My (Mostly) Fake Wedding - Penelope Bloom Page 0,48

know how long it has been since someone looked at me like I’m an idiot the way you do?”

A crooked smile found its way onto her mouth, dimpling her cheek. “I don’t know, the last time you spent time around your brother?”

“I mean a woman. All most of them care about when they see me is what their friends will think. How fun it’d be to post a selfie of us on their social media. They just want clout, and they don’t really give a shit what I do or say.”

“So you like me because I look at you like an idiot when you do stupid things?”

“Yes. Among other things.”

I couldn’t read her expression, but her eyes had shifted back to the sunrise. “I don’t want to promise anything. I’ll… I’ll try, though.”

“That’s a start. Also, I have a surprise planned for you when we get back to New York.”

“Do I even want to know? And if you put a bow on your penis again and say, ‘a package is about to come for you’ again, I’m not going to be happy.”

29

Belle

Val rode with me in an Uber toward the stadium on a chilly Monday evening. Fancy credentialed lanyards had been delivered to my apartment the day Chris and I got back from Europe, along with a vibrator wrapped in a ribbon. He’d left a note in his childish handwriting that read: “Batteries included. Got practice and meetings today, see you seeing me on Monday.” Chris also included a crude drawing of what I think was supposed to be me flashing my breasts at him while he threw a football on a field.

“Why are you smiling?” Val asked. “Some joke I’m not in on?”

“No. I was just thinking about something.” I straightened in my seat, then turned to face her. “Well, are you excited?”

Val checked out her lanyard, which we’d been told would give us access to the locker rooms as well as giving us the ability to walk around down on the field. “Uh, sure. I’m not really a huge fan of football, but I do like the uniforms.”

We arrived at the stadium, which was absolutely packed with cars and waves of human traffic circling the building. Our driver was let in through a special entrance at the back, guided right up to the building, and allowed to park.

A man in a suit with a lanyard of his own greeted us and let us follow him past the crowds, through winding hallways and down a set of stairs. Eventually, we reached a door where we could hear dozens of deep, masculine voices seeping through.

We stepped in, and quickly learned it was a locker room when we saw towering athletes in various states of undress all around us.

“Is this heaven?” Val mused. “So many abs. So many.”

“Are we supposed to be here?” I asked the man leading us around.

“Mr. Rose asked to have you brought to him when you arrived.”

We found Chris sitting in his locker, which was a fancy little leather-padded cubby in the wall. He had his football pants on and shoulder pads but wasn’t completely in uniform yet. He looked freshly showered and impossibly good, with his mop of wild hair and tattoos peeking out from beneath his sleeves and collar.

He hopped up when he saw me and crushed me in a hug, then squeezed my ass. I swatted his hand away, but he just kissed me on the neck, smiling lop-sided as he pulled back. “This is Val?” he asked, nodding to my side.

Val gave a sheepish wave. She apparently didn’t feel the same compulsion to keep her eyes from wandering the room that I felt. It looked like she was shamelessly gawking at every muscle-clad football player who walked by.

“I’m glad you came,” Chris said.

“Don’t get used to it. I just heard we’d get free concessions with these passes.”

“As usual, you are just after the hot dogs.”

Val choked, then covered her mouth.

I rolled my eyes. “Excuse him, Val. He looks like an adult, but on the inside, he’s just a child.”

“What does that say about you for being so infatuated with me?” Chris asked.

Val and I were eventually—and thankfully—asked to head to our position on the field to watch the game. We met up with Chelsea, Damon, Luna, and Grant—Chelsea’s brother—on the field.

I wasn’t personally much of a football fan, but I found myself joining in with the excitement during the game. Everything was so loud and explosive that I couldn’t help clapping and jumping