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Chapter Text

Lucy Chen perched on the edge of the cozy leather chair in Nyla Harper’s large office with her fingers mindlessly twisting the hem of her cardigan. Sometimes, it was daunting to sit across from her actual book publisher that had turned her dream of becoming a published author into a reality after years of rejection, and sometimes, she feared that everything would slip away, but not when her publisher gave her a smile more radiant than her bright red tailored power suit.

“I can already feel it, Lucy,” Nyla began, her enthusiasm lighting up her face and making it impossible to sit in her chair and instead stood over her desk.“This next book is going to be massive. You think your first one took the world by storm? This will cement you as the voice of modern romance.”

“Well, I don’t know if that’s possible.”

“I’ve been looking over the numbers, and I think it is.The pre-orders for your book are the highest I’ve ever seen. The buzz is everywhere, and now it’s time to take this momentum and build an empire with it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve talked to our marketing team, and we’re going all out. Multi-city book tour. Magazine spreads. Morning talk shows. Evening interviews. And, of course, book signings in all the key markets.” She leaned forward, a glint of excitement twinkling in her eye. “It’ll be huge. We’re talking New York, Chicago, here in L.A., and maybe even some international cities like London and Paris.”

“Wow, that sounds even bigger than a dream come true,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Now, our marketing team has done plenty of research, and the most successful romance writers talk about their own love life during their tours, so you need to do that.”

“Love life?” Lucy scoffed. “You’ve been my publisher for years. You know I don’t have one.”

“I know that, but for this book tour to really be a success, you’ll need a boyfriend, anyways.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to find one before starting some tour? I thought my book was going to be released in two weeks. I’m not sure I’ll find someone in two weeks.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be a REAL boyfriend.”

Her jaw slackened. “You’re joking.”

“I never joke about business,” Nyla replied dryly. “Look, you’re a romance novelist. Readers are invested in the idea that their favorite romance authors live what they write. A happy, stable relationship makes you more authentic. It’s marketing gold.”

“Marketing gold or not, I don’t need a boyfriend to sell a book, and I don’t have one. My first book did just fine without me talking about my personal life or anything for that matter.” There was zero promotion for her first book, so she did not expect that to change with her second one.

“And that was the first book. You were an unknown then. The mysterious debut author who captured the hearts of readers everywhere. Now, people want more. They want to connect with you. They want to know you, and what better way to make them fall even more in love with you than showing them the kind of romance you write about?”

Lucy leaned back and crossed her arms. “So I’m supposed to lie to my readers? Pretend I’m in love with some random guy just to sell a few extra copies?”

“It’s not lying. It’s…enhancing the story. Think of it as an expansion on the fantasy you created in your book.”

She shook her head as she bit her lip. “I don’t know. I’m not comfortable putting on some performance for the sake of publicity.”

“I know this isn’t your thing. Believe me, I do, but this is about more than you. It’s about the book. The brand. Your future, and the future of this place.”

“My future as a writer is contingent on me making up some relationship? If I need a fake boyfriend to be a successful writer, then maybe I don’t want to be one.”

“You signed a contract with Mid Wilshire Press stating that your next book is ours, and you’ll do any promotion we ask of you, which includes a tiny little bit of pretending. I’m not asking for a real relationship, Lucy. Just a book boyfriend. He’ll be like a male character in a romance novel that everyone wants to date. It’s just a little fantasy for everyone to fall in love with.”

“And where would I find this so-called ‘book boyfriend’?” She asked, the absurdity of the situation making her head spin.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ve worked too hard to get here, and so have I. So here’s the deal: I’ll handle everything. You won’t have to lift a finger. I’ll write scripts for your back story and help you rehearse, so you’re both camera ready. All you need to do is show up, smile, and let the world believe in your happily-ever-after. This will work.”

“How can you be so sure? Do you already have someone in mind?”

Nyla’s grin widened. “I thought you’d never ask. You’ll be going on your book tour with Tim.”

“Tim who?”

“Tim Bradford. Your editor. He’s perfect. He’s already invested in the project, he knows the ins and outs of your work, you’ve worked together for a while, so it’ll be easy to fake a relationship with him with that kind of background. Plus, he cleans up nicely, which will make him look great in front of the cameras. I think you two will look cute together.”

She stared at her publisher in stunned silence. “You’re kidding.”

“I told you, I don’t joke about business.”

Lucy closed her eyes, willing herself to stay calm. Tim Bradford was the last person she would have chosen for such an absurd scheme. He was curt, overly critical, and had a way of making her feel like an amateur every time they spoke. The thought of spending weeks pretending to be his girlfriend made her want to crawl under a pile of blankets in a warm bed and stay there forever. “Absolutely not,” she said, opening her eyes.

“He’s already on board. Everything’s been set in motion.”

“What?” Her voice shot up an octave.

“Or he will be when I talk to him in a few seconds. He’s a company man, and he understands the bigger picture, so he won’t have an issue with this. Besides, you two have great chemistry.” She had been part of plenty of meetings with authors and their editors and never once had she been more entertained than during Tim and Lucy’s.

Lucy laughed bitterly. “If by chemistry you mean barely concealed mutual annoyance, then sure.”

“Whatever it is, it’s passion, and it’ll be great for the tour,” she said breezily and walked around her desk. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a few tour details to finalize.”

She sat frozen as her publisher swept out of the room, her mind a short circuiting with disbelief. A tour for her newest book was an exciting dream come true, but promoting her work with the man who questioned every decision she made as part of that book and pretending he was her boyfriend? That sounded like a nightmare.

Tim frustratedly raked a hand through his hair as he poured over an awful manuscript that had more issues than promise. As he was about to write some devastating note to that effect in the margin, his office door swung open and in strutted Nyla with Wade Grey, the owner of the publishing house, following behind her. “Oh, good, you’re both here, so I don’t have to send you an email. This manuscript here is a pile of garbage. I like being tough on my writers to get them to do better, but this Chris Sanford guy is a lost cause. I can’t believe you signed him.”

“I’m not here to talk about him,” Nyla waved a hand dismissively. She looked behind her at her boss that sensed what was about to happen without even being told in that odd way where he just knew everything. “We need to have a word about something else.” She exchanged a look with Grey, then said, “I know you might not love this, but it has to do with Lucy’s book.”

“My job is done on Chen’s book.”

“As the editor, sure, but you see, we’re planning this tour. It’s going to be the biggest event this publishing house has ever seen. Multi-city, heavy media coverage…the works.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Good for her. I don’t see what that has to do with me.”

“Lucy needs a companion for the tour. Someone who can help sell the image of a relatable romance author. Someone…like a boyfriend.”

He blinked, his brain working to catch up. “I don’t follow.” 

“She needs a book boyfriend,” Nyla clarified, as though the phrase made perfect sense. “Someone to pose as her partner during the tour, and that someone is you.”

He laughed, a short, sardonic sound. “No. Absolutely not.”

“We need you. It’s just for a couple of weeks of hand holding and smiling for cameras.”

“I’m an editor, Harper,” Tim reminded her as if anyone forgot that. “Not an actor, not a P.R. stunt guy, and certainly not anyone’s fake boyfriend.”

Wade piped up, “I understand how it might seem, but this is about more than Lucy’s book. Romance novels have been the bedrock of this company since the beginning. Love sells, but sales have dipped for the last few years. People just aren’t reading books the way they used to, but our marketing team has done the research, and they’re confident that a well loved author will drive sales and reach demographics we’ve lost recently. Lucy is obviously a wonderful woman that will shine in front of a camera. Now, like I said, love sells. She needs to have her own love life, apparently. I’m not a marketing person, okay? But, I trust my people when they say having a boyfriend go along for the tour will help, and we really need this book to do well.”

Tim shook his head. “You have a whole P.R. team for this kind of thing. Hire an actor. I’m not the guy for this.”

“You are the guy for this,” Nyla interjected. “You already know Lucy. You’ve worked with her closely. That familiarity will sell the story.”

Tim pressed his lips into a thin line. “Lucy barely tolerates me. She’s made that abundantly clear.”

“Which is why you’re perfect,” Nyla reasoned. “Your dynamic is exciting. Fans will love that. They’ll eat it up.”

“This is ridiculous,” he muttered.

Grey took another step forward, his voice steady but resolute, “I understand your reservations, son. But let me make this worth your while. You’ve been vocal about wanting to transition into editing more nonfiction works. You’ve proven yourself with commercial fiction, and I’ve been impressed with your results. If you agree to this arrangement and see it through, I’ll promote you to Executive Editor, and you can pick what kinds of books you work on.”

Not believing such a highly coveted opportunity could be his, he was stunned. “You’re serious?”

“Completely,” Grey assured. “But only if you agree to this.”

Tim had to admit he was attracted to the offer given the reason he got into the industry was to edit nonfiction and shape stories that would be studied in classrooms, not just devoured on beaches. The chance to work on more prestigious projects was everything he wanted. All he had to do was pretend to like Lucy for a few weeks. “Are you sure Chen’s okay with this?”

“She’s getting more on board by the second,” Nyla partially lied.

Tim sighed, the weight of the decision weighing down his chest and making it hard to breathe. “Fine,” he said at last, the word heavy in his mouth.

“Excellent,” Grey responded. “Thank you, son.”

“I’ll be in touch when it’s time to rehearse for your part. Now, I know you two don’t always see eye to eye, so I think you should go find Lucy before she leaves the building. Have a peaceful conversation for once.”

Peaceful? With Lucy Chen? Tim nearly laughed at the thought. Their interactions were never tranquil; usually, they were a mix of curt exchanges, sarcastic barbs, and Lucy glaring at him like he was the villain in her unwritten stories. Still, with a promotion at stake, he decided that he would try. He forced a smile and rode down in an elevator just in time to catch her at the exit. “Chen,” he called as he approached.

She spun around at the sound of his voice and assessed his expression easily. “I take it Nyla talked to you about the plan.”

“Yeah, she suggested we talk.”

“Are you seriously on board with this whole book boyfriend arrangement?”

“I know this situation is…less than ideal.”

“That’s one way to put it,” she replied dryly and crossed her arms.

He sensed that she was acting a bit defensive, so he proposed, “Can we go somewhere quieter? There’s a Mugs down the street. It’s my favorite spot.”

She tilted her head at learning that unexpected fact. “Mugs? That’s my favorite coffee shop.”

The corner of his mouth twitched in what could have been a smile. “Huh, this is the first time we’ve agreed on anything.”

She snorted and sarcastically replied, “Miracles do happen.”

They walked together in silence, his elbow accidentally bumping into hers every few paces, and hers doing the same. He held the door open for her, and then allowed her to get in line in front of him as a true gentleman. To offer some more good will, he even paid for their coffees.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said when he offered his credit card for both drinks.

“It’s what a book boyfriend would do,” was his response with a shrug.

Once their drinks were ready, they found a small table tucked into a corner. Tim set his coffee down, pulled out the chair opposite Lucy, and sat. The table was just large enough to keep their knees from touching under it, but she could sense their closeness. After only staring at each other over their cups for several seconds, she finally broke the silence by stating the obvious, “This is weird.”

“Sure is,” he responded tightly. “Look, another thing we agree on.”

“And let’s not forget the elephant in the room. Neither of us are exactly on board with this plan.”

He nodded. “At least we both get something out of it. You get promising book sales, and I get a promotion.”

“A promotion? Really?”

“I’m just as surprised as you are that Grey offered it to me a few minutes ago.”

“Congrats. With this new promotion, you won’t have to read through, what was it you said to me when you read the first draft of my last book? ‘Uninspired prose’?”

“It wasn’t all uninspired prose. The middle needed a lot of work, but you had a strong start and a good final chapter.”

“How come that never made it into any of your notes?”

“I’m not in the business of handing out gold stars when you do something right.”

“You’re my editor. You’re supposed to support me.”

“And you’re the author. You’re supposed to know what you’re doing without me saying anything.”

“We could’ve been partners. I wanted a partner to help me out.” She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. “You know what? I’m pissed that I have to put on a show to sell a book that I loved writing. I think my work should speak for itself, but since that’s not the case, I’m glad you’ll be part of this circus with me if for no other reason than I can get a new editor for my next book that will hopefully be more open to collaborating.”

“You don’t think I’ve been collaborative? I’ve been trying to help you, but if you don’t see it that way, then I guess it’s a good thing we’ll be out of each other’s hair at the end of this.”

“Look, another thing we agree on. We’re really on a roll.”

A tense silence hung between them as their gazes kept flickering down to their untouched coffees and each other’s eyes.

“So,” Tim said eventually as he sat forward. “If we’re stuck in this mess, we should figure out how to make it work.”

“Okay, how do you see this playing out?”

“You’re the one that writes romance. Shouldn’t you have an idea?”

“None of this is romantic. This is business. You and I are playing parts for the cameras, and then we’ll go our separate ways when it’s over.”

“How do we play these parts right?”

She eyed him like she was looking at him for the first time, then she surveyed the other tables and the varying human behavior before suggesting, “Hold my hand.” She outstretched hers to the middle of the table and looked to him to follow suit.

“You want me to hold your hand?” He asked as if it was the most absurd idea she had ever had, and her initial concept for the meet-cute in her second book was so outlandish, he yelled aloud at the page describing it in the same manner as he would when the Rams made a bad play.

“It’s a subtle way for us to act like a couple that isn’t crossing any lines that would make either of us uncomfortable, and I love writing love interests that hold hands, so come on.”

“Oh, I noticed. I suggested other forms of affection.”

“And you were ignored. Hold my hand.”

He followed her instruction and rested his hand on hers softly while flashing her a fake smirk. “There. Are you happy?”

She took her thumb and smoothed it over his delicately in a pretend act of fondness. For only a split second, she could swear she saw something in his eye as if he reacted to the little touch. “This is perfect. It’s not too over the top, and it’s not weird. Let’s hold hands during the tour.”

“Fine. What else?”

“Nyla’s working on scripts for us to memorize, so we don’t have to come up with cover stories or nice things to say about each other. She’s got that handled.”

“Memorize a script and hold your hand. Got it.”

She leaned in as close to him as the table would allow while caressing his hand and giving him the sweetest smile she could muster to prove to both of them that she could play her part well. “I’ve been creating stories in my head ever since I can remember, and being published with my name on a cover not once but twice really means a lot to me, so I’ll do this to live my dream, but no matter what I say or do on that tour, you should know that I don’t like you. You’ve been a pain in my ass since the day we met, and there’s not a thing you could do to change that.”

“The feeling’s mutual, Chen,” he responded confidently.

“Oh, and you can’t call me ‘Chen’ ever again. You have to at least call me ‘Lucy’.”

“Fine, Lucy,” he said, punctuating the fact that he spoke her first name for once.

“So, we’re doing this,” she deduced from the fact that he kept his hand over hers and his willingness to say her name as she asked.

Tim nodded. “We’re doing this.”

“Great, well, I’m sure we’ll be talking again soon whenever Nyla reaches out. Until then, see you later.” She got up from her chair, naturally pulling away enough so that their hands separated. “Thanks for the coffee.” She pressed her fingers into a fist at the sudden loss of feeling his skin as if that mattered to her for some reason.

“Bye,” he said as she rushed away. He blew out a breath and sat back, then he mumbled under his breath, “That went about as well as I expected.” He was unsure how they would manage to pretend they had a relationship that was more than disdain, but he was adamant that he would do everything she asked to make it work and secure his promotion.

 ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Lucy flitted around her small apartment adjusting throw pillows on the couch and clearing off her coffee table. Her living room with its warm orange walls, eclectic decor, and plenty of plants usually felt like a sanctuary, but for once, it was being transformed into a stage with her and Tim cast in the lead roles of a play neither wanted to perform.

A sharp knock at the door made her jump.

She opened it to find Tim standing there looking distinctly uncomfortable. She took him in from head to toe with his sandy brown, short hair, tan skin, icy blue irises, a strong jaw, lines around his eyes and mouth that she was sure made him look nice if he ever managed to actually smile, a toned and subtly muscular frame, and a tall stature that all translated into an objectively good looking man meant for the cover of a soapy romance novel if he were shirtless. She understood why Nyla had selected him. “Tim,” she said, stepping aside to let him in.

“Lucy,” he replied stiffly and entered her space while surveying everything curiously, since he was not very familiar with her place.

Nyla strutted down the hallway with her arms full of neatly typed scripts. “Glad to see you’re both here on time.  We have a lot to cover tonight, so let’s get started.”

Tim glanced at Lucy, his expression a mix of exasperation and resignation. She mirrored it perfectly; agreeing on yet another thing.

Nyla plopped down on a pouf to allow for the fake couple to sit on the couch unobstructed to gauge their comfortability with each other. “Okay, step one is sitting close.”

He sat stiffly at one end of the couch, and then he did a double take when Lucy lowered herself right beside him so their thighs touched.

“This is what I like to see,” Nyla said with a half smile as she gestured between them. “That’s exactly how I want you to sit for every interview. Now,” she handed each of them a script and explained, “This is your love story. I wrote it myself, so it’s polished, romantic, and, most importantly, believable.”

Lucy scanned the first page, her stomach sinking with every line. The script painted Tim as her devoted, supportive boyfriend who believed in her talent from day one. It was laughably far from the truth. “This is nowhere close to our real story.”

“Doesn’t matter. This is how you’ll frame your relationship during interviews, at book signings, and in casual conversations. Memorize the key points. Make it sound natural.”

He raised an eyebrow upon inspecting the page count on his lap. “And what exactly qualifies as ‘key points’?”

“I’ve written how you met, which was at work, obviously. How working together turned into love. How you’ve supported Lucy’s career every step of the way. And, of course, your plans for a future together.”

“This is ridiculous. People will see right through this story,” he disagreed while scanning yet another page of the script.

“Not if you sell it,” Nyla countered, her tone sharp. “This isn’t just about you two. It’s about the book, the tour, and the fans. They’re invested in Lucy as an author, and they want to believe in the romance she writes about. You’re giving them that.”

Lucy read what sounded like a sweet enough love story akin to one she would write and slumped against the couch knowing she and Tim could never pull it off. “You make it sound so easy.”

“It’s not,” Nyla admitted. “Which is why we’re going to practice.”

He groaned. “Alright, let’s get through this script.”

“It’s more than just the words on the page,” Nyla said. “You need to be convincing when you deliver every line, the way you hold hands, and how you kiss.”

Lucy and Tim snapped their heads away from their scripts and towards her in unison.

“No,” Lucy said firmly.

“Absolutely not,” Tim added.

Nyla shook her head to silence their protests. “You don’t have a choice. This tour starts tomorrow, and you need to be convincing. That means you’ll need to kiss in front of cameras at some point. Better to get the awkwardness out of the way now.”

“We’ll be fine,” Lucy said, her voice tight. “No practice necessary.”

“I disagree,” Nyla replied and stood up quickly. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Look, I know this isn’t ideal, but it’s part of the job. So here’s what’s going to happen: I’m going to leave and give you two some privacy. Work it out. Practice the kiss. Make it a good one.” She could see that both of them were about to compose more vehement objections, so she put a hand out to stop them. “Be adults. It’s just a dumb kiss. I promise it’ll really make everyone love you, so make some pretend sparks fly, okay?” She glared at both of them in a way to indicate that she would not listen to any of their complaints, so she bade them a brisk, “Good night,” and exited the apartment as quickly as she could.

Lucy stared at the door, then at Tim. “Uhh...”

He nervously averted her gaze and focused on his shoes while the awkward silence between them grew so thick it threatened to choke them. “This is ridiculous. No one’s going to buy that we’re in love just because we practiced kissing in your apartment.”

She shook her head enthusiastically and banded an arm around her stomach. “I can’t believe I hadn’t thought about it earlier. A kiss in front of the fans is exactly the kind of thing they’ll love and will make us a believable couple.”

“You agree with her?”

“That it’ll probably be necessary, yes, but maybe we don’t need to practice. Maybe we can just wing it.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you really think we’ll have to kiss in front of people, the first time can’t be with all eyes on us. Neither of us are exactly professional actors.”

Lucy shifted on the couch, her pulse quickening as she dropped her gaze to his lips. She did not want to kiss him. The idea seemed to far removed from anything she would ever want to do normally, but knowing that none of the pageantry was up to them made her stomach twist. “You’re right…we have to listen to Nyla and get this over with.” She stole a glance at him and watched him swallow hard as he so obviously was uncomfortable, too.

A new kind of quiet charged the air. The kind of quiet fueled by pulse skyrocketing anticipation that signaled that both of them knew what was about to transpire was inevitable. Yet neither was ready for that eventuality.

“You’re stalling,” he said to put the blame on her despite how he made no move to lean into her where she sat beside him.

“So are you,” she shot back. “Should we, uh, should we stand?”

He rose to his feet more so to give him something to do to occupy a few moments rather than because he thought it was necessary. When he took a step towards her and tilted his head down, he heard her gasp and watched her eyes widen as if she was surprised. “What? Let’s get this over with.”

“Give me a second.” Her fraying nerves needed a moment to settle, but as she tried to take a deep breath around some new pressure in her lungs, she realized that her nervousness would not cease until they did, in fact, get their first kiss over with. She only hoped that the proceeding ones would be easier to manage. “Okay, okay, I’m ready.”

“You sure?”

“Mhm, yeah, we can do this.”

She was making a face as if she was disgusted yet still willing to try some new food, which was not exactly his favorite expression to see before kissing someone, but nothing about their situation was ideal. Tim sucked in a breath and moved in to peck her lips.

For a second, she waited for him to go back to her mouth, but when her eyes fluttered open, and she saw him standing there with a look of achievement on his face, she had to ask, annoyed, “Really? That’s it?”

“I kissed you. That’s what I was supposed to do. If you’re gonna judge me for-”

“Ugh,” she blew out exasperatedly and grabbed the sides of his neck to pull him back to her to show him a real kiss. It was quick, decisive, and meant to shut him up, but the moment their lips met, the room seemed to tilt. The kiss, meant to be a simple, emotionless act, was anything but. A spark shot through her, startling and electric, and her breathing hitched when he moved to hold her face and deepened their kiss. All that time they spent arguing and verbally sparring was almost as maddening as how amazing it felt when his mouth opened under hers, and his tongue took control. Somewhere distant, Lucy could feel a delighted half moan and half hum bubbling up in her throat, and she had to pull away before expelling it out of fear he might think she actually liked how their lips slotted together.

He stared at her, his expression unreadable, though his flushed cheeks betrayed him. “W-well,” he said, his voice rough. “That was…”

“Awful,” She supplied quickly while trying to steady her racing heart. “Terrible. Completely unconvincing.”

He blinked, clearly caught off guard. “Right. Awful. Should we, uh, should we try that again?”

She cupped his cheek to angle his face properly in an expectant way then licked her lips. “One more just to be sure we could actually be convincing.”

“Right, to be convincing,” he said even if the way he ached to feel the rush of their kiss again had nothing to do with the pretense of their fake relationship. Tim took charge without thinking about how his eagerness might have seemed and claimed her mouth like he needed to feel her more than he needed to breathe, and by some miracle, she returned his enthusiasm with a fierceness that made his head spin. He kissed her until he ran out of air and even then she was the one that detached from him first.

Lucy’s mouth buzzed as if she had swallowed fireworks, and she was certain the pyrotechnics exploding in her veins could be seen outwardly with colors bursting everywhere inside of her body.

“D-do you think that one was better?”

She nodded meekly. “I, uh, I-I think we’re, yeah, I think that was, that was what we needed to do, and-and, now we’re done.”

“We’re done?” He hated that he sounded so upset, but he would have kissed her again if she asked him to.

“Yup. Let’s, let’s rest up before tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” he breathed. The tour was going to start the following day and so would their theatrical need to act like a couple.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she murmured as her eyes kept flickering down to his mouth like his lips had provided her with some distinct brand of euphoria she had never experienced before, and she wanted to feel that thrill again.

“G-good night, Lucy,” he said sweetly.

She had never heard him use that tone with her; she was accustomed to his clipped, gruff voice and nothing so gentle, but she liked it. “Night, Tim,” she replied softly to mirror him.

He lingered, unwilling to step out of the warm, delightful bubble they had found themselves in, but he eventually moved. He took the necessary paces to the front door of the apartment and paused at the handle. Tim locked onto her eyes to see confusion mixed with vulnerability, which was a relief, since he felt the same way. Perplexed. Knocked off balance. Unsure. And a million other emotions he was unsure he could name. They found yet another thing to agree on, and that might have been the most welcome similarity between them of all.

Once he left her apartment, she practically collapsed onto the couch in her dizziness. Her lips still tingled, and she pressed her fingers to them. Her thoughts were like a whirlwind sweeping through her. She wondered how she would manage to kiss him next in front of cameras or the media; would she let her desire drive her? Could she control herself? Would he find out how much she enjoyed their lips slotted together? Did everything between them just change?

Tim paused on the other side of the door and leaned against the wall while letting out a shaky breath. The tour had not even started yet, and already, he felt like he was in over his head. Being Lucy’s book boyfriend felt far more complicated than the initial plan that had been laid out, and part of him wanted to back out, yet the other part was unwilling to quit for more reasons than the promotion he was offered even if he could not fully admit his motivations even to himself.

Chapter Text

Lucy peered through the bookstore window and felt her stomach flip. A crowd had gathered inside all clamoring for a view of an empty table she was going to occupy if only she could move her feet in the direction of the entrance, but she was frozen. Frozen under the weight of expectations of her fans and her publisher. Frozen in her panic about her first ever book signing. Frozen in fear that she had to put on a performance and was having doubts about her ability to convincingly act like someone that positively annoyed her was her boyfriend.

Tim had arrived at the bookstore early and was waiting by the door for her to show up. Only when she did, she looked so unlike herself. He slipped out of the shop and went to where she was standing a few paces outside. “Chen? I mean, Lucy?” He took her hand like she instructed and blew out a breath. “You ready?”

“In a second,” she replied and squeezed his hand, grateful for the anchor in the swirl of her emotions.

“This is a big night. The first leg of the tour.”

“My first leg ever.” She smoothed the front of her dress for the hundredth time. “Just me and a room full of strangers waiting to talk to me about my book and a fake relationship we’re not in. No pressure.”

He huffed out a quiet laugh, the corners of his mouth quirking into something that could almost pass as a smile. “You’ll be fine.”

She glanced up at him, surprised by the rare encouragement. He was not exactly the nurturing type; he was more likely to point out a misplaced comma than offer reassurance. 

“What?” He wondered, since her expression was odd.

“Are you being nice to me?”

“It’s what a book boyfriend would do, right?”

“Where was this attitude when you were editing this book?”

“Maybe if you weren’t so repetitive with your descriptions-”

“Repetitive in my descriptions? I can repeat describing someone as ‘beautiful’ two times in the same story.”

“What about gorgeous? Or pretty? Or becoming? Or captivating?” He rattled off, then his eyes caught on her lips, and he lowered his voice when he added, “Magnificent, or glorious, or sightly, or umm, hot? Those work, too.”

“No one has used the word ‘sightly’ in the last two hundred years,” she retorted. “This is exactly why you’re impossible to work with.” She had expected some smart reply, but when he remained quiet, she realized that he was looking at her strangely, and then she recognized the way his eyes were slightly glazed over and his mouth was slightly ajar. That was how he looked at her after their kiss the night before. Lucy’s blood rushed at the reminder. “Tim?” She whispered.

Hearing his name helped him come back to himself. “What?”

“Do you think we can do this?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll try.”

“That’s not exactly what I needed to hear right now.”

He looked at her squarely and severely. “Listen to me, you can do this. That store is filled with people that loved your first book and can’t wait to read your next one. They want to tell you how your stories make them feel, and they’re excited to meet you. You can do this. I’m not sure how to be a book boyfriend, okay? But I’ll try.”

“You haven’t been too bad…surprisingly,” she added the last word with a smirk.

“Gee, thanks,” he responded sarcastically.

The sarcasm felt familiar enough to steady her the slightest bit. “Okay,” she said definitively as she steeled herself. “Let’s go.”

He opened the door for her and allowed her to walk in first while keeping their fingers intertwined. He followed behind her into the store, and someone announced her name to which the room erupted in applause and cheers.

Dozens of faces turned toward her, eyes alight with admiration and excitement. Her name was printed on posters on easels, her books were displayed on a large set of shelves, and there were two chairs behind a table waiting for her and Tim. Jittery, she squeezed his hand without thinking and borrowed his strength to go to the front of the room.

The event coordinator bustled over, clipboard in hand and teeming with energy. “Lucy, Tim, welcome! We’re thrilled to have you here. Everyone’s so excited to meet you two. We’ll start with some photos by the poster, then move on to the Q&A, and finally the signing. Sound good?”

Lucy nodded, her heart hammering in her chest. “Sounds great.”

“Amazing! Photos first!” The coordinator chirped and gestured toward a large poster featuring the cover of Lucy’s book. “Get close! Tim, put your arm around Lucy and lean in a little closer.”

Uncomfortable with how to touch her, Tim awkwardly looped an arm over her shoulder then took another step towards her.

Lucy hesitated before leaning in and placed a hand on his chest. “Is this okay?” She whispered so quietly that only he could hear her.

“Fine, yeah.”

“We should’ve practiced this.” She tilted her head back to properly meet his gaze, and somehow, her fingers brushed over the material of his dress shirt. His eyes were unreadable, and she wondered if she was making him nervous. She moved to smooth her hand over his bicep. “We’re doing great.”

He exhaled, trying not to feel so stiff, but it was an odd feeling.

She remembered their kiss for some reason; maybe it was because her gaze dropped to his lips, or the proximity that was so familiar to the night before, but whatever it was, she could not get the thought out of her mind. She forgot about the cameras, the crowd, and even the script Nyla had created for them. It was just Tim standing close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from him and the secret moment they shared in her living room looming in the air between them. “Relax a little,” she murmured. “Touch me like you know me.” Lucy immediately regretted giving him those instructions when his hands moved to her lower back, causing her to hold her breath. It was a role they were playing, a scene in the story they were both stuck in, yet it felt like more somehow.

“Alright, so we’re done with that. Take a seat so everyone can ask you questions.” She motioned to the chairs set out for them.

Tim gulped, and he hated that the event coordinator seemed less than impressed with their performance posing together; he felt like he was failing.

Lucy held his hand like it was a lifeline as the event coordinator reintroduced them to the crowd. Cheers and applause erupted again, and she smiled, though it was forced due to her nervousness. She glanced at him where he sat beside her, and he offered her a tiny almost imperceptible nod of encouragement that allowed her to relax a bit. The Q&A started easily enough. The first few questions were about her writing process, the inspiration behind her stories, and what it felt like to have her work resonate with so many readers. She found her rhythm, her words flowing more naturally, and his warm palm pressed to hers remained a centering constant while she spoke.

But then the questions shifted.

A young woman in the front row raised her hand to ask, “Lucy, your books are so romantic and full of chemistry. Is your relationship with Tim what inspired your stories?”

Lucy took a moment to recall the script Nyla provided and regurgitate it, but she was not fast enough.

Tim wanted to prove himself after his poor work pretending to be her boyfriend while posing for pictures, so he chimed in, “Lucy’s talent inspires her stories, but if I’ve been lucky enough to give her a little encouragement along the way, I’m happy to help.”

As the crowd cooed in unison, she shot him a quick look. His delivery had been perfect, and she was impressed. She put her other hand on top of his and shifted towards him ever so slightly before fondly adding, “Tim’s always been supportive, even when I doubted myself. I’m really lucky to have him in my corner.” Of course, it was odd to claim he was supportive when he had been a thorn in her side since they met.

Enthusiastically, another hand shot up, and a middle-aged woman inquired, “Tim, what’s the most romantic thing you’ve done for Lucy?”

Tim’s blood rushed; that was not in the script, but he had to think quickly. “There was this one night when Lucy was on a tight deadline and completely overwhelmed. I showed up at her apartment with her favorite takeout and banned her from working for the rest of the night. We ate and watched a cooking show, and when I called it a night, she was happy. Lucy made her deadline the next day. All she needed was to clear her head.”

