Tagged Heart: A Fake Girlfriend Romance Read online

  "And?"

  I swallowed and licked the sugar from my lips. "He came backstage today and offered me...well, I guess you could say it's like a job."

  "Like a job?" Kim repeated tartly. "Please don't tell me he wants you to—"

  "No! God no!" I blurted. "At least, I don't think so..."

  We hadn't discussed what exactly being his fake girlfriend would involve, something I was kicking myself for now. The excitement of the moment had been too overwhelming.

  I shook my head. "Anyway, you know that's not a road I'm willing to go down. As far as I know, this is a publicity thing more than anything else. He's going to Hawaii for three weeks, and I guess he thinks it'll look good on camera to have a pretty girl at his side."

  "Hawaii?" Kim's eyebrows shot up and a huge grin spread over her face. "You should have opened with Hawaii! How long have I been telling you that you need to get away?"

  I tore off another bite of donut, suddenly ravenous. "That doesn't mean I should just hop on a plane with some rando with an adrenaline fetish."

  "He's not some rando," she argued. "He's Chad Harlan."

  "That doesn't mean anything. I'm a completely different person onstage than I am offstage. Who's to say it's going to be any different with him?"

  Kim leaned over to set her coffee and uneaten donut on the table, licking the glaze from her fingers as she curled up into the corner. I eyed the donut with hungry eyes.

  "So what? This could be huge for you! Think about your modeling career."

  "What modeling career?" I asked bitterly.

  She shook a finger at me. "Exactly! What better way to push yourself out into the world's eye than to play the part of Chad Harlan's girlfriend for a few weeks. People pay attention to those videos, babe. Important people."

  Kim had been ultra-protective of me from the first moment we met, so hearing her tell me to go for it proved that my initial excitement wasn't misplaced. Still, a dark cloud of cynicism had crept in on the bus ride home.

  "Doesn't it just seem a little too good to be true?"

  Kim's eyes softened and she picked up her donut, handing it over to me with a warm smile. I chuckled and accepted it. The sugar and caffeine rush of her visit might keep me up tonight, but I doubt I'd be sleeping anyway with a problem like this weighing on me.

  "I understand why you're worried. It's a strange situation to put yourself in, and there's always the chance that Chad's not going to be as harmless as he seems, but I think there's a lot of room for you to call the shots. Just because you're agreeing to be his fake girlfriend for a few weeks doesn't mean that he owns you. And think about how relaxing it would be to wile away your days on a beach in some fancy resort."

  I sighed. "It would be nice. And there's no way I'll be able to afford anything close to that anytime soon."

  Kim would jet off on a vacation with me in an instant. She'd offered to pay for one for me more times than I could count on one hand, but I always turned her down. Her meager salary at the casino might end up as more take home cash than mine, since I still had to pay for school, but she worked hard for that money and I refused to take any part of it away from her.

  But here was an opportunity for me to get away without having to pay a cent. It would be a break from everything—from work, where the pressure to sleep with the customers was getting higher every day, from the hustle and bustle of the city, from the constant anxiety over money. Just endless sand beaches and the azure blue of Chad's eyes.

  "What do you want to do?"

  Kim's question startled me out of my reverie. I realized I'd been staring at the donut in my hand for god knows how long and took a hasty bite, chewing it over in the same way I chewed over Kim's query.

  "I want to go," I said finally. "Hell, I basically shook with excitement when he first asked me. And anyway, what have I got to lose? Pretending to be Chad's girlfriend sounds like a lot of fun. I mean, have you seen the guy?"

  Kim laughed and let out an exaggerated sigh. "He looks like he's composed entirely of sunshine."

  Yeah, and staring at him was a little like staring into the sun, I couldn't help but think.

  Giddiness overtook me, and I started to giggle. Kim soon followed suit, and before I knew it we were doubled over on the sofa, laughing like ridiculous hyenas. This trip would be the craziest thing I'd done since moving to Vegas in the first place.

