Pretend You’re Mine: A curvy girl romance Read online

  Pretend You’re Mine

  A curvy girl romance

  River Laurent

  Pretend You’re Mine

  Copyright © 2019 by River Laurent

  The right of River Laurent to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the copyright, designs and patent act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  All characters in this publication are fictitious, any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  978-1-911608-34-9

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  1. Dane

  2. Dane

  3. Dane

  4. Savannah

  5. Savannah

  6. Savannah

  7. Savannah

  8. Savannah

  9. Savannah

  10. Savannah

  11. Savannah

  12. Savannah

  13. Savannah

  14. Savannah

  15. Dane

  16. Savannah

  17. Savannah

  18. Savannah

  19. Dane

  20. Savannah

  21. Savannah

  22. Dane

  23. Savannah

  24. Dane

  25. Savannah

  26. Savannah

  27. Dane

  28. Savannah

  29. Savannah

  30. Savannah

  31. Dane

  32. Savannah

  33. Savannah

  34. Savannah

  35. Dane

  36. Dane

  37. Savannah

  38. Savannah

  Come Say Hello!

  Also by River Laurent

  Acknowledgments

  Thank You

  Leanore Elliott

  Brittany Urbaniak

  Kristin Moran

  Dane

  “Oh man, I’m so tanked,” Robert said, widening his eyes and running his hands through his sandy hair.

  I was pretty gone too. It had been many years since Robert and I got drunk together. He used to be my best buddy back in Blue Rock, before I moved to the city and became a workaholic. Working all hours paid off big time, but sometimes, like now, I couldn’t help feeling as if I’d missed out on real life. Other people were out there finding their soulmates, getting married, having kids, and making memories they could cherish in their old age. While all I did was just make more and more money, I didn’t have the time to spend.

  I swirled my drink around in my glass before I downed it and cleared my throat. “Want to call it a night?”

  He pulled my empty glass towards him and poured us both a large shot of whiskey each. “Nah. I don’t know when I’ll get to drink with you again. I don’t wanna go to sleep until I can’t take it no more.”

  I lifted the glass to my lips and knocked half of it back as I studied Robert over the rim. He drained his glass and winced. For a man who was getting married in two-weeks, he didn’t seem too happy. The drunker he became the blacker his mood became. I put my glass down and caught him looking at me. “What’s up, Rob?”

  He shrugged. “I was just wondering, you know.”

  I looked at him curiously. “No. What?”

  He sighed heavily, then stared into his glass like all of his troubles were in the bottom of it. “Nah, forget it.”

  “Spit it out, man. You look like you’re about to choke on it.”

  He straightened his spine and looked me dead in the eye. “What was it like when you were with Catherine?”

  My eyes nearly popped out of my head. Where in God’s name did that come from? And how the hell was I supposed to answer that? Catherine and I were ancient history. To be honest, I could barely remember what she even looked like. Heck, I might not even recognize her if I saw her again.

  “Well?” he prompted.

  I frowned. “It was okay, I guess. But it was so long ago, Rob. We were just kids with raging hormones.”

  “But what was she like?” he insisted. “I mean, was she loving, aloof, clingy?”

  I stared at him. “What’s this about, Rob?”

  “I’m just asking,” he said defensively.

  “Asking what exactly?”

  He dropped his head into his palms, like a man with the weight of the whole world on his shoulders.

  I stared at him with alarm. “What’s going on, Rob?”

  He lifted his head and looked at me sadly. “I think Catherine is still in love with you.”

  “What?” I sputtered in disbelief,

  “It’s true, Dane. I’ve tried to pretend it’s not true, but I’m not a fool. I know she still has—has feelings for you.”

  “You’re wrong. We had nothing. It was just sex.”

  He grimaced as if it pained him to think of Catherine and me having sex.

  “Listen, Rob. I assure you that it was just a passing thing. It meant nothing for either of us.”

  Lines collected on his forehead. “So you feel nothing for her?”

  “Hell, no.”

  “Not even a bit?” There was a lot of hope hanging on those four words.

  I shook my head hard enough to start a throbbing pain in my temples. I resisted the urge to press them and focused on Robert’s glum face. “Look. I don’t know where you got the idea she still has feelings for me, but it’s not right. Catherine and I haven’t even spoken to each other since I left Blue Rock.”

  “She keeps asking about you, though,” he muttered miserably.

  I rubbed the back of my neck tiredly. The throbbing was getting worse. We had a great meal together and this was not at all how I envisioned the night ending. “How can you be so sure? Maybe you just think that because of our history.”

  He shook his head. “It's the way she talks about you. If I bring you up, she gets this little smile on her lips like she's thinking about every fond memory the two of you have ever shared.”