Lucy paused. He shared a real memory. A night she completely forgot about while working together on the first few chapters of her second book. “It was really sweet,” she murmured, recalling how he had, in fact, helped her stop stressing for the first time in a while. The questions continued, bouncing between her writing and their “relationship,” but at least the rest were included in the rehearsed script. When the Q&A ended and the signing began, she hated that she needed to use both of her hands which meant releasing her hold on Tim.

In order to still provide her with some comfort, seeing how she needed it, he moved his chair to be right next to hers and snaked his arm over the back of hers. He allowed his index finger to lightly circle the space between her shoulder blades.

She hated to admit that she appreciated his touch; being generally irritated with him could apparently be blotted out by a stress that made everything else insignificant.

“You two are just perfect together,” one fan gushed as Lucy signed her book.

“We sure are,” Lucy replied with a polite laugh as her cheeks burned. It was hard to adjust to lying to her fans, and her hand began to cramp from all of the writing, so she was grateful for the event to end.

To break the silence as they walked down the street away from the bookstore, Tim commented, “That wasn’t so bad.”

“Are you kidding me?” Her eyes darted to the familiar awning at the end of the block and dragged him along. “We need to go to neutral territory and talk about this.”

He scoffed at her words. “Are we enemies or something? Why do we need to go to a Mugs to be in ‘neutral territory’?”

“I don’t know what we are. You mentioned you showing up at my place as something romantic you did.”

“What else was I supposed to say?”

“Couldn’t you have made up taking me on a hot air balloon ride or something?”

“You’re the writer. I’m not that creative. Besides, you’ve said you’re not a morning person, and you’re supposed to ride a hot air balloon early in the morning, so that doesn’t sound romantic. That sounds like something that would piss you off.”

She was a bit stunned he remembered that fact about her. “Whatever. You showing up to help me that day wasn’t romantic. I-I don’t see you like that.”

“Me neither. I’m just your book boyfriend.”

“Exactly, so we need to talk about how to handle these events going forward.”

“Let me order us some coffees first.” It was like a Pavlovian response; he walked into a Mugs shop, inhaled the familiar scent of coffee beans, and heard the whir of machines, and suddenly he needed coffee.

“I’d like a chai-”

“Tea latte with oat milk. I know,” he cut her off to finish her sentence and went over to the counter to order; only when he had taken enough steps away did he feel her hand fall away from his, and he realized that he had his fingers threaded with hers for so long he had grown accustomed to the feeling to the point that he did not even register how long they had been holding hands for. When he returned with their drinks and set them down on the table, he saw how her brow was furrowed. “Were we really bad back there?”

“We were…something,” she supplied as a descriptor in an effort to be generous.

He raised an eyebrow. “Something?”

She huffed and crossed her arms. “Fine. That was a disaster.”

He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms to mirror her. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Oh, come on, Tim. We were stiff.”

“I held your hand!”

“What does that matter? You barely even looked at me during the Q&A!”

“That’s because you were busy glaring at me like I’d forgotten all my lines.”

“I wasn’t glaring! I was…trying to sell it.”

“Just a little tip- don’t look at your next boyfriend like you want to kill him.”

“That is not how I was looking at you.”

“You are right now.”

“Only because I don’t have to pretend to like you right now.” She angrily took her first sip of her coffee and noticed immediately that it tasted better than ever before like it was somehow warmer.

“That’s nutmeg,” he explained, reading her mind. “I added nutmeg to your coffee. I thought you might like it.”

“Oh,” she breathed. “That’s really…”

He refused to finish her sentence for her and instead watched as she struggled to speak.

“Nice,” was what she landed on. “Thank you.”

“One of the fans that asked you to sign her book talked to you about Christmas coffee, and you said you like how warm it tastes, so I thought you might like nutmeg in your usual.”

She blinked rapidly. “You’re taking your job as a book boyfriend very seriously.”

“It was a peace offering. I know you’re pissed at me.”

Her stomach churned. “I’m pissed at the situation. I’m struggling to be authentic, too. Sure, you were less convincing than I was, but neither of us aced our performance today.”

“I’ll do better next time. I promise.”

She tilted her head. “Why are you taking this so seriously?”

“Because I get a promotion if I do a good job…,” he softened slightly to add, “and I don’t like failing at things.”

Matching the quietness of his volume, she said, “Neither do I, and I need this book tour to go well. I know I have another story somewhere inside of me, and I want to be able to publish it.”

“We’ll see if it’s any good.”

She rolled her eyes, and the small moment where they were not fighting was over. “I can’t believe you just said that to me.” She combed her fingers through her hair in her frustration. “I want a different editor for my next book.”

“Good, because I don’t want to edit your next book, and this promotion will secure that.”

“Are love stories that awful to you, or do you really hate my writing style that much?”

“I never said I hate your writing style.”

“You’ve picked apart pretty much everything else.”

“What do you expect from your editor? Gold star stickers?”

She smiled wryly. “And this is why this charade will never work.”

“It has to.”

“How are we supposed to act like a couple when we can hardly agree on anything other than our favorite coffee place?”

“The handholding was good, right?” To prove his point, he reached across the table and took one of her hands. His thumb glided over her knuckles. “Is this okay?”

“Mhm, yeah, that works.” She had not felt a man’s touch in a while, and she hated to admit it felt nice even if it was contact from a man that aggravated her. “But I think we need more than that. Couples…I don’t know, touch each other, or whatever. They’re comfortable around each other. That kind of comfortability only comes from more practice.”

His pulse raced thinking about their practice in her apartment. Her soft lips. Her little gasp when his tongue slithered into her mouth. Her hands on him. The way that despite their disagreements, their mouths moved together in perfect sync. Tim suddenly wanted to try that practice again and feel the thrill of their kiss again. “More practice? I guess if we have to,” he said as casually as he could.

For someone that was so infuriating, he was a really alluring kisser, and so long as their mouths were fused together, they were not using them to argue, so it was a win win. She got to her feet. “I guess if we have to.”

Tim’s mouth went dry, and he looked around the room. “In the middle of a coffee shop?”

“We’re going to have to kiss in front of people, so we might as well practice in a public place, a safe public place like our favorite coffee shop.”

His pulse thudded in his ears as he joined her on his feet, then he let out a shaky breath. “Okay, let’s do it.”

She stepped towards him slowly, and he did the same, and then they were in each other’s space; they were close but unsure. 

“We should, umm, just go for it,” he murmured despite the fact that he also had trouble leaning in the last little bit to reach her lips even though they had kissed before.

“Right, just do it,” she mumbled and dropped her head back slightly in a way that would make it easier for him to bridge the gap. Lucy parted her lips in silent request like she needed him to be the one to initiate for some reason.

He ignored how his heart was beating wildly and bent forward to meet her mouth uncertainly at first, but then he felt her fingers curl into his collar like she was holding on and relinquishing control; that was all the invitation he needed to deepen the kiss. The hesitation between them evaporated the moment their lips fully connected. 

As his hands found her waist, her grip on his collar tightened, anchoring herself as they shifted in sync until they were flush against each other. The chaos of their bickering faded into a strange yet welcome, electric silence. She was surprised by how confidently he moved over her lips, but she liked it. She liked how his fingers dug into her skin. She liked the sound he let out when their tongues touched. She liked how when a hand trailed down to his chest, she could feel his racing heart beneath her palm that matched her own frantic pulse. The sensation sent a shiver down her spine, and for a moment, she forgot where they were and who they were to each other.

Tim barely broke away to breathe, his eyes still shut and his hands still on her even if their lips were disconnected. He felt her heavy, labored exhales against his lips, which indicated she was unable to step back for another moment, too.

When she did eventually pull away, Lucy fought her buzzing blood to try to read him and interpret if he had been effected by their kiss, but his expression was indiscernible. Her eyes darted around the coffee shop, and she took in the curious glances of a few patrons and the barista who was very obviously pretending not to notice. Her face burned, and she could not decide if it was from embarrassment or something else entirely.

He cleared his throat and stepped back slightly yet could not release her waist. “So…good practice?” he asked, his voice a little rough.

She blinked up at him, her lips still tingling. “Uh…yeah. Great practice. Very convincing.”

“Right. Convincing,” he repeated, his gaze flicking to her mouth before he looked away.

They stood together for a beat too long, their breaths mingling, neither quite sure how to step out of the bubble they had created. It was Lucy who had the wherewithal to force her body to move out of his orbit. “We should sit down. People are staring.”

“Mmhm,” he agreed and felt the exact moment his hand fell heavily from her side when she walked far enough away from him back to her seat across the table.

They sat in a silence that felt too loud to overcome, so they looked down at their mugs as they tried to stop reeling from how amazing it felt to kiss again, proving their first practice was not some fluke. He broke through the painful quiet to fight the awkwardness of realizing the best kiss he had ever experienced in his life was with someone he could hardly stand. “For what it’s worth…I don’t think we were as bad as you think today.”

“Oh?”

“I think we sold it. Maybe we weren’t as convincing as you wanted us to be, but I doubt anyone walked out of there thinking we were faking it.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she said softly.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that? Did you actually admit I was right for once?”

Lucy shook her head and felt a bit of a smile tug at the corner of her mouth instead of his usual annoyance causing her to roll her eyes; it was a difference but not one she wanted to entertain. “Whatever,” she snorted. “Let’s just finish our coffees.” As they sipped in a far more companionable silence, she looked over her mug at him, and each time they made eye contact, her heart skipped a beat.

When his cup was empty, he bit his lip and noted how it still tasted like her. “Lucy,” he whispered.

Something about the way her heart raced when he said her name gave her pause.

“We’ll figure it out no matter how much practice it takes,” he assured her, trying not to think about the fact that practicing was tempting.

“No matter how much practice it takes,” she agreed and offered her hand for him to shake as if they made some formal agreement. Instead of quickly making contact, they sat there holding onto each other for a little too long, but neither said anything about it. She cleared her throat, rose to her feet, and bade him goodnight before leaving.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Seattle was muggy and grey outside of Lucy’s hotel room window. She was looking forward to venturing out into the city for a few moments before her first out of town book signing, so she quickly donned a light jacket and went to the elevator to find Tim waiting at the elevator bank, too.

“Hey,” he said tightly; they had not spoken since the first book signing, not that they had much to discuss.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she meekly said, “Hi,” back.

“Are you going to grab some coffee?”

“Yeah, there’s a Mugs down the street.”

He smirked. “I know. That’s where I’m headed, too.”

“Great minds.” She offered him a half smile. “We’ve got an hour before we need to head to the bookstore.” The elevator arrived, and they stepped inside. The ride was silent except for the hum of the machinery, and she felt the tension building between them like static that caused her to fidget with her hands.

He held the door for her to step out of the car first, then he saw her laptop poking out of her purse, so he asked, “Are you planning on writing?”

“I thought I would give it a shot. Don’t worry, I won’t ask for your help.”

“Maybe I should help so your main characters aren’t so flat.”

Her jaw dropped slightly. “They’re not flat.”

“Your last love interest was flat until I came along.”

“He wasn’t! His complexities were subdued.”

“You mean he was flat,” he deadpanned.

“Oh, whatever. You don’t like my writing anyways, so you’re biased.”

“I never said that,” he disagreed and opened the door for her to enter the coffee shop. “Grab a table I’ll order our coffees.” He saw her mouth open as if she was about to speak, and he presumed, “Yeah, I’ll get yours with nutmeg again. I’m guessing you liked it?”

She shrugged to feign casualness, but the nutmeg did make all of the difference. It was only slightly infuriating how he was right about that. Lucy set her laptop down on a table, opened it, and stared at a blank document. She had a vague idea of the kind of story she wanted to tell, but the details were hard to conceptualize.

Being nosy, he eyed her blank screen as he gave her her drink. “Looks like you’ve got some writer’s block. What’s the next book about?”

“Do you really want to know, or are you going to make fun of me?”

He relaxed his shoulders and lowered himself into the chair next to her. “I won’t make fun. Tell me.”

Seeing the sincerity in his expression, she explained, “It’s about these two scientists who make a discovery while falling in love.” Lucy read his eyes. “You hate it.”

“I don’t hate it. I just think you could spice it up.”

“Spice it up?”

“Yeah, two scientists? That’s boring. They’re probably really similar.”

“Which means they get each other. Common ground is a good thing for a relationship.”

“But they say variety is the spice of life. Make them different even if they have the same job.”

“So they can argue the whole time?”

“God no. Two people that can’t stop arguing will never get together. That’s just not plausible.”

“I agree.”

“All I’m saying is create differences between them that’ll give the couple the old opposites attract vibe.”

She frowned as she considered his suggestion. “That’s actually not a bad idea to make things hotter between them. I mean, they are scientists, so it makes sense that they would have a little chemistry.” 

The way she giggled at her own pun brought a slight smile to his face. “Exactly.” He watched her turn to her laptop and heard the click clacking of the keys, so he sat back and let her work until the time came. Tim tapped on her forearm and said, “It’s time.”

“Yup…one…more…sentence.” She stopped typing and shut the laptop closed as a victorious grin brightened her face. “Okay, let’s go.”

When they walked out of the coffee shop, he took her hand for the short walk to the bookstore to get into character as her book boyfriend. At least it was easy enough for their fingers to be intertwined even if most of the other aspects of their pretend relationship were challenging. He promised he would try harder to be a better fake boyfriend, but he had no idea how to relax or act more natural as fans clamored for Lucy’s attention and cheered while he walked by her side.

She was grateful for his warm and steady hand in hers as they walked over to the table where they were meant to sit. The event coordinator indicated that they would only have a book signing and there was not going to be a Q&A portion, which meant less acting. While fans lined up, Lucy felt him wind an arm over the back of her chair with his fingers lightly drawing patterns into her shoulder blade. She liked how it felt. The quiet support. The lazy touch. The softness of it. The ease of that kind of contact. Even if he was mostly aggravating, he had his moments when he was not totally and completely a pain in the ass.

“You must be so proud of her,” one fan said, beaming at Tim.

“I am,” he replied evenly and leaned into her to try to not be so stiff. “She’s great, isn’t she?”

Her cheeks warmed even as she told herself it was just part of the act. As the line of fans dwindled, she wondered if they were convincing when they hardly interacted and only sat next to each other while making small talk with fans; their practice proved to be more involved than the actual event, which was frustrating for some reason.

Finally, the event coordinator approached them clutching a camera. “We’d love to grab a few more photos of you two for our social media. You’ve been such a hit tonight!”

Lucy nodded and stood up just as Tim did the same. They posed together with arms wrapped around each other and minimal space between them almost too easily.

“Great!” the coordinator said, snapping a few shots. “Okay, just a few more.”

Lucy glided her fingers over his shoulder even if she already had his attention. “Look at me,” she murmured.

“I am,” he whispered.

“Sell it,” she replied through gritted teeth and a forced smile.

“Do you really want me to sell it?” He wondered, and she nodded, so he wasted no time bending down to capture her lips.

Her heart stuttered not from the kiss, since she was getting used to sharing those with him, but it was because of the way one of his hands tightened on her waist and the other traveled up to cup the back of her head like he was holding her safely in his arms. Her lungs faltered due to the tenderness of his lips like he was trying to savor the moment instead of their usual fights for dominance. She was surprised by the gentleness and care; it was unlike his usual gruffness as if she was learning a different side of him.

The coordinator snapped a few more photos, smiling at the adorableness of the couple, and noted, “I got some really fantastic ones! Thanks.”

Distantly, they heard someone talking, but they only broke apart when they were ready to.

“How was that?” He asked smartly against her mouth. 

“Pretty good,” she breathed.

“I think it was better than pretty good.”

She chuckled and playfully whacked his chest. “I can’t stand you,” she said fondly.

Though she had expressed that sentiment and similar ones over a hundred times since they met, her voice was different that time. His gaze kept flickering between the softness in her eyes and the draw of her lips as if he needed to kiss her again.

“I think we’re done here,” she said when she saw that even the event coordinator stepped away.

Tim scratched the back of his head nervously, unsure what to do, so he followed her lead as she packed her things then took his hand for the walk out of the bookstore and back to the hotel. “So how do you think that went?” He wondered.

“Better,” she assessed.

“Good. That’s great. You were good, too, you know.”

“Th-thank you.” Neither spoke until they made it to the hotel and reached their hotel rooms that happened to be next to each other. When she paused at her room’s door, she kept his hand in hers and murmured, “Listen, I know this isn’t exactly ideal for either of us, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”

“We’ve barely started this tour. That could change. You get on my nerves when we work together long enough like by the time we got to the tenth chapter of the last book.”

“I was perfectly pleasant the entire time. You were the one that got more infuriating by the end.”

“Oh, I was infuriating? You had an entire chapter where everyone was acting out of character. What was I supposed to do with that?”

“They weren’t out of character!”

“Says you.”

“I’m the author.”

“You can be wrong.”

She shook her head. “Of course you would say that. Because according to you, I’m always wrong.”

“That’s not what I said. I’ve actually never said that.”

“But you make me second guess everything. I’m usually a more confident writer until you start tearing my work apart.”

His stomach twisted. “I didn’t want you to second guess your work. I was just trying to do my job and make you the best writer you could be. I’m only hard on you, because I know you can do better.”

That was a noble answer that was completely unexpected. “How come you’ve never said that before?”

“I said you could do better a million times.”

“Which sounded so mean.”

“How was I supposed to say it?”

“I don’t know maybe like you actually cared about my feelings.”

“We had a book to work on. Your feelings weren’t my top priority. Delivering a good book on time was.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to be a total ass.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied, his voice filled with guilt.

“You should be.” She dropped her gaze to their joined hands, disbelieving their fingers were still tangled together. Lucy wrenched her hand away. “I’m gonna call it a night.”

“Lucy, I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. You’re not going to be my editor for my next book, and you’re just my book boyfriend. Feelings don’t matter. You can keep being a jerk to me unless we’re at a book tour event, and I’m not going to let it get to me.” She took her room key card out of her pocket, waved it in front of the reader on her door, and opened it. “Good night, Tim,” she said sharply and shouldered through the doorway. No matter how good it felt to kiss him, she could not bear to be around someone so rude for any more time than necessary. Two years of working together proved they were incompatible, and a few moments of exhilarating contact or seeing a different side of him could never change that.

Chapter Text

Lucy packed her suitcase and opened the door of her hotel room. She gasped, because Tim was looming in the doorway, blocking her path. “What the-”

“You’re late,” he clipped grumpily.

“W-?” She checked her watch and pointed out, “By two minutes.”

“Late is late.”

“You’re so aggravating.”

He grabbed the handle of her suitcase out of her grip and grumbled, “Why can’t you be on time?”

“Two minutes isn’t the end of the world.” She reached out to hold his free hand while his other dragged their suitcases into the elevator. “Loosen up.”

“Did you seriously just tell me to ‘loosen up’?”

“Do you not like my word choice? Should I have used some stuffier phrase? Should I have said ‘relax your composure’?” 

He rolled his eyes and set his jaw instead of replying.

“What?” She wondered and squeezed their joined hands to force him to look at her.

“Nothing. I just think it’s about to be a long drive to Portland.”

“Can we get some-”

“Yes, I’ll put our bags in the car, and then we can go to the Mugs down the street to get some coffee.”

“Thank you.” She smiled, grateful he read her mind. As they walked together, she registered that they were holding hands, which made no sense, since they did not need to pretend for anyone on a travel day without audiences or cameras around, yet she did not feel compelled to let go of him, and if he had realized how their fingers were interlaced, he showed no sign of wanting to release her. “I’m looking forward to this drive to our next stop on the book tour. Something about being on the highway for hours clears my head.”

“I hope it’ll clear your head from the passenger seat, because I’m driving.”

“Why can’t I drive this time? You drove from L.A. to Seattle.”

“Because the rental car is in my name, so I’m driving.”

“That’s such a lame excuse when what you really mean is that you don’t like to relinquish control in any part of your life. Explains why you’re such a stickler about being on time.”

He pursed his lips instead of dignifying her assessment of him with a response, opting for some silence for the rest of the walk to the car to deposit their bags before going to their favorite coffee shop for some much needed caffeine. He ordered their drinks and earned a grateful smile from Lucy when he asked for nutmeg in her chai tea latte, then they stepped away from the counter to wait for their drinks to be made, or rather for hers to be made, since his black coffee was ready within a few seconds.

As an ever observant person, Lucy scanned the other patrons at the coffee shop, then she froze.

Tim felt how she stiffened beside him. “What’s wrong?”

“The event coordinator from the bookstore we went to last night is in here. She’s at a table over there,” she whispered through gritted teeth while faking a smile.

“And?”

“She thinks we’re a couple,” she hissed.

“Oh-kay?” He replied, unsure, since he did not understand why she was concerned.

“We could blow our cover.”

He glanced down to confirm that they were holding hands, though he could not recall when that had happened. “I think we’re good,” he said quietly.

Nervously, her eyes flicked over to the woman sitting alone at a table hunched over a tablet and wearing headphones; there was a large chance the event coordinator had not even noticed Lucy was there given her distracted state, but on the off chance she and her “book boyfriend” would be noticed, she looked up at Tim and licked her lips. “Kiss me,” she requested lowly.

His whole face pulled in surprise, not expecting her to say that.

“Just a quick one,” Lucy bargained and cupped his cheek lightly, noting how his stubble felt under her fingers. She realized as she zeroed in on his mouth how desperately she wanted to kiss him. How perfect everything felt when his lips were on hers. How the two of them made sense if only for the fleeting moments when their mouths collided; otherwise, they were such opposites that they could hardly get along or agree on much except for their favorite place to get coffee. She paused, noting that something flickered behind his eyes that might have been trepidation. “Do you…is that not okay?”

He swallowed tightly, since it would be perfectly okay to kiss her. He loved when their tongues tangled together and they exchanged their last puffs of oxygen before separating breathlessly, and that was the problem. How could he love to kiss the woman that drove him mad? Tim did not dare to share the conflicting thoughts chasing each other in his mind and instead wordlessly covered her mouth with his. Their lips moved slower than the few kisses they shared before, not trying to devour or claim but instead slide in tandem at a pleasurable, languid rhythm he quite liked. While his one hand continued to clasp one of hers, the other reached for her bicep and slid up higher across her shoulder then up her neck until his fingers traced her jawbone. Somehow, it became easier for his hands to roam over her and their lips to greet each other like it was becoming a common practice for them. Like how a real couple would be accustomed to simple moments of intimacy. He did not get a chance to think about it any further, because she sighed into his mouth while caressing his cheek so softly, and he almost melted.

A barista called Lucy’s name to notify her that her drink was ready, which was the only reason she broke away from their kiss. Blushing, she gazed at him through unfocused eyes and was grateful to see a smirk curling the corners of his mouth as an indication that he did not totally hate the arrangement of pretending to be a couple, and if she were being honest with herself, she would admit that she liked the one perk, which was how good it felt to kiss him, but maybe that was because she had been single for quite some time and missed that fun part of coupledom. She cleared her throat in an attempt to compose herself and muttered, “Coffee,” before lunging to retrieve her cup.

He glanced in the direction of where the event coordinator was sitting to find that she was focused on the screen of her tablet and might not have noticed he and Lucy for even a second, which made their kiss unnecessary but no less enjoyable for him. “Let’s hit the road,” he said as his cheeks burned then led her out of the coffee shop.

“Are you sure I can’t drive this time?” She asked for confirmation.

“I’m driving. You can sleep, or read a book, or something.”

“Can I drive the next leg?”

“No.”

“Tim?”

“No!”

“You’re impossible,” she said with the faintest twinge of fondness behind the annoyance. When she settled into the passenger seat of the rental car without any more objections, she took a sip of her coffee and decided, “I’m going to write. I need to work on my next book anyways.”

“The love story about two scientists working together to make a discovery? That story?”

“Yes…do you think it’s a bad idea? I took your note about making them opposites.”

“It’s your book. Up to you.” He backed out of the parking spot to begin their journey to their next destination.

“I’m asking for your opinion.”

He took a moment to really think about it before asking, “Okay, I’ll play devil’s advocate. Why did you pick scientists? That seems kind of boring.”

“I like the idea of having characters that work together at a mundane job and find an epic love.”

“Scientists, though? If you’re looking for a mundane job, maybe it should be something like accountants.”

“Accountants aren’t sexy.”

“But scientists are?” He shot back with a raised brow.

“Fine.” She ran through different career options and offered, “What about doctors?”

“Doctor novels are usually pretty soapy.”

“You’re right. How about lawyers?”

He only scrunched his nose as a response.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. “Okay, so what do you suggest is a better job?”

“I don’t know. What about teachers?”

She inclined her head. “That could be cute. Teachers.” She grinned as she wrapped her head around making the switch in her novel. Since she had barely begun, it would not be difficult to pivot her writing with a little planning and luckily, she had a few hours while Tim drove them to Portland.

For a long while, he heard the click clacking of keys as he drove, but otherwise, there was silence until Lucy groaned and slammed the delete button repeatedly. “What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t working,” she whined and raked her fingers through her hair. For a long moment, she worried at her lip, then turned to ask, her voice small, “Do you think I have what it takes to write another book or is my writing career over already?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?”

“You’re an editor. You’re critical of every word I’ve ever written. Tell me the truth.”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m not your editor anymore.”

“You haven’t gotten your promotion yet, so technically, you’re still my editor, and I don’t know, we’re at least friends.” She saw that he rolled his eyes at that. “We’re not even friends?”

“We can barely stand each other most days, Lucy. We’re coworkers if anything.”

“Right,” she replied, dully, hating how much it wounded her to hear him categorize their relationship as such. She was not under any delusions that they were actually a couple, but she hoped after working together for years on two books that he would consider them to have some sort of friendship.

He could tell she was hurt, which was never his intention by being honest. “I didn’t mean…I…I-”

“Forget it,” she cut him off. “I need to try writing some more.”

Tim’s stomach twisted experiencing the new silence that was uncomfortable and awkward, which made their car feel too small. The rest of the drive passed slowly, so he was relieved when they reached their next hotel. At the reception desk, he flexed his fingers, noting the oddity of his hand being empty without hers; for days, he had spent most of the time when Lucy was at his side with her fingers slotted with his, and suddenly, she did not show any interest in touching him. Not that he could blame her after his comment in the car.

Lucy let him pull their suitcases until they reached the floor with their assigned hotel rooms, which were next to each other yet again, but once they reached her door, she barely looked at him and said, “I think I’m just gonna get settled and go back to writing.” She barely brushed her fingers over his when she took her suitcase from him.

“Sure.” He watched her disappear into her hotel room while he stood in the hallway feeling like an idiot. Eventually, he entered his own room, hung up a few shirts, then paced around wondering if there was a way to make amends with her. After all, he hated seeing the pain in her eyes and getting a cold shoulder from her. Taking a chance, he searched for the closest Mugs location and was grateful there was one down the street from the hotel, so he walked over and immediately joined the line of patrons all in need of coffee. As he waited to place his order, Tim scanned the coffee shop, and he grinned slightly when he saw Lucy at a far table staring at her laptop. His feet began moving in her direction before his brain even fully processed what was happening. “What are you doing here?”

She was surprised to hear his voice before her eyes moved away from the empty Word document on her screen to look at him. “H-hi, what are you doing here?”

“I just asked you that.”

She sat up straighter in her chair, only then registering she had been slouching. “I’m writing. Your turn.”

“I came to get coffee. Actually, I came to get you coffee.” His eyes flicked down to the cup set on her table. “But it looks like you already have some.”

“Yup. I have some.”

He winced, hating the new weirdness. “Can I…can I sit with you for a while? I’ve got work to do.”

“Be my guest.”

Tim set himself up in the seat across from her at the small table. With his laptop open, he could barely see her eyes yet could read her expression easily. He tried not to pay attention to the way her eyebrows were knitted together or the sound of her pressing down on the keys, but after a while, he had to close the lid of his laptop and ask, “Is this writer’s block because you’re mad at me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. And how do you know it’s writer’s block?”

“I can tell from how you’re hitting the backspace. Look, I’m sorry about what happened in the car. We don’t see eye to eye that often. I figured since we’re always at odds, we couldn’t possibly be friends.”

“And I figured that since we’ve been working together for two years, we must be friends. Friends that don’t always get along, but friends nonetheless.”

Her differing point of view made him think. “Friends or not, it’s time to focus. You’ve got a book to write.”

She pouted. “I know, I know. It’s just…” she glanced at her Word doc with one single sentence typed out and admitted, “I was sort of getting some traction when the love interests were scientists, but since I turned them into teachers, I’m having trouble visualizing the story.”

“Then go back to scientists.”

“I tried that when I came in here. Now that doesn’t feel right, either.”

“Alright, so we’ll come up with something else.”

“We?” She found his word choice intriguing.

“Technically, I’m still your editor. Like you said, I haven’t gotten the promotion yet, so I still work on romance novels until then.”

“Do you hate working with me or all romance writers?”

He gave her a long look. “I like serious books. I got into editing to work on educational books. Nonfiction. Biographies. Things like that.”

“So the boring stories.”

“They’re not boring. They’re factual.”

“Same thing.”

He rolled his eyes.

Lucy half closed the lid of her laptop and leaned forward to make better eye contact with him so she could survey him in a way she never had before. “Why are you a book editor?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“The day we met, you asked me why I’m a writer.”

“I remember. You told me you love to escape into a good love story and wanted to create the next story for someone else to escape into.”

She was rather touched he recalled her words verbatim. “You know what brought me here, but I never asked you why you’re an editor. I think I know, but I can’t be sure.”

“Why do you think I’m an editor?”

“You’re clearly a very serious person, and you like seeing things in black and white. With grammar, there’s a right way to use it and a wrong way. I see why editing could appeal to you because of that, but that’s just a guess. I’m curious what the real answer is.”

“It’s not really that interesting of a story.”

She smiled a little bigger. “I want to hear it anyways.”

He swallowed, trying to compose the best way to explain; he was accustomed to editing stories, not telling them. Yet, he tried. “My mom and I read together all of the time when I was a kid. I had trouble processing what I read, so sometimes, we could spend weeks reading a story, chapter after chapter, and then the book would be over, and I would forget big chunks of the plot. My mom wanted me to keep reading. She thought it might help. Sometimes, I remembered the stories better when she read to me, but the thing is, when I read words on a page, I never get lost in what I’m reading the way I did when my mom read to me, so one day, when I was reading a chapter book, I found a spelling mistake right in the middle of a really important scene in the story. You know what my mom said when I told her?” He asked rhetorically as a fond smile crept up on his face. “She said I would make a good book editor. After that, I started to appreciate that when I read something, I stay objective. I can find mistakes on pages and see the work clearly enough to make recommendations for how to make something better.”

“It sounds like you have a superpower.”

His lips pulled down. “I don’t think that’s what it is.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what it is. The way you read and process information is different, and you’re using it to be good at your job. That’s a superpower.” She grinned proudly. “That’s awesome.”

Tim always thought he was broken or defective. He hated that reading and comprehension was different for him than others, but with a few words, Lucy showed him a kind of encouragement he had never known. Deeply touched, he stared at her with his lips parted, unsure what he could even say to accurately capture how she made him feel.

She could tell he wanted to say something even if he had difficulty speaking, so she reveled in his speechlessness and basked in the bright blue hue of his eyes that was different than usual. It was vulnerable, and soft, and sweet, and alluring, and dizzying, and oh so beautiful. Even without kissing him, she felt that unmistakable thrum of electricity only he could inspire. How could he be the only one that ever made her feel as buzzy as the characters falling in love in the pages of her novels? But certainly, they were not falling in love like book characters- just a temporary chemical reaction, perhaps from all of the kissing, and hand holding, and eye contact. That was the only reasonable explanation for why she could be so consumed by him for moments at a time that seemed to stretch on longer and longer. When it became too intense and her stomach was sent fluttering, she blinked and asked, “Do you want some coffee? I-I don’t think you ordered, and I could use a refill.”

He was entranced for another beat then gulped. “I’ll, uh, I’ll get us coffee. That’s why I came here in the first place anyways.”

