“I have a favor to ask, and I don’t think you are going to like it one bit.”
“Oh yeah?” I questioned.
“I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend.”
I laughed out loud. It started with a deep snort and then a deep belly laugh. I blotted at the tears that had formed in my eyes.
“We have hated each other for fifteen years. Do you think one single person is going to believe we are dating?” I asked, shooting down his idea.
“Sure, if we make it convincing.”
“What do you need a fake girlfriend for? You could turn those blue eyes on some poor girl at the rodeo or at the club and you could get a real girlfriend.”
Please, go do that and leave me out of the equation.
“But I need to be convincing. I need someone I can stick this out with.”
And he thought he could do that with me? The only thing we’d done for the long haul was hate each other, which was the exact opposite of what he was asking for now.
“Why?” my traitorous mouth asked.
I didn’t really want to know, because then my heart might want to help him. My head wants to scream at me about how messed up that would be.
“My father hinted that I need to get a girlfriend, someone to spend time with who will be good for me. I also want to go to the rodeo next week with an excuse not to go out and party. If I go alone, I’m afraid I will fall back into bad habits. If I go with someone I know from the clubs, I will certainly screw up.”
His reasoning was respectable, but his lack of self-control was not my problem. The only problem I had was to help him learn enough to prove he should inherit the farm. When that happened, Riley would pay for my vet school, and then we’d go about our lives, hopefully no longer enemies.
I did not want a fake relationship with Riley. Feelings would get confused, and how did you know what was real and fake? Not to mention, what if people believed it’s really true? I didn’t want to be Riley’s girlfriend. I also didn’t want them to think he was sleeping with the barn help. That wouldn’t tarnish his reputation more than he already had, but I didn’t want to be the girl known to sleep with her boss’ son.
What if things went bad and I had to leave here? I didn’t want to take that kind of reputation with me when I had to look for something else.
Fake relationships were not a good idea. I’d read way too many books and seen way too many romantic comedies. Fake relationships turned into hurt feelings or real relationships. Neither of which was something I wanted.Especially not with Riley.
“Emma, I am asking you as my friend. Well, I think, are we friends again?” he questioned.
I sighed.
“You can call me a friend, not a girlfriend. It’s not professional, and I don’t want the reputation that comes along with sleeping with the boss's son. It's not worth the talk or lost sleep.”
“I don’t mind it,” he said with a charming little smile.
“You might not, but it’s different for guys. You get to brag about a conquest, whether it happens or not. If I agree, I get to be ashamed of something that may or may not happen,” I countered.
His eyebrows raised when I saidmay or may not. I had accidentally implied there was a chance. But he decided not to call me out on that; for once, he used that brain of his.
“Okay, look, I’ll give up on that plan for now. Although I still believe that I will be able to convince you some day. It may not be today, but we have a lot of days ahead of us, Emma, and plenty of opportunities for you to change your mind.”
“Seriously, Riley, don’t hold your breath. I will have many more opportunities to bash that pretty little head of yours in than you will have to change my mind,” I countered.
“You think I’m pretty?” he asked teasingly in a high-pitched voice, pretending to be a girl.
He even batted his eyelashes for dramatic effect. I would kill for eyelashes as long as his. The way they framed his steel blue eyes was sometimes mesmerizing, if I wasn’t furious at him for one reason or another.
“Yes, you are very pretty,” I said.
He straightened up and went back to his flirty demeanor.
“Whatever you say, Emma, but when I want something, I get it.”
