Her Stand-In Fake Fiancé Read online

  “Good idea, babe,” Brynlee said, clapping her hands again. “He’s perfect.”

  Kade’s skin flushed hot and then cold as Travis and Brynlee pinpointed him as their target. Did they seriously want him to do this? And why in the heck was he still standing here instead of running out the door for safety? He heard Presley gasp and could feel her watching him. He was tempted to look at her, wanting to see if she was as intrigued by the idea as he was.

  Intrigued? Yeah, he was intrigued and not opposed to playing the part of her stand-in fiancé. Heck, Kade knew every single guy at the station would jump at the chance to be the Princess Warrior’s pretend boyfriend. Apparently, so would he.

  Chapter 3

  Presley sucked in a sharp breath and stared at Kade, trying to gauge his thoughts. She half expected him to bust out laughing and then hightail it out the door. Travis was nuts if he thought Kade would pretend to be her boyfriend, let alone pretend to be her fiancé on national television. Still, when he didn’t protest right away, a minuscule part of her heart hoped he might say yes.

  “Dude,” Kade said, running a hand through his dark, wavy hair. “Are you asking me to do it?”

  “Well, yeah,” Travis said. “You’re like a brother to her, and Presley is comfortable around you.”

  Comfortable? All she had to do was look at Kade to become hot and bothered. And brother? Please, Presley had never once thought of Kade Hunter as a brother. But crushing on him was as futile now as it was when she was seventeen. Kade was a serial dater, claiming he wasn’t in any rush to fall into the trap called marriage. He’d told Travis more than once that if there was a woman out there to make him change his mind, he hadn’t found her yet.

  “You can’t ask Kade to be my fake fiancé,” Presley said.

  “Why not?” Travis asked.

  “Yeah,” Kade said with a smirk. “Why not?”

  “Because…” I’ve been in love with you forever, and you’ll break my heart. “…because you’ve got a girlfriend.”

  “Nope,” Kade said, winking at her. “Haven’t had a girlfriend for a while now.”

  Presley opened her mouth and then compressed her lips in a flat line. Why was Kade willing to do this? There had to be a catch. “Why would you want to?” she asked, unable to hide the suspicious tone of her voice.

  His silvery blue eyes sparked with mischief as his mouth curled deliciously into a sexy half grin. “Because I’m like a brother to you, and I want to help you out.”

  She barely suppressed a sarcastic snort and wanted to call him out. Even if he didn’t know she’d had a crush on him forever, he had to know she didn’t view him as a brother.

  “This is so perfect!” Brynlee said, giving Presley a quick hug. “It’ll be just like a Hallmark Christmas movie.”

  Presley wished Brynlee would stop calling this whole thing perfect. Besides, she’d watched a lot of those Hallmark movies with Brynlee and knew how they all ended. With the couples living happily ever after. She was about to remind her exuberant future sister-in-law that this relationship was short-term and only for the interview when she remembered Zuri telling her the producers wanted a reenactment of the proposal and then a big reveal of her Prince Charming.

  “Oh no,” she said, feeling like a piece of bread was stuck in her throat. “I forgot what Zuri said the producers wanted.”

  “What do they want?” Kade asked, not looking nearly as amused as he was a few seconds ago.

  “Let me check the email she sent me.” She pulled her phone from her back pocket and tapped on the screen. Scrolling down, she ignored all the unread messages and found Zuri’s name.

  Opening the email, her stomach twisted like the pulled taffy she and Brynlee had made the week before as she read the legal jargon, which made very little sense to her. Zuri proved more helpful than usual by providing a brief summary of what was expected at the end of the message. Presley didn’t usually swear, but a mild curse word slipped out of her mouth, making Brynlee’s eyes widen, and Kade and Travis laugh.

  “It must be bad,” Travis snickered. “Let me see.” Her brother snatched the phone out of her hand and started reading the legal crap out loud.

  “Read the last paragraph,” Presley said. “You’ll see why this just got a whole lot more complicated than a plus one.”

  As Travis read through Zuri’s summary, Presley covertly watched Kade’s expression slip from entertained all the way down to terrified. He looked up sharply, and their eyes met for several intense seconds.

