“Wow, Lily, you look nice,” I say as Lily walks back into her office.

“Just nice?” Lily asks, looking from me to Carter.

“You look beautiful,” Carter says.

“Definitely beautiful,” I say, hating how Carter is looking at Lily a little too much.

But then he looks at me and winks before his hand brushes against my thigh.

I suck in a breath. Damn it. This is going to be harder than I thought. I thought we would fuck once and then be done. Carter clearly has different ideas.

I cross my legs away from him and turn my attention back to Lily as I adjust the jacket that Carter’s assistant sent for me. It fits well—almost too well. I don’t even understand how she knew what size to bring me. I wait for Lily to ask why we are wearing different clothes than when we left, but she doesn’t.

“Do you two have your crap together now?”

We both nod.

“Then, let’s prepare for the interview.”

“Great. Do you have any questions about the interview questions you read through or the direction we want you to try to guide the interview?”

“Nope. Seems pretty clear. I just need to figure out which dress I should wear.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Carter give me an I told you so look. I roll my eyes back at him. Just because he’s right doesn’t mean he has to be arrogant.

“Well, let’s see the choices,” I say, hoping I can get some question prep in as she shows me the dresses.

“Yes, I’d love to see you in the different dress options,” Carter says, obviously trying to make me jealous by giving Lily attention.

It’s working.

I’m ridiculously jealous. It’s stupid. I shouldn’t be jealous. For one, it’s clear he is into me, not Lily. He just fucked me, not her. And, two, I’m not into him. It was a one-time thing. Okay, two-time thing. I shouldn’t feel jealous or anything toward him.

I look over at his cocky grin. The only problem is, I don’t know how to tell my body that.

* * *

“You look beautiful,” I hear Carter’s voice say from behind me.

“Thanks—” I say and then stop as I turn around and realize that Carter isn’t talking to me. He’s talking to Lily.

I plaster a fake smile on my face. “Absolutely gorgeous.”

Lily lights up as she stands just offstage in her dark green dress. She decided on the green one after Carter said it brought out the green in her eyes. I have to agree. She looks gorgeous in it, and it’s perfect for the occasion. Just enough sex appeal without looking too sexy.

“You ready?” I ask Lily.

“Of course,” she responds.

She looks at Carter like she wants to eat him up. Of course she does. He’s hot. Even more so now that he’s trying to make me jealous by giving Lily extra attention.

“Good. You’re going to do great,” I say.

“We are ready for you, Lily,” one of the assistants says.

Carter leans forward and whispers something in her ear before kissing her on the cheek.

My heart stops as I watch him with another woman. Even doing something as innocent as kissing her on the cheek. I glare at him as he walks over to where I am, so we can watch Lily on the monitors together.

“I know we aren’t together, and you aren’t the type of guy who does relationships, but you could at least wait twenty-four hours before you start flirting with another woman in front of me.”

His fingers brush against mine. “Someone’s jealous.”

I roll my eyes. I shouldn’t have started this conversation with him.

“Let’s just do our jobs and make sure that Lily’s interview goes well.”

He moves behind me, rubbing my shoulders. “Relax. It’s out of our hands now. Now, it’s up to Lily.”

I fold my arms across my chest as I stare intently while Lily walks out to the couch across from Phoebe. I will not think about Carter again until the interview is over. And, even then, I will only think of him professionally. I will not have sex with him again. The sex might be amazing, but it’s not worth the pain I would definitely experience afterward.

The interview starts out pleasantly enough. But then Phoebe turns her questions in a harsher direction, like I was expecting.

“Are you and Phillip still together?” Phoebe asks.

“No, we aren’t,” Lily says.

I nod. Come on, you can do this, Lily.

“So, you are with Jacob?”

“No, I’m alone,” Lily says.

I wince when she says alone. She’s supposed to be coming across as a strong, independent woman. Not weak. Not a woman in need of a man.

“Alone? You don’t seem like the type of woman who likes to be alone. You were with two men at the same time after all. I don’t believe that there is no special someone in your life right now.”

Lily freezes.

I turn to Carter. “She’s fucked,” I say.

He nods, grabbing the nape of his neck while he watches the disaster begin to unfold.

Think, I say to myself, pacing.

There has to be a way to fix this. That is what I do. Maybe I can find a way to turn the power off and shut down the whole production. Maybe this won’t actually air. I might have to sleep with someone, but I can convince them to air an old episode instead of this one.

As I walk, Carter’s eyes stay fixed on the screen. Same goes for the backstage crew. Except for the women. Most of the women are either blatantly staring at Carter or sneaking a look. He’s attractive. One of the most attractive men I’ve ever seen. And he clearly has the attention of everyone in the room.

I wanted Lily to have her chance to do this on her own. But she fucked that up the second she wouldn’t prepare with me. So, now, she’s going to have to do this with a man by her side.

“Carter,” I hiss.

He turns toward me with a grin. He clearly thinks I think we should just sneak off and have sex somewhere since Lily is such a lost cause.

“Take off your jacket,” I say.

His grin brightens as he takes it off.

I undo the top couple of buttons on his shirt.

“You know I want you, Victoria, but I think we should go somewhere more private before you undress me completely,” he says with a wink.

I ignore him as I spit in my hand and then fluff his hair, making it a little messier.

“Roll up your sleeves.”

“Why?” he asks, realizing that I’m no longer doing this for sex.

“Because you are about to go on camera.”

His eyes widen, but I don’t give him time to fight me.

I run over to the production assistant. “Have them go to commercial. We have Lily’s boyfriend, and he’s willing to go on camera after the break.”

The PA’s eyes light up as she signals to go to commercial.

“I am not pretending to be her boyfriend,” Carter says to me as the hair and makeup team swarm him. “And I’m definitely not going on camera, looking like a slob,” he says as the team rolls up his sleeves, like I told him to do earlier.

I shake my head, staring at him with a smile in my eyes. “You are going on camera. You put me in charge of the interview, remember?”

He glares at me. “I am not doing this.”

“Yes, you are.”

“How is this going to make anything better? How is her fucking three men better than her fucking two men?”

“Because you are going to go on and be charming. You are going to provide a hot distraction for the audience. You are going to say that you used to date Lily in high school. You went your separate ways in college, but you have wanted her ever since. She felt the same way, but you had a girlfriend, and she had a fiancé. But she wasn’t happy because the true love of her life was with another woman. She hated herself for not fighting harder for you. But, after everything happened, you realized how much you loved her. You’re going to go on and say that everything that Lily did was because she had lost her true love. And, now, you are back in her life. You’re going to say that true love conquers all.”

Carter searches my eyes. He knows I’m right. He knows that my plan will work. But it doesn’t stop him from hating this plan.

He’s shoved onstage before he gets a chance to stop it from happening.

I walk back to the monitors to watch. He’s charming, attractive, and smart. He offers the distraction that is needed to make people forget about all the bad things Lily did. Clearly, if she got Carter to fall for her, she can’t be that bad. The host even falls for Carter. Everyone does.

It doesn’t take Lily long to figure out the plan and go along with it. She holds his hand and flirts with him like she really wants him. She probably does. Everyone else watching wants him.

I want him. I just can’t have him. I’ve just sealed my fate by making him publicly pretend to be in love with another woman. He’s going to have to pretend to be with her for at least a year until she gets elected. Maybe even for the duration of her term.

I’m not going to be able to do this. I’m not going to be able to watch him pretend to be in love with another woman. It’s only a matter of time until the pretending becomes real anyway.

I can’t watch this. Not when I’m falling for a man I can never have. I need to get out of here. So, that’s what I do. I leave.