Rhett forced himself to stay close to Cole’s side; it wasn’t a hardship of any sort actually. Being hugged by Cole, being the source of his happiness, had felt oddly good and satisfying all at once. He wished he’d had more than three nanoseconds to enjoy it before Ryan burst into their bubble. He knew Ryan would have questions and he hoped for both his and Cole’s sakes that he didn’t pry too deep before they got a chance to get their story straight.

“Boyfriend?” Ryan’s expression went from confusion to incredulity and his gaze snapped back and forth between them. “I don’t believe you.”

To his shock, Cole kissed Rhett’s cheek and hugged him tighter. “Believe it.”

Ryan helped himself to the seat that Cole had been occupying a minute ago and eyed them skeptically. “The serial dater with Mr. Monogamy?”

“It’s why we didn’t want to say anything,” Rhett piped up, putting his hand tentatively on Cole’s knee, surprised by how easy he found it to touch Cole. He’d never touched him before, not that he could remember. He felt bad for the way he’d made Cole feel earlier. He hadn’t meant to imply that he was a slut, but he’d been on more dates than anyone Rhett knew. His explanation made sense to Rhett, though, and had him wondering how much time he’d wasted with the wrong people himself.

Rhett took a sip of his drink and looked at Ryan. “We weren’t sure it would get past the first few dates, so we kept it quiet. The chemistry is there, obviously, but we wanted to be sure before we said anything.”

“When were you planning on saying something?”

“Soon, actually. I’ve asked Rhett to come to Tahiti with me for Kristen’s wedding. Not to steal the princess’s thunder, but I was going to formally introduce Rhett as my boyfriend before we left.”

Ryan leaned back, watching them both, and Rhett couldn’t help the fear that sliced through him. If Ryan found out it was all a sham, a ruse, a mutually beneficial arrangement, he’d be pissed at Rhett for using Cole the way he was.

Cole’s fingers tightened on Rhett’s shoulder and he took a deep breath.

“This is really weird,” Ryan said, leaning forward. “How did this even happen?”

Cole shrugged a shoulder. “I got stood up one night and I happened to run into Rhett. He did me a favor and had dinner with me so I wouldn’t feel like a complete tool, and we had a lot of fun. I asked if we could do it again sometime and it progressed from there.”

Rhett hung on to Cole’s every word, committing them to memory as if there would be a quiz later.

“I can’t believe it,” Ryan said, looking at Cole. “Someone actually stood you up?”

“It’s been known to happen.”

Ryan’s boisterous laugh fit right in at the bar that suddenly seemed too loud and too crowded for Rhett’s liking. “Who stands up the heir to the Mallory Vineyard?”

“His loss is my gain,” Rhett cut in, sipping his drink.

Ryan lifted his glass to his lips and drained it then gave Cole a wicked grin. “I’m cock-blocking right now, aren’t I?” He grimaced and shook his head, standing up. “Don’t answer that. There is so much about this that I don’t want to imagine.”

Rhett’s mind was suddenly flooded with images that had no business being there. Images of Cole leaning in, pressing Rhett against the wall, raking his gaze down Rhett’s body. It wasn’t much, but it was trim, if not toned. He wasn’t overly tanned, and was blind as a bat without his glasses, but in his imagination, he was enough for someone like Cole.

Rhett tried to shove the images away, but they clung to the edge of his consciousness, telling him how much better it would feel to be snuggled up to Cole when they were naked. Suddenly aware of his unintended celibate streak, Rhett blushed and wished that he could stop his current train of thought.

He shouldn’t have been fantasizing about the man he was going to marry just for show. They were still going to have their separate lives, somehow. He trusted Cole to be discreet about any encounters he arranged. After all, he had more to lose if this went south than Rhett did.

His stomach soured at the idea of Cole sleeping with other people, whether it was okay with Rhett or not, or discreet or not. He chalked it up to the long strange evening he’d just had and forced himself to say a proper goodbye to Ryan, who seemed to want to be anywhere other than here.

Ryan left the bar, and Rhett watched through the windows until his silver car shot past the front of the building and vanished. He exhaled, and Cole kept his arm around him. It felt nice, so he wasn’t about to argue about the necessity of it.

“This night has felt like one giant coincidence.” Cole finished his drink.

Rhett pulled his glasses off and rubbed at his eyes. “I’ve never lied so much in my life. Is it always this exhausting?” Rhett put his glasses back on and looked at Cole, who had a strange expression on his face. Or maybe it wasn’t strange; after all, he barely knew Cole.

“Can I buy you a drink, boyfriend?” Cole flashed him a movie-star smile.