“If you don’t want to stick around, I’ll just be writing, or at least trying to write. You can go back to the hotel if you want to.”

“No, I brought my laptop, because I always subconsciously pack it when I know I’m going to a Mugs. I love working in here.”

“The smell of the coffee beans usually helps me focus.”

“It’s the activity for me. I hate when I’m trying to work and everything is too quiet.”

“You could always get a white noise machine for your office.” He frowned at the suggestion, which made her laugh. “Never mind,” she giggled. With that, he went to order their drinks while she fully reopened her laptop to resume writing, though it felt like she was failing to actually write anything. She wanted to tell an intriguing and moving coworkers to lovers romantic story, and she could not even come up with what career her main characters were meant to share.

He returned to their table with two warm cups, one in each hand, and set her drink down while assessing, “I take it you’re still not sure about the job part of the story.”

“No idea,” she replied, sighing. “The whole story will come together once I get that part figured out. Until then, I’m stuck, and I can’t be stuck, because I need to write another book. I can’t be some has been. I quit grad school and the chance to be a psychologist to be a writer. If I’m a failure, I’ll never hear the end of it from my parents, and then I’ll need to come up with a new career path, which is ironic considering I can’t come up with a job for my characters in my next book, and-”

“Woah,” he breathed, interrupting her during yet another one of her stress induced spirals. He dropped into his seat across from her while noting how her face was pulled in worry. “You don’t have to go that far, okay? You’re in the super early stages of your next book, and by the way, your last book just came on out like less than a week ago. There’s no rush.”

“Fans have asked about my next book, and I know that’ll be what they ask me during the TV interview tomorrow. What am I supposed to say?”

“Well…technically, you are working on your next book. You’re not very far along, but you’re working on it.” He gestured to her laptop knowing the document she had open was either blank or pretty much blank even if he could not see the screen.

She took a sip of her coffee hoping the caffeine would give her the creative jolt she needed to no avail. As she was about to continue expressing her doubts surrounding her next book, she heard a voice come through a radio. She and Tim turned in time to watch two police officers enter the coffee shop side by side with a quiet voice coming through on the radios fastened to their hips. Lucy studied the male and female cop with every one of their steps in tandem, the small look they exchanged before ordering their coffees, and how they stood a little too close together when waiting for their drinks to be made. The male cop had a furrowed brow that lessened by the second as he quietly spoke with the female cop, and the female cop’s eyes and barely concealed smirk communicated her attraction to him so clearly. What struck Lucy was how comfortable and in sync the police officers were with each other, always moving together and looking at each other like they were living in their own little world where they were tied to one another by a tapestry of thousands of invisible strings tugging every part of them towards one another. It was fascinating just to watch them chat while waiting for their coffee then exit the coffee shop together in lock step.

Tim turned away from watching the officers once they were out of sight and said what occurred to him, “Cops.”

“Cops,” Lucy whispered with awe at the exact same time, which made her nerves tingle. “My next book will be about two cops falling in love. It’s perfect.”

He grinned, because it was and so was the look in her eye, like he was watching a spark catch and grow into a lively flame dancing all over her face as inspiration struck. Her enthusiasm prompted her to return to her Word document and type furiously, so he sat back and watched her work; though he pretended to be focused on editing the book on his own laptop, he could not help but glance over at her with the ghost of a smile at the corner of her mouth and listen to the way her fingers danced along the computer keys like she was performing a sonata. For some reason, that made Tim want to kiss her, which was a thought he admonished himself for having, because kisses between them were reserved for photo opportunities and moments when they were in the public eye putting on a show. Otherwise, she was not his to kiss, and he could not fool himself into thinking he could want for more. At least he took solace in the fact that for the duration of the book tour, he could be her book boyfriend.

Chapter Text

Lucy reached for Tim’s hand the second she stepped out of the car. She was so nervous she could barely think, and he was the only thing around that could give her a shred of comfort, though she did not want to think too much about how unexpected it was for the man that always got under her skin was suddenly a calming presence. They were outside of the studio where “Good Morning Portland” filmed, and Lucy’s heart beat faster and faster the closer they were to the front door. She abruptly stopped walking and looked up at him, the lines on her face pronounced due to stress. “Tell me I won’t totally screw up,” she requested, her voice tense.

“You won’t screw up,” he assured her.

“Would it kill you to sound more convincing?”

“Lucy…,” his tone softened, “you can do this.”

“It’s a TV interview. A live TV interview. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Don’t think about the cameras. This is just like at the bookstores. You’re talking to someone about your book. It’s just a conversation.”

She worried at her lip. “Can you stand somewhere where I can see you?”

“You don’t need me.”

“Can you do it anyway?” She snapped.

“Sure. Whatever you want.”

Lucy’s mind was racing. Even with Tim’s reassurance, she was panicking about the interview. People whisked her off to a makeup chair, and some producer spoke to her, trying to prepare her for her TV appearance, but she could hardly hear anything over her heart’s galloping. The world start to blur save for Tim, who was outside of the dressing room she had somehow found herself in. She took both of his hands into hers hoping the feel of his skin would ground her the way it did before book signings, but she was more anxious than ever before, so the warmth of his fingers was not enough. What she needed was for everything to stop to give her brain a chance to catch up.

Tim scowled at the Production Assistant trying to guide Lucy onto the sound stage; Lucy clearly needed a second, and he had every intention of making her feel supported and hopefully less uneasy. “Hey,” he murmured, and her soft brown eyes snapped up to meet his. “What do you need?”

“Do you have a time machine?”

The corner of his mouth turned down. “I wish I did.”

He was sweet sometimes, she noted appreciatively. In those moments when he was not using his toughest voice and narrowing his eyes at her, she felt a sense of warmth towards him that was starting to resemble a sort of special connection. Not anything beyond a special colleague connection, though. Because they were colleagues with a job to do. Their job was usually to collaborate on her books, but since their roles had shifted, and they had been saddled with the odd task of pretending to be a couple, there was a new depth to their still very platonic connection. For a second, she stopped panicking about the TV interview, because she was too preoccupied thinking about her draw to Tim. Her very platonic draw to him. Something dawned on her when her eyes unexpectedly caught on his lips. Since Lucy did not have access to a time machine, she knew of only one other way to stop time without fail, and it would require his help. And he was her book boyfriend. His job was to be supportive and helpful however she needed. “Tim,” she breathed, and her gaze met his, “kiss for good luck?”

She asked so innocently and quietly. He looked away to check who was around that they needed to put on a performance for, but then he felt her hand on his cheek redirecting his face, and everything blurred around him until her mouth molded against his, warm and soft.

Just as the other times before, everything stopped, and all that existed was Tim and her. Tim with the thumping of his heartbeat under her palm, the decisive swipe of his tongue along the seam of her lips, and his gentle touch on the back of her neck. For all of his very many flaws, he had the uncanny ability to kiss her until her head was empty.

When Lucy pulled away, he leaned into her, because he was certainly not done experiencing that specific of rush of blood in his veins when her lips were on his.

“I have to go,” she said, half snickering, half wishing she could kiss him again.

“Just making sure you have enough luck,” he lied casually and straightened. He was never going to let her find out that he enjoyed the most intimate aspect of their fake relationship, because that was not an indication of anything more, Tim guaranteed to himself. There was no deeper meaning. He just had not kissed anyone in a while and forgot how nice it was. Lucy, specifically, had nothing to do with it. He was so busy trying to convince himself that there was nothing more to ponder when it came to her and their arrangement that he had not been listening to the first few questions of the interview.

Simone Clark grinned; she appreciated when she interviewed people that were actually interesting and easy enough to have a conversation with. “Your new book sounds great. I can’t wait to read it. You know, I love a good romance novel even though I’m single as hell right now, but from what I hear you aren’t, and you’re on this book tour promoting your new book with your boyfriend. Is that right?”

Lucy nodded. “Yes, I’m going to be touring for the next two months, and that’s a long time to be away from my boyfriend, so I asked him to join me.”

“That is so sweet,” Simone replied. “How did you two meet?”

“He’s been my editor for my last two books. We’ve worked together for a while, and even though he can be tough, I know he’s made me a better writer.”

“That’s good. Being with someone that makes you better is really a key to a healthy relationship. At least that’s what I believe. How does being with him compare to the love stories you write? Be honest.”

Even though he knew Lucy was about to lie, Tim held his breath, curious what her answer would be.

“There’s no comparison,” Lucy replied diplomatically. She flicked her eyes beyond the cameras and saw Tim standing there, and she smiled reflexively. “There’s some history between us. We know each other really well, and that makes it easy for us to be open and honest with each other. Our relationship isn’t messy or dramatic like in most books. I know I can count on him. I know we work well together. And I know we have a strong connection. It’s really nice, actually.” She surprised herself with that admission.

“Wow, okay, now I’m not only jealous of the characters in your book, but I’m jealous of you and your boyfriend. Guess romance is real and still alive.”

“Sure is,” Lucy replied with her best attempt at a smile. She wished she was telling the truth about having a boyfriend. She wished that she had the kind of love she was pretending to share with someone. Being single never bothered her more than when she had to talk about her fake relationship every single day. If only she could meet someone that would bring to life the romance only known to her through the pages of books.

Tim was pleased that Lucy handled the interview far better than her initial nervousness indicated, so he offered her a nod of encouragement as she walked over to him.

“I can’t believe I was on TV talking about my book,” Lucy said brightly.

“How did it feel?”

“Nice.”

“Just nice?”

She wanted to tell him the reason it did not feel amazing was that she wished she could honestly talk about a real romantic relationship but instead it was all a lie, but since she feared he would judge her, she deflected with sass, “Do you have a problem with the word ‘nice’ all of a sudden?”

“I thought you would use a different word to describe it. I thought you’d say it was ‘fantastic’ or ‘incredible’.”

“Fine, I’ll take the note. I’m hungry. Can we go grab breakfast?”

Taken aback at how quickly she conceded when she tended to bicker with him about word choice for longer, he replied, unsure, “Oh-kay.” When they returned to the car, he tossed the keys to her.

“You’re letting me drive for once?”

“Do you not want to drive?”

“No! I mean, yes! Yes, I want to drive.” She sashayed to the driver’s seat and navigated to the breakfast restaurant she found online. Their meal started ordinarily enough; they sat together and participated in normal, easy conversation, but there was a thought rattling around in the back of Lucy’s mind, so during the first stretch of silence, she asked, “Why did you let me drive?”

“You’ve been asking to.”

“I know, but you never let me. Today, I didn’t even ask, and you gave me the keys. Why?”

He shrugged.

She read something beneath his supposed casualness. “I’m not buying this.”

“Buying what?”

“This routine. Acting like it’s no big deal when you only let me drive for a reason. You can tell me.”

“Nothing to tell.”

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. “I know you well enough to know when you’re lying. Spill.”

“Lucy…,” his voice trailed off as his eyes asked her to stop pressing him for information.

Because she interpreted his expression easily, she knew he wanted her to let it go, but she refused. Something flashed behind his eyes. Something else that was easy to read, and her own face fell; gone was the excitement of solving a mystery and in its place was a heavy feeling. “You feel sorry for me,” she deduced, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Listen-”

She shook her head to cut him off then pulled the car keys out of her purse before setting them on the tabletop with a clatter. “I don’t need your pity. I’m doing great. I-I published my second book, a book I’m really proud of, and so many people are excited to read it. I got to talk about my work on TV. Sure, it was a local morning talk show, but it was something.”

“True.”

“So why are you acting like you feel bad for me?”

He leaned in, but the large table still created quite a bit of distance between them. “You were happy after that interview but only for a second. Lying about me is bothering you. I get it. You’re an honest person, so making stuff up about me probably sucks. Maybe we talk to Nyla about making sure you get asked less questions about your book boyfriend. Maybe less lying will make you feel less guilty.”

“Lying sucks, but it’s part of the job I have to do. I’ve accepted that. The best lies are the ones that are closest to the truth. I haven’t used the stuff Nyla came up with in those binders she made for us for our cover stories. Everything I’ve said about you has been true or pretty close to it, so that doesn’t bother me too much. What bothers me…,” she sucked in a breath instead of telling him about how she wished she had an actual boyfriend; she was sure he would laugh.

His lips parted, hating that she held back from finishing her thought, and more than that, there was something about her words that did not really make sense. “What do you mean close to the truth? Before we started this tour, you said you don’t like me and nothing you say or do would be real.”

“it’s easier to stick to our actual history than keep a bunch of lies straight.”

“But…,” Both during the TV interview and when answering questions from fans during book signings, the way she spoke about the relationship they had made it seem not only special in general but special to her. That seemed impossible considering how they never get along and barely liked each other.

Lucy’s phone buzzed, so she checked it. “Hold on. It’s Nyla.” She answered the call with a serious, “Morning, Nyla.”

“Morning,” Nyla replied. “I saw your interview this morning. You did great. Off script, but you were convincing. Great work.”

“Thank you.” Her mouth twitched upwards at the compliment.

“Our social media team thinks it would be a good idea to put content on all channels to keep pushing the book tour.”

“Do you want Tim and I to make ClipToks? I don’t think he’ll go for that.” She smirked at him, visualizing him griping while trying to learn a ridiculous dance for a video.

Her genuine joy made his chest warm, so for a second, he actually considered participating in ClipTok videos if only to keep that smile on her face.

Nyla responded, “No, no, nothing like that…even though, that’s not a bad idea. A member of the social media team just flew in to Portland. He’ll meet you at the hotel to discuss his campaign plan.”

“Someone else is joining us on tour?” She was not sure she liked the idea of a third person encroaching on her travels with Tim, but it should not have mattered.

“Not really. He’ll pop up in a few cities to take pictures of you and stuff to post on socials. I looked over the schedule, and it looks great. It’s only every few stops, so it won’t be too intense. You should still have time to work on your third book. You’re working on your third book, right?”

“Definitely. I’ve got the whole first chapter done.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Now, Emmett, that’s the guy from the social media team you’ll be working with, will be at the hotel any minute. Can you meet him there?”

“Uhh…sure.” She met Tim’s eyes, and he must have registered the change in her tone, because he began to pull cash out of his money clip. “We’re finishing breakfast now.”

“Good. Thanks, Lucy. Keep up the good work. Bye.” Nyla ended the call and returned to her never ending pile of work.

Tim picked up the car keys despite only having heard one half of the conversation. “What’s going on?”

Lucy took his free hand to walk out of the restaurant together. “There’s social media stuff now apparently.”

“Don’t tell me I have to do those dumb dances. I won’t do it.”

She snickered. “They’re fun.”

He opened the restaurant door for her to walk out, and she tugged him along by their threaded fingers, which was when he realized they were holding hands. “They’re really not. I’m not doing it.”

“Not even for a promotion?”

Tim scowled, and she giggled; the sound caused the edges of his expression to soften. “Get in the car,” he grumbled.

She did as he asked and waited for him to join her from the driver’s side before saying, “There are some that are pretty easy to learn. I could teach you.”

“I’ll film them. You do them.”

“The point of the socials stuff is probably that we’re in the posts together. I’m only guessing, though. Someone from the publishing house’s social media team is meeting us at the hotel to talk about the plan. His name is Emmett.”

“Emmett?”

“You know him?”

“Yeah, we play basketball together sometimes. He’s decent.”

“At basketball or at his job?”

“Both I think.”

“You have no idea what he does when it comes to his job, do you?”

He glanced at her, and was not surprised to see her grinning. “It’s not like you know what he does, either. How is social media even a career?”

She giggled. “Only you would say something like that. It is a real job.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Her laughter made him feel as if he had accomplished his initial goal of lifting her spirits when he allowed her to drive; it turned out, he only needed to speak with her to bring a smile back to her face. To ensure she remained happy, he turned the radio on, playing music only she would like that would prompt her to dance in her seat and hum a few bars, which he had learned was something she quite enjoyed doing even if he thought she looked ridiculous. When they arrived at the hotel and parked their car, he reached for her hand first, since it was part of his job to do so, and he did not want to fall short of his responsibilities as her book boyfriend.

Lucy scanned the lobby, but she had no idea who she was looking for, so she was grateful Tim walked with purpose to direct them to the right person.

“Emmett, hey,” Tim greeted him.

“Tim, it’s good to see you,” Emmett replied, then he looked to Lucy. “You must be Mid Wilshire Press’ hotshot writer I’ve been hearing so much about. No one told me you were so pretty.”

She did not know who she had expected, but a tall, handsome, muscular man with a dazzling smile and warm chocolatey eyes was not who she had pictured. “My friends just call me Lucy,” she said, her cheeks pinking up.

He checked her out on instinct; he was talking to a gorgeous woman, and his eyes wanted to feast on the curves pronounced by her jeans. Promoting her on social media would be the easiest task ever. “Great to meet you, Lucy. I’m Emmett Lang. I’ll take care of posting on all channels during the tour.” He reached out to shake her hand then noticed how hers was clasped with Tim’s. “Cute,” he said. “You don’t have to pretend in front of me. I know about the arrangement. Grey and Nyla clued me in.”

“Oh,” Lucy exhaled and let go of Tim’s hand, but the second she did, it felt wrong. “Are the posts going to be Tim and me together or just me?”

“A mix of both. A romance writer traveling with her boyfriend, because she can’t be apart from him that long is a great story to share, but you’re still the focus here. You’re the one that wrote a great book. You and your work should be the focal point. Can we grab coffee and talk about it?”

“Sure. There’s a Mugs down the street.”

“Mugs?” Emmett scrunched his nose. “Can we go to a Java Jive instead? I like their coffee way more.”

“Of course,” Lucy agreed kindly. “I think I saw one a few blocks away. We can walk over.”

“Perfect.” He saw Tim take a step with them and said, “Tim, you don’t have to be part of this discussion about the campaign. Like I said, Lucy is the focus.”

“I’m part of the campaign, though, right?” Tim responded. Since meeting Emmett, Tim thought he was a decent guy, but something about the way he was checking Lucy out and possibly flirting with her made Tim uneasy about the thought of Emmett alone with Lucy. “I’m coming with.”

“Alright,” he gave in. Emmett flashed a smile to Lucy though he spoke to Tim, “You’re a lucky man. Your job is to spend all day with a beautiful woman pretending to be her boyfriend. Wish that was my job.”

Tim did not like the way Lucy blushed at that. Was Emmett seriously flirting with her right in front of him?

“He is lucky, isn’t he?” Lucy asked pointedly, and she locked eyes on Tim, who seemed to be wholly unamused.

“Even though I’m not your fake boyfriend, I spent the plane ride reading your new book. I’m almost done with it, and it’s fantastic,” Emmett complimented her.

“I’ve read the book, too. I’m her editor,” Tim felt the need to interject.

“You really think it’s good?” Lucy asked Emmett. The more she looked at him, the more she felt his draw. He was warm and charming, and if she was not mistaken, it seemed he was possibly a little into her. It had been a long while since someone flirted with her, and she could not say she hated the attention from someone so attractive.

“Definitely. I haven’t read too many romance novels, but I think you might’ve turned me onto them.”

Tim watched Lucy actually giggle and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Was she showing interest in Emmett? Emmett made it a point to open the door to the Java Jive for Lucy, which was something Tim always did for her, yet she seemed to be affected by Emmett doing so. He was not at all pleased to see how they were interacting.

Emmett turned to Tim and asked, “Mind ordering for us? I’ll take a cold brew. Lucy, what do you want?”

“I know what she likes,” Tim snapped. Lucy seemed perfectly fine with him being sent away, so he stalked over to the barista to order.

Emmett pulled out a chair for Lucy then settled into the one beside her. He bent forward and grinned. “Before we talk about work, I just have to say I can’t believe a woman like you that’s smart, and talented, and successful, and beautiful is single.”

“It’s hard to date in L.A.,” she replied defensively.

“Tell me about it. It’s pretty much impossible to meet someone that’s genuine.”

“Single and genuine? Good luck trying to find someone like that.”

He smiled slyly. “I’m talking to someone like that right now.”

Lucy’s cheeks felt hot.

“I know you’ve got that book boyfriend as Nyla calls it, but if you’re looking for someone to fill the position of real boyfriend, I would like to submit my application,” Emmett said smoothly.

A rush of heat coursed through her. “That sounds a little complicated. What about Tim?”

“Tim isn’t your real boyfriend. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you having someone you actually want to be with. Plus, you really think he wants to be dragged along for your next book tour, too?”

She had not thought that far ahead. “He hardly wants to be on this tour. Can’t imagine he would help me out on the next one.”

“Exactly, so it might be time to find a real guy to bring with you on the next your, and that guy could be me.”

“That’s a little presumptuous.”

“Okay, so let’s give it a try. We go on at least one date to see if this could go anywhere. What do you say?”

Lucy had to admit she was tempted to accept the date invitation; she had just been thinking about how she wished she was no longer single. There was a chance Emmett was her wish come true. He could be the one to bring her a love akin to a romance novel. “I’d love to,” she replied sweetly, seizing her opportunity at a real relationship. A book boyfriend was temporary, but she considered she might have just met someone that could be more permanent.

Chapter Text

Tim knocked on Lucy’s hotel room door and waited for her to open it.

“I’m on time!” She said matter-of-factly as she tumbled out. “No need to give me grief about being late.”

“You’re right. Good work,” he responded. He threaded their fingers together and led her over to the elevator bank. When he pressed the button to call it, she spoke.

“We should wait for Emmett.”

“He’s coming with us?”

“That’s his whole job.”

“Right,” he replied tightly.

“I thought you liked him,” she felt the need to point out due to the tension in his jaw at the mere mention of Emmett.

“He’s fine, I guess.”

“Do you now have a problem with him or something?”

“No, but I’d appreciate if he did his job instead of flirting with you.”

“What’s so wrong with him flirting with me?”

“It’s unprofessional.”

“Well, I don't mind, which is why I agreed to go on a date with him tomorrow.”

Tim’s mouth hung open, and he tried speaking a few times before one single word tumbled out, “What?”

“He asked me out, and I said ‘yes’. We’re grabbing lunch before he flies back to L.A., and we fly to Salt Lake City.” She was about to ask why he was unhappy with her news, because he was so clearly against her seeing Emmett for a reason that she could not understand, but then Emmett stepped out of his hotel room, joining them in the hallway.

“You’re late,” Tim bit out.

“He has a thing about punctuality,” Lucy explained.

“My bad,” Emmett responded, not thinking a minute or two would be an issue.

“Lucy has fans waiting for her. We should be respectful of that, so you better show up on time from here on out, or we’re leaving you behind, and you can figure out how to make social media posts out of being late.”

Lucy stroked her thumb over Tim’s hoping he would stop being so grumpy. “Emmett will be on time from now on,” she promised for him. “Let’s walk over to the bookstore.”

“Yes. Let’s,” Tim grumbled. Their short jaunt to the bookstore started off rather quietly in not the most pleasant way. He did not like that someone else was around, especially someone that had asked Lucy out. Sure, Lucy was technically single, but he was her book boyfriend, which meant something to him even if their relationship was meaningless to her.

As they crossed the street, Lucy glanced behind her at Emmett. She had been looking forward to their date until she told Tim, and then all she felt was shame for some senseless, indeterminable reason. Once they filed into the bookstore, she went to the front of the room with Tim while Emmett stood at the back.

Tim snaked an arm across the back of Lucy’s chair in a casual way though he felt uncomfortable with a certain set of eyes on him taking pictures of him. He leaned in and pecked Lucy’s hair then brushed his nose over her temple. Her lips quirked slightly, and she looked at him with genuine warmth in her eyes. It was all he thought about for the rest of the evening, because after all, she even said on television they had a strong connection, and there were so many moments when he felt it; just meeting her gaze when she looked at him a certain way could make him feel something, but he had never paid that much attention to it until they kissed.

Lucy leaned into him, because that was her job, of course. There was an ease developing between them; the stiffness when they first started pretending to be together was melting, and in its place was something easy. She wished it was real and not a part she was playing; she would have loved to be in an actual relationship that felt so comfortable. But when they returned to the hotel and Tim stopped outside of her room, he released her hand, and she was reminded that none of their hand holding, or kisses, or eye contact meant anything to him; he was doing what he had to for a promotion. Not that she wanted to be with him, anyways, since he was so incredibly difficult, and infuriating, and other words that he would tell her were not good enough descriptors. “Good work tonight,” she breathed as she stared up at him where he was standing a little too close.

“You, too,” he replied softly and took a step back. “I’ll meet you at 8 to get breakfast, and then we can go to Mugs to work.”

“Sure.”

“Be packed. We’re going from Mugs straight to the airport.”

“Oh…,” she remembered something, “Actually, I won’t be able to work at Mugs for that long. I’ve got lunch plans with Emmett tomorrow.”

He had completely forgotten, and being reminded was not exactly pleasant. “Lunch. Right.”

She finally tore her gaze away from Tim to search the hallway for Emmett, who was nowhere to be found, so he must have gone into his hotel room when she was not paying attention. “You probably have a lot of work to do, so you won’t even miss me,” she offered weakly.

“We spend enough time together. It’s no big deal,” he said, but that felt like a lie.

She hated the awkwardness, so she shifted her weight to her other foot, flashed him a little smile, and went into her hotel room. Lucy really wanted to go on the date with Emmett; he was handsome and sweet, and she felt faint sparks of chemistry between them she hoped to explore. He said all of the right things during their lunch date. He made her laugh. His grin was welcoming. He asked her questions about herself and actually listened. Even though it was just the beginning of something that was too nebulous to name yet, she felt certain that it would be easy to be with him. By every measure, their first date was perfect except for the very last few seconds when Emmett walked with her to the Mugs coffee shop to meet up with Tim so the three of them could drive to the airport together. She peered through the window at Tim where he was hunched over his laptop working, and he turned his head to make eye contact with her like he sensed that she was staring, then Emmett asked a question.

“Are you sure nothing’s going on with you and Bradford?” Emmett inquired, observing the moment Lucy and Tim locked eyes through a pane of glass; there was something heavy in their gaze he could not quite put a finger on, but it felt more than platonic somehow.

She blew out a dry nervous laugh and broke eye contact with Tim. “What? No! No…we’re…it’s not like that.”

“You put on quite the show at the book signing last night. If I hadn’t known you were faking, I wouldn’t have had any idea.”

“That means we’re doing our job.”

“If you like him…”

Her eyes went wide. “Woah! I-I don’t! Not like that! He’s-he’s my book boyfriend, and-and my editor, and that’s it.”

“Okay,” he responded, relieved, “I think you’re fantastic, and I would love to go out with you again, but if you’re hung up on someone else, I’m not trying to get in the middle of something.”

“You’re not. At all. I swear. Tim and I have just worked together for a long time. Just coworkers. He doesn’t even want to be friends with me, so believe me, you’re not getting in the middle of anything.”

“I don’t blame him for not wanting to be friends with you. I have trouble staying friends with beautiful women.”

She grinned.

Tim saw them; he saw Emmett and Lucy looking perfectly happy together while chatting outside of the coffee shop. Lucy was smiling in her signature sunny way. Of course Emmett could bring that out of her; he was the kind of guy she would want; he even looked like he belonged on the cover of a romance novel. Tim knew he should have been glad that they had a seemingly successful first date and that he sensed the sparks between Emmett and Lucy, but for some reason, a reason he would not dare to think too much about, he was rather annoyed. He packed his laptop into his bag, then grabbed Lucy’s purse she had left behind, and walked out of Mugs. “Ready to go, guys?” He asked evenly.

“Yup,” Lucy responded awkwardly despite her answer being only one singular syllable. “Yes, we need to go to the airport. Can’t miss our flights.”

Emmett sat in the backseat while Tim and Lucy were seated in the front of the rental car. They drove together in complete silence, which was weird enough, but then he watched Tim drag both his and Lucy’s suitcases with one hand while interlocking her fingers with his other with the same naturalness he had seen in their interactions the night before, like they were an actual couple.

“How’s editing that army general’s biography going? Regretting taking Grey up on his offer to start working on some nonfiction before the promotion goes through?” Lucy asked once they had gotten through security and were strolling the terminal to their gate.

“Not at all. It’s actually a pretty interesting read,” Tim answered.

“I hate biographies.”

“You might like this one.”

“I doubt that.”

“Would it kill you to give it a try?”

“Ugh,” she groaned, “Fine. I’ll take a look on the plane. How’s the writing?”

“Not bad,” he replied, then read the real question behind her eyes, so he added in a softer voice, “Not as good as you.”

She smirked.

Emmett, who felt as though he had been forgotten despite walking right behind them, saw his gate and said, “My plane’s boarding over here, so I’ll be going now. See you in a few days.”

Lucy waved at Emmett with her free hand, only then realizing how the other one was linked to Tim’s. “Safe flight!” She turned back to Tim and asked, “What about my writing is better?”

Tim frowned. “Don’t push it.”

“I’m just curious,” she feigned casualness.

“You’re fishing for compliments.”

“No, you’re the one that said my writing is better.”

“I regret saying that.”

“Why? Because you were lying?”

“I didn’t lie, but I don’t want you to get complacent. This book you’re promoting now is good, but the next book needs to be just as good if not better.”

“Don’t worry, it will be.”

“Got any more pages for me to read?”

“Not yet. It’s feeling too linear and too…easy. I want to add a twist. Give the couple a challenge. If all they do is slowly fall in love without any obstacles, it won’t be that exciting, you know.”

“It’s not just about excitement. Couples who face adversity come out stronger and better. The readers will root more for a couple that has to fight to be together.”

She abruptly stopped walking. “Tim, are you secretly a romantic?”

He glared at her. “Why would you even ask me that?”

“Only a romantic would say something like that.”

“No, I’m a book editor. It’s my job to help you shape your book to be interesting. That’s all I’m doing.”

“If that’s all it is, then you wouldn’t have said the bit about how couples that fight for each other are stronger and better. The part about readers rooting for them was you being an editor, but caring about how good a couple is…only a romantic would care about that.”

He did not like the accusation whatsoever. “You’re just reading into things.”

“I’m not!”

“You so are!” He muttered under his breath and resumed walking to their gate wordlessly.

Too amused to let the topic go, she waited until they were seated on the plane next to each other, then she said, “You’re a secret romantic. I can’t believe it took me this long to figure that out about you.”

“All you romance novelists are the same. You see everything through rose colored glasses. Most people aren’t romantic. They’re practical.”

She scoffed. “No, most people want the effort. They want to feel loved and like their relationship matters to the other person. At its core, that’s what romance is. Every couple goes about it differently, but in the end, it’s two people showing the other they care.”

“Not everyone is like that.”

“Really? Name one person.”

“Isabel.”

She thought about the name for a second, but she did not recognize it. “Who’s Isabel?”

“My ex wife.”

“You have an ex wife? How come you’ve never mentioned her?”

“She doesn’t come up that often.”

“I’ve told you about every failed relationship I’ve had since we met.”

“That’s because you never stop talking. Some of us don’t offer every personal detail about ourselves to our coworkers.”

“Well, now that you’re my book boyfriend, I think that means I get to hear about your ex wife.”

He made a contemplative face. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Oh, just tell me,” she urged, already a captive audience ready to hear about his past.

Tim could tell the only way to appease her was to tell her the truth, so he exhaled and went with the short story, “We met in college. We got married after we graduated. Thought we were solid, and then I woke up one morning, and she was gone.”

“Gone? She went missing?”

“Nothing that dramatic. She has her demons. We all do. Her demons took her away from me. Then, I found her one day. We ran into each other on the street after I hadn’t heard from her for a year. She wasn’t in good shape, so I offered to help. She didn’t want it. But I took our vows seriously, so I reached out again and again, and finally, she agreed to go to rehab. When she got clean, she asked for a divorce. No amount of fighting for our relationship and doing anything you would consider romantic worked on her. At least there was nothing romantic I could do to save us. She didn’t want to be with me, and that was that.”

“I’m so sorry. That must’ve been really hard.”

He smiled wryly. “It wasn’t easy, but she’s in a good place now. That’s all that matters.”

“And what about you?”

