Alexa

---

I left the club and walked down the street to the subway, regretting that I'd even bothered to go out with Luke. What a stupid move – who does that? Who goes out with a perfect stranger they met through an email that wasn't intended for them?

Who pretends to be an escort?

I really had to stop listening to Candace. She always got me in trouble.

Not that I was in any kind of trouble. I'd had fun enough with Luke and John, after getting over the whole business about my identity. It was kind of exciting. But it was a flop, in the end. Luke thought he could use me to teach his brother-in-law a lesson, but I wasn't who he thought I was. We had fun for a while, dancing and talking, but I realized after talking to Dana in the washroom that Luke was still hurting over his failed engagement. He was on the rebound and those men were to be avoided at all costs. He had decided he wasn't the kind of guy who had relationships, or even considered marriage and family in the future.

What kind of guy wants to go to Mars?

Someone who does not want to fall in love and get married.

So, he wasn't the kind of guy I should spend any more than a few moments of time thinking about. No matter how gorgeous he was, no matter how smart and successful, he was not a long-term guy. That's what I wanted and needed.

My parents had the best marriage ever. I wanted one like they had – a partnership where they loved each other and were each other's best friend.

Luke seemed to turn sour on women and love after his bad experiences. Now, he viewed women only as fuck partners. So, it was best that I say goodbye early and get the heck out of the club.

I sat on the subway car, glancing around at the other commuters, and wished I could find someone real, but I'd rather be single than be with just anyone. I wanted someone who was going to love me, support me, want to be with me and only me.

If that meant I had to wait until my degrees were finished and I had a job somewhere and was living somewhere I really wanted to be – like Zurich or Copenhagen or Florence, so be it. I'd rather be single than waste my time with men who were only out for a good fuck and nothing deeper.

I got off at my stop and walked the couple of blocks to the old brownstone in which I lived with Candace. She was in her pajamas and was watching SNL when I arrived home.

"There you are," she said and moved over on the sofa. "How did it go?"

"It was okay, I guess," I said and plopped down beside her. I removed the straps from the high heels and rubbed my feet. "He wasn't a serial killer luring me out to kill me so there's that."

"So tell me everything," she said, impatient for the details.

"I can't tell you," I said and shrugged. "Remember? The NDA?"

"Oh, come on – you can tell me. I'm your bestie. There's no way I'm going to spill."

"I really shouldn't…"

"Come on, Alexandria Marie Dixon. You better tell me. Who was it who moved all the way across the country with you to go to Columbia? Who was it who kept you at my apartment after your insane ex came after you?”

"You."

"Exactly. If you can't trust me with details, how can you trust me with your life?"

I sighed. She was right. "He hired me to rub me in his brother-in-law Eric’s face because Eric cheated with Lexxi911. That's it."

"What?" She moved closer, her eyes wide.

"Yeah. His brother-in-law Eric hired this escort named Lexxi from 9-1-1 Escorts. It’s spelled Lexxi with two x’s. Eric’s married to Luke's very pregnant sister."

"Wow. What a story."

"You have no idea."

"What's he like? Tell me! I already know he's gorgeous and rich."

"His heart was broken by his ex-fiancée and he has a really awful family."

"Oh, that's right," she said, her eyes wide. "I read about him in one of the gossip mags online. They were engaged like, forever, and then they broke it off, apparently because he cheated on her.”

“Other way around.”

“What?” Candace said, her mouth open wide. “She cheated on him?”

I nodded. “I guess she'd been cheating on him for years with this other guy but the other guy didn’t want to get married. She wanted to get married and Luke was an easy mark, I guess."

"That's horrible," she said and made a face. "I can understand why he might be a bit down on relationships."

"Tell me about it," I said and she knew exactly what I meant. I was down on relationships, too, but unlike Luke, I did want one.

"So, Luke hired me because he wanted to bring Lexxi to the family function as a warning to Eric that if he didn't shape up, Luke would tell his sister."

"Unbelievable… The lifestyles of the rich and famous."

"I know," I said and leaned back, taking in a deep breath, then I filled her in on the rest of the evening's events.

"That sounds so fucked up," she said and crossed her legs. "I thought rich people would be happy and have these fantastic lives. It sounds like they have just as many problems as we poor folk do."

"Maybe more. I bet people are always trying to use them because they're rich. It must be hard to know who likes you for who you really are and those who like you because you have money."

"Yeah, I guess," she said and twirled her hair for a moment. "Still, I'd rather be unhappy and rich than unhappy and poor."

"I don't know if it really helps."

I didn't know. Luke seemed really injured by his fiancée's betrayal. He'd soured on marriage as a result. He'd soured on relationships, too. His money didn’t stop that betrayal. In fact, it was probably because he was so rich that his fiancée stuck with him even though she was really in love with the poor guy.