  "Have you talked to her about it?"

  Robert shrugged. "I have no idea how to bring that up. She says she loves me and I believe she does, but this thing she has for you., it’s unsettling. It's why I waited so long to even tell you that I was getting married. I had that invitation in my pocket for months."

  "Robert, I really don't think you have anything to worry about," I said.

  "Oh, yeah? How can you know that for sure? What if she sees you and suddenly thinks I'm a pale imitation of you?"

  “That’s crazy.”

  He shook his head mournfully. “No, it’s not crazy. I’m really worried she only got with me to keep close to you. And I’m terrified that when she sees you again, I mean look at you, she might…” He swallowed hard. “Leave me at the altar for you.”

  My jaw dropped. “Jesus, Rob. What the fuck are you talking about?”

  Dane

  At that point, he let his head fall into his hands and started sobbing quietly. “Promise me, you won’t run off with her, man. Please, Dane. I love her so much. She’s everything to me. Catherine’s the only woman I ever wanted. I loved her even when she was your girl. I’d give anything up for her. Heck, I’d die for that woman.”

  I stared at his lowered head in shock.

  He looked up at me, his eyes wild with emotion. “Promise me, man. Swear to me you won’t tempt her. You won’t flirt with her just for old time’s sake, or get too friendly with her
. I hate to ask you this, but I’m desperate. I stood back last time and watched you have her, but now it’s my turn. I love her and you don’t. I’m the one who is going to be there for her when she gets old and no one else wants her. Shit. I can’t believe I’m saying all this to you, but it’s the God’s honest truth and I don’t know what else to do.”

  I stared at him in complete shock. I’d never realized he’d been carrying such a soul-destroying idea in his head all these years. Heck, the whole time I was with Catherine, I never even knew he was in love with her. To think of him suffering silently with the thought that the woman he was crazy about and wanted to marry was still in love with me made me feel sad.

  He sighed deeply and flashed his world class puppy dog eyes at me.“God, if only you had a wife you could bring along. Then she’d know you were off limits.”

  There was a moment of pure silence. We stared at each other, then I heard myself say, “I have a fiancée…if that would help.”

  “What?” he asked, his whole face lighting up like a fucking one hundred-watt lamp.

  “I have a fiancée,” I repeated blankly.

  “Really? How come you never mentioned her before?”

  I felt sick to my stomach. It’d been a long time since I’d drunk this much and I hated lying. “Yeah, I was going to tell you about her…soon.”

  “Soon?”

  “Uh, I guess, I didn’t want to steal your thunder with my announcement.”

  “No way, but that’s wonderful news, man!” he exclaimed excitedly.

  I swallowed the stone in my throat. “Yeah. Wonderful.”

  His cheeks were still wet with tears, but he straightened his spine and smiled from ear to ear. “So when’s the big day?”

  “Oh, not for some time yet,” I replied airily.

  “But still, that’s amazing news, Dane. You’ll bring her along to the wedding, won’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  He leaned forward and gave me a conspiratorial wink. “So what’s she like?”

  "She's great. Smart, funny, sexy as hell," I rambled off, but for some odd reason it made me think about the type of woman I wanted. I had a thing for women with a bit of an attitude, the ones that wouldn't let you forget who they were and stood up for themselves. If she could stand on her own two feet and not take any shit, I would love that. I smiled as I thought about my perfect woman until Robert snapped his fingers in front of my face. I shook my head.

  "You were gone for a minute there." Rob laughed. "She must be really great if she's got you smiling like that."

  "She's amazing." And completely fucking fictional. What was really amazing was how I had backed myself into such an impossible corner. I'd done some crazy things in my life, and now making up a fake fiancée was one of them.

  “Has she met the family yet?” Rob asked.

  “Not yet.” I broke out a heroic smile. “I’m trying to keep her to myself for as long as possible.”

  “I totally understand.” He cleared his throat and coughed uncomfortably. “You know, all those things I said before, you won’t repeat them to anyone else, will you?”

  “What things?”

  “Thanks, man.” He grinned and stood. Swaying unsteadily, he looked down at me. “I guess I better crash. I don’t want to be sick on the plane”

  “Good idea. I have an early meeting first thing in the morning so I won’t wake you, but I’ll call you later in the day.”

  He nodded and lurched towards the staircase. Stopping at the bottom step, he clutched the banister, then turned around to look at me, a lop-sided smile on his face. For a second, he looked like the old Rob I knew. We had such a great time swinging off tires and jumping into freezing cold rivers, or trying to figure out what party to hit next so we could find someone to fuck us. Then the moment passed. “Thanks, Dane. I really appreciate what you’re doing for me.”

  I smiled back. “What’s a best friend for?”