  Only a small amount of concern still lingered at the edge of my consciousness. I didn't like the thought of him exercising control over me just because I was technically in his employ, especially considering the nature of the job.

  I sobered up a bit, catching my breath and wiping a tear from my eye. "What about going on the adventures and stuff? What if there’s some crazy shit he wants me to do that I’m not comfortable with? Do you think I can lay down some ground rules?"

  Kim snorted. "Are you kidding? He came to you, babe. He picked you out from the crowd, not knowing you at all, and asked you basically to do him a favor. You've got him by the family jewels."

  I wasn't so sure about that. I suspected Kim was just saying as much because she was responsive to my sensitivity about being controlled and wanted to assuage that fear as much as possible. I didn't mind. I trusted her judgement more than I trusted my own at times, and she'd pulled me out of more than my fair share of sticky situations when it came to bad ex-boyfriends and the like.

  "Then it's settled." I couldn't keep my lips from turning. "You're looking at the newest girlfriend of Chad Harlan, the fabulous Ms. Brianne Reed."

  Kim gave a theatrical bow. "How lovely to meet you."

  "I just hope this doesn't blow up in my face."

  "And if it does? Free vacation."

  "True," I acknowledged. "And I guess pretending to be someone I'm not for a few weeks is a small price to pay to get an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii."

  "No doubt." Kim raised her coffee cup to mine in a toast. "A small price to pay indeed. And hey, how hard could it be?"

  We tapped cups and drank.

  Kim didn't know just how much she'd hit the nail on the head. How hard could pretending to be someone's girlfriend be? For me, not hard at all. Not when I'd been pretending to be someone else my entire life.

  Three

  Chad

  The bar was packed, but I knew I'd see Brin the instant she walked in. I'd have an easier time missing a fully decked out Elvis impersonator with light-up sideburns. I couldn't get the sensual redhead out of my head, from that cupid's bow mouth that slayed me when she dropped it open in surprise, to the way her cheeks burned pink against her peaches and cream skin when she got flustered, to the little dimples that came out when she smiled. She was gorgeous, the perfect specimen for what I had in mind. And she'd look great on camera too.

  My eyes shot to the far end of the room just as a tall beauty in tight jeans and a plain black t-shirt stepped in from the lobby. Brin looked miles different than she had the last time I saw her, but I would've recognized those searching eyes anywhere. I waved her over to the table.

  "Hello, beautiful," I said, rising to greet her.

  Brin's smile tightened a little, like she wasn't sure how to react to my friendly greeting. "Hello yourself. Enjoying Vegas?"

  "More and more by the second."

  Brin accepted my offer of a seat and I slid the chair in behind her, noting the scent of freesia that floated to my nose from her hair. I suppressed the urge to lean in for a better sniff and walked back around to my side of the table. This was business, now. More than that, I had a lot riding on Brin's acceptance of my proposal, especially since the trip was rapidly approaching.

  I took a seat and smiled at Brin over the table. The bar's dim lighting was periodically broken up by flashes of neon pink and purple, which coated one side of her face in vibrant color and left the rest in shadow. It would have been the perfect shot if the cameras were rolling.

  "So?" I asked. "Have you had enough time to consider my offer?"

  "I have."


  "And?"

  I leaned in closer, drawn in by the challenge in her gaze. I barely knew this girl, and I already suspected there was so much more to her than she advertised. I sensed a world hiding just beneath the surface. Too bad I couldn't be the one to crack it open and look inside.

  Brin ironed out her features, but she couldn't push down the light in her eyes. Her excitement rippled in the air between us.

  "I have decided that I will accompany you to Hawaii as your fake girlfriend," she said solemnly.

  I opened my mouth to speak, but she stuck up a finger to stop me.

  "But," she said, "I have conditions."

  I relaxed back into my seat, watching pink splash over her delicate lips as a grin spread over mine. I figured she'd come back with some terms. I left the scope of the invitation unclear on purpose to see where she would draw lines and to get a better idea of her comfort level. If she was willing to go the distance, to do every crazy thing that I did when I did it, great. If she wasn't, we could work with that too. And I suspected there wasn't a guidebook on what the parameters were for having a fake girlfriend, so the details of that were up for negotiation as well.