What a mess…

"He wants me to come to some big family function in Westhampton."

"Really?"

I told her all about Felicia and why Luke wanted me to go to the beach house for the weekend.

"Are you going?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't want to waste my time pretending to be someone I'm not. If I'm going to spend time smiling at strangers at a weekend party, I want it to be because I'm in love with my boyfriend, not because some stranger wants to avoid being matched up with the daughter of an old family friend."

"He's pretty hot, though. You have to admit it."

I pictured Luke in my mind's eye. "He's incredibly hot, but he's also way out of my league. Besides, he's planning on going to Mars so he's not going to be around for the long haul."

"He's going to Mars?" She gave me this comical look of disbelief.

"That's his plan after he sails around the world, and communes with the iguanas of the Galapagos. So, he's serious about not getting married or even having a long-term relationship."

"Aw, that's too bad. He sounds really sad."

"He's actually kinda fun, though, so it's a serious loss to womankind. His sister said he was really broken-hearted after the breakup."

"How long has it been since they called off the engagement?"

"Less than a year."

"Oh, he's still in mourning then," she said. "Give him time. He'll get over it, especially if he meets someone and falls. Men are the biggest saps when it comes to love. They fall so easily. It's us women who have to be convinced."

I gave her a frown. "What are you talking about? It's the other way around. It's men who don't want to fall in love and women who do."

"No, you're wrong. Men say they don't want to fall in love, but they fall the hardest. It's their hormones. They got it bad. In comparison, women are much more selective. We expect more from our guys than just looks, whereas men will fall for a woman solely based on how pretty they are and how much they smile. Seriously."

"You're a geology major," I said with a snort. "You know rocks, not men. Believe me, men want lots of sex, yes, but they don’t really want to commit. Or when they do, it's the whacko control freak variety."

"Not every guy is like Blaine," she said and reached over, squeezing my arm. "There are good ones out there. You'll find one someday."

I shrugged, not wanting to discuss Blaine or my chances of finding a real relationship. Maybe I was as jaded as Luke, but wasn't as honest as he was. I had little hope that I'd find someone and have as good a relationship as my parents had. It was my hope, but that was pretty much it – hope. It wasn't my experience.

Blaine had been a nightmare from which I only recently woken up. I still had these sensations like he was watching me from a distance, spying on me, even though he was three thousand miles away. I was still in fight or flight mode when it came to Blaine, always fearing he'd show up and try to take me back.

And when I mean take, I mean take, as in abduct.

I turned down Harvard and moved to Manhattan to get as far away from Portland as I could and as far away from Blaine as I could. I figured New York City was big enough that he could never find me.

---

The next day, Candy and I went to meet our friends from Columbia for a girl's brunch at Luigi's, a deli in the upper east side. It was busy as usual and we managed to snag a table in the corner so we could talk without any interruption as the servers practically ran down the aisles to deliver plates of food to hungry patrons. We all had our usual meals and each one of us related the latest horror to befall us in terms of romance. When my turn came, I had the best story, of course, but couldn't really tell anyone any specifics because of the non-disclosure agreement.

"Who is he?" Mara asked, punching me lightly on the arm. "You can tell us. We won't spill, right?" She glanced at Jan and Jan shook her head vehemently.

"Of course we won't tell," Jan said. "Spill, sister. Who is this hunk of a billionaire who hired you as an escort to send a message to his cheating brother-in-law?"

"I honestly can't say more," I said, shaking my head. "I signed an NDA. There's no way I want this story to get out and get sued because of it."

"Aww," Mara said, pouting. "I want to know who this guy is. He's really rich?"

"Super-rich," Candy said, and made a face. "Like billionaire rich. Comes from a rich family. Big fortune."

"Wow," Jan said, her eyes dreamy. "How come nothing exciting ever happens to me?"

"Believe me," I said and shrugged. "It's not like it was anything great. I mean, the guy isn't into relationships, and I spent about an hour meeting his creepy family and their wealthy friends. The rich really are different," I said with a nod.

"Do you have a pic of him?" Mara asked, ever hopeful.

"You might recognize him if I showed you."

"Take my word, he's gorgeous," Candace said.

"You saw him?" Mara asked, glancing at me with a look of disapproval. "How come she gets to see a pic of him and we don't?"

"That was before I signed the NDA," I said and shrugged helplessly. "Sorry."

"If Candy gets to see him, we should in all fairness."

"Sorry," I said again, and shook my head firmly. "No can do. But he's about six foot three, built, with a great body and dark brown hair, blue eyes, square alpha male jaw."

"He's totally drool-worthy," Candace said, excitedly. "I told Alexa to sleep with him, but she's being old-fashioned."

"Are you going to see him again?" Mara asked, leaning forward, eager for more.

"He wants her to come out to their family beach house in Westhampton for a weekend," Candy answered for me, "but she said no."