“Me? I’m fine.”

She knew he was telling the truth, which gave her a shred of solace after hearing such a sad story that broke her heart. “Have you dated anyone since the divorce?”

“I did. Ashley.”

“What happened with her?” She heard his use of the past tense to indicate that their relationship was over.

“She wanted to move away from L.A. and see more of the world. I like my job too much to leave it. So instead, she left me. Guess women have a habit of doing that around me.”

“Funny, because you left me first.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We were partners. We worked together on two books. But now you’re moving onto nonfiction. You’re leaving me.”

“I’m not leaving you. I’m trying to help you.”

“How is abandoning me supposed to be helpful?”

“You’ve got good instincts now. You could work with any editor in the building and be successful. Besides, there are other editors that actually like romance novels. They could give you the kind of feedback you’re looking for.”

“All I’m looking for, all I’ve ever looked for, is to work with someone that gets me. I don’t care that we’re total opposites. I don’t care that we don’t agree on much. You get me. You understand the story I’m trying to tell and help pull it out of me, and you make me better. I meant that when I said it in the TV interview. So it sucks that you’re willing to work this hard and pretend to like me and be my book boyfriend to get away from me.”

He twisted in his seat to face her as best as he could. “I thought you hated working with me.”

“I’ve never said that.”

“You’ve called me a pain your ass a hundred times.”

“Because you are,” she shot back angrily then sighed. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t like working with you.”

Taken aback, he quietly replied, “I-I didn’t know that.” He felt the need to admit, “I…I do like working with you, too.” His honesty was rewarded with a smile from her.

“Guess we should soak up every minute of this tour, since it’s the last time we’ll be working together.” Her grin faltered due to the bittersweetness of that realization.

“I guess so,” he whispered.

She covered his hand resting on his thigh and suggested, “How about a trade? You look over my draft of my book and help me come up with a good challenge for the couple, and I’ll take a stab at that biography you’re so happy with.”

“Deal,” he agreed with his thumb brushing over her knuckles. 

Lucy exchanged her laptop for his, and they sat together working quietly on the plane. She had thought that the budding romance between her and Emmett was easy, but a small part of her brain thought that things between her and Tim could’ve been easy, too. That was a thought she wanted to banish quickly, since nothing between them was real anyways, but she glanced over at him, watching how focused he was on what he was reading, causing the idea to linger long enough for her chest to warm.

Chapter Text

There was a distinct chill in the Salt Lake City air that made Lucy shiver.

Before she could say a word, Tim shrugged off his jacket, temporarily letting go of her hand, and draped it around her shoulders.

“Thank you,” she whispered and interlaced their fingers again, mostly because it felt normal, but also because his palm was so warm. She could smell his scent hanging on his jacket, and that made her feel even cozier. “So, we were talking about the obstacle to give my characters in my next book. What do you suggest?”

“Well, they’re cops, and they work together. They’re going to get into some scrapes and have a few close calls. Don’t you think giving them a life or death situation is a good obstacle?”

“I guess…,” she said, weighing her options. “I like the idea of them in dangerous situations, but I don’t think I should use those to get them together.”

“Why not?”

“Because they’re partners. They’ll have plenty of scrapes with death, but they’ll always make it out together. Is one of the hundreds of moments supposed to suddenly get them to realize they want to be together?”

“It could,” he thought aloud, “but now that I think about it, if they work closely together, no matter how many close calls they have that make their lives flash before their eyes, they might do everything they can to deny their feelings for each other. If their job’s dangerous, they’ll want to work alongside someone they trust. They might not be willing to risk having the perfect work partner for a chance at a life partner, since we both know relationships can implode, but good working relationships not so much, and if you want to make it home every night, you’ll choose to work with the person that always has your six.”

Lucy gasped. “That’s brilliant!”

“What is?”

“Having them fall for each other and try to deny it.”

“Both of them being in denial? Are they idiots or something?”

“It could happen.”

He disagreed, “Not likely.”

She hummed. “I’ll have to think about it some more.” She saw the bookstore approaching, and from the large clear windows, she could see how filled the space was. “Wow, that’s a lot of people.”

“You’ll do great,” he assured her.

“One of these days, I’m gonna walk into a book signing and forget my own name.”

“I’ll remind you. That’s what book boyfriends are for, right?”

She felt a rush of heat, and it was not because of some magical change in the weather. He could be so supportive and kind, as she was beginning to notice; it was something she quite appreciated about him. “Why weren’t you like this when I had major writer’s block while working on my first book?”

“Because you didn’t need coddling. You needed a firm hand. It worked.”

“It would’ve been nice to see this side of you sooner.”

“Your book might not have turned out as good as it did.”

She shrugged, because the quality of her book felt like a small price to pay to experience his secret, softer demeanor. Feeling eyes on her, she glanced back at the window to confirm a number of people waiting to meet her were watching her interact with Tim outside. “Showtime,” she whispered and shot up onto her tip toes to give him a quick peck.

Though he preferred their longer kisses, there was something about the fleeting brush of her lips on his that made him feel tingly all over, which might have further endeared her to him despite playing the same role as her book boyfriend during yet another bookstore appearance. He silently watched as she dazzled everyone in the bookstore during her short reading, and she even made him genuinely smile when answering questions from fans. Subtly, he leaned into her when she was asked how long had they been together.

“Long enough to know he’s a keeper,” Lucy replied and caressed his cheek. She wondered if it would be too excessive to kiss him at the end of her response, and she realized that it would not have been a move made as part of their cover or a way for him to help her, but instead, she felt compelled to taste his lips simply because she wanted to. That was a terrifying realization. Wanting him or anything from him for selfish reasons was not part of their arrangement and surely not something Tim would be comfortable with. She was disappointed in herself for even thinking about kissing him, so she kept her mouth to herself for the rest of the event at the bookstore.

He may have been standing next to her, but he felt like Lucy was somewhere else due to her far off stare. She did not say a word as they were leaving the bookstore or as they walked for a block after that. Since her silence had stretched on long enough, he squeezed their joined hands and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“What?” She had not exactly heard what he said and only vaguely caught on to the fact that he was speaking.

“You’re acting weird.”

“No, I’m not.” She was still mad at herself for wanting to selfishly kiss Tim, but that was not something she could share.

“Did I mess up again?”

His genuine worry brought her out of her own head. “Of course not,” she assured him softly. “You were perfect.”

Despite not being someone that needed compliments, there was something about her giving him one that caused his lips to curl ever so slightly.

“If you’re this good at being a book boyfriend, I’m pretty sure you’d be a solid real boyfriend to someone.” Was she volunteering herself to be that someone? She was unable to tell.

“Probably not. I’ve accepted my fate. I’m meant to be alone forever, and that’s fine.”

“Don’t say that unless you would really be happy living out the rest of your days single.”

“It’s not so bad.”

“It’s lonely. Trust me, I know. Things were getting so dire before this tour, I was thinking about getting a dog. Maybe I’ll get one when it’s over.”

“What about Emmett?” He hated saying that man’s name.

She felt guilty that she had forgotten about the man she had gone on a date with the day before, but then again, she was wearing Tim’s jacket and holding his hand, so it was easy for all other men to be wiped from her mind. “It was one date. I could still wind up alone with a dog. Oh, your dog can go on play dates at the dog park with mine if you want to adopt one, too.”

His lips pulled down as he contemplated the idea of a pet. “Maybe,” was all he could say, since she offered a rather good idea for companionship during his otherwise very solitary life. Plus, if having a dog provided them with the excuse to continue seeing each other after the book tour was over, then he might be compelled to visit a shelter sooner rather than later.

“I’ve seen so many ClipToks of neighbors that adopt dogs from the same litter to keep siblings together! Isn’t that cute? We could do that. I know we’re not neighbors, but still.”

Her eagerness over hypothetical dogs that were hypothetically siblings was amusing enough that the corners of his mouth quirked up, and he let her babble about videos of puppies that recognized their brothers and sisters when reuniting years later. She was aggravating quite often, but every once in a while, Lucy was rather charming; he hated to admit that to himself.

She paused in front of the door of her hotel room and let go of his hand to take off his jacket that she had borrowed.

“You can hold onto it,” Tim said. “It’ll be just as chilly tomorrow, and you’ve got that blogger interview in the morning.”

“It’s a podcaster, and he’s interviewing me in the hotel lobby,” she pointed out then realized she wanted to borrow his jacket for a bit longer, so she backtracked, “but it’s cold downstairs, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to wear it.”

“Do you need me for the interview? Podcast? Whatever?”

“They’ll be asking me questions about how I started out and the route I took to become a published writer, so I’m pretty sure there won’t be any boyfriend related questions.”

“I know. I just meant…if you needed someone to be there…for you.”

She grinned. “Tim? Are you offering to be moral support?”

“Moral support, good luck, whatever it is you wanna call it.” He realized too late that he should not have said “good luck”, because that was the reason Lucy cited for kissing him before her first TV interview. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was making some sort of request for them to kiss again. That would have been ridiculous.

Truly, he was proving to be a far better book boyfriend than she had ever expected; it was clear how determined he was about earning his promotion. Despite the fact that she knew he was so good to her because of his commitment to his work, a small part of her still stirred; the part that secretly wished he cared about her in that way. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to have some moral support and good luck around.” A hint of joy flashed across his eyes, an emotion she wished she saw more of in him. She knitted her fingers together to preoccupy her hands out of fear they might reach out to touch him. “Well, uhh, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yup,” he responded and gave her a curt nod before turning on his heel to take the two steps over to his own hotel room door.

Lucy toed off her shoes once inside of her room, then hung Tim’s jacket with care, and decided to change into a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a well worn t shirt. All she wanted to do was relax for the rest of the evening, but then her stomach rumbled. She had completely forgotten about dinner. As it was the easiest option, she reached for the room service menu and leafed through it. When she was ready to order, she picked up the phone in her hotel room and looked down at the button labeled “Room Service”, but as her finger hovered over it, she considered making a different call. A tempting call.

Tim heard the ringing of the phone in his hotel room, so he answered it skeptically, “Hello?”

“Hey,” she breathed, somehow having doubted he would pick up. “I was thinking about ordering some room service and maybe watching a movie.”

“Okay,” he replied, unsure why she called to volunteer her plans.

“Well, since we talked about probably being lonely forever, I figured we didn’t have to be alone tonight at least…only if you want to join me.” The second the offer unevenly stumbled out of her mouth, her heart did something funny.

“Sure, yeah, just don’t pick a dumb movie.”

“Define ‘dumb’.”

He groaned. “I’m gonna hate the movie, aren’t I?”

She snickered. “Probably, considering we can’t agree on anything.”

He smiled at that. “The only way to make this fair is if you pick this time, and I pick next time.”

Next time. He was suggesting they hang out again. Her face heated up. “Deal.”

“Alright. I’ll be right over.”

Lucy smiled against the receiver for whatever reason. If she had not known better, she would think she was developing a crush on Tim. She shook her head at that, because there was no universe where she would have a crush on him of all people, and besides, there was another man to think about.

A man who’s name she forgot momentarily.

Emmett, she remembered a second later. The man she had gone on a date with and agreed to go on another with. Emmett, she thought. Then, she heard rapping at the door, and her heart jumped. When she opened the door, and Tim gave her the tiniest smirk, she was too focused on Tim that Emmett disappeared from her brain like he never existed. 

The doorway was narrow, so when she stepped back to invite him in, he shuffled into the tight space between her body and the wall, his chest grazing hers in a way that made him hold his breath even if they had held hands and kissed before. There was a pause when he was towering over her, his feet unmoving thanks to the twinkle in her eye that made him wonder what she was thinking.

She thought they had been standing together a bit too long to be considered normal, but she had no impetus to move, especially not when he looked so vulnerable and almost surprised to find himself in her proximity.

Tim cleared his throat, grateful to be back in control of his body, and took the necessary steps past her to walk deeper into her room. “So dinner,” he said to diffuse whatever tension had filled the room a second before.

“Right, yeah, I-I was thinking a burger,” she replied and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She only then realized she was wearing some very unbecoming clothes and though he had seen her in big t shirts and sweatpants before, it was the first time she felt self conscious about it; as if she needed to dress up for him. Lucy felt ridiculous for even thinking that.

“A burger sounds good. I’ll take one of those, too.”

“I’m getting a veggie burger, though. I’m assuming you want a beef one.”

“Yeah, if I ask for a veggie burger, check to see if I have a fever.”

She snickered and reached for the phone to call their room service order in then sat down on the couch next to him. As she reached for the remote, she said, “Before you say anything about me taking a night off from writing, I really need to think through the obstacle I want to give my characters. I might even decide to give them two or three obstacles. I don’t know. But until I figure that out, I don’t want to waste my time writing in circles.”

“I get it. And you don’t owe me an explanation. I’m technically not your editor anymore.”

“Right,” she responded sadly.

“Not that I don’t mind helping you even if I’m not your editor.”

“Volunteering to work on a romance novel? I’m shocked,” she said, mocking him.

“Only so you don’t spend the rest of the tour complaining about how you’re stuck.”

“I don’t get stuck all the time.”

“Because I’m around to help.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please,” she grumbled and refocused on selecting a movie for them but only for a few seconds before turning back to him and insisting, “I’m a good writer without you, you know. I don’t need you.”

“I know,” he agreed.

The way he spoke without a single doubt shocked her; she expected him to tease her or vehemently disagree with her as he usually did, but instead, he was being kind.

“Actually,” he said, and she clicked her tongue, no doubt expecting him to be tough on her as he tended to be, yet he pressed on, “I would use the word ‘accomplished’, or ‘renowned’, or ‘successful’ instead of ‘great’.”

She blinked hard a few times. “You would say I’m an accomplished writer?” Her nerves vibrated.

“Sure. You’ve got two published books and a deal for a third. That’s pretty accomplished, don’t you think?”

“I know it is. Some days, I can’t believe I’ve made it this far.”

“Neither can I,” he replied, which earned him a sideways look from her. “You were pretty green when we started working together.”

“I was slightly inexperienced.”

“You were green.”

“Why are you the only that can correct my word choice, and I can never do it to you?”

“Who’s the editor here?” He asked rhetorically.

“And who’s the writer here,” she countered smartly.

He would have come up with a rebuttal, and a good one, but there was a knock at the door, and he went to answer it, since he knew it was their room service being delivered. By the time he set out their burgers on the small coffee table in front of their couch, their debate had been forgotten, and he glanced at the TV screen to see the movie selection she had pulled up. “A scary movie or a rom com? I can’t decide which I would hate more.”

“You don’t like scary movies?”

“They’re idiotic.”

“They’re fascinating.”

“Fascinating? The stories are always simple and the writing is always the same.”

“Simple? I think they’re intriguing. The creepy things they come up with for these are very creative.”

“Creative? They’re all recycled.”

“You clearly haven’t seen enough of them. We should change that right now.”

“Definitely not,” he shot back.

His look of disgust made her snicker then launch into a lecture about horror movies. In the end, they spent too long talking that they never ended up watching anything, but she did not mind at all.

Tim actually hated that she yawned mid-sentence, since he knew their evening was coming to an end, and though he knew he would see her again the following day, there was something about how they were outside of work that was unreplicable with anyone else he had ever met. “I’m either boring you, or you’re tired,” he said instead of finishing his thought.

She covered her mouth in case she yawned again. “No, no, I’m sorry.”

He smiled softly. “It’s okay. We should get some rest anyways. Tomorrow is a travel day.”

“Promise me you’ll finish your story over breakfast?”

“You got it.” He rose to his feet and turned to make eye contact with her. “Good night, Lucy.”

“Good night, Tim. Thanks for being the reason I wasn’t lonely tonight.”

He shrugged, since he did not feel like he was doing her a favor when he had a surprisingly nice evening with her, and he never had minded loneliness before; he was used to it. However, his loneliness did bother him the following night when they were in a different hotel in a different city, and he looked to the phone in his room and thought about dialing her, hating the silence. Without thinking too hard about it, he punched the numbers to call her room, and he stopped breathing as he heard the dial tone. Because the wall between their rooms was not too thick, he could sort of make out the sound of the phone ringing on her end. He thought it odd that she did not answer instantly, and then he remembered that she was not in her room. She was on a date with Emmett, because of course he joined them for another leg of their tour just in time to whisk her away to some romantic dinner. Tim hung up his phone and frowned knowing Lucy was certainly not lonely, but he was without her. Working and watching TV did not stop his mind from wandering to thoughts of her almost like he did actually miss having her around even if she was hardly ever quiet, always managed to annoy him, and had a different opinion about absolutely everything. To make matters worse, he heard Lucy and Emmett in the hallway when they returned from their date, so Tim pressed his ear to his door, eagerly eavesdropping.

“That seafood place was amazing,” Lucy said.

Emmett grinned. “I knew you would like it.”

“You didn’t have to take me somewhere so fancy.”

“You’re worth it, but if you want something more casual, I can take you to a totally different kind of place for our third date.”

“Our third date?” She asked as her lips curved upwards.

He took a tentative step towards her as he winced. “Sorry, I got a little ahead of myself for a second there. I was going to ask you on the third date first and then ask where you want to go. I got too excited and it all came out out of order.”

“That’s okay. I like the initiative. I would love to go on a third date with you.” A wonderful, nice man showing such interest in her was exciting, and the idea of a new budding romance was thrilling, so knowing he was already looking forward to their next date made her giddy.

“Great. I have to leave in the morning to fly back to L.A., but I’ll be joining you on the tour after five stops. We can have dinner then. I know that’s kind of far off, but I hope you’ll be willing to wait that long.”

His sweet smile alone was worth waiting for. “Yeah, that’s not a problem at all.”

“That’s a relief.” His grin widened. “See you soon, Lucy.”

“Safe trip back.” Lucy offered him a smile and walked into her hotel room, still buzzing after another perfect date.

Tim huffed once their conversation was over and heard the distinctive sound of Lucy’s hotel room door closing. Her date with Emmett must have gone well considering they scheduled a third one, but there was something Tim noticed per his eavesdropping- Lucy and Emmett did not kiss at the end of their date; their relationship was progressing, but not too far. Tim had kissed her, he pointed out to himself. Sure, it was for work and did not mean anything, but he had. He had and Emmett had not. That piqued Tim’s interest, but he was not necessarily sure why he cared.

Chapter Text

Quite surprisingly, Lucy was learning that Tim could be funny; usually, it was in a dorky way when he made made comically bad jokes, but sometimes, she enjoyed laughing AT him when he made a certain face or said something that was so true to him that she found charming enough to at least giggle, but at his most recent dramatic grimace, she had to guffaw.

“People don’t actually make ClipTok accounts for their dogs. That’s insane,” Tim said.

“They’re real, and they have some of the cutest content on the internet,” Lucy responded.

“But a dog can’t use a computer-”

“No one uses ClipTok on a computer. It’s an app on your phone.”

“Whatever. I still don’t get why a dog has its own ClipTok account when it can’t use a phone.”

“Obviously, the accounts are managed by their owners. It’s a way to keep dog content separate from personal content. Some of them have huge followings.”

“From the sound of it, you want to make one for your dog when you adopt one,” he gathered.

“Oh, definitely! I’ll make one for your dog, too.” Her eyes widened with excitement. “Or I can create a joint account for both dogs together! That would be so cute!”

“I haven’t decided if I’m getting a dog yet,” he pointed out, but her excitement surrounding the idea endeared him to it more and more. “But I draw the line at a ClipTok account. That’s not happening.”

“How come?”

“It’s dumb.”

“To you, but most of the internet loves them.”

“Most of the internet is dumb.”

She giggled at his frown. “You’re such a grump,” she noted with the faintest fond lilt.

“I’m practical. It’s not practical for a dog that can’t use a computer-”

“A PHONE,” she corrected him again, trying to sound irritated, but she was wearing a smile, so her tone was nothing but sunny.

“Phone or computer, it still doesn’t make any sense.”

“Only to you,” she snickered and registered that they had stopped walking. She took in her surroundings and looked to the bookstore mere paces away. “Oh, we’re here.” She would have preferred they keep walking hand in hand while chatting rather than conduct another book reading, question and answer panel, and book signing, but that was the whole point of being on tour with Tim.

“You didn’t notice, because you were too busy trying to make dog ClipTok accounts sound reasonable, which they’re not.”

“They so are,” she countered, smiling, while his expression showed he would remain stubborn in his point of view, so instead of further disagreeing, she giggled as she reached up to touch the side of his face.

“Are not,” he shot back and leaned down to capture her lips mid-laugh, swallowing the sound in a way that made him almost taste her joy. When he felt her begin to withdraw, he moved with her to resume their kiss, because their first one was rather simple and light thanks to the giggling dissipating on their tongues, and he wanted a proper one…for authenticity, of course. He was just doing his job being a convincing book boyfriend, he told himself.

Lucy had not expected the second kiss, but she did not mind at all the tender way his mouth moved over hers; she cupped his cheek as she distantly wondered how he could caress her lips so gently that it felt genuine. Rationally, she knew none of their kisses meant anything to him, but they made her feel something every single time regardless. Her body betrayed her as she reacted, taking a step closer to him as her hand grazed the short hairs at the nape of his neck.

There was a chance that kissing her at all outside of the bookstore was a completely unnecessary part of their performance, and certainly no amount of pageantry could warrant the way his tongue intertwined with hers, but he carried on as if it was a reasonable thing to do. 

Only when she realized how carried away she had gotten with her fingers buried in his hair and the material of his shirt, she pulled away abruptly, her brain rather fuzzy. Trying to recover as fast as possible and show him she was unaffected by their kisses, too, Lucy quickly fixed his hair, since she had been the one to mess it up in the first place, then wiped at the corner of his mouth where she left some of her lipstick behind, and gave him a final once over as she nodded. “Yup. Good. Let’s go,” she said unevenly and grabbed his hand to pull him into the bookstore with her.

He thought for a moment that her eyes had turned a richer shade of brown and maybe they were slightly unfocused; so were his. Tim hated to admit it, but he was looking forward to his next opportunity to kiss her again if only to test if they really had a connection or if he simply kept getting caught up in moments with her. The following day, he stared at her lips all throughout breakfast, and he noticed the subtle lifts and curls the happier he made her throughout their meal. 

“No one uses the word ‘spry’,” Lucy pointed out. “The police sergeant in my book isn’t going to be spry, anyways. He’s the boss of everyone at the police station. He’s going to be serious and no nonsense. Sort of like you in that way but older, obviously. He’s gotta be wise.”

“Forget about the word choice for a minute, even though ‘spry’ is a perfectly acceptable word plenty of people use. What’s this police sergeant’s purpose in your book? He’s not one of the main characters.”

“He could be.”

“So are you writing a love story for two secondary characters alongside the main characters falling in love?”

“That’s not a bad idea, but this sergeant is the boss. He’s not there to fall in love. He’s there to give orders. Oh, and he’s the one that pairs the main characters up in the first place.”

“So he ties all of the characters together. He’s the boss. He’s in charge of the station. He connects everyone’s stories in one way or another?” Tim thought aloud.

“Exactly! He’s the backbone of the station,” Lucy agreed, appreciative that he could read her mind. “Let’s go to Mugs. I need to write for a bit.”

“Of course.” He went to take her hand at the same time she reached for his like it was second nature, and they walked out of the hotel together. Thankfully, there was a Mugs a street away, so they were able to settle into the familiar coffee shop at a table in the corner; there was something so comforting about the fact that their favorite coffee place was part of a chain and all locations looked and smelled the same no matter what city they were in; regardless of where in the world they were, they could count on the scent of fresh dark roast and similar warm decor to invite them in to a place to work and obviously get their caffeine fix. Lucy sat across from him, so Tim focused on his own laptop, trying not to think about his overwhelming desire to kiss her, but then he saw out of his periphery how she stood up and dragged her chair over until it was right next to his. “What are you doing?” He asked.

“The sun from that window was shining right on my screen. I had to move,” she explained and scooted in her seat until her thigh was a whisper away from his. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and hoped to commence writing without any further distractions, but she felt his eyes flick over to her every few minutes. She was getting too flustered to even so much as press down on a single letter key, so Lucy turned to him, about to give him grief for how his staring was aggravating, but when she met his eyes, she was taken aback by what they held. If she had not known better, she would have assumed it was lust, however that was impossible. Tim felt nothing for her aside for possibly a morsel of friendship, she knew. Still, when his gaze dropped to her lips while he licked his own, her pulse jumped, because she knew that he sometimes inspired a little bit of a physical reaction in her. She blamed it on him being an unexpectedly good kisser and her not having been in a relationship in a long while. Somewhere in a corner of her mind, she was aware there was another man in her life…a man who’s name escaped her. All that she cared about was that Tim was staring at her in a deceivingly desirous way that was rather alluring. Lucy inhaled and hooked a finger under his chin to tilt his head. “Do you think someone from last night’s book signing is in here?” She murmured.

“Probably,” he rasped, though he had no idea if that was true. He moved in slowly, taking his time to gently suck on her bottom lip and cradle her face. Their mouths slid together languidly like they had all the time in the world- a perfect, easy, carefree kiss that made his blood hum. Tim wished he could say he was chasing her tongue because he was being a good book boyfriend, and he wished that he could attribute the chemistry between them to some fleeting moment that came with their cover, but it was just the two of them, and it was, admittedly, glorious.

She only pulled back when she needed to breathe, but only barely; the heavy puffs of his inhales were tickling her lips. Lucy could not stop herself from smiling at him. Their kiss had knocked her off balance and made her so giddy she could have fainted. Still, she had to act natural and totally casual about their very platonic kisses, so she forced her face back into a neutral expression. “We, uhh, we should work now.”

“Right. Work.”

“But dinner? Do you want to eat dinner together? Tonight, obviously. Not now, since we just had breakfast.”

“Dinner later would be good. Room service and a movie?” He suggested.

“But this time we might actually watch a movie.”

“Promise me it won’t be a dumb one.”

“If it is, you can pick the next one.”

“Deal,” he said with a smirk. He pulled his hands away from her thighs, though he had not even realized when his palms had slid over her legs.

She glanced at her screen then back at him. “Do you think I should try jumping around in the story? Normally, I start at the beginning and write everything in order, but I don’t know, I’m thinking about starting with the end.”

“The end?”

“Yeah.” She smiled. “I want to write my characters exploring their intense chemistry.” She was not at all inspired by any chemistry brewing between her and Tim. Not at all.

“Sure. Whatever works.”

“Okay. I’ll give it a shot.” She flashed him another grin and returned to her computer to type furiously.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Admittedly, it was a point of pride for Tim that Emmett had yet to kiss Lucy, but he had…repeatedly, and he did not want to stop any time soon, because it felt so good even if it was all fake, so as everyone in yet another bookstore applauded Lucy for being an accomplished and impressive writer, he wound an arm around her waist and looked down at her with a smile. He would have kissed her. He would have taken her face in his hands and claimed her mouth, but he stopped himself, since he knew it would have been selfish to take the moment of praise and attention away from Lucy. But then she tipped her head back and shot up onto the balls of her feet to initiate a kiss anyways, almost as if she read his mind.

Lucy was getting a little too used to how his lips molded with hers, but for a number of stops on the tour, it had just been him and her working together in silence at Mugs everyday, enjoying room service every night for dinner, and though not once had they managed to actually watch a movie like they planned, they did spend plenty of time arguing and laughing over burgers in sanitized hotel rooms in every city they visited. What she looked forward to the most during each stop on the book tour was her chance to kiss Tim before walking into the bookstores where expectant fans were waiting for her. Maybe she was getting greedy caressing his lips at the end of a bookstore appearance, too, but it was great research for her book; after all, she did want the main characters she was creating to have an intense connection that they were going to take plenty of opportunities to explore once finally getting together. Despite the fact that Lucy had yet to fully decide on the romantic journey of her story, she knew there would be plenty of chemistry, and Tim was so generously helping her feel that kind of thrill for herself to make it easier to write something similar for her book.

He pulled away from her lips and gave her a tiny grin when he saw how flushed her cheeks were. Maybe he was not the only one whose body reacted to their chemistry. It did not necessarily mean he had feelings for her; it was all physical, he told himself. They left the bookstore and walked a few paces until he could pull her into an alley.

She gasped, not expecting him to pivot into the small space between buildings and then draw her flush against him. “Tim?” She asked, unsure why they made an unexpected stop on their jaunt back to their hotel.

“People from the book signing are coming this way,” he reasoned.

“Right. They might see us.”

“Figured we should stay here so no one follows us to the hotel and figures out where you’re staying. It’s a security thing.”

She blew out a dry laugh. “I don’t think I have any stalkers.”

“You never know.” He realized how terrible his lie was, but he had to commit to it; telling her he really just wanted to hold her for a few more seconds and feel his blood fizz when their bodies made contact would not make sense to her when she only played her part as a committed professional. His hands found her waist as hers settled on his biceps while their eyes remained locked on each other. Neither spoke; just staring at each other while standing completely pressed together.

“Tim,” she whispered her plea, not exactly sure what she was asking for, but she hoped for something- either for him to release her or to kiss her, but something had to change, because that kind of proximity while getting lost in his gaze was threatening to render her unconscious. He hummed in response, a rumbling she felt vibrate through her own chest. She made a strangled sound, and then her lips were on his thanks to her subconscious controlling her movements. Her mouth was hungry as if they had not kissed mere minutes before inside the bookstore, yet that one had not been enough. She wanted more before the end of the night. She wanted to explore his mouth until her head emptied. She wanted to run her hands over his arms until she memorized the ridges of his surprisingly defined muscles. She wanted swallow his light sighs when her tongue slid with his just right. And with nothing but time in that alley, she could do just that, and she did. He met her kiss with the same enthusiasm as his fingers dug into her waist, so she thought that maybe since neither said anything about kissing for their cover before diving in, that there was a chance they were on the same page about sharing a moment that was just about them and not about their covers.

He broke his lips away from hers with his chest heaving. Tim had no idea what he had done. He worried he was acting too obviously interested in their connection when they had a job to do. He was her book boyfriend. Getting carried away was not only unprofessional, but he could put Lucy’s book tour in jeopardy over some sparks between them. If she knew he felt something, reacted in some way when they kissed, she might ask him to leave the tour or keep her distance from him outside of the bookstores, and he would hate to be robbed of her company during their working sessions and room service dinners. No, he had to keep their cover intact, so he asked, “Do you think anyone from the book signing is still around?”

She gulped. Of course while she was enjoying their quite natural chemistry, he only had his role as her book boyfriend in mind. “No,” she breathed. “I think the coast is clear now.”

“Wanna go back to the hotel now?”

“Yeah,” she replied quietly and took a step away from him. She clasped his hand, and they resumed their walk to their hotel in complete silence.

Not fully trusting himself to keep his hands or his mouth to himself anymore for the rest of the night, Tim made a decision as they stepped out of the elevator. He looked down the corridor where their rooms were situated next to each other and said, “I’m going to stay in my room tonight and have dinner by myself.”

She worried she had made him uncomfortable when she practically launched herself at him in the alley. Lucy wanted to kick herself for acting so irrationally and probably making him uncomfortable. “Really?”

“I’ve got to make a lot of edits to this chapter of that biography I’m editing, and you know, I haven’t really helped with your new book at all. I could take a look tonight.”

“You sure? I’m sort of jumping around in the story, so I just finished the scene where they get together, which is towards the end of the book, and also bits of other things. Since they’re cops, I’m trying to do a lot of research to make the work part really accurate, and since they fall in love on the job, I feel like there are gaps in the story I want to tell, but the end, I’m really sure about that part, and it has nothing to do with police protocol or anything like that, so that came really easy to me.”

“Okay. Send me what you’ve got. I’ll work on it.”

“But it’s the really romantic part. Are you sure you want to edit that now that you’re done working on romance novels?”

He smirked. “I’m sure. Send it over. We can go over any feedback I have tomorrow over breakfast before we catch our flight.”

