“Seems like a good turnout.”
He reached for her hand and she started as he closed his fingers around hers. She shot him a glance and he smiled reassuringly. Hey, they had to make it believable.
Her hand, small and cool, relaxed in his.
As Shelby began to mingle with her coworkers, Jake trailed after her, being introduced to a bunch of strangers. He didn’t know a soul there. This could be a long evening. Ah well. Maybe they’d get a chance to be alone for a while and…
And what?
All they had to do was convince the boss they were in a relationship—they didn’t have to actually have a relationship. But the memory of how much fun he’d had talking to her last night tugged at him and made him strangely want more.
And where was the slimeball boss anyway? Shelby had never mentioned his name so how was he going to know when she introduced them to each other? She’d likely say something. He checked out the crowd.
Lots of people—men, women, kids—laughed and talked in the sunshine. This was a nice corporate event.
Shelby introduced him to more people and he couldn’t help but notice that everyone treated her very…carefully. They were polite and friendly, yeah, but distant. Almost cool. And then he remembered her comment about how things were getting uncomfortable at work because of the favoritism her boss was showing her.
Anger surged in him. Didn’t the asshole realize what he was doing to sweet little Shelby? Jesus. He wanted to curl his hands into fists and his fingers tightened around Shelby’s so much she shot him an inquisitive glance. He smiled as they made small talk with her coworkers.
And then across the crowd he saw her.
His old girlfriend. The one who’d dumped him for his best friend. His heart lurched into a wildly unsteady rhythm and his gut tightened painfully. Christ. What the hell was she doing here?
He didn’t want to see her. Ever again.
Jesus. He had to get the fuck out of here. Now. He looked down at Shelby and opened his mouth, but she was laughing at something someone had said.
They couldn’t leave. He’d committed to this, and they were here and he had to see this through. He swiped a hand across his sweaty forehead.
But wait. Maybe it would be good for his ex to see him with a hot little blonde on his arm. Show her he was over her.
He wasn’t. He wasn’t over her betrayal and he wasn’t over being betrayed by his best friend either. The two of them had screwed him over so badly and the old anger, humiliation and hurt rose inside him. He wasn’t listening to the conversation, had no idea what was going on, just stood there in a fog of growing panic, until Shelby finally pulled him away from the group.
“You’re breaking my hand,” she muttered, trying to extricate her fingers from his. “Geez, Jake.”
“Sorry.” He released her fingers and dragged a hand through his hair, trying not to look at Gianna, and failing.
“Are you okay?” Shelby demanded in a low voice, though she kept a smile firmly in place.
“Yeah. Yeah, of course.” He was sweating as if he’d just run 20K of a triathlon.
“My boss is over there,” she whispered. “Let’s go say hi.”
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”
Let’s get this the hell over with and get the fuck out of here. But what if…what if…
And then his “what if” became reality as Shelby led him over to—Gianna. And Andrew. Ex-girlfriend and former best friend. Standing there, their smiles fading as Shelby approached and they saw him.
“Hi, Andrew.” Shelby stopped in front of them. “Hi, Gianna, how are you?”
Gianna gazed at Shelby, glanced sideways at Andrew, then focused on Jake. “Hello, Shelby. I’m fine, thanks.”
“I want you to meet my…boyfriend, Jake Magill.” The hesitation was barely perceptible. “Jake, this is Andrew Haddon, my boss, and his wife, Gianna.”
“We know each other,” Andrew said, his expression wary.
Jake plastered on a smile. “Andrew! Gianna! Good to see you!” He could not fucking believe this was Shelby’s boss. His mind worked furiously to process all that was happening.
“You’ve met?” Shelby repeated, a cute crease between her eyebrows. “Really?”
“Long time ago,” Jake said breezily, waving a hand, still smiling so hard his face hurt. He did not want to get into all that old shit right then and there. Jesus. Sweat trickled down his back and his underarms prickled. “How are you?”
“Great,” Andrew said, though he kept looking back and forth between Jake and Shelby. “I can’t believe Jake is your new boyfriend, Shelby.”
Shelby smiled and Jake had to hand it to her—out of all of them she was the only one who seemed relaxed and at ease. She was apparently a talented actress. He, meanwhile, was totally screwing this up, flummoxed by learning who her boss was.
He flicked a glance at Gianna, as stunning as ever, her glossy, dark hair sliding over her shoulders, bare in a little baby doll top with narrow straps and a pair of short shorts that showed off her long, tanned legs. When he met her eyes, dark and delicious, what he saw there made him freeze. Pity.
She fucking felt sorry for him!
That was hard to swallow. He’d tried to so hard to be big about the whole thing, to not let on how heartbroken he’d been when she dumped him. He’d tried not to stand in the way of “true love”, had stepped aside as graciously as he could so they could be together. But still, she pitied him? Argh. That really blew.
The tension was as thick as chowder, but Shelby chatted on about the beautiful day and the great turnout, thankfully not asking questions about how he and Andrew and Gianna knew each other.
“I thought you weren’t coming,” she said to Gianna.
“Oh?” Gianna dragged her gaze away from Jake and lifted a brow. “Why would you think that?”
“Oh, uh…” For the first time, Shelby stumbled. “Something Andrew said.” She quickly changed the subject.
Finally Jake got a grip on the situation. He wasn’t helping Shelby much, standing there with his mouth open. He dragged his gaze away from Gianna’s dark beauty and slid his arm around Shelby’s waist. Gianna didn’t need to feel fucking sorry him, for Chrissake, and having a hot, little blonde under his arm would show her that. Show her that he was so over what had happened.
Andrew’s scowl could have singed his hair, startling Jake. What the hell was he upset about? Jake was the one who’d been dumped. Betrayed. Now Andrew was trying to cheat on Gianna? Jesus! Focusing his thoughts, Jake zeroed in on the remembrance that Andrew and Gianna’s marriage might be in trouble, from what Shelby had told him.
Well, there was no fucking way Andrew was going to cheat on Gianna with Shelby! Not for Gianna’s sake and not for Shelby’s sake either. He tightened his hold on her and dropped a kiss to the top of her silky blonde head for good measure, deepening Andrew’s scowl and causing a funny look on Gianna’s face. He smiled at them, to show them how happy he was.
This was so screwed up. How the hell had he gotten himself into this mess?
Shelby smiled brightly as she made casual party chit-chat with the other couple.
“The food smells really good,” she finally said and smiled up at Jake. “Let’s go get something to eat.”
He smiled back at her. “Good idea, Shelby Rose.” He looked at Andrew and Gianna and gave them a bared-teeth kind of smile, earning a startled glance from Shelby. “Nice to see you again.”
“You too, buddy.” Andrew wore a faintly puzzled frown as he said good-bye.
As they walked hand in hand toward the tables loaded with food, Shelby blew out a long breath. “That was awkward.”