I sink my bare toes into the cool sand as the fire warms my face. It’s beautiful. My pretend husband really outdid himself. Wherever he is.

Dex ran back inside, leaving me alone on the beach at night in front of the crackling fire. I’ve always wanted to have a campfire on the beach, so when Dex surprised me with one, I was really excited.

I lean back, letting my fingers slide into the powdery sand as I take turns looking from the raging fire to the diamond stars shining overhead, to the gentle waves of the dark ocean, slowly lapping up against the shore. The palms trees are keeping me company as they sway in the warm breeze, waving their palms at me like we’re old friends.

I close my eyes and smile, focusing on the nice smells wafting around the beach. It smells like smoky campfire mixed with salt-water. I love it.

A delicious whiff of Dex’s cologne hits my nose, and suddenly I’m back on the dance floor, gliding around effortlessly with his strong arms wrapped around me. A dab of his cologne must have rubbed onto my skin as we played husband and wife, and now I can’t stop smelling it.

It might be the fourth glass of wine I had or the heavenly scenery, but I’m beginning to enjoy my fake marital status, although it is bittersweet.

I want a husband for real, and it feels like I’ll never get there. I sigh softly as I look down at the diamond ring on my finger, which is casting an orange glow from the warm fire. It’s fake. It’s all fake.

A thickness settles in my throat as I look up at the lonely moon in the night sky. She’s been alone for ages, destined to be at the singles table forever as the stars frolic all around her. Will she ever find the love she craves so much?

I sigh as the nice mood I was in takes a sudden nosedive toward Self-Pity City. I just want a man who gets me. All of my previous boyfriends, and there haven’t been many, we’re all turned off by my personality. Strong, they called it as they broke up with me one by one. Exhausting. Aggressive. Bossy. Inflexible. Controlling. Too much. I’ve heard it all.

“You’re a lot,” Andy had said, looking exhausted as I sat him in the corner and made him tell me the truth. “We’re supposed to be on the same side, but it feels like you’re constantly against me.”

I twirl the ring on my finger as I wonder if there’ll ever be a wedding ring there for real. I want to get married and have a chance at the family I missed out on growing up. And I want a real man who loves me for myself, not the fake version of me that I can never keep up with.

My mind drifts back to Dex as a log shifts in the fire, sending sparks dancing up into the sky. Of all the guys I’ve met, Dex seems to enjoy my aggressiveness. I keep waiting for him to discover the real me and move on like all of the other guys, but the more I let him in on my destructive secret, the closer he tries to get to me. He matches me punch for punch in our sparring of words, and he seems to thrive on getting me all riled up.

My breath quickens as I picture him on the boat earlier this afternoon, refusing my demands to put on a life vest.

“If you fall overboard,” I said, strapping mine on extra tight, “I’m not jumping over to save you.”

“You’re going to let me drown?” he asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at me. I can still remember how his brown hair was moving in the wind, begging me to sink my fingers into it.

“I’m warning you now,” I said, crossing my arms over the thick life vest and probably looking ridiculous in the process. “I’m not drowning because of your refusal to follow basic aquatic safety rules.”

“What about basic fashion rules?” he said, glancing down at the huge red vest covering half of my body. It was much too big, and my head probably looked like the tip of a hot dog wiener popping out of the bun as I stood there. “You’re hiding a killer bikini behind that thing. That’s just fucking cruel.”

Seven minutes later, my life vest was off. He chuckled when he saw me walk by in my bikini, but he didn’t say anything. Luckily for him, he didn’t, or I would have shoved him over the edge of the boat.

I like to do things by the book and he doesn’t. I’m not even sure if he can read.

I hold my rulebook tight. It’s a comfort thing for me. He doesn’t play by the rules, and he’s slowly making me loosen my grip on my rulebook, which is both terribly frightening and extremely exhilarating at the same time.

Will you stop? It’s all fake.

This is not reality. This is a business arrangement. This is about money, not feelings. I have to remember that before I get hurt.

But when Dex comes strolling over holding a champagne bottle in one hand and two glasses in the other, the line between reality and business gets blurred a little more.

His sports jacket is off, and he’s looking so tempting with his button-up light blue shirt rolled up his thick tattooed arms. The top few buttons are open, and the wind is giving me a nice view of his hard chest.

He smiles as he plops into the white sand beside me and offers me a glass.

“You’re full of surprises tonight,” I say taking the champagne flute. Our fingers touch, and the tingling in my fingertips just grows with need as I pull away.

“I didn’t like Prince Creep’s eyes on you,” he says as he pulls off the foil wrapped around the champagne bottle, exposing the cork. “I wanted you all to myself.”

“Are you kidding?” I say, laughing as my gaze falls back to the fire. “He’s not interested in me. He can have any girl on the planet.”

