One Week With The Best Man

One Week With The Best Man
Andrea Laurence

What happens when a fake wedding date gets all too real?Pretend to be famous bachelor Julian Cooper’s girlfriend? Some women might be thrilled with the request—not Gretchen McAlister. Her job is planning weddings, not being the best man’s date. But after Julian’s latest celebrity breakup, “ordinary” Gretchen is the perfect PR ploy.Julian is against the whole plan…until he meets Gretchen. Honest and beautiful—even beneath her fancy makeover—his new “girlfriend” makes him want something more, something real…

“You know, no one is watching us. You don’t have to pretend to want to kiss me.”

Julian smiled. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years in LA, it’s that someone is always watching. But even if there weren’t, I would still kiss you.”

“Why?” Her dark eyes searched his face in confusion, her brows drawn together.

She honestly didn’t think she was kissable. That was a shame.

“It’s not that hard. Just take a deep breath, tilt your head up to me and close your eyes.”

He intended it to be a quick kiss, knowing it would take a while for them to work up to a convincing one. But he found that once they touched, he didn’t want to pull away.

* * *

One Week with the Best Man is part of the Brides and Belles series: Wedding planning is their business … and their pleasure

One Week with the Best Man

Andrea Laurence

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Table of Contents

Cover (#uf8538612-689b-59bc-b526-ce3a40e4629b)

Introduction (#ud4af4a2a-2b4a-5620-b079-b49be18704e9)

Title Page (#u7142ed19-ffb1-566f-bf33-706997d7b028)

About the Author (#u9b5a5f09-df62-58f8-b79a-de8082f75e0b)

Dedication (#u1705e4c3-beb9-585f-9dde-84c4cb03f27e)

One (#ulink_47bff37d-9932-58b9-80dc-bd32da800ea0)

Two (#ulink_9dce7fdf-de6b-52da-a881-cec6dfc59c46)

Three (#ulink_b2f26e60-63f9-557d-b2d8-fe15b92c5b00)

Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

ANDREA LAURENCE is an award-winning author of contemporary romance for Mills & Boon Desire and paranormal romance for Mills & Boon Nocturne. She has been a lover of reading and writing stories since she learned to read at a young age. She always dreamed of seeing her work in print and is thrilled to share her special blend of sensuality and dry, sarcastic humor with the world.

A dedicated West Coast girl transplanted into the Deep South, Andrea is working on her own happily-ever-after with her boyfriend and their collection of animals, including a Siberian husky that sheds like nobody’s business. If you enjoy her story, tell her by visiting her website, www.andrealaurence.com (http://www.andrealaurence.com); like her fan page on Facebook at facebook.com/authorandrealaurence (http://www.facebook.com/authorandrealaurence); or follow her on Twitter, twitter.com/andrea_laurence (http://www.twitter.com/andrea_laurence).

To my baby sister Hannah—

Being a girl is tough. Surviving your teenage years with your self-esteem intact is a major feat. You’ve got a long way to go, but no matter what, I want you to remember: you are smart enough, you are talented enough and you are pretty enough. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You can do anything you put your mind to, and if and when you choose to fall in love, that man will be damn lucky to have you in his life. Don’t settle for someone that treats you like anything less than the best thing that has ever happened to him.

One (#ulink_74a98bc0-4cf9-510b-b180-bb6ea518b3ac)

“Pardon me,” Natalie said, leaning in toward the man sitting across from her. “Could you run that by us again?”

Gretchen was glad Natalie had said it, because she was pretty darn confused herself. The four owners and operators of From This Moment wedding chapel were seated at the conference room table across from a man wearing an expensive suit and an arrogant attitude she didn’t care for. He wasn’t from the South; that was for sure. He was also talking nonsense.

Ross Bentley looked just as annoyed with the women’s confusion as they were with him. “You advertise From This Moment as a one-stop wedding venue, do you not?”

“Yes,” Natalie said, “but usually that means we’ll handle the food, the DJ and the flowers. We’ve never been asked to provide one of the wedding guests a date. This is a wedding chapel, not an escort service.”

“Let me explain,” Ross said with a greasy smile that Gretchen didn’t trust. “This is a very delicate arrangement, so this discussion will need to fall within the confidentiality agreement for the Murray Evans wedding.”

Murray Evans was a country music superstar. On his last tour, he’d fallen for his opening act. They were having a multiday wedding event at their facility next weekend, the kind the press salivated over. Those weddings usually required a confidentiality clause so that any leaks about the event are not from the venue. Frankly, Gretchen was getting tired of these big, over-the-top weddings. The money was nice—money was always nice, since she didn’t have much—but carefully addressing thousands of invitations in perfect calligraphy wasn’t that fun. Nor was dealing with the high-and-mighty wedding guests who came to these kinds of shindigs.

“Of course,” Natalie replied.

“I represent Julian Cooper, the actor. He’s a longtime friend of Mr. Evans and will be attending the wedding as the best man. I’m not sure how closely you follow celebrity news, but Julian has just had a big public breakup with his costar of Bombs of Fury, Bridgette Martin. Bridgette has already been seen out and about with another high-profile actor. As his manager, I feel like it would look bad if Julian attended the wedding alone, but he doesn’t need the complication of a real date. We just need a woman to stand in and pretend to be with him throughout the wedding events. I assure you there’s nothing inappropriate involved.”

Gretchen knew of Julian Cooper—it would be impossible not to—although she’d never seen any of his films. He was the king of dude films—lots of explosions, guns and scripts with holes big enough to drive a truck through them. That wasn’t her thing, but a lot of people loved his movies. It seemed a little ridiculous that he would need a fake date. His sweaty, hard abs were plastered all over every billboard and movie preview. While Gretchen might not appreciate his acting skills, she had a hard time discounting that body. If a man who looked like that couldn’t get a last-minute date, she was doomed.

“What kind of woman are you wanting?” Bree, their photographer, asked cautiously. “I’m not sure I know many women who would look natural on the arm of a movie star.”

“That’s understandable,” Ross said. “What I’d really prefer is an average woman. We don’t want her to look like an escort. I also think it would go over well with Julian’s female fan base for him to be seen with an everyday woman. It makes them feel like they have a shot.”

Gretchen snorted, and Ross shot a cutting look at her across the table. “We’d be willing to handsomely compensate her for the trouble,” he continued. “We’re willing to pay ten thousand dollars for the woman’s time. Also, I can provide additional funds for salon visits and a clothing allowance.”