  "Of course." I gestured for her to continue. "Let's hear them."

  Brin sat up a little straighter, taking on the visage of a stony businesswoman. She looked miles different from the vixen who'd strutted across that stage like she owned every inch of wood beneath her heel, like she'd taken that intimidation and flipped it, turned it into something new. I knew right then I couldn't have made a better choice of companion in this endeavor.

  "First of all, the whole 'hey beautiful' thing,"—she flattened her brows—"that kinda shtick is fine on camera, but off camera you and I are complete professionals."

  "You don't like it when I call you beautiful?" I asked with a wry smile.

  She was unfazed. "I just think the idea of me being a pretend girlfriend is difficult enough without adding further complications. We should draw a line in the sand and stick with it to keep things simple."

  I shrugged. "If that's what you want."

  "It is." She added a firm nod. "I'll be the best, most doting girlfriend you've ever had on camera, but off camera you and I are just in a business relationship. That means no funny business."

  "Funny business?" I inquired.

  Brin blinked. "You know what I mean."

  I chuckled. "That could mean any manner of things, darling. Clowns, mimes, an improv group..."

  "No sex." She was glaring at me now. I could tell I was going to enjoy teasing her. Did she have to make it so easy? "No sexual touching of any kind when we're not filming."

  "Oh? And how much sexual touching do you expect us to be doing while we’re filming? What kind of videos do you think I make?"

  Just like that, the hard businesswoman exterior cracked. Brin's cheeks burned red, and it wasn't from the lights. She gulped hastily and shook her head.

  "I just mean..." She struggled to find her words. "Gah! You know what I mean. New rule: you're not allowed to be a dick."

  I laughed. She was so cute when she was flustered. It was the only time she seemed to be made of something other than cut steel.

  "I'm just messing with you," I said in a conciliatory tone. "I completely agree with your conditions thus far, though I would make one small amendment.”

  Brin slowly pulled herself back in until she was stalwart and composed once more. She glanced over to the bar, and I wondered if our little conversation was making her thirsty. Our eyes met again, and she was all back to business.

  “What’s that?”

  “I would ask that instead of just being a consummate business professional during our times off camera, you’re still friendly with me and still, in name at least, my girlfriend. It’s important that nobody else knows this whole thing is fake, including my crew. But when we’re alone together, you can be as cold as a freezer full of snow if that’s what you want.”

  She seemed to consider this for a moment before finally nodding. “I can do that.”

  “Good.” I smiled. “Is there anything else you want to put on the table for discussion?”

  Brin nodded. "Since I'm not sure what kind of adventures we'll be going on, I want the right to veto doing anything that I'm uncomfortable with. Basically I just don't want you to be able to force me into something I don't want to do."

  That was more the kind of condition I'd expected from her. It was an easy request to grant.

  "Absolutely. The camera will be able to tell if you're not enjoying yourself, so I want to avoid that anyway. I just hope you'll keep an open mind and remember that I'll never ask you to do anything unsafe."

  "I can do that."

  "Good." I looked over my shoulder and caught the eye of the waitress, who bustled over to our table. "How about a drink?"

  Brin eyed me skeptically. This girl seemed to have a lot of suspicions for someone so young. I smiled warmly.

  "We've gotten the boring business stuff out of the way, so why don't we get to know each other a little better? We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, after all.”

  “True,” she replied. “I guess it’ll make my job a lot easier if I know more about you than just the fact that your common sense is on permanent vacation.” She shot me a cheeky grin. Full of surprises.

  The waitress arrived at our side, and I ordered a round for us. The moment she was gone, I set my sights back on the beautiful redhead across from me.

  "So tell me about yourself." I gestured toward her.

  Brin's expression deepened into a scowl. "I hate when people say that. What are you even asking? Do you want to know my life story? My hopes and dreams? My opinion on pineapple on pizza? What?"