Slightly disappointed that he was not going to spend the night with her, as in platonically sitting next to her on the couch, she forced her mouth from turning down when bidding him goodnight. Alone, she ordered her room service for one and settled in for a quiet night. Lucy stared at the dark TV screen, uninterested in turning it on and getting lost in a movie when she wanted Tim by her side, so she set the TV remote down on the coffee table and marched over to knock on his hotel room door, which he opened within a few seconds. He looked confused that she showed up, and she had no reasonable explanation other than that she missed him, which felt pathetic, but it was true. As she searched for the right words to say, her gut told her to turn back, because walking into his room in that exact moment would lead to something that would rewrite everything between them.

Yet, Lucy went into his hotel room anyways.

And her gut was right.

Chapter Text

Tim told Lucy he wanted to spend the night in his own hotel room for a change; he claimed he needed to get work done, but really, all of those meaningless kisses had mounted into something with meaning to him, and he needed distance from her before he said or did something that would upset the balance between them, yet there she stood in the doorway of his hotel room, interrupting his quiet night alone, and he was unsure what brought her there, but he silently stepped to the side as a wordless invitation for her to enter. He held his breath as she walked in.

Lucy searched for the right words to say as a valid explanation for showing up at his door while glancing around his hotel room, which had the exact same layout as her own. The truth was, they had spent so many stops on the book tour being together constantly, and she had grown accustomed to their ritual of working quietly at Mugs during the day and sharing a meal and a laugh every night. It was comfortable. It was easy. It was like she had been dropped in the middle of a relationship during that effortless monotonous stretch once a couple found their rhythm. She and Tim had found their rhythm of how to spend their nights and days together, and then he chose to disrupt their usual plans, and she missed him even if she would only be without him for one single, short night. Lucy had begun to miss him so much she went to his hotel room, and she was unsure how to explain herself.

“What’s going on?” He asked, thinking something must be wrong for her to be in his room unplanned, plus he was especially concerned that she had yet to speak when she usually had plenty to say.

“I…,” she was at a loss, then she caught sight of his laptop open to the draft pages of her novel that she had sent to him. “You’re reading my pages?”

“Yeah, I’m almost done.”

“Were they any good? Do you think this book will be a failure?”

He shook his head. “I’m sure your book won’t be a failure.”

“But you didn’t like the pages, did you?” She noticed that he avoided speaking about the specifics of her writing, which he only ever did when he was unhappy with her work.

“I…I didn’t hate them,” was what he said then winced, because her lips curled downwards.

“You think it’s that bad?” Her stomach knotted. “This scene is really important. They’re sleeping together for the first time. It has to be perfect. I thought it was perfect.” In that moment, she regretted every single writing choice she had ever made.

He hated to see the anguish on her face. “It’s just my opinion, and I’m not even your official editor. You don’t have to listen to me.”

“But I value your opinion, and if you say it’s crap, then it is.”

“I didn’t say it was crap. It’s just…unrealistic.”

“Unrealistic?” Out of all of the words she thought he might use, she never expected him to select that one.

“Your characters are sleeping together for the first time. Everything that’s been building between them is coming to the surface, and you’ve got the woman taking the lead and directing the whole night together.”

“Right, because she wants to show her man what she likes and what she wants. Besides, it’s hot.”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t make sense.”

“Doesn’t make sense? Hold on.” She took him by the hand and pulled him with her to the doorway of the hotel room. “Okay, so the scene starts outside of her bedroom, and she leads him into her room, because she wants him to have sex with her.”

“I got that part.”

“And she holds him,” she said then snaked her arms around Tim’s midsection. “And she kisses him.”

“Right.” He wondered if it was obvious how having her so casually flush against him made him heady. “I understand what happens. I just don’t see it working.”

“Then I’ll show you,” she decided, not really thinking about what that would entail. She took a step further into the hotel room and pulled him with her, then they took another step in tandem. Her eyes dropped to his lips and whispered, “Do you mind if we recreate it?”

His blood whooshed. “N-no,” he murmured, already looking forward to her doing whatever she wanted to him.

Lucy tried to think back to what she had written for the scene in her book with Tim’s breath tickling her lips. She did her best to go through the motions the way her characters did in her book. First, she started with a kiss, a slow one that made her want to hold onto him forever. It took a while to remember she was not just supposed to be kissing him, because in the book, her characters moved, so she backpedaled towards the bed with him in lock step until they hit the edge of the mattress. She spun them around and broke away from his lips to push him back into a sitting position on the bed. His little huff of surprise made her smirk, then she lowered herself into his lap and looped her arms around his neck. The way his eyes glimmered so obviously entranced made her smile fully; she never expected him to react that way to her behind closed doors when it was just the two of them. She liked it. 

Tim was perfectly fine with her straddling him while they got lost in each other’s gaze; there was more written into the scene, but sitting with her on the bed felt like something more than reenacting her book. It felt like they were doing what what they wanted. It seemed like she was genuinely enjoying herself and not just pretending. If he were braver, he would have asked what she was thinking, but instead, he stared at her until she caressed his lips and lowered his back onto the mattress with her chest pressed against his. He tangled his hands in her hair as her tongue slipped into his mouth, and everything was rather perfect until she pulled back.

Barely whispering against his mouth, she said, “And then they start taking their clothes off and it fades to black, because I didn’t want to write the sex in detail. See how that worked.” Admittedly, she was rather impressed with how normally her voice came out; she thought she sounded casual like it did not take every ounce of her willpower to stop kissing him, but she felt compelled to when she drove her hips into him in an almost needy way that could not so easily be written off as part of the book reenactment, since she had not written that- her body was aching for even more closeness with him than the beginning of her book characters’ exploration of each other.

He shakily cleared his throat as his bubble of hope was popped. She was just acting. Nothing more. That should not have stung, but it did, because he was finding his draw to her more and more irresistible. He planned to avoid her for the rest of the night to try keeping his urge to kiss her at bay, but she showed up in his room and was willing to act out with him what could be the most intimate scene of her book. If that was all he could have of her, pretending, then he craved more of it, and he did not have the willpower to deny that craving. “Can I show you something that might make more sense?”

“You still don’t think it’s realistic?” Lucy was aware she should have pulled back; they did not need to have their conversation with her on top of him, but she much preferred the proximity as they debated his critique of the scene.

“No guy that wants a girl that desperately will just let her take all of the control like that.”

“My female character isn’t going to just submit to a guy no matter how much she likes him.”

He gripped her hips to flip her onto the bed where he could hover above her on all fours, which made her gasp, so he smirked slightly. “I think your character would like if the guy was on top of her for a bit.”

She wanted to wrap all of her limbs around him and pull him until he was flush against her, but she resisted, because then he might figure out that she was attracted to him. “Maybe for a little,” she acquiesced, because she herself found it to be a turn on.

“Let’s start over and make this more realistic for both characters.”

“Okay, you do what you think my guy character would do, and I’ll do what I think my girl character would do.” She waited for him to nod before she climbed off of him, already missing his body heat. Lucy went to the front of the hotel room by the door and waited for him to join her.

Tim went to her with his hands outstretched and searching to settle on her waist. He bent his head low but not low enough as his eyes flickered between her mouth and her eyes. “So she invites him into her room, and then what?”

Her heart jumped up into her throat simply from the way he was looking at her. There was something that felt so real about the moment even if it was all supposed to be fake. She blinked, and suddenly, she was afraid. She realized when his face was mere inches away from her that she was alone in a hotel room with him with absolutely nothing but time, a bed, and dwindling self restraint; she worried she might get carried away if he kissed her a little too fiercely, or his hands moved a little lower, or he did something that made the moment a little too intense. Lucy knew she could have called it off; she could have said that they did not need to act out the moment in her book and she could use her imagination to make modifications to the scene. After all, it was a bad idea to make out on a bed recreating a sex scene with her book boyfriend she would need to keep working with professionally and faking a relationship with for the rest of her book tour. She opened her mouth to tell him that she changed her mind, but no sound came out. He was right there and willing to kiss her. Even if it was all pretend, how would she resist such an opportunity? The next chance she would have to taste his lips would be outside of the next bookstore they would visit together, which would not be for a whole night. Maybe twenty-four hours. That seemed like a long time. Lucy decided that she could indulge herself and allow for an innocent kiss and perhaps allow her hands to rove over him, but she would stop herself before she went too far. She would pull away before she gave away the small feelings for him that were blooming inside of her chest. Lucy tilted her head back to meet his lips gently, almost tentatively, and they moved together slowly, both keeping the kiss rather tame. It felt as easy and as natural as the ones they had shared before. Still innocent. She could keep going. She could taste him for a little longer.

Distantly, he was grateful she did not dive in for anything too fiery; he liked the idea of the heat slowly building between them and therefore prolonging his one and only opportunity to have her alone and still kiss her and feel her under his fingers. However, he considered that turning the heat up a notch would be reasonable. Besides, Tim knew he would regret it if he squandered his one and only chance to be in a bedroom with her. His mouth opened under hers, and he let his tongue slip past her lips.

She decided that since they had kissed like that before, she did not have to stop. She could let the small sparks dance in their mouths, and it would be fine. Then he increased the pressure, and his fingers dug into her skin a little more. Lucy took the small step to bridge whatever was left of the gap between their bodies, which must have been an invitation for him to change the kiss, turning sparks into flames. She sighed in surrender; there was no chance she could want to pull away when he was unraveling her with a kiss. Her only hope was that he did not read too much into her clinging to fistfuls of his shirt and standing up taller until she was on the balls of her feet in her urgency.

Tim thought she might be straining to meet his height with the way she wobbled slightly, so he dropped his hands to her thighs to pick her up, and though the move was primarily made for her comfort, he quite liked how he moan she let out when he lifted her into his arms and how all four of her limbs wrapped around him. He remembered there was a bed, which would be a comfortable spot for both of them, and the whole point of acting out the scene was to reach it anyways, so he walked them over to the mattress and noted how she kept her arms wound around his neck almost like she did not want to be lowered and instead be held by him for a bit longer. He turned around and sat down on the bed with her in his lap, her limbs unmoving where they were encircling him.

Holding him so tightly as they moved together so passionately was a perfect combination in her opinion so much so that she wanted to add it to the book, but editing the chapter could wait until he sucked all of the air out of her lungs or maybe even then she figured she would still likely refuse to break her lips away from his. Before she knew what she was doing, her fingers tugged at the hem of his shirt, her subconscious clearly acting greedily.

Even if it was a dangerous thought, Tim considered she might actually want him to remove his shirt for her and not for the sake of acting out a book scene, especially with how her hands moved so eagerly. He hated to pause their kiss to pull his t shirt over his head, but when he did, her darkened eyes were positively dazzling, and they were looking right at him. Her fingers ran over his abs while her gaze never left his. She seemed happy, a little dizzy, and maybe even turned on. Lucy showed no sign of wanting to stop, yet he leaned into her slowly to test if she was interested in more or if they had done enough.

She averted his lips and instead dropped her forehead to his, so they could breathe and maybe think for a second. His shirt was off. They were sitting on a bed. Her head screamed that she should jump away from him before she did anything more; they had gone far enough to create a scene for her book, which meant there was no need to continue.

His index finger found a strand of her hair, and he played with it as he waited, though for her to resume their kiss or stand away from him, he could not be sure what she would choose to do next, but the choice was hers alone to make. Tim had already made up his mind that he would take anything she would give him.

“Should we stop?” She asked, barely breathing, and her eyes flicked up to meet his.

“Do you want to?” He wondered.

The honest answer to that question was not one she could speak aloud. Instead, she shut her eyes and captured his lips. Lucy guided him to drop back onto the bed with their mouths still fused together, and she knew they were about to sleep together, and she was looking forward to the experience with her pain in the ass book editor. The man she bickered about word choice with. The one who challenged her and frustrated her all at the same time. The person that made her feel like she was flying every time they kissed. The man whose hands put her at ease when they clasped hers. The only one capable of getting on every single one of her nerves and yet still yearn for his presence the second he stopped being around to drive her mad.

He wanted to move at her pace; there was no need to rush when they had the whole night together, but also, he still feared she might run away from him at any second. Her wanting to genuinely be with him was unfathomable, yet she threaded their fingers together while rutting her hips against his. Tim stopped doubting that she wanted him when her hands moved to his belt buckle. He would have smiled if his lips were not otherwise occupied. Since she had shown an interest in him removing his pants, he decided to make it easier for her by rolling them over so he could be on top in the position that would make pulling his pants off take the least amount of time.

Lucy shuddered when she finally undid his belt. He must have misread her reaction, because he pulled back to look into her eyes with a silent question flashing across from them. She cupped his cheek. Maybe she would regret it in the morning, but in that moment, there was not even a sliver of a doubt in her mind that she was ready to sleep with him; the magnetic pull to him was too strong to fight. The urge was too intense to ignore. She could not stop if she wanted to.

And frankly, she did not want to stop.

As a writer, she knew when dialogue was necessary, and she deemed that with him above her looking at her through hooded eyes, they should discuss what was about to happen, because something was surely going to transpire even if it was a bad idea. He had to know that too, so she stated the obvious, “We shouldn’t.”

“I know,” he rasped even as he made no effort to move away from her.

“But I want to,” she said as her thumb brushed over his cheekbone.

“Me, too,” he replied with the beginning of a smile.

“One time.” They could sleep together one time and remain professionals; she convinced herself they could easily go back to pretending at being a couple in public the following day. He might still be oblivious to how she felt about him, and they could maintain his status as her book boyfriend afterwards.

“Maybe twice,” he countered, desirous enough to ask for more.

“How come we disagree on everything?”

“We’re not disagreeing right now.”

“No,” she breathed. “I guess we aren’t.” With that, she went to his lips knowing she would not have to pull away for a nice long while. She popped the button of his jeans, and he groaned into her mouth in a way that made her toes curl. She thought he said her name, because she could swear someone was calling her name, but his lips were slotted with hers and it would have been impossible for him to really speak. Yet, she heard her name again. Curious, she broke the kiss and asked, “Did you say something?”

“Hmm?” He hummed, still processing her question then answered somewhat distractedly, “No,” before he moved to suck on her neck.

She heard her name again, so she tried to better pay attention to the voice, and once she did, her heart stopped, because she recognized the person and that they were speaking outside in the hallway, clearly looking for her.

“Lucy? Are you in there? Hello?” Emmett asked as he continued to knock on her hotel room door.

She sucked in a breath and whispered, “Tim, Tim, stop.”

He detached from her in an instant. He was about to ask if he had done something wrong or had overstepped, but then he heard Emmett’s voice in the distance, and his eyes widened. Tim was too frozen to do anything, but Lucy reacted by shuffling out from under him and rocketing off of the bed.

With hot cheeks, she rushed out of Tim’s hotel room, which was conveniently next to hers, and she began combing her fingers through her hair as she attempted to speak to him as evenly as possible, “Emmett, hey, what are you doing here?”

He grinned and pointed his thumb in the direction of the door he had standing in front of for a few minutes, feeling like a fool. “Hi, Lucy. Sorry, Nyla told me this was your room, so I’ve been knocking on this one for a minute.”

“Oh, that is my room. I was just in Tim’s.” She straightened her top and wondered how disheveled she looked. “We were working on my next book.” That was not a total lie.

“You never take a night off, do you?”

She blew out an awkward laugh in reply.

Emmett stepped towards her. “I booked an earlier flight so I could see you tonight instead of tomorrow.”

“Really?”

“I don’t mean to come off too strong. I know we’ve only been on a couple of dates, but I like you a lot, and I’ve missed you.”

Her heart felt heavy; she had not missed Emmett for even a second, but she missed Tim after only being apart from him for a few minutes. “You are so sweet.”

“Do you want to grab some dinner or at least a drink?”

She glanced back at Tim’s closed hotel room door and forced a smile before saying, “Sure. I could definitely use a drink.” Lucy let Emmett lead the way to the elevator while her eyes kept flicking back to Tim’s door. She almost slept with her book boyfriend. She knew what his abs felt like under her fingers. She learned how strong he was when he lifted her up so easily. She became acquainted with the small noises he made when she kissed him hotly. She could still hear his groan when she worked to undo his pants. How was she ever supposed to look at Tim again without remembering the hunger in his eyes when he suggested they have sex not once but twice? How was she supposed to take his hand for their public appearances and not think about the way his fingers dug into her flesh as he held her tight? Emmett grinned at her in the elevator, and Lucy felt like she might be sick. The knot in her stomach communicated she just totally destroyed her relationship with Tim and things would never be the same between them. She wanted to kick herself; her gut told her it was a bad idea to go into his hotel room in the first place, yet she let a mix of yearning, and lust, and something she would not dare to name building and blazing within her dictate her choices, and now she had to live with the consequences.

Both of them had to.

Chapter Text

One minute, Lucy was underneath Tim in his bed where he was sucking on her neck on the brink of losing control, and the next, she was running out of his hotel room, because Emmett was looking for her.

Emmett.

The guy she had gone on a few dates with.

The guy she actually liked.

But if she did not like him, too, then Tim wondered how their bodies were thrumming on the same wavelength when they were making out on his mattress moments before. Both of them wanted to sleep together. They had discussed it explicitly. He heard it in her rich, desirous voice. He saw it in the dark twinkle of her eye. Eager to eavesdrop, he went to his hotel room door and pressed his ear to the wood to listen to Lucy and Emmett talk about grabbing a drink. Was sex with Tim meant to be the same kind of stress relief or way to unwind as having a drink with Emmett?

As if cold water had been splashed on his face, Tim was reminded that he was her book boyfriend, and she so clearly had zero actual feelings for him, but she wanted Emmett, who had the potential to become her real boyfriend. He  wanted to punch a wall, angry at himself for being foolish enough to think, even for a second, that she was interested in him. That she wanted any part of him except the professional cover he offered as a phony boyfriend used to sell her book and maybe some carnal pleasure without any strings attached.

But there were strings for Tim.

He felt them tug at his heart when her warm thighs wrapped around his hips and her hands pulled at his shirt to take it off. He flopped back into his bed and stared at the ceiling thinking that he was the biggest idiot on the planet.

Lucy was not faring any better. She slid onto a barstool at the hotel bar while thinking about Tim panting into her mouth, desperate for air but proving to be more desperate for her kiss.

Emmett launched into a story about work, and her mind drifted to the way Tim had picked her up and carried her to his bed. She hoped the sharp taste of her tequila soda would settle her, but butterflies continued to swarm her stomach as her body remembered every single spot Tim’s hands had been on her. She practically moaned out loud when she replayed how he sucked on her neck. She swiped at the skin wondering if he left a mark.

Part of her hoped he had.

Emmett noticed her far-off look and tapped on Lucy’s hand to get her attention. “Are you Listening to me?”

“What?” She asked, snapping into attentiveness after being wholly distracted for however long they had been sitting together.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong,” she replied and scratched the spot on her neck where Tim’s lips had been fused.

“You’re acting weird.”

“Me? No, I’m just...I’m just..tired. Yeah, it’s been a busy day. Not busy, more like a lot, or not a lot, it wasn’t enough, actually...” She blinked and expelled a breath hoping to rein herself in. “I guess what I mean to say is that I should probably go back upstairs to my hotel room. Alone. And-and we should pick this up tomorrow.” She was pretty sure she gave away her flustered state with all of her rambling, but she could not control Tim’s lasting effect on her. She rose to her feet and checked that she did not leave anything behind at the bar, and then she practically ran to the elevator. When she reached her floor, she went to her room then paused. Tim’s room was right next door. He was right there. She blushed wondering if he was still shirtless. She practically had to fan herself imagining knocking on his door and him answering shirtless then hauling her inside. Lucy shook her head to dispel the thought. No, she needed to go to bed alone and allow herself time to think.

Tim woke early, since he was too restless to really sleep. He decided to go to the hotel gym to blow off some steam and hopefully tire his body out enough that he stopped physically reacting every time he remembered a detail about his night with Lucy. When he returned to his hotel room, he saw that she was standing outside of his door knitting her fingers together, a clear sign she was anxious. “You looking for me?” He asked.

She had not expected him to appear in the hallway, especially when she was still in the process of plucking up the courage to speak to him. Then, she really took in the sight of him in a grey t shirt that clung to him where there was a “v” shape of sweat down his chest and more sweat matting his hair. She licked her lips instinctively and hoped he did not notice how her eyes scanned him. If she had been unsure about what she was going to say before he appeared in the hallway, her mind was certainly made up upon seeing him. Tim gave her a rush of excitement as he stared down at her with a reddened face due to what must have been an intense workout, but other times, she felt inspired to write more because he simply uttered a single word, and no matter where she was in the world, she felt safe when he was by her side, plus, even if they were butting heads, she always felt comfortable speaking her mind with him knowing he would never judge her. Emmett was the solid guy. He was a good option. But Tim was everything. “So-”

“Where’s-” He stopped talking, since she spoke at the same time as him. “You go first.”

“No you.” She needed another second to catch her breath before telling him what she had thought about all night.

“I was just going to ask where Emmett is.”

“Oh, in his room, I think.”

“I thought he wasn’t coming until today.”

“That was the original plan, but he came a day early to surprise me.”

“How romantic.” He could never be such a romantic; Emmett did something only the men in romance novels do. If anyone could find that kind of person, it would be the romance novelist standing in front of him ready to experience her own love story for the ages. Tim, however, knew that was something he could never provide her with. “He flew in a day early just to go on a date with you.”

“We had drinks, but I left early. I felt guilty the whole time…because of last night…before he showed up.”

He wanted to point out the negative connotations of her choosing the word “guilty”, but debating word choice was certainly not the point of their discussion. “Nothing happened.”

“We were about to-”

“But we didn’t,” he interjected, unwilling to hear any of her chosen descriptors for what was about to transpire in his hotel room the previous night; he feared she might come up with a term that stung more than “guilty”. Quietly, he punctuated his point, “We didn’t.”

“I thought you wanted to.”

“I did. We both did.”

“Exactly. We both did, so maybe we should try again tonight,” she suggested as if the idea did not make her blood whoosh.

“Try again? Emmett’s here. You know, the guy you went on a date with last night.”

“I panicked.”

“You panicked. You felt guilty. I get it. We shouldn’t have even considered crossing that line. I’m your book boyfriend. That’s it.”

“But I don’t want a book boyfriend. I want a real one.”

He had never been shot before, but he was certain a bullet wound would hurt less. “This arrangement might not be ideal for you, but the tour is almost halfway done. You don’t have to pretend for too much longer.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know what you meant,” he presumed incorrectly, thinking she wanted to date Emmett and be rid of him but really, she was trying to say she picked Tim. Too bad he did not know know that. “Emmett is a great guy. He’s the exact kind of person you want, and I’m happy for you two. I really am. We’re pretending for work, and he’s the real deal. We’re on the same page now.”

“Last night wasn’t pretending for work.”

“It wasn’t, which is why you ran out of the room to be with your real boyfriend.”

“He was banging on the door. We were gonna get caught.”

“People only get caught when they’re doing something they shouldn’t be doing.”

“Okay, so that was a bad choice of phrase.”

“No, for once, I don’t disagree with you on your word choice. It was a bad idea, and it’ll never happen again.” He could not manage to continue their painful conversation, so he reached for the handle of his hotel room door to signal the discussion was over and all that needed to be said had been said.

She wanted to cry. He looked so sad as he unlocked his door, though why he was so wounded when he was the one that hurt her, she could not be sure. All she knew for certain was that something had shifted, and she was certainly unhappy about it. For starters, he did not eat breakfast with her, and he must have stayed in his room to work, because he did not join her at Mugs at a table in the corner like they had grown accustomed to. The worst was when it was time for the book signing. Tim picked her up from her hotel room like he always did, but when she reached for his hand to clasp it, he pulled away. He pulled away like it would be so bad to hold her hand. She wanted to understand what compelled him to do that, but his expression was unreadable and stony, perhaps on purpose.

Very aware that Emmett was right behind them, Tim walked over to the bookstore silently. Normally, he and Lucy chatted; she usually dictated the conversation, and he participated, but he was in no mood to talk to her. He could hardly look at her. But the bookstore came into view, so he reluctantly took her hand as loosely as he could as if that would make touching her hurt any less when he was holding the hand that had trailed down his bare chest the night before.

Finally, there was a moment of normalcy for Lucy with Tim holding her hand and opening the door for her to enter the bookstore first. She turned her head expecting him to kiss her like they usually did. And he did kiss her, but he swerved so that he would only peck her on the cheek. She almost frowned in her discontent, then she remembered that she was surrounded by fans and had to be careful about how she comported herself. At least the actual event went the typical way with her question and answer portion and book signing carrying on normally with Tim sitting right next to her and his arm banded around the back of her chair. She gladly scooped his hand up at the end of the event and squeezed it. When they were out of the bookstore, she complimented him, “You were great today.”

“Yeah, you, too,” he replied coolly and practically dropped her hand.

Her heart plummeted when he let her hand go not just because she missed the contact with his skin, but also because it felt so dismissive like she did not matter to him.

Emmett chimed in, “I took some great pictures for our socials. You two are a hit on all of the platforms. People ship you.”

“Ship us? To where?” Tim wondered.

Lucy had to let out a giggle between how clueless he was and the adorable little frown of confusion on his face. “It means people think we’re cute together. God, you’re old.”

“I’m not old,” Tim disagreed.

“You so are. Lucky I’m here to keep you young.” She flashed him a smile, and for a moment, he returned it with his own small grin. Sure, there was a new tension between them, but the connection they shared had not completely evaporated, because fortunately, what had blossomed between them over years of bickering while working together and long days of growing closer while on tour could fade quickly; she took some solace in that.

“Lucky that you’re poisoning my brain with ClipTok lingo?”

“No one says the word ‘lingo’ anymore. You’re ancient.”

His mouth fell open. “I’m not ancient!”

“So ancient,” she teased and playfully bumped into him, eliciting yet another tiny smile from him. Things were different, but not insufferably so. She could adjust to their new normal.

Emmett waited until they were in the privacy of the hotel elevator to ask, “How long will it take you to change for dinner?”

“Just a few minutes,” Lucy guaranteed.

“Dinner?” Tim asked looking between them, but he knew what it meant. Thankfully, the elevator dinged and the doors opened, so he could be free from breathing the same air as them. “Enjoy your date,” he told them, his tone genuine, then he went down the hallway in large strides to get away from them, because as happy as he was for Lucy to be with the perfect guy, he was not comfortable hearing about it or seeing it. He was not jealous. He had no right to be. But he failed to find the right word to describe the uneasiness he felt learning Emmett and Lucy were going on a date.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Because she banned all thoughts of Tim from her mind, Lucy actually enjoyed Emmett’s company throughout dinner. He had a warm smile and the kind of laugh that made her want to laugh, too. He really was exactly the kind of guy she had dreamed of…

Until Tim.

Tim changed her definition of what she wanted in a partner from someone that loved her well to someone who supported her and understood her, yet also argued with her; in truth, almost everything about Tim was maddening, but then again, how his tongue fought hers for dominance was also maddening but in a different, welcome way. She wanted to share that kind of connection with someone forever. A connection that was thrilling just to think about. She easily conjured up the memory of Tim practically devouring her the night before. Lucy shifted in her seat and shook her head to dispel him from her head. She needed to focus on Emmett, who was sitting across the table from her being the perfect date. After he paid for dinner and walked her to her hotel room door, he lingered, and she knew why.

“Thanks for tonight,” Emmett said. “I had a really good time.”

“Me, too,” Lucy agreed, and her eyes flicked over to Tim’s hotel room door almost as if she could sense his presence.

She had no idea he was shamelessly eavesdropping, but he was; Tim knew he was torturing himself listening to them talk, but he was too curious.

Emmett feared he had not been clear enough about his intentions, so he moved in close and lightly cupped her cheek. She blinked up at him softly, and then she starting moving in, so he bowed his head.

The silence made Tim’s stomach clench; he knew neither Emmett nor Lucy were talking, because they were kissing. A real kiss. Not like one of the numerous ones he had shared with her for work purposes or even the impassioned ones in his hotel room when they got carried away. No, it was a genuine kiss between a girl and her soon-to-be, if not current, boyfriend. He had to step away from the door, the silence sickening him to an alarming degree.

Lucy pulled away from Emmett…content.

Their kiss was fine. It was nice. The pressure was not too insistent for a first kiss, unlike her first with Tim, even though he would have said that was their second kiss and that the preceding tiny peck was meant to constitute their first, but as usual, Tim would be wrong in making that assumption. And the way Emmett held her face was sweet, but she preferred how Tim cradled her cheeks, taking her in his hands and angling their faces perfectly with fingertips imbued with equal parts gentleness and ferocity. Emmett broke away with the ghost of a smile on his lips, which was sweet, but she could not help thinking about how Tim tended to look a bit awestruck if she kissed him just right.

And then she felt awful for comparing Emmett to Tim when there was not meant to be a comparison- Tim was her book boyfriend and Emmett was on the path to becoming her real boyfriend- one was fake and one was real.

But Lucy wondered how the fake boyfriend could send her world spinning when their mouths collided but Emmett had yet to do so. She decided she needed more time with Emmett to give him a chance to bring her the kind of exhilarating passion she had never experienced before Tim. She wanted to scream at herself for thinking about Tim again when the right guy was in front of her clearly trying to read her expression for any sign of a reaction to their first kiss. To give Emmett another chance to prove she could feel sparks with him and to avoid explaining the worry lines emerging on her forehead that were placed there because she was thinking about another man, she dove into him for another kiss that seemed to surprise him. The second was just as soft as the first. Emmett was a nice kisser. Lucy should have been happy with the tenderness of his lips, but she broke away wishing she felt even a twinge of heat, since a wildfire seemed to rage between her and Tim sometimes. “Good night, Emmett,” she said to dismiss him before her face gave away what was swirling around in her brain.

“Night, Lucy. Oh, want to head to Java Jive tomorrow to work before your book signing?” He asked, grinning, because she kissed him twice, which made him feel like their date was a success.

“Sure.” She preferred Mugs, but Emmett liked Java Jive; she would have to sacrifice her favorite coffee shop for him, but without Tim working at the same table as her, Mugs would not be as special anyways, so she could adjust and learn to love Java Jive.

She glanced at Tim’s hotel room door before opening her own, and as she ambled into her room, she could not help thinking that what she had with Tim was unreplicable. She could develop a nice relationship with Emmett. She could grow to be comfortable with him and could see herself enjoying his company. She might even fall in love with him. But the sobering fact was that Emmett could never be Tim, and she yearned for what she had with Tim. If only it were real. By the time Lucy was ready for bed, she settled on her back on the mattress and stared at the ceiling thinking about how her relationship with Emmett was furthering into pleasant territory just as Tim was withdrawing from her with only a kiss to her cheek, barely holding her hand, and an absence of him throughout her day that led her to believe he was avoiding her instead of being around every second of everyday like he used to be, and she was not pleased at all with her new normal.

Chapter Text

The walk to the bookstore was quiet, but not quiet because Tim refused to talk; rather, it was a different kind of silence. “You okay?” He asked, checking in on her.

“Mhm,” Lucy hummed distractedly.

He stopped walking abruptly and reached out to tap her hand, not exactly taking it, but enough contact to give her pause. “Lucy?”

She froze mid-step to look up at him and read his concern for her easily, which warmed her heart, but it also meant she had to actually be honest with him. “Emmett and I talked before he left for the airport an hour ago.” There was something odd that flashed across his eyes almost like pain, but she pressed on, “He…he asked me to be his girlfriend. I don’t know the last time someone asked me that question…I think my girlfriend in college was the last one to put it like that.”

He nodded and hoped he was not clenching his jaw too obviously, but he could not be sure. Though it might have been appropriate to say something and react in any sort of way, he could not find any honest words that would be supportive and positive, so he simply blinked allowing her to keep going, because there was clearly more for her to share.

“I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t give him an answer,” she admitted, frowning.

“And you feel bad about that?” He asked, prodding, to which she nodded, so he offered her the only advice he could give, “You can call him now to give him your answer.”

“But I don’t know what my answer should be.” She took a half step into his space and pled with her eyes, hoping to appeal to him. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t be his girlfriend?”

