Faking Forever Ch. 01

I couldn't help it. I sat staring at the curves of the woman wearing the red pencil dress. Her backside had my body geared up and ready to go. It didn't hurt that her long dark hair teased me with a glimpse of her skin, the sleeveless number looking like it was painted onto her perfect body. And the stilettos she wore made her legs look toned--maybe they actually were, I couldn't decide. I hadn't seen her face yet but I would have confidently said I'd take her home, sight unseen.

"What are you staring at?" Beck sat down next to me on the sofa. His loft was the perfect place to host a gathering like this for his younger sister.

"Nothing." I shook my head, forcing the lustful thoughts of the woman in red out of my head. I turned away from the sight, though it was difficult to do. "When is Cici going to get here anyway? It's been a while since I played any pranks on someone." I chuckled and Beck rolled his eyes at me. We were hellions to her back in the day.

"She's here somewhere." He waved his hand as to dismiss my question and picked up his champagne. "I didn't invite you to talk about her. Grandma insisted we host the gathering here. Cici's place is under renovation and they live too far upstate to call all her friends from the city out for a party."

"Makes sense..." I took another sip and scanned the crowd. The woman was gone. "Well then I guess we don't' have to stick to strictly personal discussions."

"Not really the business type of atmosphere," Beck said, raising his glass.

"Well this isn't really strictly business either." I paid attention to Beck but my eyes still roamed the crowd for the sight of that red dress.

"Shoot." Beck was a no-nonsense type of guy. I liked that.

"Well, I have this client I'm trying to hook. Hotel chain owner. Huge money. Anyway, he wants me to sign a trial contract. The problem is, he's pretty pushy. His daughter is young and single and apparently can't keep a man. The guy thinks we'd be perfect together and I have zero interest in her."

"So what's the problem? You're Drooly Drew." Beck's use of my high-school nickname had me rolling my eyes. No one called me that since graduation. "Just date her until the deal is sealed then cut her loose. Sort of your MO."

It wasn't that I hadn't thought of that. I just didn't think it would work with this guy. He was a shark. His daughter would see right through the play and go running to Daddy. "Won't work this time." I emptied my flute, eyes still searching for the red that evaded me.

"Alright, so go get a woman. Make him think you're dating someone." He leaned back on the couch casually and crossed his leg.

"I haven't ever found a woman I could put up with that long, except Kendra and you know how that turned out." Kendra was too needy. I hated that. We'd gotten along for a while, until she made me start checking in at regular intervals throughout the day--cringe.

"So pay someone to do it. Like hire an escort or something. Fake it." He shrugged as if he were God's gift. "You literally have hundreds of millions of dollars. You mean to tell me you can't find one woman you can tolerate long enough to fake a relationship?"

"Billions," I corrected him, "and it has to be believable, Beck. This guy is a shark. I already said that." As my words dripped off my tongue, I saw her--Cici Adler all grown up. Her face appeared between the heads of a few other people. I could only see her from the shoulders up but she was gorgeous. She had really grown up since leaving for college. The Ohio State University did good by her. "What about her?" I nodded at her and Beck turned to see what I was talking about.

"What? Cici?" He turned back around. "My sister? You want to fake date my sister?"

I shrugged. "It makes sense. I mean, we've known each other for ever. She knows practically everything about me. It wouldn't be hard for her to fake because she'd have real life stories of our youth."

"And you're almost forty. Meanwhile she's not even twenty-five." Beck sounded resistant. "Besides I don't think I could convince her to sit and have a conversation with you, let alone fake date you. She probably avoided this entire section of the loft because she saw you were here."

It was likely true. Her animosity toward me ran deep thanks to my childish behavior in my younger years, but that was so far in the past. She had to have gotten over it by now. "Just ask her." I watched her smile and bat her eyelashes like a pro, working the crowd. She was successful now--awesome new job with Cox Media. And she was pretty--someone I'd definitely let hang off my arm at public functions. It made sense.

Beck huffed and stood, walking away from me. I watched him push through the mass of people and whisper in Cici's ear. As the few people drifted away from her, I saw that for which I had been searching for the past fifteen minutes. Red. And it was on Cici's body. Strangely, instead of being repulsed by that sight, I found it intriguing that of all people in this room, it was she who had aroused me.

The interaction between brother and sister looked tense. It appeared she was vehemently denying my request. At one point she scowled directly at me, but Beck worked his magic. I got a rush out of it the way I used to back in the day. Two years older than Beck in college, I couldn't remember how many times I had done something similar, only to play a prank on Cici. The nostalgia hit brought a grin to my face, which drew Cici's ire in the form of another scowl, but when Beck approached me again, she was following.

"So what's the verdict?" I asked casually. She was just as gorgeous up close as she had been from a distance. It made my body stir a little, but even the prettiest flower could be toxic. I was well aware of how she felt toward me. My admiration would be of the secret nature. It always had been.

Beck dropped onto the couch and resumed his posture of comfort, and Cici stood in front of me with on hand on her left hip, tapping her toe. She really grew up--the curves on that woman needed to be explored like a backroad on a hot summer night with the top down and something good to drink.

"Drew." She spat my name at me and raised her eyebrows.

"Cici." A gentleman would have stood. I counted myself a gentleman on most occasions, but to my best friend's younger sister who had been the butt of every joke for at least three years, I remained seated. No need to make her feel like she was anything more than an acquaintance.

It was a tense standoff. She expected me to ask her myself; I could see it in her eyes. I had no intention of giving her that pleasure. It had been a reach for me to even ask Beck to talk to her. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if she'd even be able to pull it off--faking any sort of enjoyment of me.

"Look, she needs a date to this fancy dinner for work. You need someone to pose as a girlfriend to get out of a bad set up with a client." Beck slurped his beer and belched. "It makes sense."

She stared at me with hostility and cleared her throat, still not saying much, so I offered the white flag. "So more of a quid-pro-quo scenario?"

"Yeah. As long as you can be social, and none of your practical joking. We're adults now. I don't need my hair gel replaced with glue again." She crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips. "The dinner is next week on Friday night. Madison Square Gardens. Cox is hosting an annual fundraising event on behalf of a charity we partner with. I can't go alone, and Kyle dumped me."

"Kyle? You dated that loser?" I chuckled at her horrible taste in men.

"Keep your rude comments to yourself and we'll do fine. How long is this supposed fake engagement supposed to last?" Her spicy attitude could vanish and I wouldn't hate it. At least she had some fight in her.

"Until my client is signed. We're on a sixty-day trial. It would mean client dinners and that sort of thing. Think you can handle it?" I sipped my drink and watched her square her shoulders. "Oh, and it doesn't have to be an engagement. Dating is fine." I winked at her and her scowl returned.

"Under one condition." Beck interrupted. Both of us looked at him. "That you don't end up falling in love." His sarcastic smirk made Cici huff out a sigh and storm off. He laughed but all I could do is roll my eyes. The probability of me falling in love with Cici was about equal to my chances of winning the Powerball jackpot.