  “They want to film us spending Christmas together?” he asked, his usual olive skin tone looking a little on the green side. “And then reenact our engagement?”

  It was silly to get her feelings hurt over his reaction. She felt exactly the same way. Still, seeing his obvious aversion made her want to cry. Presley didn’t cry. At least not easily.

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said, feeling hot tears press against the back of her eyes. “I’m not signing any contract.” Her voice warbled with unwanted emotion, so she gently cleared her throat. “I’ll message Zuri and tell her she needs to fix this mess.”

  She held out her hand for her phone, but Travis didn’t give it to her. Presley recognized the fierce protectiveness on his face. Her brother was the best and hated seeing her hurt. “Hold on a sec,” he said, holding it up out of her reach. “Let’s talk about this before we make any rash decisions.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” Presley said. “I’m planning on spending Christmas with you and Bryn at her family’s house in Oceanside.” She glanced at Kade. “And Travis said you’re going home to Santa Monica for Christmas, so that’s that.”

  “Not going home,” Kade said, some of the color coming back into his handsome face. “We’re spending Christmas at my stepdad’s cabin in Big Bear Lake.”

  “Okay,” Presley said, not sure why that mattered. “I hope you have fun.”

  “Why don’t you go with Kade?” Brynlee asked. “I’m sure Kade’s family would love to have you.”

  Presley shook her head so violently that her hair whipped around her face. “They don’t know me that well,” she said, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. In fact, she’d only met Kade’s mom once. The woman was beautiful and a little bit scary. Someone as sophisticated as she was wouldn’t want someone like Presley for a daughter-in-law. Presley only owned like three dresses. The rest of her wardrobe consisted of jeans, tees, and yoga pants.

  Moistening her lips, Presley darted another look at Kade. He was watching her closely, a small smile playing at his mouth. “Can we just forget this?” she asked, hoping he’d readily agree with her.

  Before he had a chance to answer her, Brynlee spoke up again. “Trav, is there anyone else at the station who would be willing to do it then?”

  “Maybe,” Travis said at the same time Kade said a resounding no.

  Everyone turned to look at him. “What?” Kade said, shrugging his shoulders. “I have Christmas off this year, and my family won’t mind if I bring a girl home with me.” He grinned. “My sisters will be forced to lay off finding me a girlfriend, so it’s a win-win.”

  “Perfect,” Brynlee said for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight. “Okay, so how are you proposing to Presley?”

  “Uh, I have no idea.” Kade looked uncomfortable again and didn’t meet Presley’s gaze directly. “I would never do anything as elaborate as you,” he said, turning to Travis.

  Again, it was silly to get her feelings hurt. This wasn’t a real engagement. But someday, if Presley decided to get married, she hoped the man would be just like her brother. And what girl didn’t want her future husband to go all out when he proposed?

  “You don’t have to do anything big, just romantic like maybe sitting in front of the fire or having a nice candlelit dinner,” Brynlee said. Turning to Travis, she kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for going all out for me, by the way.” She palmed Travis’s jaw as she gazed lovingly into his eyes. “I love you s
o much.”

  Brynlee’s diamond ring caught the overhead light and sparkled like the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree Gus’s wife had put up right after Thanksgiving. Shoot, what was Presley supposed to do for a ring? This was getting way too complicated. She couldn’t afford to buy a fake engagement ring. Travis couldn’t either. She doubted Kade wanted to blow a thousand dollars on a ring.

  “I love you too,” Travis said before covering Brynlee’s mouth with his own.

  Everything inside Presley froze as she watched the newly engaged couple kiss. Kissing was a normal thing between two people who loved each other. Did that mean Kade would have to kiss her? More than once? She could barely draw in her next breath as she dared to sneak a look at him and found him watching her again.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Presley said, her voice catching on the last word. “I’ll figure something out.”

  “You’re not getting one of the other guys at the station to do it,” Kade said, his eyes narrowing with annoyance. “I’ve got your brother’s back, and he’s got mine.” He smiled, softening the hard lines of his face. “This will help me too. I’m serious when I say my sisters are always after me to get a girlfriend.”

