Page 11 of Mountain Bean Dream
I sighed. They were all reasonable. Scarily reasonable.
“Actually, you can help. With one of them, at least.” Itwisted in the seat, facing him as much as I could.
What I needed was a fake boyfriend until Derek vacated the town.
“Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but I need a date.”
Chapter Four
The wordsI need a dateshot out of my mouth like a badly aimed dart, wobbling in the air before sticking to him, and I wondered how in the beans I was going to recover from that.
“March fourteenth,” Jeremy said, smooth as silk.
I blinked, watching him wander closer to sit on the armrest of my chair, his face half in shadow but his wavy hair catching the light just right. “What now?”
“It’s a date.” His expression was completely deadpan, which only made it worse.
I frowned, unsure whether to laugh or groan. “A date? For what?”
“You said you needed one, so I gave you one.” He grinned, clearly pleased with himself.
It hit me, and an involuntary snort escaped before I could stop it. “Wow. Ten out of ten for confidence. Six out of ten for execution.”
He raised an eyebrow, mock-offended. “That’s harsh. March fourteenth is a perfectly good date. It’s my birthday, too. A bonus.”
“Your birthday? Oh, well, that makes it completely logical to offer up randomly.”
“Exactly.” His boot scuffed the grass, and the faint smile pushing up on the left side of his face suggested he wasn’t offended in the slightest. “Anyway, you were saying something about needing a date?”
“For the hospital fundraiser next Saturday,” I added quickly, because that definitely clarified things. For a moment, he just stared at me, and I scrambled to fill the silence. “My ex is going to be there, and—look, it’s complicated, but let’s just say it’d be really helpful if I didn’t show up alone.”
Jeremy blinked, then rubbed the back of his neck, his hoodie sliding slightly to reveal the collar of a plain old white shirt underneath. “So, what you’re saying is...you want me to be your fake boyfriend.”
A fake date and a fake boyfriend were two completely different things, and when he said it like that, it sounded absolutely insane. “Well, yeah,” I said, trying to sound casual. “But, you know, just for one night. You don’t even have to do anything. Just...exist.”
“Exist,” he repeated, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I think I can manage that.” His strong hands rubbed down the length of his thighs. “Don’t you have a boyfriend already?”
“We broke up. Three days ago.”
“That’s the one you were going to give that huge bouquet to?”
“That’s the one.” I shifted uncomfortably, not realising how much Jeremy had overheard. “I don’t know a lot of people here, and the few guys I do know are already taken, so if you’re willing to help me out, I’d be appreciative.” My eyes went wide. “Actually, I take that back. That was so wrong of me to presume that you’re single, and if you have a girlfriend, I don’t need her hating me.”
He shook his head and his voice was calm. “No girlfriend. Very much single.”
“Oh, okay. Good. I mean…” I clapped my hand to my forehead. “It’s unfortunate you’re single, but it’s a lucky break for me.”
“It’s all good.” But his smile hadn’t faded.
Could I be more of a stumbling idiot? Maybe? The bar was set pretty low.
“In exchange for helping me out with this little problem, I’d be more than happy to help you out.”
“How so?”
Clearly, I hadn’t thought that all the way through. “I suppose with whatever you need.” I cringed inside, hoping whatever it was I was agreeing with, wasn’t something devious, although Jeremy didn’t look the type.
“How well do you know Star Wars?”