“What?” she asked and looked at me. "Why not?"

I exhaled in frustration. "Because he's got this really fucked-up family and there's all this tension between them. I liked his sister and his friend John, but the rest of them are kind of hoity-toity."

"Hoity-toity? What are you – from Jolly Old England?"

We all laughed.

"Seriously, though, he's really down on relationships. I don’t blame him, but he has no interest in getting serious about anyone so it would be a waste of my time."

"But if he's hot, why not? Get some. You deserve it, girl."

I smiled at Mara. She always felt bad for me that I had to escape a potential – or should I say – actual nutcase of an ex.

Then I thought maybe Luke and I were two peas in a pod. Both of us had been hurt by exes. He was betrayed by a cheat, and I was threatened by a creep.

Two suckers, in other words.

---

We all said goodbye and then Candy and I went home, resigning ourselves to a couple of hours of studying because of upcoming exams. I had my comp to study for and would be swamped with reading until the Wednesday night before the exam. I spent the rest of the day in my room with my headphones on and a journal article or textbook open in front of me. I only broke for supper, which consisted of a bowl of noodles with some added vegetables in a minimal stab at eating healthy.

The two of us spent the next few days quiet except for brief bouts of television during meals. The rest of the time, we hit the books and were silent.

---

About eight o'clock on the night before my comp, I got a text.

From Luke.

It wasn't from his MBS69 account so I'd moved up in the world from secret call girl to real live person.

LUKE: Hey, Alexa, I was just thinking of you.

I read it over and wondered whether I should respond. If I let it go, I'd never have to talk to him again.

Given his aversion to real relationships and his desire to live on Mars, I let it go, turning back to my paper on international treaties. About thirty minutes later, I got another text.

LUKE: I realize you probably never want to see or hear from me again. I just wanted to say I'm sorry I put you through the hell that is my family. I really appreciate what you did, even if my plans for teaching my bastard of a brother-in-law a lesson fell through. John managed to throw in your name and the word 'escort' enough that I think Eric finally got the message. What can I do to repay you? Your comp is this week, right?

I was steadfast in my intention to ignore him and let the whole Sexy Lexi business go into the forgotten past, but I could see Luke's handsome face as he bent over his phone and texted me hopefully.

LUKE: So yeah… I guess you don't want to come to Westhampton next weekend for fun and sun and great BBQ? The regular cast of characters will be there and it would be nice if I could have someone sane to talk to besides my sister.

I smiled at that.

ALEXA: You think I'm sane? ;)

He texted back right away, and I could almost feel his relief that I wasn't going to totally ignore him.

LUKE: Oh, I know it. Crazy maybe, but not insane. :)

I laughed and couldn’t wipe a silly smile off my face. I felt bad for him, having to face his family alone, especially if Felicia would be there and Mrs. B would be pushing them together because he was alone.

And then, without any coaxing from Candace, I decided to take a chance. Live dangerously.

ALEXA: Will Felicia and Mrs. B be in attendance?

LUKE: You can count on it. I need you, Alexa. I need you as a decoy and diversion. Pretty please?

ALEXA: If I agree, you accept that it's purely a platonic weekend. We can pretend to be all kissy-kissy, but there will be no spit-swapping or any other bodily fluids.

LUKE: Aww, shucks! No spit??? But okay, I get it. I agree. No bodily-fluid-swapping involved.

I smiled, remembering kissing him. I hadn’t realized it affected me so much and felt quite a lot of regret, but I had standards.

LUKE: …but what if you're drowning in the surf and I need to lock lips with you to administer CPR, and some of my saliva accidentally gets on your mouth?

ALEXA: GROSS!

LUKE: Ha ha! Welcome back to public school. :)

ALEXA: I will perform as your girlfriend. I will let you hold my hand and put your arm around me, and you can even kiss me in public and show simple PDAs, but no tongue, okay? And if we sleep in the same room, no funny business.

LUKE: I'll have you know that none of my business is funny. Only the most serious kind of business. Sober. Grey flannel kind of business so boring you'll fall asleep before you know it.

ALEXA: I'm serious!

LUKE: I promise. No funny business. Not even a joke. >:-(

ALEXA: Good. Okay then. I'll go out with you for the weekend to the beach house as long as you pinkie swear.

LUKE: Pinkie swear??!!

ALEXA: Since we're back in public school and all…

LUKE: Okay. Pinkie swear. I promised no funny business and I mean it. We'll do some surfing, and lie on the beach, work on our tans. Eat fresh fish and drink cold beer. You'll enjoy it after your comp, am I right?

ALEXA: It sounds great. What kind of stuff do I need to bring? I want to fit in with all your wealthy family members... Will I need formal evening dress and gloves? A tiara, mayhap?

