Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,25

couple.”

“Won’t be a problem.” The steel flash of his eyes pinned me to the bed. “We’re looking out for each other.”

I wiggled free before the deep hum of his voice twisted me even more. “Right. We can keep each other company.”

“I’m here to help too. Whatever you need, I’ll get. Ice cream at midnight? Done. Pizza after practice, no problem.”

“Offer me a massage, and I’ll never leave.”

Jude cracked his fingers. “I do have some gifted hands.”

I didn’t doubt him, but I knew better than to let my mind wander. “Are you this nice to all your girlfriends—well, imaginary girlfriends?”

“I’m not telling you what I do with my fantasy girlfriends, that’s for damn sure.”

Didn’t matter, I was already thinking it. “Nothing I haven’t heard before.”

“You couldn’t imagine, Doc. I’ve never had any trouble with the ladies.”

“Me either. I mean…with men.” I rolled my eyes. “Though if I’d chased after women, I wouldn’t be in this mess now.”

“Don’t tease me, Rory. I’m only mortal.”

Jude led me to the kitchen and offered a bottle of water. I took it in case my loins finally caught on fire.

“You don’t think this is going to be weird?” I asked.

Jude cracked open a Gatorade. “Maybe with someone else, but not you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re…” He shrugged. “You’re not like other women. You’re…Rory.”

Oh, good. I didn’t need that self-esteem anyway.

But he made a good point. I set the water down with a thunk.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Nothing more than reality mincing, slicing, dicing, and pureeing my dreams, but I could survive that.

“We are friends,” I said. “But what if other people know we’re friends?”

“Isn’t that the point of a relationship…besides the sex?”

“That’s just it. Sex is a huge part of any romance.”

“You thinking of sweetening our deal, Doc?”

I swallowed. Choked. “No. No, nothing like that. We just have to make people think we are sweetened.”

“What?”

“It isn’t just enough to say we’re a couple. We have to sell this. Really sell this.”

“No one’s gonna question us, Rory.”

“But we can’t let them doubt it. Not for a second. Think about the guys on the team. Jack, Lachlan, Cole. You’ve seen them with their wives, right?”

“Yeah?”

“What is it that separates their relationship from ours? Aside from the foundation of lies?”

Jude thought about it. “Chemistry? Compatibility?”

If he twisted the knife any more it’d be a corkscrew. “No. It’s believability. Jack and Leah love each other so much they’re going insane trying to make another baby. And you’ve seen Elle when Lachlan pretends to use Nicky as a football on the field. And Cole Hawthorne? He’s Piper’s teddy bear.”

“So…we do what they do?”

“No. We do it better. If this is going to work, we need to pretend that our love is the greatest love that has ever existed.”

“And you don’t think that’s…a little dramatic?”

“No one can find out about us. We have to protect this secret. We’ll create a romance no one can question. I’m talking, star-crossed. Fated. Our love has to make Romeo and Juliet look like idiot teenagers.”

Jude arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t they kill themselves?”

“That’s why we’ll be the better couple.”

“Okay, I know you’re paranoid. I get that. You’ve had a lot of attention since the apple fiasco—”

“It was a big piece of apple!”

“But we don’t need Steven Spielberg to direct this saga. Just relax. We’ll make a couple appearances together. This is going to be easy.”

I never trusted easy. My step-mother equated easy with lazy, and I’d spent years perfecting concertos, acing tests, and running on treadmills to make sure that I did everything the hard way so others perceived it as being effortless. That work ethic protected me now.

I could not lose this fellowship.

Jude surrendered with a sigh. “And what do you propose? We’re already friends. Hell, you know everything about me—favorite color, favorite movie, how we met.”

“Blue. Jurassic Park. You beat up Eric when you were in fourth grade because he broke your sister’s slap bracelet.”

“See? What are you worried about?”

“And then after our parents made you guys make-up; he gave you my slap bracelet to break in retribution.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“Oh really?”

“Pleading the fifth.”

Sneaky. “Okay, so we know each other well. But people need to see us acting like a couple.”

“What do you mean?”

I squirmed. What was I getting myself into? “We have to be intimate with each other.”

Jude crossed his arms. I stared at the bulging muscles for a moment too long.

“Do you want to throw down on the fifty-yard line?” he asked. “Get a re-creation of how the baby was made?”

My dirty mind could concoct the fantasy,