“Probably,” he says as he grips the cork. “But he only wants one, and he’s not getting close to my wife.”

“Fake wife,” I correct.

He doesn’t say anything.

I take a deep breath, enjoying his scent as he smoothly pops the cork out and holds up the smoking bottle. “Thirsty?”

“Definitely,” I say, holding up my glass. He fills it with champagne and bubbles, and I can’t help but smile as I look at the engagement and wedding rings on my hand next to the bubbling champagne. It looks like a wedding card.

“Was that true what you said about wanting kids in there?” I ask, taking a sip. The bubbles tickle the inside of my nose, making me smile.

“Of course,” he says, looking at me with his piercing blue eyes. They have an orange glow with the fire close by, and they look even sexier than normal.

“I can’t tell what’s real or fake anymore,” I say, looking away.

“Let me explain the difference,” he says, smiling as he pours himself a glass. “When I’m talking to you, it’s real. When I’m talking to the prince, it’s fake.”

“What about when you dance with me?” I ask. My ears heat up as I close my eyes, wishing that the wine swirling in my head hadn’t let the words slip by my lips.

“That’s real,” he says, clinking his glass with mine. “And so is all of this.”

He takes a sip of his champagne, and I watch with my heart fluttering as his sexy lips curl around the glass. My right hand slides over to my left, and I slip the wedding and engagement rings off, leaving my finger bare. I want this night to be real. No fake engagement. No fake feelings. I want to see if there’s anything here for realsies.

When he’s not looking, I quickly unhook the strap on my convertible bra, attach the rings to it, and clip it back into place with Kara’s rings fastened securely inside of my dress.

“Do you think we’ll sell any yachts?” I ask, trying to lighten the mood. My half-finished glass of champagne is getting me giddy again.

“We better,” he says with a laugh. “Or Marv is going to fly us out to Mongolia and leave us there.”

“Then I think we better push it a little harder.”

“The fake marriage?” he asks, grinning at me. “Great idea. I could stick a baby in you for real. That would sell it.”

I narrow my eyes and fight back even despite getting lightheaded all of a sudden. “You try to stick anything in me, and you’ll spend the rest of the weekend in the emergency room.”

He laughs softly as he refills my glass. It’s different with him now. We’re still at each other’s throats, but it’s like we’re playing now and not trying to actually suffocate each other.

“I was talking about pushing the sale a little harder,” I say. “It’s in both of our interests for him to buy the yachts.”

“It’s in your interest,” he says quickly. “You’ll be off to become a pilot, and I’ll be stuck here without you.”

My shocked eyes dart to him. He’s breathing slowly as he picks up a handful of sand, letting the grains slip through his fingers.

“Don’t try to deny it,” he says, looking sad as he watches the waterfall of sand fall from his hand. “I know you’re going to leave once you get your money.”

A heaviness settles in my chest as his words play over in my mind. I guess I always knew I would quit, but I didn’t think that anyone would care. Hell, I didn’t think that I would care.

Things are starting to change.

“We can still be friends,” I say, nearly laughing at the ridiculousness of the statement. Me and Dex as friends. It’s laughable. This is the guy who soaked me with ginger ale half an hour after I met him. He’s the guy I nearly killed when he grabbed my breasts and ass without permission. This is the guy who’s made me grind my teeth so much over the past few days that I might need dentures when I get home.

And what’s even more laughable is that I think I might want more than to just be friends. As frustrating and cocky as he is, I’m kind of attracted to him.

“Just friends?” he asks, looking at me with a softness on his face. His eyes are asking so much more than the two words that slid out of his mouth.

I take a deep breath before vomiting out a string of arguments against why we should be anything more than friends. “We’re co-workers, Dex,” I say, staring at the fire but not seeing the flames as my mouth rambles on. “It’s never a good idea to date people you work with. We’re so different. I like safe and orderly, and you like wild and reckless. You’re a bit too tall for my height. We can’t stay next to each other for two minutes without arguing. You’re a Leo, and I’m a Taurus. It would never work.”

“So that’s the con list,” he says, chuckling. “The very long con list. Now, what are the pros?”

You’re the hottest guy I’ve ever seen. I can’t stop thinking about you. You make my body react in a way that no one else has ever done.

“I don’t know,” I lie.

“Let me think of some reasons why we should be together,” he says, tapping his chin as he looks up at the sky. After a few seconds, he looks at me and shrugs. “I can’t think of any, but I still want to be with you.”

He turns to face me and like in a trance, my body follows his. He reaches up and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear as I get lost in his deep eyes.

He’s so close. My mouth waters as his warm hand moves to my cheek and cups it, gently pulling me toward him.

Jesus. If my heart was a jet, it would be shattering the sound barrier right now.