LUKE: Just bring a bathing suit, a sundress and sandals, and you'll be fine.

ALEXA: I note you didn’t mention a nightgown…

LUKE: Oh, DARN. Busted. ;) Bring a nightgown. The tiara is optional. My adoptive mother might like it, but I prefer something less ostentatious.

ALEXA: Okay. When will you pick me up?

LUKE: Friday, as soon as I'm free. I'll probably work until six, so I can pick you up at seven if that's okay.

ALEXA: Sounds good. See you then.

LUKE: Thanks a bunch, Alexa. I mean it. You'll be my sanity and I'll make sure you won't regret it. I'll be the perfect fake boyfriend. No hanky-panky. Just lots of PDAs to keep the wolves at bay.

ALEXA: I'll hold you to that promise.

LUKE: You can hold me to anything, especially you. ;)

LUKE: Okay, now you know I had to take that opening. The world would not be right if I left it hanging…

ALEXA: Bye…

LUKE: See you Friday.

I put down my phone and smiled. Then, I forced the smile off my face. I really shouldn’t have agreed to go with him, but I'd be done with my comps by then and it would be kind of nice to spend a weekend in Westhampton. I'd only been to the Hamptons once before with Candace the previous summer and always planned on going back. Now was the perfect time. It was late in the season, but the weather was warm enough so it would likely be a fantastic weekend.

The Marshalls most likely had a fantastic house, and the food would be good. I'd spend the time with Luke, fending off his family. We could get some surfing in – or at least, I could try. The fresh seafood and cold beer sounded so good, plus the beach and the sun. I’d been working like a dog for so long, it would be wonderful to escape Manhattan for a weekend.

Spending it with one of the best-looking men I'd seen in a long time, with those blue eyes, and those bangs that fell into his eyes in that incredibly sexy way…

Hell, who was I kidding? He was the best-looking man I'd ever seen up close.

Or from a distance.

A weekend spent pretending to be in love with him, staying at his family's beach house in Westhampton? Lounging around on the beach with him beside me in a pair of swim trunks, that delicious washboard abdomen on display? That smile and those eyes…

Yeah, I could handle a weekend like that.

My only fear was that I'd enjoy it too much and end up being just another notch on his very committed bachelor's belt.

---

I left my bedroom and found Candace in the kitchen rummaging through the refrigerator.

"What's up?" she asked when she saw me, a carrot stick in her hand. "You finished for the night?"

“What’s that orange thing in your hand? I don’t recognize it.” I went to her and bent closer to peer at the carrot. “That’s not a Cheeto…”

“I went to the corner store, okay? Don’t make a big deal.”

I laughed. Then, I realized I had to tell Candace that I’d be going to the beach house after all.

“I just agreed to go to Westhampton with Luke."

"What?" She came over and gave me a hug. "You go, girl. Finally. You really deserve this, Alexa. Of all the people I know, you deserve to spend a nice weekend with a hunk of man like Luke. Seriously."

I smiled, agreeing with her. "I do deserve to have some fun with a hunk of a man. He promised to be good and not try anything."

"And if you want him to try anything, you can always encourage him."

"I'm not going to," I said and shook my head. "I'm just doing this because he's actually pretty nice and he needs an excuse to keep his adoptive mother and her best friend from setting him up with the best friend's daughter. They dated a few times and now they want to marry him off to her."

"You're such a philanthropist," Candace said with a snort. "Talk about a sacrifice. I'd go with him if you decided to turn him down. Seriously. He's amazingly hot, amazingly rich, and sounds like a decent guy."

"He's also amazingly dead-set against a long-term relationship, so there's that. It's a game changer, in my opinion. The only reason I'm spending time with him is because he probably has a really great beach house and the food will be good."

"Not to mention the view."

"That too," I said, wondering where the beach house was located. "I should google the beach house and see where it is.”

"I didn’t mean that kind of view, silly," she said and elbowed me playfully. "I mean, who would want to miss Luke in bathing suit?"

"Oh, yeah, that view." I took in a deep breath. "That view's pretty nice, too."

Then, I did google the family, and searched for a beach house address in Westhampton and sure enough, I found one. It was a huge home with a security fence surrounding it, and it was beach front.

"You're going to live the lifestyle of the rich and famous for a weekend," Candace said with a sigh. "Too bad you couldn't bring me along. I'd kill to go in your place. Couldn’t you take me with you in an extra-large suitcase? I could sneak out and pretend to be a beachcomber…"

"Sorry, sister," I said and shrugged. "It's just me. He's picking me up at seven on Friday. I'll stay for the weekend and be back Sunday night."

"You are one lucky girl."

I smiled, hoping she was right. It sounded good on paper – a weekend spent with a fabulously rich hunk of a man pretending to be his girlfriend. I'd learned my lesson about that things that were too good to be true.

They usually were.