Fake Fiancée for Dad’s Best Friend by Gena Snow

Chapter 27

Alex

 

 

 

 

I close the door of the bridal suite behind me and walk toward the elevator. I don’t linger because if I do, I’ll never be able to get out of here. My heart wants me to stay with Vivian, at least until she gets to the airport. But my head tells me it’s a bad idea. If I did that, I would beg her not to leave me. I would ask her to forget Paris and work for me as long as she wished. I could get her to the best fashion arts program in New York if she had to have a master’s degree. But what I really have in mind is to ask her to make our marriage real and start a family with me.

Mark is waiting for me in front of the hotel. I get in the car and sit brooding.

I’ve fallen hard for this beautiful, talented, and fiery little girl in the past months, and life without her will not be worth living. At least it’s how I feel at the moment.

I’m confident she’ll agree to my request. I know it from the way she looks at me and the way her body responds to me. She wants me as much as I want her. And it isn’t just physical attractions. There are nights we lie in bed late to discuss the books we both read. We share our opinions on fashion trends, and I teach her things she hasn’t learned from school, namely, how to be competitive in the fashion industry.

Nights will be lonely from now on, without her next to me in my bed, to talk to me and to make love to me. I almost blurted out my selfish request last night during our passionate moment. I wasn’t joking when I told her I wanted to live inside her.

But doing it would be selfish. I shouldn’t be in her way to pursue her dreams. The very reason she volunteered to be my fake fiancée was because she wanted to go to Paris, right? True, she might have a bit of a crush on me, but it was history.

 

The morning passes quickly, mostly because my head is in a haze.

Nothing holds my interest anymore. My dad’s words again ring in my ear. Family. Family. Family. Yes, it’s all we live for. Without it, everything I do or have is meaningless.

“How’s the groom?” Connie asks me cheerily when I’m back in my office. But when she sees my face, her smile fades. “You don’t look well.”

My marriage isn’t public news, but Connie attended the wedding.

“I’m fine,” I say, forcing a smile. Except I miss my bride.

She rolls her eyes. Connie has been with me for more than a decade, and she probably seldom sees my lack of motivation like this. “I don’t know anyone who leaves their bride the day after their wedding, especially a young, beautiful thing like Vivian. If I were you, I would put everything aside and go to Paris with her.”

Her comment hits my sore spot. I sigh. “It’s complicated, Connie. You don’t know the whole story.”

“Oh?” Her eyes light up. “Then enlighten me!”

I hesitate. I’ve made a point not to share personal stories with my staff. But then, Connie is almost like a family. Besides, I’m desperate and there isn’t anyone I can tell. Hell, I’m keeping it a secret from my very best friend, John.

So, I gesture her to sit down and pour out my agony at her.

Connie’s mouth falls to the floor when I stop talking, and then she blinks. “You are a good liar, sir!”

“I know. I’m sorry to invite you to a wedding that isn’t even real.”

“That’s not what I mean,” she says.

Now it’s my turn to blink. “What do you mean?”

“You’re saying what’s between you and Vivian is all pretended, right?”

I shrug. “Yes.”

“That is a lie, a very bad one.”

“Well, I do have feelings for her, if that’s what you want to say….”

She shakes her head. “Not just feelings, Alex. You’re crazy about the girl. I saw it with my own eyes. The way you looked at her like you couldn’t wait to tuck her into your pocket so no one else can even look at her.”

“That’s ridiculous.” I chuckle to hide my embarrassment. Was I that obvious?

“I am certainly not! And I wasn’t the only one who saw it.  Many women were jealous of your bride, including Trisha. The woman looked as if she wanted to eat your bride alive!”

“Really? I miss that,” I say, wondering for a moment whether she exaggerated. Trisha looked well-behaved last night.

The phone on her desk rings and she stands up to answer it, but before she leaves, she says to me, “If I were you, I would take a vacation now and go to Paris.”

She picks up the phone and tells the caller to hold, and then she turns back to say while covering the receiver, “If you don’t trust yourself, at least trust me. I’ve never seen you happier in the past month and I guess it’s because of Vivian. And it says a lot about your feelings for her, doesn’t it?”

She closes the door behind her, leaves me to chew on her words. Damn. She’s right. I am such a fool to let Vivian be out of my life just like that.