He swallowed hard. Her question seemed rather pointed, but of course, he could have also been imagining things, since she already picked Emmett, so any trepidation on her part had nothing to do with him. “W-what, what kind of reason should there be?”

“I mean…” Her hands shook as her voice trailed off. Being forward with him proved to be more difficult than she hoped. She shook her head. “Forget I said anything. We need to get going. We have to be in the bookstore in a few minutes.”

He resumed walking, and she joined him in lock step. There was something so odd about her question, but he was not sure how to interpret the difference between what she was asking and that glint in her eye. When they were close to the bookstore, he did his job as a book boyfriend and reached for her hand, which she took easily the way she always did. It was a nice few steps holding onto her. A welcome moment to pretend she really was his to hold. But that fantasy could only last a short time.

Lucy wanted to scream when Tim gave her a featherlight kiss to her cheek and released her hand once they arrived inside another bookstore. It had been nine days since the last time she tasted his lips, and she felt like she was keeping track of that fact a little too obsessively to the point of feeling like she was on the brink of insanity. Emmett became a good distraction outside of the bookstore appearances. He sat with her at a table at Java Jive where she drank her chai tea latte with oat milk and extra, extra nutmeg, and when she asked him questions about whether she was on the right path with her story, he always gave her an encouraging smile and told her she was brilliant and doing a great job. Tim never did that. And Emmett would take her to restaurants he researched and put great thought into to show he cared. He was kind, the right amount of charming, and very respectful of the pace she wanted to take things physically, which was glacially slow. Kissing him at the end of the night was always nice, and sometimes her blood hummed when his hands roamed over her., but that was all they ever did even with a hotel room bed mere paces away. She never even invited him into her room for more than a goodnight kiss. He helped her stop thinking about Tim for the most part, and he showed her what it felt like to actually be wanted by someone and not just in a pretend way. But the second Tim’s fingers threaded with her, her nerves buzzed even if it was meant to be meaningless. So she could not wait for the break in the tour, affording her the chance to go home and have some space away from his spark inducing hands and the tempting pair of lips she had not tasted in nine days.

Tim was also looking forward to the book tour break. He hoped time out of her orbit would allow him to recollect himself, because his eyes were glued to her lips, and he knew he had to stop staring, but the way she talked about how much she loved writing during the question and answer panel and her genuine smiles at fans when signing their copies of her books was equal parts endearing and attractive.

She signed her last book for the night and caught him staring. There was something so pensive in his eyes like he was weighing his options but unsure what choice to make. Had they not been in the public eye in the moment, she might have asked what he was thinking about.

He grinned as everyone applauded for Lucy, but he was a little distracted as he had been all night. She asked him if there was a reason for her to not be Emmett’s girlfriend like she had doubts about being with him. Which, if he was really jumping to conclusions, could have indicated that the smallest little part of her was starting to have genuine feelings for him. If she was looking for a reason from him. Tim was not a writer like her; he could not come up with some grand speech to communicate his honest feelings. He was more of a “show you” kind of guy. If she was looking for a reason to be with him instead of Emmett, Tim was willing to show her. He cupped her chin to tip her head up. She had the most dazzling gaze that knocked him off balance sometimes, but he recollected himself, since he had a mission in mind, and leaned in.

Relief and excitement washed over her once she registered he was moving in to kiss her, and she could not wait for him to take his time when nine days had elapsed, and she was growing rather impatient; he had been dodging her lips for long enough, but the time had come to return his mouth to its rightful place, which was slotted with hers. Lucy kissed him with a fierceness she had not intended, He fell back on his feet like he stumbled a bit, so she gripped his biceps to keep him from moving too far away. Sparks exploded all over her like she was being lit up from the inside and about to rocket into the atmosphere, and it would have been fine so long as he went with her. Everything was so blissful until he pulled away, and then she was back to missing his lip all over again; at least she could take his hand for some more skin contact. She interlaced their fingers to exit the bookstore with him and felt the moment he tried to pull away, but she only squeezed his hand, and he resumed holding onto hers normally like he had only been flexing his fingers. “So,” she began casually, “Do you have any plans for the break from the tour?”

“Not really. How about you?”

“Writing probably. You know, I could use an editor if you’re available.”

“You’re volunteering to spend time with me outside of the tour?”

“Is that so hard for you to believe?”

The corners of his mouth turned down ever so slightly. “I guess I don’t really know what you’re thinking.”

She stopped in the middle of her stride, unwilling to move from their spot before they cleared the air. “What are you trying to say?”

“Exactly what I said.”

She scoffed. “You can’t be serious. You’re the one that makes my books better, because you can read my mind and draw everything I’m trying to say out onto the page. You perfected my coffee order by adding nutmeg, because you were so right that that’s what my latte was missing. Sometimes, I think you know me better than anyone else.”

“I thought so, too, but this tour…everything’s different now, isn’t it?”

“Different in a good way or a bad way?”

“In a confusing way!” He shot back, exasperated.

Her frustration flared, “If anyone’s being confusing here, it’s you!”

“ME? What about you!”

A phone chime interrupted the conversation, and Lucy exhaled when she realized it was hers. She pulled the device out of the pocket of her blazer, read the name flashing on the screen, and said, “I have to take this. It’s important.” She accepted the call with an edge to her voice, “Hi, Emmett.”

Tim was too annoyed that Emmett had interrupted his time with Lucy again as yet another reminder that there was another guy in her life, so he loosened his grip on her hand, and she let him go, so he was free to resume walking back to the hotel.

She took large steps to catch up with Tim while listening to Emmett on the other end of the call. “So does that mean you got me a ride along?”

He did not need to be listening to the other half of the discussion to know that Lucy was upset, which meant that Emmett had given her the news she was not hoping to hear.

“No, no, it’s okay. Thanks for trying. Look, I’m sorry to cut this conversation short, but I’m with Tim right now, so I gotta go,” she said and got Emmett off the phone as quickly as she could before ending the call and stowing her phone back in her pocket.

“A ride along?” Tim pressed once Lucy was no longer talking to Emmett. “Like with cops?”

“Yup. My characters are cops, and I’m having trouble putting them in realistic patrol situations in my book. I’ve been doing a lot of research on the rules of the LAPD, but I thought if I could experience a ride along that would give me a day in the life of some cops, I would be able to really capture that in my writing. Emmett offered to go to a police station and ask them if a ride along would be possible, but he struck out, so I guess I’ll do research some other way.”

“If anyone can figure it out, it’s you.”

She smiled at the compliment then remembered what had transpired before she took her call. “About what we were talking about earlier-”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve been on the road for a while. We could both clearly use a good night’s sleep in our own beds.”

Lucy thought returning to her apartment where she could be in a comfortable sanctuary was exactly what she needed, but she found that after waking up in her own space, she was uneasy; it was odd that Tim was not in the room next door like he had been for over a month of hotel stays. She made coffee hoping the caffeine would help her feel less grumpy when her roommate poked her head out of her room.

“Holy crap!” Tamara exclaimed. “I thought you were someone coming in to rob me for a second there.”

“Good morning to you, too,” Lucy replied.

“Sorry, I’ve just gotten used to you not being here, but it’s good to have you back.”

“The break is only for a week. Nyla says it’s good for morale or whatever.”

“Definitely a morale booster for me. I’ve missed you,” Tamara told her.

“You were barely home for weeks before I left on my tour, because you were spending all of your time with that boyfriend of yours. How’s Cody doing? You haven’t mentioned him in a bit.”

“We broke up a few weeks ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

Tamara shrugged. “I’ll be fine. Cody isn’t important. I would rather talk about your boyfriend.”

“I told you Tim is just my book boyfriend. It’s all fake.”

She smirked. “I was talking about Emmett, you know, the guy you said you’ve been on a few dates with. But, it’s interesting that when I said ‘boyfriend’ you thought I meant Tim.”

“It’s not interesting,” Lucy insisted.

“Are you sure about that? I’ve seen the ClipToks and Instagram posts of you and Tim looking awfully cozy, and there’s this one clip of you kissing that’s adorable.”

“We’re just pretending for work.”

“Make out. Sell books. That tracks,” Tamara responded smugly. “Do your book sales go up if you smile when you kiss him, or is that just you two improvising?”

Lucy rolled her eyes trying to act like the line of questioning was not making her nervous, but the pink rising in her cheeks may have given her away. Before she could come up with a convincing excuse, her phone rang, and she was grateful for the interruption. She did not expect to see Tim’s name on her screen, so she answered, unsure, “Tim?”

“You still want to do a ride along?” He asked.

“I’d love to, but I told you Emmett couldn’t make it happen.”

“Meet me at Mid Wilshire police station in an hour.”

“You got me a ride along?” She grinned, excited.

“I did. I’ll meet you there. Don’t be late. Not even by a minute.”

“You and your punctuality,” she sighed.

“That’s a weird way to say ‘thank you’,” he quipped.

Her smile returned instantly. “You’re right. Thank you, Tim. I’ll be there on time. I promise.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye,” she said then hung up.

Tamara crossed her arms; witnessing Lucy’s face light up while on the phone with Tim was all she needed to see to say, “Oh, you’ve got it bad for him.”

Lucy’s pulse jumped, and her mouth fell open. “I do not!”

“Don’t get so defensive. It wasn’t a question. It was just an observation.”

“B-but I-I, I don’t, okay?”

“Are you trying to convince me or you? Because either way, I think you’re doing a bad job.”

She huffed. “We’re just…working together. I don’t think he sees anything more between us.”

“You think or you know?”

“Everything was clear in the beginning, but…we’ve gotten closer, and a few things have happened that could mean…,” she stopped herself and shook her head. “No, no, I can’t keep deluding myself into thinking what we’re doing matters to him, because it doesn’t.”

“It doesn’t? Is that what he told you?”

Lucy ran her index finger around the rim of her coffee cup to give herself something to do. Once Tamara crossed behind her over to the coffee machine to pour her own mug, she was able to confess to her back, “We haven’t exactly fully talked about it. We’ve tried, but it’s probably for the best that we haven’t.”

Tamara set the carafe down and spun around to face her. “It sounds like one honest conversation might clear this all up, but I think you’re afraid.”

“Afraid of what? Love? I’ve had no problem getting closer to Emmett. Things are great with him, and nothing about that terrifies me.”

“Is it because Emmett is who you really want, or is it because he’s the safe option so there’s nothing to fear? Emmett pursued you. From what you’ve told me, he asked you out and made it pretty clear from the beginning he was interested. But with Tim, things aren’t that clear. You’ve got this whole weird work arrangement where you’re literally supposed to kiss him, and sure, that could get confusing if he’s a good kisser. But if it’s more than that, and you’ve started catching real feelings for him, a guy you’ve worked with for years who has been right in front of you the whole time, you might be afraid to put yourself out there, because you don’t want to get rejected by someone you have a working relationship with that could get weird if he turns you down. And if risking working together isn’t scary enough, you’ve probably figured out what took me a whole five seconds to put together, which is that you’ve got it really, really bad for him, and you’re worried someone you have that strong of feelings for doesn’t see you the same way, because like I said, you’re kissing for work and thinking that he’s just playing a part while you’re falling harder and harder for him. You don’t want to be the idiot in love with a guy that thinks you’re just coworkers.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Am I right or am I right?”

Lucy felt like she had been punched in the gut. After ignoring her own thoughts as best as she could for as long as she could, her best friend summarized the situation rather perfectly, which only made her feel more vulnerable and exposed. “I need to take a shower and get dressed.”

Tamara let Lucy disappear into her bedroom then grinned into her coffee and muttered, “Damn, I’m good.”

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Tim checked his watch as the second hand ticked on when he heard her voice.

“I’m here! On time!” Lucy announced, breathless, and raced over to him where he was standing at the entrance of the police station.

“Good,” he replied. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.” He jerked his head in the direction of the front door and opened it for her to usher her inside, then they navigated past the front desk over to the bull pen that was busy with a usual amount of commotion. He sidled up to a desk where his friend was seated and made the necessary introductions, “Angela, this is Lucy. Lucy, this is Angela.”

Angela Lopez rose to her feet and grinned. “So you’re the writer girlfriend. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.” She held out her hand for Lucy to shake.

“You know she’s not actually my girlfriend. She’s just a friend,” Tim grumbled.

That reminder was exactly what Lucy needed, so she nodded. “You told her the truth I take it.”

“It’s not like we had to sign NDAs or anything,” he pointed out.

“He had to come clean,” Angela said. “I’m his best friend. I have to know everything that’s going on with him.”

“Best friend?” Lucy quirked an eyebrow and looked to Tim.

“What? I have friends,” he responded defensively.

“He has one friend,” Angela correct him. “Me. And the only reason we’re friends is because we grew up together, which is why I agreed to this ride along. I’ll need both of you to sign some waivers and put on bulletproof vests, and then we can hit the streets with my rookie, Jackson West. He’s loading up our shop for us right now. How does that sound?”

“Amazing,” Lucy replied brightly. “Thank you so much.” She could not believe she was actually experiencing real police work. It felt rather real from the second she loaded into the back of a cop car, which she learned was called a “shop”. She reached over to Tim where he was sitting beside her and fussed with the straps of his bulletproof vest. “I don’t think you put it on right.”

“I put it on fine,” he said.

“No, it’s crooked.”

“It’s not crooked.”

“Sit still! It is crooked,” she insisted. “We can’t go out there and be in real danger while you’ve got this thing on all wrong. You could die.”

“I’m not gonna die.”

“You haven’t read what I’ve read about how risky being a cop is. Trust me, we need to take every precaution.”

“We really don’t. I asked Angela to only field the easy calls.”

“Easy calls?”

“The least dangerous ones.”

“Why? You don’t think I can handle myself? I’m tougher than I look.”

“You don’t have any formal training.”

“Neither do you.”

“If a seven foot muscular guy charged at us right now, which one of us would take him down?”

“Me, obviously.”

“I’ve got a foot on you, and I have actual muscles.”

“But I could go for his knees.”

He made a sound of disbelief. “The knees? You really think that’ll work?”

“You never know.”

Jackson West, who had been eavesdropping from the front passenger seat of the shop looked to Angela and whispered, “They’re a fun couple.”

“So I’ve gathered,” Angela responded, amused. She found it quite entertaining to listen to Tim and Lucy bicker about their lack of fighting skills. The only reason they stopped talking was because a call came through, so she hushed them with, “Guys, guys, it’s dispatch.” She listened and decided that they could respond to a domestic call with ride along in the back.

Jackson replied to dispatch over the radio that they were responding to the call. He had not been a cop for long, so he had a mental checklist to run through in preparation for whatever was to come; it took the whole drive over to ready himself.

Lucy did not know what to expect when the shop pulled up to a house.

“Under no circumstances are you two going in that house,” Angela ordered Tim and Lucy.

Lucy crossed her arms. “What’s the point of a ride along if I don’t get to see any action?”

“Come on, Ang, at least let us stand outside,” Tim requested.

Angela nonverbally checked in with Jackson, ensuring they were both ready, then they exited the shop before letting Tim and Lucy out of the back. “Don’t move,” she demanded seriously before diverting her attention to the task at hand.

Lucy tapped her foot for a solid minute after Angela and Jackson had disappeared into the house. Impatiently, she asked, “Are you sure we can’t at least try peeking through a window?”

“We don’t know what’s going on in that house,” Tim pointed out, yet his eyes darted over to the building. “A peek wouldn’t be so bad, right?”

She smiled, delighted. “No, it wouldn’t.” They tiptoed to the nearest window, and she strained on her tiptoes to chance a glance at the action. “I can’t see anything.” 

He flicked his gaze over to her and the corner of his mouth curled. “That’s because you’re too short to see anything.”

“I’m a perfectly normal height.”

“Not to spy on what’s going on in there.” He checked back in on what was happening in the house and reported, “Angela just punched a guy in the face.”

She pouted. “This is my ride along, and I’m missing everything.”

Without thinking, he gathered her in his arms and lifted her off the ground to help her see into the house.

Lucy should have been paying attention to the action as it was good research for her book, but all she could think about was how the last time he had picked her up it was in his hotel room, and he had carried her over to his bed before climbing on top of her. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and looked down at him even though he was too busy paying attention to Angela and Jackson as they attempted to subdue a suspect. But then suddenly, his eyes snapped up to hers. Her fingers found the base of his skull and ran over the short hairs at the nape of his neck. “Tim,” she whispered his name.

His lungs halted; he had not been thinking about their position when he scooped her up, but suddenly, he became very aware of the fact that their faces were inches apart, and she was holding onto him as tightly as he was holding onto her. He thought about how easy it would have been to kiss her, and maybe push her back against the building to make it really intense. He inclined his head towards hers, yet another thoughtless action. And then it sounded like someone blasted out of the front door. The sound was so loud that he stopped thinking about kissing Lucy and started thinking about protecting her.

The large, burly man Angela and Jackson had been fighting inside the house had barreled outside and was still keen on throwing his fists. Lucy’s eyes went wide, alarmed, yet a rush of adrenaline caused her own hands to ball into fists.

Swiftly, Tim set her down and turned on his heel with his hands up to protect his face like when he took boxing classes. The man charged at him, and he threw a punch on instinct.

Lucy was proud of him for hitting the guy in the face and sending him backwards, but when the large man responded with his own punch to Tim’s face, she sprung into action instinctively and kicked out at the man, knocking him back. Thankfully, Jackson was right there to put handcuffs on the suspect, so she could divert her attention to Tim and ask, “Are you okay?”

He winced, feeling a bruise blooming on his cheek. “I’m good.”

She reached to cup his jaw. “Let me see.”

“It was one punch,” he said dismissively.

Her eyes tracked over his face carefully. “I think you’re getting a bruise. We need to get you some ice.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m very worried.”

Angela shook her head at them. “I have an ice pack in the trunk. We can treat his boo-boo.”

“Thank you, Angela,” Lucy replied gratefully.

“It’ll be a tight squeeze in the back with The Hammer back there with you,” Jackson assessed.

“That guy’s name is The Hammer?” Lucy asked.

“Yup. We’ve picked him up a few times. Minor stuff. But he loves fighting cops,” Jackson explained.

“So you’re telling me a guy named ‘The Hammer’, who’s like seven feet and huge was finally taken down by me by kicking him in the knees?” She asked smugly and eyed Tim to see his reaction, which was one of annoyance. “You have to admit I was right.”

“You got lucky.”

“I was right. The knees clearly work.”

“This one time.”

“Let’s ask The Hammer if anyone has taken him out by going for his knees to really prove my point.”

He groaned, “Lucy.”

“Just saying,” she pointed out.

Angela kept her commentary to herself until they returned to the station to book The Hammer. While Jackson showed Lucy how to fingerprint a suspect, Angela stepped into a corner where she could be alone with Tim to say, “I like her.”

“She’s alright,” Tim responded casually.

“I mean I like her for you,” Angela clarified.

“Don’t.”

His severe tone gave her pause, so she really inspected his expression and deduced, “Oh, you like her.”

“Angela,” he warned.

“You do!” She smiled widely. “That’s great.”

“She’s got a boyfriend.”

“What? Wait, if she has a boyfriend, then why are you pretending to be her boyfriend?”

“They started dating during the tour. He’s someone from the publishing house’s social media team, and he keeps showing up in random cities to take pictures of her.”

“Okay, that sucks.”

“It’s for the best. Emmett is the kind of guy she deserves. I’m happy for her.”

She could tell he was being genuine. “The fact that you really are tells me you really like her a lot. I wish things were different and you could be her real boyfriend and not a pretend one.”

He would have shared that he felt the same way, but then Lucy walked over and took his hand that was holding the ice pack.

“You need to keep this on your face,” Lucy said while guiding his hand back to his cheekbone injury. “Does it hurt a lot?”

“It’s okay,” he promised, though that did not seem to ease the worry crease between her eyes. “Lucy, I really am okay,” he assured her quietly.

“Either way, I think we learned our lesson, and we’re staying in the shop for the rest of the ride along. No more getting into fights I have to get you out of.”

“I was trying to protect you!”

“How’d that work out?” She sassed, which riled him up enough that he took the ice away while opening his mouth to speak, so she cut him off, “This has to stay on your face, tough guy.” She softened and lowly added, “Thanks for trying to protect me. That was very sweet of you.”

“Just doing what any book boyfriend would do.”

Her thumb gently stroked the side of his hand over the ice, and she said, “Remember when I told you before we started the tour that I would never like you no matter what happened?” She watched him nod subtly. “I guess I lied. I thought I could never like you. I really, really couldn’t stand you, and now I can’t imagine my life without you in it. See, I can admit when I’m wrong. I wasn’t wrong about going for the knees, but I was wrong about us.”

There was something about the gentleness of her touch and the softness of her voice as she told him how important he was to her that made him feel heady. Only being her book boyfriend had its limitations, but sometimes, it felt like enough when all of her warmth was aimed right at him.

Angela, who had only smiled more upon hearing Lucy talk and watching Tim’s eyes sparkle in response muttered under her breath, “Oh, he’s got it bad for her.”

Chapter Text

When Lucy saw Tim at the terminal gate, she barely resisted the urge to run into his arms as she approached him. “Morning! Ready to go back on tour?” She asked happily.

“Yup,” he answered.

“How was the rest of your time off after the ride along?”

“Good. I got a lot of work done.”

“Oh, me, too. That ride along was the inspiration I needed. I locked myself in my room and wrote so much. I think I have half the book close to done.”

“That’s great.”

She knew he would never be a smiley, cheery guy, but he was acting grumpier than usual. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” he lied. “I’m glad you got some writing done without me.”

It took a second to register what he meant, and then her stomach twisted. “I didn’t reach out about the book like I said I would. God, I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m not even really your editor anymore, so you don’t have to talk about your writing with me.” He hated that he had spent pretty much the entire week of the tour break checking his phone wondering when Lucy would call, and as time went on without any contact from her, he assumed she had been spending her days with Emmett. Thinking that she was with Emmett all of that time wounded him more than her not needing him in a professional capacity; it was too painful to put into words.

“But you’re the only one I want to talk about my writing with. You’ll never believe it, because I can hardly believe it myself, but words flew out of me like they haven’t in so long, and I owe all of that to you. I would’ve called if I took a break, but I didn’t. I barely slept, because I was writing so much.”

“No breaks?” He tilted his head. “You spent the entire week writing? You didn’t do anything else?”

“There was no time. I had so much to get done. There was some restructuring I had to do, and-and I came up with a twist, too. You’ll love it.”

Her enthusiasm did lessen his agitation, but moreover, he found himself relieved that she had not been with Emmett during the break, but that felt selfish. Emmett was good for her, and Tim should have wanted her to be with Emmett. He had to accept it, but it would take time. “Looking forward to reading it.”

“We have the whole flight to Nashville for you to take a look. I’d love your feedback on all of my pages once we land.”

“Sure.” His lips curved ever so slightly, because he finally felt like smiling after a week without her.

She heard the notification over the intercom that their flight was boarding and brightened. “I’m so looking forward to this tour starting back up again.”

“You are?”

“Definitely. I’ve missed hanging out with you. When we get into Nashville, do you want to have dinner in my room with me?”

“Does dinner include a movie?”

“No, I’d rather talk to you.” She took a chance and wrapped one of her arms around his, and he leaned into her touch, which was nice. She had missed making casual contact with him, so the fact that he did not pull away signaled the final few legs of the tour were off to a good start.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Once they deplaned, Tim could tell Lucy was practically bouncing with every step, eager for his feedback on the new pages. He waited until they were in their rental car and driving to their hotel before he exhaled heavily and said, “I like the pages.”

She clapped her hands together happily. “Really? You did? You’re not just saying that?”

“I don’t lie about your work.”

She wanted to squeal. “So do you like the twist?”

“I…it’s interesting.”

“You need to pick a better word. ‘Interesting’ could be taken as a positive or a negative. I need more than ‘interesting’.”

“It’s…more captivating.”

“A positive adjective?” Her eyebrows shot up. “I know it’s risky to draw it out, but I’ve decided the concept would make for a good book series.”

“I was going to suggest the same thing. Now that you’ve switched to making them a slow burn couple with the man being her Training Officer, it’s against the rules for them to date, so they can only become friends and bond during the first book with some sort of ending where things switch.”

“Exactly! We’re on the same page! I want to have them kiss at the end of the first book, and it’ll make them both realize they have stronger feelings for each other than just friendship.”

“A kiss?” He wondered, unsure.

“Kisses can change everything.” They certainly had for her and Tim.

“How are they going to kiss? You’re writing this first book as your characters developing a friendship and a professional relationship. No way they just magically cross the line one day and end up kissing.”

“Right, which is why I need to give them an excuse.”

“What kind of excuse could you possibly come up with?” He scoffed. “It’s not like they would need to pretend to date for their job like us.”

“Actually, some cops do. It’s called going undercover. I’ve been reading up on it and called Angela with some questions. If my characters go undercover as a couple, they could be forced to get some practice in before the operation. Like we did.”

“We’re the inspiration for your characters?” He asked, surprised.

“You have to admit, our situation is pretty unique and would make for a great book, but I can’t exactly write it as a true story, so putting the plot into this book works.”

“But you’re writing a couple that ends up together.”

“Duh, it’s a romance novel.”

“Based on us. Two people who aren’t together.”

She had not really realized she practically wrote her and Tim working together and falling in love slowly in a parallel universe akin to the first phase of their relationship where they worked together on her first two novels, and she was planning to write a kiss between her two characters just like the one she had experienced with Tim, and he just read her version of their history including her inner most thoughts. She had never wanted to jump out of a moving vehicle before that moment, but it seemed like the only option to escape him.

“Obviously, you’re embellishing,” Tim deduced.

Lucy almost kissed him in her gratitude, appreciative he gave her a shield to hide behind. “Right. I’m embellishing. That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

He nodded and flexed his hands on the steering wheel. “Alright, so if you want this to be a series, how many books are we talking?”

“Three. What do you think?”

“I was going to suggest the same thing.” He found it rather uncanny that when it came to work, they were always in alignment.

“So for the second book, I’m thinking they’ll both be really nervous to cross the line from being coworkers to something more, so they’ll be struggling to be honest until they finally get together.”

“But the book ends with them as a couple?”

“Yup!”

“Then what’s the third book about?”

“At first, it’ll be them enjoying being a couple, and then they’ll break up and get back together.”

“Break them up? Wait, wait, wait, they slowly fell in love over the course of a book when he was her teacher, so they were in a situation where they shouldn’t have developed feelings for each other in the first place, then struggle to get together, and after all of that, you want to break them up?”

“It’s good for them to grow as a couple. Facing that kind of challenge and recognizing they’re willing to fight to be together will make them so strong they’ll be unbeatable.”

“Your readers might throw the book across the floor if you break them up.”

“It’ll only be temporary.”

“No matter how temporary, you have to do it right. What reason would they have for ending things?”

“Maybe work? It’s what brings them together then drives them apart?” She suggested and watched him grimace in response. “Okay, if you don’t like that, then do you have any better ideas?”

“I don’t know. The good news is, you have time to come up with something else, since you haven’t even finished book one and this breakup would happen in book three.”

“That’s true. I’ll think about it some more. I’m actually really excited to write a slow burn, you know? They’re so much more dramatic, and you feel like you’re cheering for a couple to get together for a long time, and the payoff is always worth it.”

“Only if you properly write the scene where they get together.”

“I know. I’ve been thinking about that a lot. It’s gotta feel like the slow burn built up to something that feels right. Something where they’re both finally honest with each other. If they’ve been denying their feelings for so long, they have to tell the whole truth. I mean, that’s what I want at least.”

“Does Emmett not do that?” He did not necessarily want to ask, but he was curious if there were any flaws in Mr. Perfect.

“Actually, it’s refreshing how clear he is about how he feels about us. I do really appreciate that about him.”

Tim wanted to roll his eyes, because of course, Emmett was exactly who Lucy wanted. As much as he was trying to accept that, the selfish part of him wished their circumstances were different. But at least for now, he got to spend plenty of time listening to her talk, and watching her facial expressions change when she got excited, and have the privilege of being her book boyfriend.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

While being back on tour for the first two and a half weeks, Lucy was reminded a million times why she had come to enjoy the book tour in the first place: all of the access to Tim she could want. Though there was an unspoken awkwardness between them after they made the bad decision to hook up in his hotel room but ultimately did not go further than kissing, the time apart allowed for them to reset, so they were able to revert to their previous schedule of working all day in a nearby Mugs, then holding hands on the way to her bookstore appearances, and long drives between cities were spent talking again instead of in silence. Everything was almost normal except for the fact that he only kissed her cheek, but it was a small price to pay to have him back. In truth, she knew the tour would come to an end soon enough, yet she was getting too attached to how much time they were spending, and though it was certainly not a real relationship by any means, because Tim was faking the entire time, she felt like it was the best relationship she had ever been in. However, it would have been a better relationship if they were wrapped up together in bed or if he claimed her mouth more often. Yet, she was happy. So happy, in fact, that when Emmett joined them on tour in Pittsburgh, she was actually disappointed, because she knew she would be splitting her time between Emmett and Tim.

Emmett was overjoyed to be reunited with Lucy, so when he saw her in the hallway of the hotel, he drew her in for a big hug. “There you are.”

“Here I am,” Lucy replied and hugged him back. She pulled away and glanced over at Tim, who was standing next to her.l with a neutral expression.

“Where are you guys coming from?” He wondered.

“Oh, Tim and I were just at a Mugs getting some work done,” Lucy answered.

“How’s the book coming along?”

“Great. Tim helped me come up with a great scene just now.”

Tim watched Lucy and Emmett interact, though he was not really listening to the words and instead observing their body language. Emmett held onto her forearm as she stood in his space in an altogether rather comfortable way, then Emmett leaned in to kiss her quickly, and Tim’s stomach turned; just because he was trying to accept that they were a couple did not mean he wanted to see any of it. But he did take some solace in the fact that the kiss with Emmett was rather lackluster upon reuniting after over two weeks apart. Tim knew he could kiss her better than that. Actually, when recalling all of their kisses, they were far more passionate even if they were just pretend, which made him wonder if Lucy was as interested in Emmett as he thought.

Lucy left Emmett in the hallway so she could enter her room to change for her bookstore appearance. She readied herself just in time for Tim to arrive outside of her door. She reached for his hand, and he slotted their fingers together in a way that almost made her sigh happily, loving his grounding touch.

Tim ignored Emmett walking behind them, and he said, “My buddy’s dog just had puppies. I know you mentioned you might want to adopt a dog, and he said you could have one from the new litter.”

She smiled. “Are you trying to help me find a dog? What about a few weeks ago when you said getting a puppy would be a distraction while I’ve got a deadline?”

“I still think that’s true, but I know you, and if you want a dog, you’re going to get one, so I figured I should help. He posted on Facebook last night about the puppies, and I texted him this morning. Do you want the details?”

“You still use Facebook?” She asked with a scoff.

He rolled his eyes. “That wasn’t the point of what I just said.”

“I know, I know, but I can’t believe you’re on Facebook.”

“Plenty of people are on Facebook.”

“Sure, plenty of people my parents’ age.” She saw him tighten his jaw, so she brought her other hand to cover their joined ones and rubbed his forearm. “But I’m glad you still use Facebook, since that’s the reason you found out about a puppy for me. Thank you for reaching out to your friend for me. That was so sweet.”

“Just doing my job.”

She made it a point to bump into him as they walked. “Your job, huh? That’s what you’re going with?” She whispered.

“It’s a good reason for all sorts of things.”

She decided not to prod about what those “all sorts of things” might entail, knowing he would continue to be stoic and cryptic with his answers, so instead, she flashed him a smirk and said, “As much as I would love a puppy, I want to adopt a dog from a shelter that needs a new home. Puppies will be adopted by anyone, but older dogs get neglected, and that’s not right.”

“You want to adopt some hopeless dog?”

“Not hopeless…just misunderstood and in need of love.”

“That dog will be very lucky to have you.”

