Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“Jesus,” I said.
He nodded. “I’ll do the best I can. I just want something, anything good to happen to pull focus away from Cameron’s divorce.”
He shook his head, sighing.
“I’m sorry, Perry,” I said. “I wish I could help.”
He smiled softly. “If my family didn’t already know half the guys in Amberfield, I’d actually hire someone to be my fake boyfriend,” he said. “That’s how desperate I am.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “None of your family knows me,” I said.
“Of course not,” he said.
I eyed him. “Let me be your boyfriend for the reunion,” I said.
He puffed out a laugh. “Are you always this good at making people laugh?”
“No,” I said. “I mean, yes, sometimes, but I’m not joking. I’ll be your boyfriend.”
“Very funny.”
“What?”
“They’d never believe I could snag a guy like you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A firefighter? Someone outgoing and fun and attractive?”
I furrowed my brow at him. “Perry, you do realize that you’re a total catch, right?”
His cheeks were already bright red. “Stop. I can’t do something like that. Not around my family.”
“Why not?”
He let out a breath. “Want to know something? My niece and nephew have taken to calling me Foreveralone.”
“Ouch,” I said. “That’s kind of mean.”
“I know. They’re only twelve years old,” he said. “My brother has apologized to me about it profusely, but… kids aren’t afraid to say the truth, you know?”
I clicked my tongue. “I can tell you right now that you’re not going to be ‘forever alone,’ Perry.”
“Well, I hope not.”
“You’ve got way too many things going for you. Sexy silver fox chef who loves his family? Come on.”
“You forgot to mention ‘boring’ and ‘socially awkward’ and ‘spends more time in a kitchen than anywhere else.’”
“You seem pretty goddamn interesting to me,” I said.
He stared at me like a scared animal. “I can never tell when you’re joking.”
“I’m not kidding. At all,” I said. “You might be used to being on your own, but any guy would be lucky to have you.”
“Well, thanks, but that’s not how my life has gone, to say the least.”
“I’ve been somebody’s fake boyfriend before, you know,” I said, taking a step forward toward him.
“For another guy?”
“It was for a girl, a long time ago. I must have been barely twenty. She wanted a fake boyfriend to bring home for Thanksgiving.”
“And how did that turn out?”
“It was incredible,” I said. “I got a bunch of amazing free food, got to meet a big, cool family, and she got to avoid being judged.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“Was really simple, actually,” I said. “And I can absolutely do it for you.”
“That’s very sweet, Rock, but...” he trailed off, looking down at his shoes.
“It’s not sweet, it’s genius,” I said. “You get to show your family you’re not this forever-alone garbage they call you, your mom gets to focus on something else, and I get to be seen as something other than a fuck-and-flee playboy for one week of my damn life.”
The idea was sounding better and better to me.
It would be fun. It would be something for me to do while I had to be in this tiny town. I’d get to spend time with Perry, meet a big family, do something with myself other than focusing on my injury all day.
“You don’t date men, though,” Perry was saying. “What if—”
“Perry,” I said softly. “It’s not an issue. If I wasn’t comfortable with gay people, I wouldn’t be offering.”
“Being comfortable with it doesn’t mean you want to date me,” he said.
“We won’t be dating,” I said with a shrug. “We’ll be pretending.”
He paused, looking at me warily. I knew he was actually considering it, and that was a win.
“It doesn’t bother me at all,” I said. “I’ll hold a guy’s hand if it means I can eat his world-famous mac and cheese.”
He stifled a laugh. “Why does that sound so wrong?”
“Sounds so right, is more like it,” I said, grinning.
He stared at me for a long while, like I was a puzzle he was trying to decipher. “If we’re going to do this, we have to do it right. It’s going to be complicated,” he said finally. “My family is going to—”
“Are they kinda tough on newcomers?” I asked. “Because I’m sure I’ll win them over.”
He shook his head. “No. That’s not the issue.”
“What’s the problem, then?”
“The problem is that they would completely fucking love you,” he said, a glimmer in his eye.
Jackpot.
My stomach fluttered with excitement immediately. “Oh, it’s on.”
6
Perry
My hands were shaking when I pulled up in front of Red’s house a few days later to pick Rock up. I gripped the steering wheel, then let it go, pulling out my phone to text him.
>>Perry: Hey Rock, I’m here outside. You’re all set, right?
>>Rock: Hell yes. Be there in a sec, Chef.
“A sec” turned into five minutes as I idled outside the house, constantly checking the front door to make sure Red was nowhere to be seen. The last thing I needed was to see my boss right now. I felt like I was trying to make a getaway, and I wanted Rock to hurry up.