in his professional life kept his adrenaline moving just like the extreme sports he loved. But lately mastering even the most technical ski slopes hadn’t been taxing enough to help him feel settled at the end of the day. Not like he had spending the night with Christine curled next to him.
He had friends in Austin who would be up for a night out, but the idea of going out with anyone but his fake girlfriend held no appeal. In the end, he pulled out his laptop and got to work preparing for the meeting he had scheduled with the firm’s client next week.
His fingers itched to call Christine, but she hadn’t given him any indication in her text that she wanted to talk to him. Not even a smiley-face emoji like the one she’d sent earlier. The simple plan for getting his family to stay out of his love life was already far more complicated than he’d expected.