She beamed. Tim was sweet in his own right; it was a quiet, hidden kindness concealed by his rather thick walls. There was something special about having to burrow her way past his gruff exterior to appreciate the gentle, thoughtful man beneath. He smiled down at her, and her heart skipped a beat. Sure, he was not perfect, but he had a lot of great qualities that made her think she would pick Tim over Emmett if only Tim was an option.

When they reached the bookstore, the fans were looking out through the large store windows at them, so Tim pulled Lucy in and proclaimed, “Time for me to do my job,” before bending his head low to kiss her, his tongue coaxing her lips apart in a deep and dizzying way, but just for a few short seconds. He broke away only for her to chase his lips for a soft peck like she wanted more. He had not seen her do that when kissing Emmett, which made him think more about whether there was a chance that he could be the kind of guy Lucy might possibly want to be with. He decided he needed to ask for someone else’s opinion, so after the bookstore appearance when Lucy and Emmett went on a date, Tim called Angela.

“Hey, Tim,” Angela answered the phone saying.

“Ang, hey, I…I was hoping to talk to you about Lucy,” he said rather quietly, already regretting broaching the subject and speaking about her aloud.

“Lucy, huh? How are you and the fake girlfriend doing? Is there fake sex in your relationship? And how good is it?”

He blew out a breath. “Forget it. I’m hanging up now.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” she sputtered out. “I’m sorry. I swear I’ll be nice.”

“You and I both know that’s not a promise you can keep.”

“Well, I can try, so what’s on your mind about Lucy? Clearly, it’s pretty important if you’re calling me.”

He looked down at his feet, feeling timid, and spoke cautiously into the phone, “You saw us…during the ride along…do you think…do you think I have a chance?”

“A chance at a real relationship with her? Why would you care about that? You haven’t even said that you like her?”

“I thought you said you’d be nice,” he grumbled. He hated that teasing lilt in her voice she used when she was being smug about being right.

“Fine,” she surrendered. “If you hypothetically liked her, which, for the record, I know that you do, why don’t you just ask her how she feels about you?”

“She has a boyfriend,” he reminded her.

“A boyfriend you said is the kind of guy she deserves, and you said you were happy for her, yet here you are asking if you have a chance with her. Either you changed your mind about the boyfriend being a great guy or something else happened.”

“He is a great guy,” Tim confirmed then swallowed hard.

“So something else happened,” she presumed.

“I can’t really explain it.”

“Let me guess- the lines have blurred a few too many times, and your fake relationship doesn’t always feel all that fake, and you like it.”

He hated how she always figured everything out so effortlessly; it made her a great detective but a pain in the ass as a best friend. “We have to do stuff for work, you know, but it doesn’t always feel like pretend.”

“Meaning?”

“You need me to spell it out for you?”

“Until I find a good drama on Netflix to watch, this is all the adult excitement I have in my life, because my five month-old son isn’t exactly exciting. I love him, but babies can be boring. So yeah, spell it out for me.”

He had to take a long sip of water before he could explain, “It feels really real when we kiss. I-I know it’s part of the job, but…”

When his voice trailed off, Angela finished for him, “But you feel some very real chemistry between you two that isn’t necessary for a fake relationship, but expected in a real one.”

He nodded even though she could not see the movement. “She didn’t kiss Emmett the way she kissed me today.”

“I want her job. I’d love to be able to kiss two guys on the same day.” She checked her surroundings and whispered, “Don’t tell my husband I said that. I feel so bad for even thinking that, but Wes and I have barely had time to ourselves ever since Jack was born. It’s not that we don’t love our son, but he takes up all of our time or tires us out too much that when Wes and I have time alone, we just want to sleep.”

“Get a sitter and have a date night.”

“I don’t think I’m ready to trust anyone with our son.”

“When I’m done with the tour in two weeks, I’ll watch Jack.”

“Remind me to be on my best behavior with you for the next two weeks to show my appreciation. That would be amazing.”

“Name a night, and I’ll come over to watch him.”

“I’m surprised you’re volunteering to help me and Wes have a date night when you should be busy on a date night with Lucy. Hell, since you don’t have kids, you can go away for a weekend and have sex for days at a time if you want. Actually, Wes took me to this beach house for a weekend, and…we might’ve conceived Jack on that trip. Take Lucy there.”

“Hang on,” he stopped her, “I think we’re skipping a few steps here. I don’t even know if she sees me like that.”

“Unless she literally tried to have sex with you, you won’t know unless you ask her how she feels.”

He winced. “Uhh…I…we…”

Angela gasped loudly. “Shut up! You hooked up?”

“No!” He was quick to say. “We-we…we almost did. We were working on a scene for her book and acting it out so it made sense, and then one thing lead to another…” He thought back to how thrilling it was when she was clinging to him where she was beneath him in his bed, then had to shake his head to dismiss the memory, “but we stopped. She left my room to talk to Emmett. She clearly wants him. Not me.”

“Sounds like you’re getting some pretty mixed messages, which could mean she’s torn. Maybe she likes both of you and can’t decide.”

“If that’s the case, then what do I do?”

“Be honest with her. Ask her to pick you.”

“I can’t do that!” He replied, horrified by the suggestion.

“Why not? Be bold.”

“That’s not me. That’s Emmett. He flies in early to surprise her and takes her to the best restaurants in town. I just sit in the same coffee shop with her everyday, and we have room service for dinner every night when it’s just the two of us.”

“You do remember that real relationships aren’t always exciting, right? Sure, they’re fun at the beginning when you get dressed up and go out to new places every night, but when you’re settled, like say when you’re married, you won’t care what you’re wearing and where you go, you’ll just be happy to be together. Real relationships last when you enjoy each other’s company when you’re simply doing nothing. Sounds to me like you and Lucy have proven that’s true for you.”

He saw her point, yet his doubts continued to weigh on him. “I don’t know, Ang. Maybe I’m just reading into everything, and she only sees me as her book boyfriend.”

“If that’s what you really think, then you’ve answered your own question, and you don’t have a chance with her, but you called, because you wanted me to tell you that you do. The truth is, I don’t know. I saw the way she looked at you the one day I watched you two interact, but that’s not enough to be sure. Only Lucy knows the truth.”

Tim frowned. “She’s on a date with Emmett right now. I guess it’s pretty clear that she wants to be with him.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m an idiot.”

“Don’t count yourself out.”

“He’s right for her anyways. I shouldn’t even be thinking about this.”

“Maybe he is, but deep down, I think you wish she would pick you anyways.”

He hated that she so succinctly verbalized what had been swirling around in his mind; he so often forgot about their arrangement, because being around Lucy was just so easy, and the day to day ordinary aspects of their rather simple routine felt extraordinary, because they were shared with her. A part of Tim wished he could have that kind of companionship with her forever, but he only had two more weeks, and then Emmett would have her all to himself afterwards. He raked a hand through his hair. “You know, it’s getting pretty late. I should go, but I’ll talk to you later.”

She could tell he was too sad to continue the conversation, and since she promised to be nice, she chose to say, “Okay, bye, Tim,” and hung up, even though she wanted to scream at him.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Emmett.

Tim was starting to get annoyed by how great Emmett was. He had joined the tour for three long days in Pennsylvania, and it was maddening. Emmett would reach for Lucy’s hand during breakfast and try to make her laugh every opportunity he could. Tim hated it. He understood why Lucy wanted to be with him, but it was frustrating to see their relationship being flaunted in his face. Emmett dared to kiss Lucy good night in the hotel hallway right in front of Tim one evening. Though it was not a particularly passionate kiss, it was enough to set his teeth on edge that he had to witness it at all. To make matters worse, the next morning, Emmett kissed Lucy’s cheek right in front of him, and Tim thought it was too early in the morning to witness their public displays of affection that made his stomach churn.

Lucy barely processed how Emmett greeted her, because she was too nervous about yet another morning show interview; no matter how many cities she had done one in, each one felt more harrowing than the last, but thankfully, unlike before some of the other ones, Tim took her hand when they walked into the TV studio and held it to keep her from panicking so much so that when she was whisked into a makeup chair, she clung to Tim hoping he would stay with her, and thankfully, he did.

Tim could tell she was uneasy by the way her eyes kept darting around while people fixed her hair and did her makeup. In order to distract her, he decided to bring up what was always on his mind whenever she made TV appearances, so he squeezed their joined hands and lowly asked her, “Is this really necessary?”

“Nyla said these interviews are an important part of the book tour,” Lucy answered.

“I don’t mean the interviews. I mean all this stuff they always put on your face and what they do to your hair.”

“You don’t like it? Do I look bad?”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter if I like it. I just don’t think you need this stuff.”

“I have to look really good, Tim. I’m about to be on TV.”

“But you always look really good.”

She thought her heart might actually leap out of her chest. He was so honest when he complimented her almost like flattering her was an afterthought and telling the truth was his priority, but that only made any of his kind words mean that much more. “Thanks,” she replied quietly and checked her reflection to confirm that the blush added to her cheeks was not the only reason her face was flushed. His compliment was enough to distract her until she was led to the edge of the broadcast studio stage, and her whole body began to shake.

Tim could feel her trembling and assured her, “Hey, you can do this.”

“It’s live. No redos.”

“You won’t need it. Trust your instincts.”

She nodded. He was right. She had handled all of the other interviews on instinct and did rather well, so she could handle another one.

Because he was still thinking about how sickening it was to see Emmett kiss Lucy’s cheek that morning, he decided he needed to replace the memory with a far better one, and performing his book boyfriend duties allowed for just that. He leaned into her and asked, “Kiss for good luck?”

She smiled as she stood up onto her tip toes to reach his lips. Before her first TV interview, she had made the same request of him, but good luck kisses had dwindled since then. Thankfully, Tim was able to empty her head, including removing her worries, with the decisive swipe of his tongue in her mouth, which was exactly what she needed in the moment, so she clung to him, hoping to kiss him for as long as she could manage even when she was running out of oxygen, because she needed him to take her mind off of the interview. And she needed him.

He pulled away from her smirking, satisfied that he was no longer thinking about Emmett’s lips on her cheek when he had just tasted hers for himself. “I’m right here if you need more luck.”

She grinned. “I appreciate it.” She finally felt ready to tackle her TV interview.

Tim’s rush of joy was doused the day after when Emmett held Lucy’s hand as they walked over to a local Java Jive for coffee alone. Going to work at a coffee shop without him felt as unnecessary as Emmett holding her hand. Why did Emmett and Lucy need to spend so much time just the two of them, and why did Emmett have to touch her so often? Tim wondered. He hated it. He looked forward to the bookstore appearance that night so much so he arrived outside of Lucy’s hotel room door early and snatched her hand to take it the second she was within arm’s reach of him. “Tonight’s bookstore is a little far. Do you want to drive?”

“No,” Lucy answered simply. “I don’t mind walking.” What she meant was that she did not at all mind walking hand in hand with him.

He was pleased with her answer, since that meant more time with her, finally, considering Emmett was stealing her away from him far too frequently. “Neither do I.”

She was relieved she was getting the full book boyfriend treatment from Tim again; after too many simple kisses on cheeks and only holding her hand right before walking into bookstores, he was back to interlacing their fingers all of the time, and each kiss upon arrival at her bookstore appearances was more head-spinning than the last. “Since we have a few minutes, we should go over the feedback you sent me about the last chapter I sent to you.”

“We can talk about it tomorrow if we work at the same coffee shop together.”

“True. I guess that means I have to join you at Mugs.”

“Guess that means you do.”

She thought he was smiling a little, which made her blood whoosh. “What are your plans tonight?”

“Nothing.”

“Any chance you’d be willing to do nothing with me?”

If he were bolder, he would said that that was all he wanted to do until the end of time, but instead, he went with, “Sure. What about Emmett?”

She glanced behind her to see that he was watching the exchange intently and wondered what he must have thought, but she only paid him any mind for a second before diverting her attention back to Tim to answer with, “I told him we should take a night off. I’ve been neglecting my book boyfriend for too long.”

“You don’t have to skip out on a date on my account.”

“That’s what I said,” Emmett chimed in.

Lucy replied, “I’ve barely seen you the last few days, and I don’t need to go out to eat every night. There’s nothing wrong with room service and a movie.”

Tim remembered what Angela said about how settled couples found joy in sharing in the mundane together, which made his heart do something funny. “There’s nothing wrong with that at all,” he murmured.

“Can I at least join?” Emmett called to their backs.

“It’s sort of a Tim and me thing,” Lucy responded. “But you can work with us at Mugs tomorrow.”

“Sure,” Emmett agreed begrudgingly; he had never experienced sharing his girlfriend with a fake boyfriend before, and at first, the arrangement was perfectly fine, but it was starting to bother him, particularly because Lucy and Tim acted like a couple so naturally and comfortably even outside of the public eye, which made him wonder who was the real boyfriend and who was the fake one.

Tim had not at all expected Lucy to choose to spend her evening with him instead of her actual boyfriend, but knowing that compelled him to kiss her a little more fiercely when they reached the bookstore.

She almost melted between the harshness of his lips sliding with hers and the gentleness of his hands cradling her face. Lucy was staritng to think all of her kisses with Tim would only ever be perfect given the growing number of data points that proved just how well their mouths moved together every single time. She wished the tour could go on forever if only for that reason, which got her seriously thinking about making a bold choice.

Chapter Text

Lucy had a million opportunities to talk to Tim about what was on her mind and be bold as they sat together in her hotel room eating room service for dinner, but she was scared what might happen if she was honest considering the last time she had acted honestly, she would not detach her lips from him and took his shirt off of him. She did not regret being with him, since it felt too good to be regrettable, but how he was awkward with her afterwards was rather unbearable, and she could not imagine having to navigate a strained relationship between them again, so she chose cowardice and did not say anything about her feelings for him for the entire evening, which was probably why they had a perfectly nice and platonic night together. Being bold could wait a day. Well, they had to work at Mugs and discuss her new pages the following day, and her book had to take priority over her feelings, so she had to wait until after their day-long working session, but afterwards was a bookstore appearance, which was certainly not the appropriate time to have that discussion, so she decided to go to her hotel room to change into a nice blouse and blazer and act like everything was normal.

Meanwhile, Tim could tell something was slightly distracting Lucy all day, and he wanted to ask her about it, but it felt like a private conversation, and Emmett was in the way all day. Emmett started with giving her a peck before breakfast, then he had the audacity to reach for Lucy’s hand while they ate, which totally ruined Tim’s appetite, and then at Mugs, when Emmett ordered their coffees, he brought them over to the table and kissed Lucy’s cheek when he gave her her drink. Tim wanted to be happy for Lucy and Emmett, but every time Emmett made any contact with her, his stomach turned. With how many days in a row Emmett was part of the book tour, Tim thought his book boyfriend duties were the only aspect keeping him sane. He could not wait for the bookstore appearance where Tim made it a point to capture Lucy’s lips before walking in, and when the event coordinator at the bookstore asked for them to pose for pictures, he held her close enough to inhale the scent of her shampoo.

Emmett watched where Tim’s hands settled on Lucy’s waist for the pictures, and he decided he had to say something. After the bookstore event, he strutted behind the fake couple as they strolled hand in hand while chatting, but then when they reached the hotel, he waited for Lucy to disappear into her hotel room before approaching Tim in the hallway and asking, “Can we talk in my room?”

Tim nodded and followed Emmett into his room, unsure what they needed to discuss.

“Do you have a thing for my girlfriend?” Emmett wondered, choosing a direct approach.

“Excuse me?” Tim shot back coolly.

“Lucy is my girlfriend, which you seem to have forgotten, because you’re all over her all of the time.”

“I’m doing my job.”

“Oh, please! That excuse may work with Lucy, but you’re a little too committed to your job.”

“I’ve been trying to get a promotion for years, and now I was finally offered one if I do a good job as Lucy’s book boyfriend, so I’m doing what I need to do for the promotion. That’s all.”

“Alright.” Emmett studied his expression hoping for any indication whether Tim was telling the truth or not, but his face was indiscernible. “Look, man, I’m only asking, because Lucy is really great, and I think things are going really well. I already told my parents about her, and they want to meet her when the tour is over. My mom is looking forward to it, and my dad is reading her first book to be supportive. My sister’s already read her books, so I think that’ll make introducing her to everyone go pretty smoothly.”

“You have it all planned out,” Tim replied bitterly; not only was it sweet how Emmett’s whole family was invested in the relationship, but it sounded like Emmett had a loving stable family, which was something Tim did not think he could ever have.

“Of course. It’s what she deserves.”

He nodded tightly. “You’re right. It is.” He swallowed. “I have work to do, so if we don’t have anything else to talk about, I’m gonna go.”

“Sure, yeah. Thanks for being honest with me, Tim,” Emmett responded warmly.

Tim’s body felt heavy as he stepped out of the other man’s hotel room, then his lungs faltered when he saw Lucy standing in the hallway.

“We need to talk,” Lucy said and pointed to Tim’s hotel room door.

He used his key to unlock the door and opened it for her.

She stalked all the way into his room and crossed her arms. “Did you lie to Emmett just now? It sounded like you were lying,” she accused him.

“You were eavesdropping?” It felt hypocritical of him to be annoyed that she overheard their conversation when he had done his own fair share of eavesdropping on her with Emmett.

“Answer the question,” was her only response.

“Lucy…” He had no idea how to be honest with her. Of course he had lied to Emmett, but the truth was far harder to express.

She could practically see the words forming on the tip of his tongue, yet no sound came out, so she took a step closer to him, close enough that she had to tilt her head back slightly to maintain eye contact with him. “Okay, here goes…It’s not just a job to me,” she admitted shakily. “I didn’t want a book boyfriend. I didn’t think I needed to have my own love life for someone to be interested in buying a book from me about fictional characters falling in love. But I’m really glad Nyla put us together for this tour, because it took having a book boyfriend for me to see that I don’t just want to write about love. I want to have my own…” She had to take as much of a breath as she could before she could whisper, “And I want it to be you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I do.” She gently took one of his hands while her eyes pled for him to really listen to her. “And I think that’s what you want, too.”

He saw the warmth in her gaze that matched the warmth of her touch. She was the human embodiment of genuineness, and tenderness, and sweetness, and everything good in the world, and he was the opposite. She was Lucy. He was Tim. She was the sun. He was darkness. What he wanted was not what mattered; what she needed and deserved was the priority. “That’s not what I want.”

“We’ve worked together for long enough that I know when you’re lying. I could hear it in your voice from the other side of the door while you were talking to Emmett. Don’t lie to me right now.”

“I’m not lying.” He could tell she did not believe him, so he ensured he was looking at her squarely when he assured her, “I want you to be with Emmett. He’s crazy about you, and he’s exactly what you need.”

“But I want to break up with him.”

“That would be a mistake.”

“If I walked down the hall and broke up with him right now and then came back here-”

He shut his eyes, knowing he could not even so much as see her face let alone allow her to finish her sentence, so he cut her off swiftly with, “I wouldn’t let you in.”

“Tim…”

“I wouldn’t,” he said definitively.

She averted her gaze, trying not to cry, but she caught sight of how she was holding his hand, which only made her more emotional. “S-so that’s it then?

He sometimes hated doing the right thing. “It’s what you deserve.”

Lucy’s lower lip wobbled, but she fought back tears from falling. “But Tim-”

“I think you should go,” he interjected. She remained motionless in front of him, her eyes begging for him to change his mind, but he would never allow himself to do that, so he pulled his hand away from hers to really get his point across and took a few steps away from her to create some much needed space between them.

She stared at him hoping he would reconsider, wishing he would choose her like she wanted to choose him, but his expression showed that he was resolute with not even so much as a twitch. She nodded in silent understanding of his choice and left his hotel room suddenly hating the book tour.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Emmett spent the morning confused. He saw Tim and Lucy make eye contact for only a fleeting second then look away from each other like their gaze was combustible, and then he quirked an eyebrow when Lucy opted to sit in the back of the rental car with him instead of in the passenger seat next to Tim for the hour long drive from Philadelphia to Newark. Something strange hung in the air for the car ride, and he did not know what to make of it, but he was certain he wanted to talk to Lucy. Once they checked in to their individual hotel rooms, he went to hers and knocked on the door. When she answered, he quietly asked, “Hey, can I come in?”

Lucy stepped back to invite him inside and inquired, “What’s up?”

“That’s what I came to ask you. Something was going on with you and Tim this morning. Is everything okay?”

She played with the ends of the sleeves of her shirt hoping to conceal how out of sorts she was. “Yeah,” she lied unconvincingly.

“What happened? You two were so weird today.”

“Were we?” She asked despite knowing the answer. Things had become so strained between them after he rejected her that she could barely look at him let alone talk to him. She was actually dreading the book signing that evening knowing she would have to pretend they were together.

“Definitely. Did something happen?”

“Nope. Nothing at all.”

He eyed her sensing that there was something she was not saying, but he dismissed it and instead drew her into his arms. “You know, I was thinking we should have our own room service dinner tonight. What do you say?”

She saw that glint in his eye, and her pulse jumped; he seemed to have other plans for them in their hotel room other than dinner, and she was unsure how to feel about that, which was an answer in itself. “No, let’s go out somewhere. I’ve been craving Thai food.”

“Alright,” he agreed, slightly disappointed.

Lucy was still reeling from her conversation with Tim the night before and too numb to really interact with Emmett, so she offered him a smile and left his room to be alone in her room to take a few deep breaths, then she packed up her purse with her laptop and went to the elevator bank. 

Once Tim pressed the button to call an elevator car, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, sensing someone in particular behind her, and he refused to turn around. “Heading to Mugs?” He asked while looking straight ahead.

“I am. Wait, are you?” She wondered how he could be so casual and perfectly fine after emotionally destroying her.

He finally turned his head just enough to barely catch sight of her and answered, “You should go.”

“Are you not going anymore?”

“No, you go ahead.”

“We can be at the same coffee shop.”

“It’s fine.” He would rather not breathe the same air as her. He needed some distance, because doing what he thought was right came at a great personal price he was still grappling with paying, and spending any measure of time with her while still recovering was too hard.

“Are you avoiding me?”

He turned on his heel and met her gaze fully; part of him wanted to lie and say he was not avoiding her, but the other part knew she would be able to tell if he was not being honest considering she heard it in his voice simply from eavesdropping on his discussion with Emmett, so instead, Tim shouldered past her to go back to his hotel room.

She was too speechless to say anything more, so she watched him walk down the hall and disappear into his room. If they could not even work at a coffee shop, she was certain the bookstore appearance would go horribly.

But she was mistaken.

Despite the fact that he was tense for the short walk from their hotel to the bookstore, he took her hand when they were a few steps away from the entrance, then he dropped a lingering kiss on her cheek that was almost too tender considering how he broke her heart, then he escorted her into the store with as much of a smile as he usually wore. He sat behind her with an arm banded across the back of her chair during the question and answer portion and while she signed copies of her book. Lucy was more annoyed that he could be such a professional after everything so much so that she was greatly looking forward to her date night with Emmett in the hopes that it would take her mind off of Tim.

But she was mistaken.

All she thought about as she spun her fork around some noodles at the Thai restaurant was that Tim was so cold with her when they were alone and then the perfect book boyfriend in public. While she chewed a bite of her meal, she digested how Tim told her that she would not be welcomed into his hotel room if she and Emmett were over. If she deserved Emmett and he was the right guy for her, she wondered why she spent her whole dinner with him wholly distracted because of Tim. It was maddening, and all she wanted was to shut her brain off for a while.

Emmett had not registered that Lucy was not fully paying attention to him all evening and thought their date went well. So well, in fact, that when he dropped her off at her hotel room door, he took her hand and asked, “Any chance I can come in tonight?”

That question so clearly had another meaning beneath it. Sex. He was asking about sex. Alarmed rushed through her first, panicked by the proposition. Then came logical thought; she remembered Tim telling her Emmett was who she was supposed to be with. Emmett was the kind of person she had always dreamed of being with almost as if he had been plucked from the pages of a romance novel. Furthering her relationship with him, the right guy, with an act that could shut her brain off to stop thinking about Tim wounding her was actually not a bad idea. “I’d like that,” she murmured and reached for her hotel room key.

Next door, Tim had his ear pressed to the wood and heard the quiet chime of Lucy’s key card unlocking the door then the pull of the door handle almost like the sounds were being amplified in his ears. Nauseated, he stepped away from his own door, uninterested in hearing anything more. She and him almost slept together once, but that had been interrupted, however Tim knew Emmett and Lucy’s night would not be disturbed. With only a thin wall between them, Tim did not want to have to listen to whatever was going to transpire in the room next door, so he grabbed his phone and his own hotel room keycard then stepped into his shoes to take a walk. He only got as far as a block away from the hotel when he called Angela.

“It’s late over there. You okay?” Angela answered asking.

He stared up at the building almost as if he had x-ray vision that would begin working any second, so he could further torture himself and see Lucy and Emmett in bed together. Though he tried not to imagine it, he wondered if Emmett would lift her in his arms to guide her to the mattress like he had, since he remembered she seemed to like that. He wondered if Emmett had discovered the spot on Lucy’s neck that elicited a strangled sound when sucked on just right. He wondered if Emmett had put his hands on Lucy’s thighs the way he wanted to. He wondered…

“Tim?” Angela asked. “You there?”

He had momentarily forgotten he had called someone, but the mental image of Emmett and Lucy disappeared, so he was able to focus on his friend’s voice. “Yeah,” he answered quietly. “I…sorry…I don’t know why I called.”

“Sure you do,” she said. “Calling me late at night like this could only mean you’re thinking. You’re bad at that. Don’t think. You’ll second guess yourself, and then you’ll screw up. Don’t think. Just do.”

“There’s nothing to do,” he responded.

“So you already screwed up? How bad?”

“I didn’t. I did the right thing.”

“Oh God,” Angela gasped. “What did you do?”

“I, uhh, I told Lucy to be with Emmett.”

Her jaw dropped. “Last time we talked, you basically admitted to being in love with her.”

He shut his eyes. “No one’s in love with anyone,” he corrected her.

“Agree to disagree.”

“Ang,” he grumbled.

She exhaled loudly enough for him to hear through the phone. “Okay, then I’ll say the last time you called, you made it pretty clear you wanted to be with her.”

“That doesn’t matter. Emmett is who she should be with.”

“So what? You fell in your sword? You pushed her away right into Emmett’s arms, because you think that’s what’s best for her?”

“It is.”

“Oh, come on, Tim, you can’t make a decision like that for her. Let her choose who she wants.”

“She would be making a mistake.”

“Lucy is an adult. Let her make that mistake for herself.”

He swallowed thickly. “I care too much about her to do that.”

“Of course you do, because you’re in love with her.”

“No, I’m not.”

Angela had to smile wryly. “Yes, you are. You wouldn’t self sabotage so much if you weren’t in love with her. I saw how you looked at her during that ride along, and I’ve seen stuff about you two on ClipTok. Before you tell me you’re acting, I know you can’t act that well.”

Tim shook his head like that would dismiss the feelings rattling around inside of him that were too terrifying to name. “Whatever. I did the right thing. I shouldn’t have called.”

“If you did the right thing, then why did you call me while you were trying to think? Feeling guilty, are you? Doing the right thing shouldn’t feel this wrong.”

What felt wrong was the pit in his stomach that was growing, because Emmett and Lucy were probably naked in bed together. He had to dispel that thought before he folded over and emptied the contents of his stomach on the sidewalk. “I’m gonna take a walk and get some fresh air,” he said. “Night, Ang.”

Before Angela could say anything else, Tim hung up. “He’s such an idiot,” she sighed.

Wesley Evers heard his wife’s voice speaking indistinctly and went into their bedroom to ask, “What’d you say?”

“Tim’s being an idiot,” Angela reported.

“Are you getting involved?” Wes questioned, though he already assumed the answer.

“I might have to.” She looked down at her phone and considered calling Tim back, but then she heard her son’s cries down the hall and had to stop worrying about her foolish best friend to instead focus her attention on her baby.

Across the country, Tim was walking aimlessly through the streets of Newark feeling so nauseous about Lucy. If only he had stayed in his hotel room and continued to eavesdrop, he would have known what really happened between Lucy and Emmett instead of the passion-filled visions Tim painfully imagined, further sickening him.

Because what ended up happening was nothing like Tim had imagined…after the first few minutes. Emmett thought things were going well once he took Lucy’s face in his hands and kissed her while they backpedaled further into her room. 

Lucy did her best to focus on Emmett, but her mind kept wandering to Tim; he was not in the room, yet he was all she could think about. She craved his hands on her face instead of Emmett’s. She wanted Tim to be the one alone with her in her hotel room. When Emmett reached for the hem of her blouse, she wished it was Tim that was trying to undress her. Emmett tugged on her shirt, and she wrenched her mouth away from his. “Wait, wait,” she said.

“What?” Emmett asked, confused.

“I-I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

Slightly deflated, he took his hands away from her. “That’s fine. We can keep taking it slow. We don’t have to take our clothes off. Actually, we don’t have to do anything else tonight.”

“This isn’t just about tonight.”

He saw her trepidation and realization struck. “This is about Bradford, isn’t it?”

“It’s complicated with him.”

He frowned. “I knew it. I knew there was something with you two.” He saw her open her mouth and decided to put a hand up to stop her from talking out of fear she might say something that could hurt his feelings. “I have a flight in the morning, and you’re off to New York for the last stop on your book tour. When the tour’s over and you’re back in L.A., come find me and tell me if you want to give us a chance, because I do. I like you, Lucy, a lot. But I want to be the only guy, and I want you to be as sure about us as I am. Think about it and let me know.”

“Emmett…”

He smiled tightly. “See you next week,” he said to end the discussion and made his way out of the room.

Lucy plopped onto her bed as her eyes stung. She had one man that was hoping to be her boyfriend, yet she did not feel as strongly about their relationship, and there was another man that had pushed her away emotionally that she wished could be her boyfriend. Her life was not shaping up to be a romance novel and instead a tragedy.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Tim was positively incapable of looking Lucy in the eye. He had overheard enough the night before to gather that she had slept with Emmett, which was heartbreaking even if he knew Lucy belonged with Emmett. He kept his gaze glued to the road as he drove from Newark to New York City, which was not supposed to be a particularly long drive, but he felt it stretched on forever due to the crushing, deafening silence between him and Lucy. All he could do was count down the minutes until they arrived at their hotel. When they did, they pulled up to a large building in the middle of the bustling city with so many sights and smells around him even he was a bit overwhelmed, and he grew up in Los Angeles. The lobby was filled with plenty of people and activity, which was completely opposite of the quiet car ride. He went to the front desk and waited in the long line of guests waiting to check in, too. Finally, when it was his turn, Tim was more than ready to receive his room key and go upstairs to his own room to take a breath of air that he was not sharing with Lucy.

Lucy was just as eager to get some space from Tim, so she spoke first, “Hello…” She glanced at the name plate to read his name, “Larry, we’re checking into our rooms. They should be under ‘Bradford’ and ‘Chen’.”

Larry Mercer typed in the names in his computer and tilted his head. “I’ve got one room for Bradford but nothing for Chen.”

“Can you please check again?” Tim requested.

Larry did and frowned. “I’m sorry. There must have been an issue with the reservation.”

“Can we book another room now?” Lucy wondered.

Larry snickered. “No can do. This hotel is completely booked up. We’ve had people coming here, because everywhere in Manhattan is filled. No vacancies anywhere.”

“How about another part of the city? Can you check for room availability there?” Tim asked.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Larry promised and looked at his screen for alternative options.

Lucy checked her watch. “We don’t have time for this. I have an interview soon. I need to wash up and change.”

“Okay,” Tim exhaled. “We’ll take the room you have for us for now, and then give us a call when you have this reservation stuff sorted.”

“You got it.” Larry gave them a friendly smile and hoped he would be able to resolve their booking issue.

On instinct, Tim took Lucy’s suitcase and led the way to the elevator bank then finally to their room. He allowed her to enter first and noticed how she paused.