His lips press softly against mine, and I lean into him, letting him take my mouth with his tongue. The world vanishes around us. There’s no more crackling fire or gentle ocean. There’s no more bright stars or swaying palm trees. There’s only his sexy lips on mine and his silky tongue claiming my mouth.

I’m breathless when he finally pulls away, and I have to place my palm on the cool sand before I fall over. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to process what just happened, but my mind is as clear as a Jackson Pollock painting.

Did he just kiss me? Did I just like it?

It’s not fair. He looks so calm and cool as he licks his lips and reaches for the champagne bottle, refilling his glass like the world didn’t just come collapsing down.

I swallow hard as I try to analyze his intentions, try to figure out his game.

Guys like him are not interested in girls like me. This is all part of our war. He’s trying to make me fall for him so he can trap me like a marionette and then cut the strings that are holding me up.

“What the hell was that?” I say, wiping his sweet taste from my lips with the back of my hand. “This was not part of the deal.”

He lowers his glass, turning to me with a look of confusion on his face. It’s all an act. He’s playing me. And I almost let him win. I almost let him get the upper hand.

“Riley, I—”

“You what?” I ask, tightening my grip on the glass in my hand. “You want to hump and dump me like all of your other girls? You want to make me have feelings for you and then hang me out to dry? Well, I’m not falling for any of that!”

“Wow,” he says, shaking his head as he looks at me with sadness in his eyes.

He’s good. I’ll give him that. That sadness almost looks genuine.

I jump to my feet, pouring the rest of my champagne onto the sand. “If you try that again, I’ll slap a sexual harassment suit on you so fast it will make your head spin.”

“Riley,” he says, looking desperate as he opens his hands. “I was just trying to—”

“I know what you were trying to do,” I snap. I place the champagne flute beside him and wipe the sand off of my dress. “Don’t try it again. I’m going back to the room.”

I storm back to the villa with my shoulders back and my chin held high, but I feel like crumbling in on myself and crying. I take one last look at Dex before I turn into the hall. He’s still sitting in front of the fire, but he’s abandoned his glass and is drinking straight from the bottle.

“I hope you get alcohol poisoning,” I whisper before marching back to our room.

* * *

Dex comes back into the room two hours later, and I’m still awake. I’m lying on my side of the bed, feeling stupid and embarrassed about my little scene on the beach.

He made such an effort and we were actually getting along and having a connection when my insecurities came bubbling up and I freaked out.

I feel horrible. I wish I could go back in time and replay the moment after the kiss. I wouldn’t have been so quick to judge. I wouldn’t have been so aggressive and inflexible. I wouldn’t have been ‘too much,’ as my ex Andy had said.

I keep my head on the pillow, staring at the wall of drawers between us as Dex lies down on the bed. He can’t see me and I can’t see him, but I know that he’s there. I wish he would stand up and knock down the wall of drawers between us, crawl onto my side of the bed, and take my body. I want him. I need him.

I’m still not certain he’s playing me, but it’s worth taking a chance. It’s worth it for the shot at happiness that I know is possible with Dex.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, so softly that he can’t hear me. “I’m sorry I ruined the night.”

I picture him on the other side with his head on the pillow, facing me like I’m facing him. I breathe softly as I drag a fingertip along the soft oak of the drawer, pretending it’s his chee—

“What are you doing?”

The shock of his voice jerks me out of my haze, and I spring up to a sitting position on the mattress like Linda Blair in the Exorcist.

Dex is not lying on the other side of the wall of drawers like I had imagined. He’s standing at the end of my side of the bed with a toothbrush sticking out of his smirking mouth.

“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head defensively. I quickly turn from defense to offense, raising my voice as I glare at him. “What are you doing on my side of the bed anyway?”

I jump off the bed and yank my pillow under my arm. “You’re spying on me, you pervert!” I shout as I struggle to rip a sheet off of the mattress. It gets stuck under the wall of drawers, and Dex chuckles as I nearly fall trying to aggressively yank it off.

“Need some help?” he asks casually as he takes the toothbrush out of his mouth.

I want to stick it in his eye.

“Not from a pervert who likes to watch me when I’m sleeping!” I yell. Finally. The sheet comes flying off the mattress, and I quickly wrap it up into a ball under my other arm.

“It doesn’t look like you were sleeping,” he says, chuckling as he watches me storm across the room. “It looks like you were longing for me and wishing that I would give you another kis—”

“I was sleeping!” I shout, trying to block out his words.

“You were doing something,” he says, giving me a frustrating grin, “but it wasn’t sleepi—”

I slam the bathroom door closed and lock myself inside. My ears are burning with embarrassment as I lie on the cold tiles for the second night in a row.

My first week on the job is going just fucking great.