  I laughed. "I want to know everything. Especially your stance on Hawaiian pizza."

  "Well, that's easy at least. Pineapple most certainly does not belong on pizza."

  "I disagree."

  She shrugged. "You also enjoy jumping off cliffs and into ravines and whatnot. I don't think you get to speak for what's normal."

  "Touché, though I'm sure your tastes will be a little bit more adventurous by the end of our trip."

  The waitress returned with our drinks and I took a swig of my beer, swirling the taste around my mouth as I studied my companion. She sipped at her Pinot Grigio, the cheapest one on the menu though I'd insisted she order whatever she wanted. She was certainly a girl who'd gone without in her life. I suspected the stories of our childhoods would differ greatly.

  "Onto the next topic then," I announced. "We can get back to the subject of pineapple once you've cut your teeth a little. Maybe you'll be more adventurous."

  Her eyes sparkled. "I doubt it. You couldn't have picked a worse person to take with you. I'm as boring as boring comes."

  "You're not boring at all. You're a burlesque dancer."

  She shrugged. "And an aspiring model, but my favorite thing to do on a night is still to curl up on my couch and catch up on my favorite shows."

  "Not much of a party girl?" I asked, taking another mouthful of cool refreshment.

  She chuckled and shook her head. "My best friend Kimberley and I go out sometimes when we feel like dancing, but I'm more likely to be found in bed at midnight on the weekend than I am shaking my ass on the dance floor. I'm a couple steps away from being a complete shut-in."

  Though I loved parties and being surrounded by revelry, I certainly saw the appeal in getting to stay in, bundled up on the couch. If she were there too, of course.

  "Aspiring model, burlesque dancer, blossoming hermit." I ticked off on my fingers. "Anything else I should add to the list?"

  "I'm taking a few online classes at the university," she said. "Though I'm still a long way off from a degree. I only started recently."

  "How long have you lived in Vegas?"

  She tilted the glass back and swallowed down a healthy mouthful of wine. "Since I was eighteen. I grew up just outside of Paradise, Nevada, though it was far from that."<
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  "What made you want to come here?"

  She winced and I immediately regretted asking. Whatever the reason was, it wasn't a happy one. I was just about to ask her another question instead when she answered.

  "I just needed to be somewhere bigger than the place I grew up in. Somewhere with more people."

  Somewhere I could hide, I could almost hear her say.

  I was getting a lot more than I'd bargained for with this girl. She was smart, sensible, basically the complete opposite of everything I stood for. I chose her initially for her good looks and the magnetism I felt to her on stage, and the idea to bring along a fake girlfriend hadn't even occurred to me until I saw her lost in her dance and made that impulsive decision to find her backstage. My impulsivity would be the death of me one day.

  "What about you?" she asked suddenly, surprising me.

  "Me?" I cocked a brow. "You already know all about me, don't you?"

  "I'm sure that's what your ego would like you to think," she shot back.

  I laughed. "Alright, fair play. What do you want to know?"

  "I know you're from LA originally, or somewhere close by. What I don't know is how you got into making videos, and how you got so wildly successfully so young. How old are you, anyway?"

  I smiled. "Twenty-two."

  Her eyebrows shot up. "It really puts things in perspective when you're only a year older than me, but you've already accomplished so much."

  "I wouldn't be so down on yourself. I was lucky. And it didn't hurt that I grew up well-off, so I had a decent chunk of change to get started with. As for how I got started, I’ll tell you the same thing I say in every interview. I started making videos for fun, and people liked them. The rest is history.”

  She gave me a flat look. "I doubt you're very popular with interviewers if that's the kind of answer you give."

  I met her expression with a toothy smile. "It's not the interviewers I aim to be popular with."

  Brin rolled her eyes but smiled, taking another sip of her drink. She was visibly more relaxed now than she was even a couple minutes ago. She practically glowed. Lori was going to lose her mind with jealousy when she saw Brin in my videos. She had to. I couldn’t wait.