“Girlfriend,” Hannah finished for him. “Hi, I’m Hannah Christy. Gage’s girlfriend. It’s so nice to meet you both!”
Right then and there, it was hard to say who was more surprised by her statement–his mother, his sister, Gage, or Hannah. He was about to correct her and let her off the hook, but she stepped away and shook hands with everyone.
“Gage didn’t mention anyone was stopping by. We were just making breakfast.” Looking over her shoulder at him, she smiled. “Do you have enough batter for a few more waffles?”
“Um…”
“That won’t be necessary,” his sister said quickly as she visibly relaxed and smiled at Hannah. “We didn’t mean to interrupt. Mom was just nervous about Gage not returning her call.”
With a small smile and blush, Hannah turned to his mother. “I’m afraid that was my fault. I had just gotten some bad news about my job and he swooped in and wanted to try to make me feel better. You raised a wonderful son, Mrs. Lawson.”
“Oh…well…thank you,” his mother stammered before glancing at him. “I’m sorry I overreacted.” Then she took a step toward the door. “It was lovely to meet you, Hannah.”
“Maybe we can all get together later?” Hannah suggested. “I’m not sure about going to brunch with…Irene, was it? But if you don’t have plans for later this afternoon, we’d love to spend some time with you, right, Gage?” She walked over and hooked her arm with his.
Swallowing hard, all he could do was nod.
Within minutes, it was decided that they were going to meet for coffee later in the afternoon and his mother and sister were gone. As soon as the door was shut, he rounded on Hannah. “What in the world was that?”
Grinning, she shrugged. “I have to admit, I thought maybe you were exaggerating about how your family was treating this situation, but once I witnessed it for myself, I knew I had to do something. So…now you have a girlfriend.” Her smile was bright, cheery, and hopeful. “I’m yours for the holidays!”
And he wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh, cry, or get on his knees and thank her.
Chapter Four
“Okay, let’s go over the rules one more time so we’re both on the same page,” Hannah said later that afternoon as they pulled up to the small café where they were meeting his family.
Beside her, Gage let out a long-suffering sigh. “Hannah, we’ve been over this almost non-stop since we sat down to breakfast. I think we’re good.”
“Maybe we are, maybe we aren’t. I just don’t want you to get flustered and blow this.”
That got his attention.
“You think I’m going to blow this?” he asked incredulously. “How? How could I possibly do that?”
She shrugged while fighting the urge to laugh. “It seems to me they know how to manipulate you and get you flustered. You need to be firm with them.”
“I have been firm with them.”
Now it was her turn to look at him like he was crazy. “You have? Really? Then why are we having to be in a pretend relationship, huh? If you were firm with them, they wouldn’t be trying to fix you up with every spare woman they can find.”
“It’s not every spare woman…” Pausing, he groaned. “Fine. Go over the rules one more time.”
He was cute when he pouted and refused to admit he was wrong, she thought.
“We stick to the original story of how we met. We were stranded in the elevator and bonded over wine and cookies and have been inseparable ever since. Right?”
He nodded.
“We mention how my job is in a transitional period right now–hence the big emergency this morning–so down the line when we break up, it’s all pretty clear. Things were moving too fast, I had to move, neither were ready to commit, blah, blah, blah.”
Another nod.
“You’re coming with me to my company Christmas party this week and I’ll be coming to your mother’s Christmas party thing, but since my family is up in Maryland, I’ll be going home to spend the holidays with them. But since we are desperately in love, you’ll be devastated and miss me more and more with each passing breath…”
“Hannah…”
Rolling her eyes, she conceded. “Fine. We’ll hate missing out on spending Christmas together, but it doesn’t mean you’re open to being fixed up with anyone. You’ll wax poetic about how you think I’m the one–but just enough to keep everyone off your back. Think you can handle it?”
“Of course I can handle it,” he murmured. “You’re the only one who thinks I can’t.”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see who’s right. If I were a betting kind of woman…”
“Hannah!” Gage threw his head back against the seat. “Could we please just go and get through coffee? If we keep going like this, no one is going to believe us because you’ve aggravated me to death!”
“Sheesh. Relax,” she replied mildly. “All I’m saying is…we need to be careful. This is all for show and we’re just two friends helping each other out. More likely than not, I’ll be leaving Raleigh come January, so…we need to make this look real, but also know what’s really going on.”
And yeah, that last part was more for her than it was for him.
“At some point while we’re in there, I’ll excuse myself to go to the ladies' room so they can grill you about me and this relationship and you need to…”
“Be firm, confident, and behave like I’m stupidly in love.”
“Exactly!” Laughing, she reached for her purse and flashed him a smile. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” Together they climbed from his car and when they stood on the sidewalk, Gage reached for her hand and she instantly jolted. “What? What’s the matter?”
His hand was large and warm and…it startled her. He had touched her before–in the elevator–but this was the first time he was doing it outside of it. “Sorry. It’s nothing. I guess it just took me by surprise.”
His grin was sly and knowing. “And you think I’m going to blow this?”
“Gage…”
But all he did was let out a low laugh as he gently tugged her to follow him into the café.
After that, it was hard to say who was more eligible for an Academy Award. They played the giddily-in-love couple perfectly. Hannah knew it would be no hardship to snuggle up to Gage and gush over how wonderful he was, but she also didn’t realize how confusing it would be.
Every time he put his arm around her, she found herself sighing dreamily.
Whenever he took her hand in his, she smiled.
And when he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek and lingered…well…she found herself leaning into him and letting out a throaty moan that was completely inappropriate while having coffee with his mother and sister.
I’m in trouble…
It seemed like the perfect time to excuse herself. Glancing around, she spotted the restrooms. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I’m going to use the ladies’ room.” Smiling serenely at the two women, Hannah stood.