  “Won’t they be upset when you bring home a fiancée instead of just a girlfriend?”

  “Nah, they’ll be too happy I brought a girl home to be mad at me.” He shrugged. “My mom is just as bad and is always pressing me about when I plan on growing up to start a family.”

  “You’ve never brought a girl home?” she asked, not sure why that mattered so much to her.

  “No, I’ve brought a few home, mainly to appease my sisters and to keep my mom’s matchmaking schemes at bay.”

  Before Presley could ask him for further details, her cell phone pinged an incoming text. Since Travis still had her phone, he was the first one to read it. “It’s from Zuri,” he said, scanning the message. “Guess she’s pretty confident you’re on board with all of this.” Travis shook his head and handed Presley the phone. “She wants to know if you’ve signed the contract yet and what you and your fiancé’s plans are for Christmas so she can schedule it with the network.”

  Presley read over the message again, her mind still stuck on the girls that Kade brought home. He must have liked them enough to let his family meet them. Glancing up, she met Kade’s eyes. “Are you sure you don’t need to think about this before I reply?”

  He considered her for a long moment, a slight wrinkle to his brow. “I want to help you, Presley, but this is your call.” He nodded his chin at Travis and Brynlee. “Don’t let any of us pressure you into something you don’t want to do.”

  “He’s right, sis,” Travis said. “This is your call.”

  Three messages pinged one after another. The first one was a screenshot of Zuri’s post about Presley’s secret engagement and the big reveal on the kick-off special. It had thousands of likes already and almost just as many comments. The second one showed how many times followers had retweeted the news about the big reveal. The third one was a text from Zuri, begging Presley not to blow this deal. A fourth message came through, followed by a row of praying hands emojis.

  Zuri: One of the producers asked if I was willing to move to LA for a job possibility. This is so big for both of us!

  It might be Presley’s call, but things had escalated so quickly that it was beyond her control. Posting a picture of Travis proposing to Brynlee wasn’t going to fix this. Not without making Zuri look totally incompetent. Gus worried about his niece enough as it was. He was so grateful Presley was giving the girl a chance. Kade was willing to help out, plus he said it would benefit him too. So, really, Presley was the one who would get hurt if this whole thing went South.

  Making a decision she hoped she wouldn’t live to regret, she sent Zuri a message that she would sign the contract electronically. She also added she was spending Christmas in Big Bear, California.

  Zuri: Did you find someone to be your fiancé?

  Presley: Yes

  Zuri: Congratulations! I can’t wait to meet him.

  Dumbfounded, Presley stared at the last message, trying to figure out if Zuri was honestly insane or just incredibly optimistic. Either way, this thing was going down, and there was no way for her to jump ship.

  Chapter 4

  Without any hesitation, Kade fought fires, scaled mountains, and repelled out of helicopters to rescue people. But taking Presley home for Christmas was more terrifying than any of those things. It was too late to back out now. He’d already committed to pose as her fiancé or her plus one as Brynlee liked to refer to it whenever Presley started to panic about the whole thing.

  Kade pulled into the visitor’s parking space near Presley’s condo and cut the engine. He leaned across the passenger seat and unlocked the glove box, taking the black velvet ring box out. He still wasn’t sure why he hadn’t turned around to take it home. Shortly after he left his condo, Presley texted him that she’d found her mother’s wedding ring, so there wasn’t a need for him to bring the diamond engagement ring his paternal grandmother had given Kade before she died. The one-carat solitaire was set in a platinum wedding band with a row of diamonds inlaid on either side of the center diamond.

  Grandma Hunter had withheld the ring from Neil, her only son, and Kade’s birth father when he’d married his high school girlfriend, Marilyn. The circumstances surrounding Kade’s parents’ marriage wasn’t a love match. Kade’s mom had gotten pregnant with him her senior year in high school, and Neil Hunter had complained about being trapped in marriage right up until the day he died from an accident on a construction site. Kade had only been five, but even at such a young age, he wasn’t too sad about losing his father. Neil was also an alcoholic and a mean drunk.

