Falling For Her Fake Fiancé

‘You going to stand there all night? Or are you going to do some more exercise?’ Mac called over his glistening shoulder.

‘You got eyes in the back of that shaggy head?’ His thick, dark blond hair had lost all semblance of the usual clean-cut style, instead stuck to his scalp with small curls appearing at the edges. Cute. As in man cute, not baby cute.

‘Something like that.’ The rowing machine was slowing, Mac relaxing and letting his arms drop. When he stood up he scrubbed his face with his hand towel. ‘I’m starving. Feel like hitting The Grafton All-Nighter for something to eat?’

Kelli would’ve said no, she didn’t need food; but her stomach had other ideas, announcing with a loud rumble that some grub was the best idea all night. She bit back a curse. Already she doubted she’d get any sleep tonight, and spending the next hour with him would cancel tomorrow night’s quota of zeds as well. ‘Thanks, but I’ll head home and see what’s in the fridge.’ Yoghurt, tomatoes, lettuce, a cucumber and a loaf of bread. Yesterday’s shopping hadn’t been extravagant or expansive.

‘You want to avoid me?’ Mac asked softly.

‘Yes.’

‘When I’m officially your partner for the weekend?’ he added in that soft voice that lifted bumps on her skin.

‘Isn’t that enough?’

A spark of hurt flicked across his face.

Got that wrong, hadn’t she? ‘I thought it’d be enough with you meeting me on Friday and going from there. I didn’t want to take up any more of your time than I’m already doing.’ He hadn’t exactly rushed to welcome her when she’d turned up for work that afternoon after a six-week absence, so he wasn’t likely to want to hang with her much now. Yet he had volunteered for the weekend. Nothing made sense when it came to her and Mac.

His hurt remained. Who’d have known he was so sensitive? Not her. Which only added to the guilt starting to crowd her mind.

‘I need to be brought up to speed on a few things,’ he admonished, still softly, but there was no denying the grit behind his words. ‘I can’t put my foot in it when it comes to your family. They’ll expect me to know something about them. Then there’s the other guy.’

Fair enough. ‘Five minutes for a shower?’

‘You sure you’re female?’ Mac started to smile, then stopped. ‘See you shortly.’ He was off, striding across the room, putting distance between them quick fast.

Sharing a meal at The Grafton All-Nighter was going to be a load of fun.

* * *

‘I’ve got Friday off,’ Mac told Kelli after they’d placed orders for bacon and eggs, and lots of tea.

‘That was quick.’ Keen? Nah, determined, more like. He was known for his take-no-prisoners approach to getting things done.

‘It comes with having done many favours over the past year.’ He sculled some water. ‘What time do you intend catching the ferry to Waiheke on Friday?’

‘How about four-thirty at the heliport downtown?’

His eyes widened, but all he said was, ‘Fine.’

Kelli felt driven to explain. ‘It’s my dad’s way. Ever since he became successful and the business grew so huge he’s enjoyed sharing it round, feels he owes it to those who knew and helped him back in the dirt-poor days.’ Her father was kind, generous to a fault, not a show-off.

‘What’s he in?’

‘Civil engineering.’

‘With the growth going on in Auckland I can see how he’s done well.’

‘The harder he worked, the luckier he became,’ Kelli quipped, but couldn’t deny her pride. ‘My brothers, all three of them, work in the business. An engineer, a lawyer and an accountant slash business consultant.’

‘You stepped outside the square.’ Something passed through that intense gaze, something she couldn’t name. Admiration? For her? Not likely. Probably a question about why she hadn’t gone into the family business that he was coming up with a load of incorrect answers to.

‘After growing up hearing about the company day in, day out, I wanted something different, something that was about me. Choosing a career where I could help people, make them feel better, was it.’

‘We’re on the same page there. Primarily I did medicine to help others. Plus being good at science and maths made it a no-brainer.’ Mac leaned back in his chair, stretched those long legs to the side of the small table. ‘Why is helping others so important to you?’

Eek. This was getting serious. Trying for nonchalance, she told him, ‘I can’t explain it. It’s just who I am.’ There was truth in that, possibly brought about from the hurt she’d dealt with, hurt she hoped others didn’t suffer. ‘I could ask the same of you.’

‘I hate seeing people in pain.’ Short, snappy words, with a dirty great stop sign behind them. Followed by, ‘Which brother is getting married?’

Back on track, off taboo terrain. ‘Billy, the engineer. His fiancé, Leanne, works in the accounts department of the firm. My other brothers are married and their wives also work there. I’m definitely the odd one out.’

‘That bother you?’ His mouth did that delectable lift at the corner, and naturally her stomach got all hot and stroppy. Nothing compared to how the rest of her body was reacting.

‘It’s nothing new. When I was twelve I was sent to a private school where many of the wealthy send their kids. I didn’t fit in. Dad hadn’t quite made the big league then but he wanted me to have the best. I was smart, but not filthy rich. Some of the girls were horrid to me.’ Understatement. ‘So I stopped going to school, hid out at the mall or the library.’

‘Tell me more.’

She’d not be mentioning that they called her ‘elephant’. ‘When my parents found out I demanded to be sent to a public school, and not the one down the road from the private school but the one in another suburb where the chances of running into any of those awful girls were remote.’

‘You got your way.’ He wasn’t asking.

‘I was desperate. When they backed me I became determined to prove they’d made the right choice. In some ways it was harder to get ahead in the lower decile school, in others downright easy because no one wanted to knock me down all the time.’ Because on day one I arrived with a friendly smile and a willingness to fit in by keeping others happy. Three strapping brothers at my back didn’t go astray either.

‘You were bullied at that private school?’ His mouth tightened even before she answered.

‘All the time by a roving pack of brainless bitches.’ She was surprised by the strength of emotion overwhelming her as she remembered being taunted constantly, punished for things that happened, even when she hadn’t been there. ‘But I’ve moved on, grown a backbone, and become the person I want to be.’ Would he believe that little white lie? Because it was a work in progress. She’d thought she’d got past those girls until Steve had undermined her confidence, resurrected her flaws. Now she knew from the bottom of her battered heart there’d be no leaping into commitment until she trusted herself to be true to Kelli, no matter what any man threw at her.

‘I imagine you always had a backbone.’

‘You do? Thanks.’ File that one with the good stuff that came her way. Not that it was strictly correct.

The waitress arrived with their meals and cutlery, banging the plates down and shifting water glasses too hard so the contents slopped on the table.

When she’d wiped up and gone Mac asked, ‘So who’s the man you’re avoiding by taking me to the wedding?’

‘Jason Alexander. A lawyer. A friend of my brothers’ from years back.’

‘What’s wrong with him?’

‘Nothing really. He’s friendly, kind, hard-working, caring. Fits in with my lot all too easily.’

Mac’s eyes narrowed. ‘What aren’t you telling me?’

‘He’s too nice.’

‘In other words, boring?’