Rhett wanted to say yes, desperately, because this night was bizarre and part of him believed that it might all be a dream. “I should get home,” he said instead. “Can you send me the details for Kristen’s wedding, dates and where you guys are staying. I need to book a vacation, it would seem.”

“Don’t worry about a thing,” Cole interrupted. “We leave in a week and all the flights and stuff have been arranged. All I have to do is tell Mom I’m bringing a plus one and they’ll take care of everything.”

“I can’t let you, Cole.”

Cole grinned. “I’m not, my parents are. Consider it a perk.”

“Like a signing bonus,” Rhett remarked dryly. “Anyway, I should still get going.”

“Can I give you a lift?”

Rhett opened his mouth to tell Cole that he’d be fine, but then he remembered that Cole was essentially his boyfriend now, and he should let Cole do boyfriend things like drive him home.

“I’d like that,” Rhett replied, feeling as if it was the first true thing he’d said in hours.

The drive only took a couple of minutes. They didn’t talk much, mostly Rhett giving Cole directions. When they pulled up in front of Rhett’s building, Cole killed the engine and undid his seatbelt.

“I think I should come inside,” Cole told him.

Rhett turned to him and blinked, stupidly, feeling very much like a deer caught in headlights.

“If I’m your boyfriend, people will expect me to have at least been in your apartment.”

“Alright.”

Rhett climbed out of the car and fished for his keys as he headed for the door. The idea of Cole in his apartment was doing funny things to him. He felt slightly feverish and a little nervous.

How would Cole see his apartment? It wasn’t much, but Rhett was happy with the way he’d decorated it with lots of black and white photography and loud accessories, bright colors splattered throughout the rooms to liven them up.

He unlocked the door and let Cole enter first, focusing on his shoes as he toed them off at the door.

“Nice place.” Cole wandered slowly, examining every inch of Rhett’s apartment. He stopped at the kitchen table and gently touched Rhett’s fern. “Not what I expected.”

“Excuse me?” Rhett said, feeling immediately defensive of his beloved Lucy.

“I thought you’d have a fish tank.”

“I don’t like cleaning the tanks. Plants are harder to kill, too.”

Cole smiled and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Good point.” Cole looked around, then met Rhett’s gaze. “Are you going to show me your room?”

“Show you my room? Are we ten?”

“No, but we’re boyfriends now. There’s certain things that I’ll be expected to know, like what the inside of your bedroom looks like.”

Rhett ran his hands through his hair, clasping his fingers together behind his head. “Why? It’s not like someone is going to quiz you on the thread count of my sheets.”

Cole rolled his eyes and turned on his heel, heading down the hallway. “If you don’t want to do this, it’s not too late to back out. We can break up and I’ll find someone else to be my fake future husband.”

Rhett didn’t like the idea of Cole in his room, seeing his private space when he hadn’t had time to prepare for it, but he liked the idea of Cole finding a new counterfeit boyfriend less. Being fake together was suddenly more appealing than being actually single.

“Ignore the mess. I wasn’t exactly expecting company,” Rhett said as Cole opened his bedroom door.

He knew what Cole would see. His untidy nightstand, stacked with magazines. His unmade bed because why bother making a bed when you were the only one who slept in it. His laundry, though, thankfully made it into the basket every day. Rhett closed his eyes and waited for Cole to see it.

“Oh, my God, you have a Garfield plushie. I loved Garfield.”

Rhett opened his eyes, sighed, and joined Cole in his bedroom. Cole was sitting on the edge of Rhett’s messy bed, holding the Garfield plushie and staring at it thoughtfully.

“Garfield was my favorite. Mom found him in a yard sale one time.” Rhett cleared his throat, swallowing the emotion that instantly swelled there. He didn’t talk about his mom very much. Ryan never wanted to, and it was too hard on their dad, so Rhett mostly remembered her alone.

Feeling unsteady, he sat on the bed next to Cole and stared at Cole’s hands, the way they gently cradled one of Rhett’s most prized possessions, fingers gently stroking the orange fur. “It took her three days to get the smell of stale cigarettes out of him. She spent hours, I think, cleaning him up with a toothbrush and soapy water.”

“Your mom was always really nice to me.”

“She liked you. She told me as much.” Rhett took his toy from Cole’s hands and stared at it for a moment, resisting the urge to crush it against his chest and hug it tight. “Ryan and I hated her oatmeal raisin cookies, but she made them anyway because you loved them. You were the only one.”

The memory felt like a kick in the stomach. How long had it been since he’d been allowed to think of his mom, to talk about her with someone who knew her? Rhett forced his emotions down and pasted a smile onto his face.

“I showed you mine. Now you show me yours.”