  I stood and the world spun a little. Quickly, I put out a hand to steady myself and Rob sniggered. I flipped him off and he laughed. I grinned back. We’d been in this place before. I watched as he gingerly made his way up the stairs towards my guest bedroom. When I heard the dull thud of his body hitting the mattress, I staggered into my study. Trudging around the massive desk, I dropped into my chair.

  For a few moments, I did nothing. Then I lifted my feet off the floor and swiveled around to face the window. The garden was mostly in darkness, but I could see the glint of the Roman statue standing in the middle of the lake.

  Damn it to hell, I need to find myself a fake fiancée.

  Dane

  A few seconds before my alarm clock went off, I jack-knifed into a sitting position. Oh fuck, the throbbing in my head was vicious. I wanted to lay back down to cradle it quietly for a few more hours, but I had my meeting with Sanderson and his slimy lawyer… nothing less than death would have stopped me from making it. My signature was going on the dotted line of that deal, or my name was not Dane Brando.

  I flung out my hand and landed my palm on the top of the alarm as it began to blare. Without giving myself any more time to think of my own suffering, I torpedoed out of the bed and headed straight into the shower. I turned the tap to cold and gritted my teeth as freezing water poured over my head and down my body.

  It was pure torture, but it had the desired effect, the cobwebs in my brain disappeared. My body felt invigorated and alive again. Even the banging in my head seemed to lessen. I poured shampoo into my palm and massaged it into my scalp. As the suds ran down my skin I suddenly froze.

  What the fuck?

  I told Robert I was engaged and I was bringing my fiancée to his wedding. I wanted to hit myself for it. What kind of bullshit lie was that? I couldn't have thought of anything else? I kicked myself all over again, as my head throbbed.

  I changed the water temperature to warm and let the delicious warmth sluice all over me. Then I leaned against the wet tiles and shook my head at my own stupidity. What on earth was I thinking? There was no way in hell I was going to his wedding with a fake fiancée. To start with, word would get around. My mother would have a heart attack if she thought I’d got engaged without telling her. Worse, she would start nagging me all over again, about giving her grandchildren. I shuddered at the thought.

  There was only one way to do it.

  I would have to come clean and tell Robert the truth.

  I switched off the shower, toweled myself dry, and went into my dressing room. My housekeeper had already laid out my outfit for the day. I dressed and quickly made my way down the corridor to the guest bedroom. Robert hadn’t closed the door last night and as I stood in the doorway, I could see him, fully-clothed and fast asleep. His fair hair fell over his forehead making him appear young and defenseless. Suddenly, I remembered squatting in the bushes underneath Cassandra Cooper’s bedroom window. She was the young buxom divorcee in town. All the boys were crazy about her. Rob and I were ten years old and we had tired of all the porn magazines we found in Rob’s father’s garage and we wanted to see some real boobs. A glimpse was all our young hearts desired, but to our shock, she opened the window and emptied a bucket of cold water on our heads.

  Now, I remembered again the expression on Rob’s face as he gasped like a goldfish and suddenly I wanted to laugh. Then I thought of him while I was with Catherine. I never realized his hangdog expression was because he wanted to be with her. I thought of him suffering as he waited in the car while I was screwing Catherine in her bedroom. I thought of him sobbing quietly downstairs and felt like shit. If I could change it and never have dated Catherine, I would have done that, but it wasn't possible.

  I knew then, I wasn’t going to let him down.

  How difficult could it be to get someone to pretend to be my fiancée for a weekend? As I was about to turn away, Rob mumbled something in his sleep. It sounded a lot like Catherine.

  Yeah, I would find myself a fake fiancée if it was the last thing I did.

&n
bsp; * * *

  "Good morning Mr. Brando," Anna called as soon as I walked in. "I put some pain killers and water on your desk."

  I smiled at her. "You're a lifesaver. How do you always know just what I need?"

  "Psychic." She grinned, tapping her temple.

  I walked past her desk and froze before I back peddled. Anna did always have a way of getting me what I needed with no questions asked. I moved to her desk. "I need something else," I said.

  "I’m listening."

  No point beating about the bush. "I need a fake fiancée."

  Anna tilted her head to the side. "Professional?"

  I raised a brow. "You know where to find someone like that?"

  “Of course. Loads of agencies hire out-of-work actresses to cater to such occasions. You’ll be surprised how common the practice is. When do you need her for?”

  I smiled slowly. Anna really was something else. “Next weekend.”

  "What level of intimacy?" she asked, jotting something down on her pad.

  I frowned. “Zero. Just someone to look at me with doe eyes for the weekend. She might have to hold my hand in public. We’ll be staying in a cottage, so I doubt we’ll even be sharing a room, and certainly not a bed.”

  “Cool.”