  Grandma Hunter had always been kind. She’d helped out until Kade’s mother remarried a year later, and they moved from Nevada to California. His stepdad Ben Miles was amazing, but that didn’t make up for how Kade felt about marriage. Still, Grandma Hunter gave Kade the wedding ring that had belonged to her mother and her grandmother before that with the stipulation that Kade only offer it to the girl who he gave his whole heart to.

  Kade hadn’t found a girl to give the ring to because he wasn’t looking for her. Again, he considered returning the ring to his condo, but he was already running late. His mother was expecting him for dinner, and he didn’t want to show up late with a surprise fiancée in tow.

  Thinking about his mom made Kade’s gut clench. He didn’t look forward to seeing her face to face. Marilyn Hunter Miles wasn’t happy with her only son and his choice to be a firefighter paramedic. Kade knew she’d wanted him to follow in his stepfather’s footsteps. Ben Miles owned Miles car dealerships in Nevada and California. Ben was willing to bring Kade in and give him ownership of one of the showrooms, but selling cars wasn’t the same thing as saving lives.

  Being a firefighter was in Kade’s blood. He remembered the exact day he decided it was what he wanted to do when he grew up. When he was only four, he’d been playing in his bedroom when a fire broke out in the kitchen. His dad was drunk again and had fallen asleep, leaving a pan of bacon frying on the stovetop.

  Kade remembered hearing the smoke alarm go off. He’d cried out for his dad but was too afraid to leave his room after he opened the door and saw the smoke filling their small house. His mom was working at the 24-hour convenient store, but a neighbor had called 9-1-1. Kade would never forget how terrified he was until a firefighter crashed through the door and rescued him. That was when he knew he wanted to save people when he grew up. Owning a Mercedes car dealership might be more lucrative but the money couldn’t compare to saving a life.

  His vocation wasn’t the only thing Kade’s mother didn’t like. She wasn’t happy that her only son wasn’t married to the girl she had set her sights on as a daughter-in-law. Jillian Hastings was the daughter of her mother’s best friend. The two women had met right after Kade’s mother married Ben, and they moved to Santa Monica
. Jillian’s parents, Peter and Olivia Hastings, lived across the street. Although the Hastings moved when Jillian and Kade were still in grade school, the two women had remained close. They were like sisters and still got together every week for lunch. For years, Kade and his sisters had called Mrs. Hastings Aunt Olivia and Jillian’s dad Uncle Peter. They outgrew the titles, especially when Olivia and his mother decided that Jillian and Kade should get married.

  The first time his mom suggested he take Jillian out on a date, Kade had told her it was against the law to date your cousin. He’d been kidding, but after that, his mother made sure that he addressed Olivia and Peter as Mr. and Mrs. Hastings.

  Jillian was pretty and all, and Kade had been attracted to her, but the timing had always been off. Any time their mothers made a big push for them to get together, either Jillian or Kade was dating someone else. They flirted with each other and had been pretty good friends at one time, but they’d drifted apart over the years.

  It wasn’t until a few years ago that everything changed between him and Jillian. The Hastings had come to the cabin for Christmas, and Jillian had pulled Kade aside and told him that she liked him and wanted to give dating a shot. Kade was already on his mom’s bad side because of his career, so he and Jillian agreed to see what might happen between them. They dated for a few months, longer than Kade would’ve dreamed. Still, Kade wasn’t ready to get married. Jillian told him that she would wait for him, but Kade knew he didn’t love her like that. He hadn’t like hurting her feelings but Jillian deserved to be married to someone who really loved her. Jillian may have accepted it, but his mother and Mrs. Hastings never had. They still held out hope their children would eventually get together.

  Now Kade was bringing home Presley as his fiancée, and he hoped his mother would be kind. She could be a little intense and didn’t like not getting her way. At least he knew the Hastings wasn’t spending Christmas with them this year. His mom told him Mr. and Mrs. Hastings had decided to fulfill a life-long dream to spend Christmas in Bruges, Belgium. Last he heard, Jillian had a serious boyfriend, and they were going with her parents.