Lucy pulse jumped when she took in the very tiny room with one bed that she had to share with a man she was hardly speaking to. She eyed him standing awkwardly a pace away, obviously just as clueless about how to proceed as she was. Even as they stood there, she felt the walls closing in and needed an escape. The bathroom. She would have some space in the bathroom. “I’m gonna take a shower.” She rolled open the sliding bathroom door and flicked her wrist to shut it behind her.

He saw the bathroom door shut then bounce off the wall, rolling back just enough to reveal the faintest glimpse into the bathroom where she stood and pulled her shirt off. All he saw was her bare back and her hair cascading down, and he struggled to breathe. There was no way he could spend any more time sharing a room with her, so he silently prayed for the booking snafu to be resolved. He heard the shower turn on. Weakening with every passing second, he sat down at the edge of the bed and averted his gaze to give her privacy while he tried to breathe knowing she was naked with only a door between them. A slightly ajar door. And she was naked. When his phone rang, he answered with a gruff, “Bradford.”

“Mr. Bradford, this is Larry Mercer from the hotel front desk. I’ve been looking at all of the other hotels under our umbrella of brands within the city, and everything’s booked solid right now.”

“What do you mean everything?” Tim replied.

“Everything, as in every room all over the city. A lot’s going around here. This is New York, after all.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Uhh, well…I’m saying…I can’t get you another room…at least for tonight.”

Tim shot up onto his feet. “So we have to stay in the same room? Together?”

Larry frowned. “Unfortunately, yes. I’ll talk to my manager about getting you a discount on your room, and see what we can do about arrangements for the rest of your stay. We’ll reach out if another room becomes available just don’t hold your breath. I’m sorry I don’t have better news.”

“Not as sorry as I am,” he whispered, and the bathroom door opened. He witnessed Lucy emerge in a towel wrapped around her chest and her wet hair clinging to her shoulders. Tim hung up the phone and stared at her while his brain short circuited thinking about the very small amount of terry cloth covering her bare body, which was even less than a door.

“Everything okay?” She asked, noting his slack jawed expression.

“The front desk called. They can’t find us another room,” he reported.

“Oh,” she breathed then gulped. Her eyes flitted around the rather tight room with only one bed. That she would have to share with Tim. Together. In the same bed.

Chapter Text

Lucy decided she could make the most of the unfortunate situation by acting like she was not bothered at all by the fact that she was forced to share a hotel room with Tim. She applied her makeup in the bathroom then changed before walking into the bedroom and asking as smoothly as possible, “You ready to go?”

“Yup,” Tim answered tightly, unsure how they were going to spend multiple nights in the same room.

“So glad this is the last interview,” she mumbled unhappily.

“Which interview is this one again? It’s for a magazine, right?”

“Only the biggest women’s magazine in the world.”

Instinctively, he studied her face to note the line emerging between her eyebrows, which indicated her stress. “You’ll do great,” he assured her softly.

Even when everything else felt wrong between them, he could still manage to anchor her, which was a small comfort despite everything. She gave him a grateful smile and took a risk by wrapping one of her arms around one of his to soothe her racing heart for the walk over to the magazine headquarters.

What he did not know about the magazine interview was that Lucy was also asked to pose for a few pictures to include with the article, so he watched her stand in front of a camera and smile her most luminescent smile. She looked beautiful. So beautiful it made his heart ache. In his life, he had seen his fair share of beautiful women, but none of them compared to Lucy, which made being her book boyfriend a gift and a curse; it was a gift to have a front row seat to every moment where she dazzled a crowd or interviewer with her natural warmth and charisma, and of course, nothing beat his opportunities to kiss her, but there was a pang in his chest knowing that she would only be his to kiss for a few more short days before the tour ended, and his chances to kiss her ended, too.

Mildly distracted by Tim’s presence, Lucy tried to answer all of the questions asked of her and pose for the pictures while being hyperaware of his eyes following her even when he was standing on the other side of the room from her. No matter who or what was around, she always felt him like she had developed a sixth sense for him. Yet another piece of proof that he was the right guy to pick. The interview and photoshoot ran long, so they raced right over to the bookstore appearance with their fingers brushing during the brisk walk, but he only took her hand at the last possible minute as if she was radioactive. She wanted to scream at him. He was the most frustrating man on the planet, but somehow, he was who her heart yearned for usually. Except when they walked back into the hotel room they were forced to share, and she wanted to get away from him. She kicked her heels off and let her feet feel the soft carpet between her toes. “Mind if I use the bathroom first?” He asked, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him up instead of spending the night with her.

“Sure,” she answered. Looking for something to make her feel less awkward, she opened her phone and navigated to ClipTok hoping to scroll through videos of puppies until her stomach felt more settled.

When he was ready for bed, he stepped out of the bathroom and heard the sound of dogs barking, so he gathered, “Are you watching more animal videos?”

“This shelter in L.A. makes the cutest videos about all of the pets they have ready for adoption,” she explained and held out the device for him to watch the short clip she had just seen.

“And let me guess- you’ve fallen in love with all of them and plan to adopt a whole zoo?”

She snickered. “No, but I think I found the dog I want. Let me show you.” She patted the spot on the mattress beside her and scrolled until she landed on the video she was looking for. “Watch this,” she said and played the clip.

He watched a hyper little terrier yip and jump in the grass while a white and brown pit bull mix was laying down seemingly unbothered by the other dog’s completely opposite energy. “He suits you,” he noted.

“Right? He’s so cute. For some reason, the shelter hasn’t given him his own video to spotlight him, even though he’s clearly the sweetest dog of the bunch. His name’s Kojo, and he’s been at the shelter for a while from the looks of it.”

“Are you gonna adopt him when the tour’s over?”

“l have to before someone else snaps him up. But don’t worry, I promise a dog won’t get in the way of meeting my deadlines.”

“Good. I hope you don’t turn into one of those people that carries your dog with you everywhere. Last thing I need is to hear that dog yipping in the middle of a Mugs when I’m trying to work.”

“Yip? Kojo is so quiet.”

Tim furrowed his brow, “He didn’t shut up for a second of that video you just showed me. That’s not a quiet dog.”

She looked back at her screen and had to smile. As she pointed to the two dogs on the screen, she explained, “The little terrier is named Max. I don’t want him. I want the other dog. That’s Kojo.”

“Him? Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously!” She insisted. “What’s wrong with Kojo?”

“He doesn’t seem like your type. He’s not exactly a happy dog.”

She locked her phone. “Clearly, you don’t know my type, because Kojo is exactly the kind of dog I’m looking for.”

“Kojo looks like he’s allergic to smiling.”

“So he’s a little rough around the edges, but he seems to be a total sweetheart.”

“Okay,” he responded, unsure.

She stood up quickly. “You don’t get it, do you? How can you get me better than anyone else and then not know me at all?”

“Are we still talking about dogs?”

“No, Tim, we’re not talking about dogs,” she shot back, her tone biting, and strutted into the bathroom. After she washed the makeup off of her face, she started composing more things to say to him to tell him off for being an absolute idiot that had pissed her off enough for multiple lifetimes. When she walked out of the bathroom ready to speak her mind, she saw that the lights were off save for a bedside lamp, and she scanned the room that looked empty. She thought he might have left, which would have only angered her further, but then something on the ground caught her eye. She tiptoed over and saw that he was lying on the floor in the tiny space between the bed and the wall where his large frame was crammed. His eyes were shut, so she assumed he had fallen asleep, and she shook her head at him fondly. He opted to sleep on the uncomfortable floor with only a pillow behind his head to allow her to have the bed all to herself. Just when she was at her maddest with him, he did something so thoughtful she was reminded why she had developed feelings for him so quickly. But maybe they had not grown quickly, she reflected as she slid between the sheets on the bed. They had been slowly growing, almost imperceptibly, as they worked together for years. He had burrowed his way in her heart, and nothing could uproot him from the space inside her chest, especially not Emmett.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Tim woke before Lucy and padded into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. He was shaving when the bathroom door opened.

“Oh my God!” Lucy exclaimed and spun around while shutting her eyes tightly. “I’m sorry!” She apologized. “I forgot you were here,” she admitted.

“It’s okay,” he replied lowly. “I’m almost done with the sink, then the bathroom is all yours.”

“Thanks,” she said and put a hand over her eyes. “Can you just hand me a tissue?” She outstretched a hand blindly as if that would help her locate the small tissue box, and then her finger scraped some of his skin, so she gasped. “Sorryl”

He grinned. “I’m wearing a towel, you know,” he said and picked up the tissue box.

She let her hand fall from her eyes and really looked at him with his perfect six pack, his toned and muscular arms, and the smooth golden skin of his broad chest staring right at her. She appreciated his mind, of course, but he was not so bad to look at, either.

The way her eyes raked over him made his heart stammer. As much as he wanted her to stop so he could carry on shaving the other half of his face, he also wanted her to keep staring to make him feel warted and desired by the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen.

Lucy eventually cleared her throat and plucked a tissue from the box. She backed out of the bathroom quickly hoping her flushed skin had not embarrassed her too much in front of him. Being in close quarters with Tim was shaping up to be rather impossible, especially after he walked out of the bathroom still only in the towel. She watched him rummage in his suitcase for a change of clothes as she ogled his perfect back muscles, because of course even his back was hot. She wondered if sharing a room with him would have been easier if he was not so attractive, but when she was ready to face the day, and she walked with him out of the hotel room, he said the most perfect words that only he would say, because he was perfect inside and out.

“We can skip the hotel breakfast and grab a few bagels from a place around the corner if you still want to try New York bagels,” he offered. “You said that’s what you were most looking forward to when we got to New York, right?”

Butterflies flapped around in her stomach. “I told you that a million stops ago. I can’t believe you remembered.”

“How could I forget?” Was his inquiry in response as he offered her a soft half smile.

She wanted to take him in her arms and kiss him senseless, however, instead, she grinned at him while keeping her hands and mouth to herself.

As they walked the bustling streets, he noticed how her eyes flitted around taking in all of the sights, so he asked, “Do you want to skip work and sightsee?”

“Skip work? Are you seriously suggesting that? Who are you and what have you done with Tim Bradford?

“Okay, we can find a Mugs and work.”

“I didn’t say that,” she was quick to utter. “We could just go take a look at Times Square, and then work.”

“Whatever you want,” he replied.

His word choice gave her pause, because what she wanted more than to see Times Square was him.

While they ate their bagels and strolled through Manhattan, he enjoyed the look of wonderment on her face as Lucy scanned their surroundings. There were so many lights and so much activity around them that seemed to amuse her, which made him like New York even though he hated the warring scents hanging the air, because she was happy to be there, and that was all that mattered to him.

She froze once they stepped foot in Times Square with streams of people moving around them and so many signs and screens above them vying for their attention. There was almost too much to look at, and it was magnificent. She understood why people loved New York so much between the tasty bagels and striking skyscrapers. It was easy to forget about everything else in the middle of the city, so she reached for Tim’s hand, and he allowed her to interlace their fingers easily.

Hours later, when they were on their walk to another bookstore appearance, it really struck Tim that the tour was coming to an end. They were in their last city, and he would only be her book boyfriend for one more day. Despite the fact that he knew how selfish it would be, he could not stop himself from stepping in front of the bookstore and drawing her close. At first, he merely gazed at her, seeing how all of the bright lights of the city were reflected in her twinkling eyes, then her lips curled the tiniest bit, and he remembered what his plan had been, so he leaned in to kiss her lightly at first, just a taste, but a taste always led to more like he was unable to stop himself. One of her hands ended up on his face, distantly making him wonder how long their mouths had been fused together, but he could not find it within himself to care if it had been two minutes or two hours so long as he was with her.

Lucy broke away dizzy; it had been a while since he had kissed her so thoroughly, which was quite the personal loss, because she wanted his mouth on hers like that all of the time. She wondered if there was something in the New York air that prompted him to be more affectionate. Regardless of what had caused the shift, she was simply happy to have her Tim. Not her book boyfriend. Her Tim. With a bookstore of fans waiting for her, she merely caressed his cheek and made soft eye contact with him for a second to silently express how happy she was that everything had gone back to their easy, comfortable dynamic. Assuming it was a foregone conclusion, she took his hand at the end of the book signing and said, “l saw onion rings on the room service menu. Wanna split some?”

“I was thinking we don’t order room service tonight,” he responded.

Just when she thought they were fine, he wanted to be apart from her, which stung.

He saw something akin to hurt flash across her face, so he clarified, “I was thinking we could find somewhere to have dinner outside of our hotel room. There’s not that much space in our room, anyways. We don’t even have a couch.”

The way he referred to it as “our room” caused her heart to thump. Though it had been a bit strange to share a room with him, putting it as theirs made it sound sweet, almost like they wanted to share a room by choice. “Any particular food you’re in the mood for?”

“We can have sushi,” he suggested.

“You haven’t had sushi a single time on this tour. I didn’t even think you liked sushi.”

“I’ve never had it, but you’ve talked about it enough. I figure I’ll try some.”

“You sure?”

He nodded in reply, which made her grin. “I’ll look places up,” she said and scrolled through her phone while they walked aimlessly hand in hand until she found a restaurant nearby. The whole place was solely lit by candles, and she was seated with him in an intimate booth in the corner where they had no choice but to have their thighs pressed together. “Okay, so you have to try a California roll at least,” she said while reading through the menu.

“You’re gonna have to be the one in charge of ordering, because I’ve never even heard of half of this stuff.” He set the menu down, since there was no use reading the gibberish on the pages.

She giggled. “Promise me you’ll try everything I order? I swear nothing will have mushrooms in it.”

“Fine, but it better not be gross.”

“You’ll love it,” she guaranteed and ordered all of her favorites for them to split. “If you like this place, which I’m sure you will, we should come back here tomorrow night.”

“l wish we could, but we have a flight back home to catch.”

She frowned. “It’s really ending tomorrow, isn’t it?”

“It is,” he confirmed sadly.

“Has the tour been as bad as you thought it would be?”

“Worse,” he lied obviously, then he screwed his face into a serious expression. “l haven’t hated it at all,” he whispered thoughtfully.

“Does that mean being my boyfriend isn’t so bad?”

“Not at all. Emmett is a lucky guy.”

At the mention of the other man’s name, she hunched her shoulders forward. She did not want to talk about Emmett. She wanted to about him and them.

“FIRE!” Someone shouted.

Tim looked around and saw bright flames licking the edges of the kitchen window, providing more illumination than the candles.

Lucy grabbed his hand so they could run out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. Her heart continued to race even once they had reached a safe distance from the fire.

He scanned her body and asked, “You okay?”

“Yeah, are you?” She answered, panting.

“That was….”

She laughed. “A disaster.”

“The one time we go out instead of staying in, and our plans go up in literal flames.”

She giggled. “That’s our luck.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I don’t mind going on an adventure with you.” She squeezed his hand and grinned up at him, then her stomach rumbled. “Any chance this adventure still includes dinner, because I’m hungry?”

He saw a food vendor cart on the corner and pointed in its direction. “I know it’s not sushi, but it’ll work.”

Lucy quite liked the cozy sushi restaurant, but sitting with him on a bench in Central Park eating hot dogs was just as wonderful, because she was with him. She used a napkin to dab the mustard on the corner of his mouth. “I can’t take you anywhere.”

The way she stroked at his face seemed longer than what it would take to clean him up, and he let her linger, since it felt nice, but then her eyes dropped to his lips, and soon enough, she was moving towards him. He rocked back just enough to dodge her kiss.

“What? Tim?”

“No one out here recognizes you. We don’t have to pretend.”

She could not believe that for once, he would not accept an excuse to kiss her. “It hasn’t always been pretend.”

His breathing caught; she had alluded to that sentiment, but to hear her say it so plainly surprised him. “For you?”

“For me, and I think for you, too. Right?” She looked up at him through her eyelashes challenging him to tell the truth.

“We should be pretending. That’s the job.”

“Should be, but we’re not.”

“I wish we were. It would be easier.”

“What’s easy is being with you.”

“That’s not…” He paused when her hand went to his knee. “We’re supposed to be pretending. That’s all it’s supposed to be.”

“I don’t want to pretend anymore.”

“Lucy...”

She bent forward until their lips were a whisper apart, her blood humming as he breathed against her mouth. “Let’s go back to our room,” she suggested in her most desirous voice. She took his hand and hauled him off of the bench. For the walk back to the hotel, neither spoke, but they caught each other’s eye every so often, stealing heated glances that made it harder and harder to breathe. They stepped into the elevator, and she was about to back him against a wall when other people joined them in the car, and she decided it would have been in poor taste to try devouring Tim’s lips in a crowded elevator. He opened the door to the room like the gentleman he always was, so she walked in first and was quick to spin around to watch him and decipher what the tightness of his jaw and the vulnerability in his eyes meant. “It doesn’t happen that often anymore, but I can’t tell what you’re thinking right now,” she admitted.

His brain had stopped properly working back in the park, so even he did not know what was on his own mind. “I...I’m not...”

“Not sure about me or where to start?” She tried to finish his sentence for him as he floundered.

Tim eyed the bed. “Last time…” He lost his train of thought when she took a half step closer to him and settled her hands on his forearms.

“Last time was for the book...at least at first.”

He tried taking a gulp of air, but his throat was not working properly. “Is-is this for the book?”

“No,” she told him definitively.

Somehow, his brain was able to function normally again, and rational thought dictated that there was no worse idea. “I’m still not right for you.”

“You’re wrong. More wrong than when you told me to describe one of my characters as ‘shapely’.”

“That’s a good descriptor. It fit.”

“It sounded outdated. Face it, I was right when I said ‘attractive’ worked better.”

“But ‘attractive’ is too broad. ‘Shapely’ or ‘curvy’ would have focused the description on her body. I would’ve accepted ‘full-figured’, too.”

“Would you ever look a girl in the eye and call her ‘full-figured’?”

“You’re full-figured,” he pointed out without thinking.

“I don’t know if you mean that as a compliment or not.”

“A compliment,” he assured her. “Definitely a compliment.”

The way his eyes darkened a hue as they scanned her figure was enough to undo her, and they were barely touching. His attraction to her had never been more clear, and she had never wanted him more. “You could just say ‘hot’, since that’s always compliment...that is if it fits.”

“‘Hot’ doesn’t work,” he scoffed. “It’s too pedestrian.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a common word. You don’t have to be so pretentious.”

“I’m not trying to be pretentious. I’m trying to be accurate.”

“Are you saying I’m not hot?”

“I’m saying it’s not a good enough word.”

She blushed. “So what’s the right word?”

“I don’t know.”

Lucy looked at him curiously. “Since when do you not know a good word?”

He shrugged. Only she could render him wordless.

She watched him try talking a few times, which would have made her laugh under any other circumstances, but in that moment, she decided to request, “If you don’t know the right word, show me.” She inched towards him hoping he would not push her away again; there was no way she could survive his rejection again.

Tim’s eyes were mostly closed as he moved in and could practically taste her lips but not quite. “You deserve so much better,” he rasped.

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true.”

She shuddered and pulled back slightly to really find his eyes. “Are you about to kick me out of the room again?”

“I can’t.”

“Because we’re staying in the same room?”

He exhaled shakily and hesitantly took a step into her space. “Because I can’t,” he explained hopelessly. The magnetic pull to her was growing too strong for him to fight it. He was too powerless to push her away again even if he knew that would be the right thing to do.

“Good,” she breathed with the beginning of a smile. Knowing that she was hard to resist made her happy. She stood up tall to bring her face close to his, but she refused to be the one to initiate their kiss; he had to be the one to do it. He had to choose her.

Tim was hyper aware of the lack of distance between them; he barely had to move to meet her lips, but a voice in his head was shouting at him not to move a muscle. It would feel so right, but there was something so wrong about it. He dropped his forehead to hers. “We have to stop.”

“Why?”

“A million reasons.”

“I don’t care. Kiss me.” She cupped his cheeks hoping that would be enough to spur him on; they were so close yet too far.

The countless reasons why he needed to stop flooded his mind, but he was willing to ignore all of them to obey her tempting request…until one stuck out. “Emmett,” he whispered. “He’s your boyfriend, and I respect that.”

Lucy had completely forgotten about him; Tim had this uncanny knack for helping her to forget everyone else but him. “I don’t want to hurt him. He’s a good guy.”

“He’s the right guy,” he corrected her.

“Tim-”

She reached for him, but he recoiled. “You deserve better than me. You deserve him.”

“Stop saying stuff like that.”

“But it’s true.”

“No, it isn’t, and I don’t want to argue about it.”

“We always argue.”

“I don’t want to argue with you about what I deserve. I don’t even want to argue right now.” She saw the bathroom in her periphery and sighed. “I’m getting ready for bed.” 

His whole body buzzed thinking about what could have happened if they had not stopped themselves and what kind of mistake that would have been. He held his breath when she stepped out of the bathroom, unsure what to say, and she was just as clueless as he was, so he navigated around her to take his own turn using the bathroom. When he walked out, he did not expect her to be sitting up in bed almost like she was waiting for him.

“Don’t sleep on the floor again,” she murmured.

“I don’t think-”

“Your back’s been killing you all day. I’ve noticed how you keep rubbing it. Sleep on the bed with me.” She noticed how he did not move at all, so she pulled back the covers for him and stared, waiting. Finally, he went to her side, which made her smile the slightest bit. As he settled on the mattress, she watched him and how he stayed on the furthest edge away from her. She shut her eyes hoping to fall asleep.

But he was right there.

He was on the same bed as her.

He was within arm’s reach.

Lucy rolled onto her side to see how calm he looked when his eyes were closed and the lines on his face were actually relaxed.

“You should be sleeping,” he mumbled upon feeling her staring.

“So should you,” she replied smartly.

Tim pursed his lips and turned his head towards her. In truth, he could not sleep or dream when she was close enough to touch.

“I’m not tired,” she said, which was somewhat true. She scooted towards him until she could wind an arm around him. “Be a good book boyfriend and help me sleep.”

“Fine,” he acquiesced easily, quite liking how it felt to hold her in his arms. “Because I’m your book boyfriend.”

She knew she was running out of opportunities to use that excuse to share in moments with him that felt better than any real relationship, and she was committed to savoring every last chance to do so. She pecked his chest right over his heart, and finally, her eyes slipped closed where she was warm and safe but not with her book boyfriend- with who she realized was her dream boyfriend.

Chapter Text

Lucy woke up smiling. Actually smiling. She properly opened her eyes and realized she had fallen asleep in Tim’s embrace in bed in their tiny New York hotel room, and she did not want to move, because she was with her dream boyfriend in a dream city. She was happy, but then he stirred, and she worried about how he might react to them waking up together; her heart could not stand it if he jumped away from her the second he arose. She tried to roll out of his arms before he opened his eyes, but then he spoke.

“Are you trying to get out of bed without me noticing?” He asked, his voice gravely and his eyes mostly shut.

“Of course not. I just…have to pee.”

He snickered, and it sounded raspy because of his deep morning voice. “You are a lying liar who lies.”

She relaxed against him and sighed. “Okay, I lied.”

Grateful she could not see him, he smiled, but then she turned, and he did his absolute best to school his expression, but it was no use. She was grinning, too. In that moment, he was not thinking about the fact that she had an actual boyfriend, whose name escaped him, or that he was only her book boyfriend; all that mattered was that she was with him, and he was happy.

Blushing, she had to look away from him, so she glanced out the window at the view of the towering skyscrapers all crowding the sky. “I love New York.”

“It smells bad,” he replied with a crinkled nose.

She giggled. “Well, I love it here.”

“I guess it’s not so bad,” he conceded, since she liked it.

“We’ve been to so many cities, and I haven’t gotten a single souvenir, but I definitely want to get one before we leave.”

“Souvenirs are a waste of money.”

“Of course you would say that.”

“They’re worthless, cheap trinkets.”

“They have sentimental value.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Oh, come on, Tim,” she said. “Don’t you want to have something to remember this tour by?”

There was no physical item that could ever memorialize the best part of the tour, which was being around her, and those moments were burned into his mind. “I’ll remember all of it,” he assured her softly. The way she looked at him in response with a special tenderness and warmth that was an exclusive mixture only shone through her eyes was not something he would ever be able to forget, especially because of how it made his blood heat up.

She would have kissed him. She wanted to. The only reason she stopped herself was she remembered she had a boyfriend that was certainly not Tim. Emmett had been so good to her, and he deserved her loyalty, so she kept her lips to herself and silently beamed at Tim almost as if trying to silently communicate that if they were under any other circumstances, she would be kissing him until she ran out of oxygen. Lucy smoothed a hand over his bicep and requested, “Since it’s the last day of the tour, can we just have a good day? Can you be my book boyfriend and we forget about everything else?”

“It’s your tour. If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do.”

“Thank you.”

“Does this good day include more bagels? You seemed to like the ones we had yesterday.”

“Yes, please, and then can we walk around Central Park again? No work today. Just walking?” In truth, it sounded romantic to get lost in the city hand in hand with him, and that was exactly how she wanted to spend their day together.

“Okay.” He had no idea that her simple request would make for the best day. 

She lingered in bed with him for a few more minutes, trying to memorize how it felt to be curled up into his side, then showered and put extra effort into her appearance. Not to impress Tim, of course. She just wanted to put on extra makeup and put more care in the styling of her hair. Admittedly, Lucy did look at herself in the mirror and wonder if he would like her top paired with her blazer and bootleg jeans. He did not say anything about what she was wearing or how she looked, because he never did, but she wondered if he noticed. Not that it mattered. What did matter was that he almost mindlessly threaded their fingers together before they meandered the crowded streets of New York City. There was a chill in the air, a distinct signal of the change of the seasons, so his warm hand was even more welcome. When they sat down on a bench in Central Park, he pulled the kind of boyfriend move that almost made her faint.

“You feel cold,” he said once detaching their fingers so they could eat their bagels.

“What? No, I’m good,” she assured him.

He gave her a sideways look, because he knew she was slightly cold to the touch, so he wordlessly shrugged off his fleece lined denim jacket and draped it around her shoulders. A brisk gust of air sent a chill down his spine, but his own well-being was unimportant when there was a chance she was cold.

She wanted to praise him for being a fantastic book boyfriend by offering her his jacket, but it felt wrong to assign the act as something he did as part of their fake relationship when it was so genuine and kind. It was so Tim. “Thank you,” she murmured and put her arms through the sleeves of his warm jacket that smelled like him. “I can’t move to New York, because of the weather.”

“I hear they have blizzards here,” he said with a frown.

“That sounds miserable.”

“Right?”

“But it has so many cool things to do. You think we could go to a museum after we finish our bagels?” His grimace made her click her tongue at him. “Don’t tell me you don’t like museums.”

“They can be a little boring sometimes.”

“Boring? You’ll love The Met.”

“If it’s a bunch of abstract paintings I won’t understand, I can promise you I won’t love it.”

“Fine, we won’t go.”

“I didn’t say I won’t go. We’ll do whatever you want.”

She grinned, appreciative he would be willing to be taken somewhere he did not like to appease her. She thought about how Emmett always insisted on getting coffee from Java Jive when she told him she much preferred the coffee at Mugs. Still, he always wanted to go to Java Jive, whereas Tim went along with her wants like trying sushi for her and going to a museum for her. Yet another reason he was a better boyfriend. “I swear we don’t have to stay long.”

He did not believe her, and he was right. He felt like she was dragging him around the museum by their joined hands for hours. She brightened around so many works of art, and though he was unaffected by all of the pieces, he quite liked watching her reactions. Monet, Degas, and Vermeer may have created lovely paintings that hung in the museum, but none of those artists could capture Lucy’s distinct beauty when she smiled.

As they descended The Met steps, she asked, “So tell me the truth, did you hate going to the museum as much as you thought you would?”

“It was awful,” he lied obviously.

The playfulness of his tone caused her to really look at him and pause. “Oh my God, you actually liked it, didn’t you?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” He did not particular enjoy any of the pieces but rather her reactions; he could not exactly tell her that, though.

She snickered. “I knew I could convince you.” She checked her watch. “We still have a little time before we have to be at the bookstore. Let’s take the long way over and see more of the city.”

“Are you sure you won’t get too cold?”

“I’ll be okay.” She squeezed their hands, loving how perfectly they fit when they were intertwined. In truth, she did not care if she froze while soaking up her last few hours with him as her book boyfriend, because she was by his side, which was exactly where she wanted to be.

He listened to her launch into some long story about all of the museums in the world she wanted to go to, and he wished he could take her to each and every one if only he felt worthy of being her companion on all of her adventures, but at least he could be with her on her book tour that was quickly nearing its end. They arrived at the bookstore, and he gulped. It would be his final time walking through the door with her as fans applauded for her while he was afforded the rare opportunity to look at her proudly. And their final kiss.

“Last time,” she mumbled staring at his lips. She could not believe there would never be another excuse to kiss him, but to be fair, it was quite unnecessary that they kissed before walking into most of the bookstores, though neither pointed that out. Lucy noticed the way he stared down at her, almost unsure. She wondered what inspired his trepidation when he was usually so quick to pull her in and meet her lips.

Tim hated knowing he would never kiss her again. He had one final chance, and that did not seem like nearly enough. Knowing it would likely be the one he would remember most vividly, he wanted it to be the best one, yet his brain was malfunctioning, and he had no idea how to make it so. Instead, he gazed at her somewhat frozen.

She took a chance and reached up to cradle his face but made no other move towards him. She worried he might pull away and deny her their last kiss. When she stroked his cheekbone with her thumb, he finally inclined his neck, which was a good sign, but the gap between them was still too large for her liking. Lucy nodded slightly in case he needed permission, and then finally his mouth was on hers, soft as ever. He was kissing her almost too sweetly almost as if it would not be their last time but rather a normal occurrence, like he always planned to caress her lips so tenderly forever.

As he had never been very good at communicating his feelings, he hoped their kiss would be enough to express how much he appreciated the opportunity to be her book boyfriend for a short time and would certainly miss the perks like tangling his fingers in her hair and swallowing her quiet hums when his tongue swiped over hers just the right way.

He withdrew too quickly, so she used her hold on his face to bring him back for another kiss she controlled that was heavier and more intense, pouring the way she was already starting to miss him into how her tongue moved inside his mouth, but eventually, she had to pull away. Lucy only rocked away enough to meet his eyes, his expression mostly unreadable except for the ghost of a smile on the corner of his mouth that made it clear he was happy. Then, Tim surprised her with a light peck to her lips that made her giggle.

“You ready?” He asked.

She nodded and took his hand ready to meet more fans.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Despite having concluded her last bookstore appearance, Lucy still held Tim’s hand when they walked back to the hotel, and she kept staring at him as he drove their last rental car to their last airport. She almost wished they were in a taxi, so she could cozy up next to him for the ride. Knowing that, she scooted in close when they were seated next to each other on the plane. While they whispered about random topics, neither brought up the fact that the tour was officially over and instead danced around it like speaking about it would be the only way to make it true. She was exhausted but could not find it within herself to sleep on the long flight across the country, because she wanted to soak up every last second with him, but eventually the plane landed.

He kept shifting his weight as they waited by the baggage claim carousel, because he knew she would appreciate if he said something, but he was unsure what to say. The only distraction from the pressure of coming up with the right words came when her suitcase appeared on the carousel, and he retrieved it for her. She put her hand over his on the handle to take it, but he did not want to let go yet. “About your next book, or really all of your next books,” he said lowly, “you don't let anyone ever tell you you can't do something. Not even me.”

She half smiled. Giving her career advice was not what she expected as his parting words, but at least he was being kind and supportive, which were not labels she could always assign to him when he drove her insane as her editor even a few months prior. “Thanks. Guess it’s really over, huh?”

“Guess so,” he replied evenly no matter how his stomach twisted.

Lucy swore she was a writer, yet when she needed words the most, they all failed her. All she managed to say was, “It’s been a blast,” and finally rolled her suitcase away from him.

He was motionless for a few moments as he watched her walk away. The tour was officially over. His book boyfriend duties were no longer required. As far as endings went, he hated theirs with her leaving him. Tim was not sure when he would see her next or what the nature of their next interaction would be, and that only made it worse. He decided he had to say something more. Not everything in his heart. But more. Having forgotten all about retrieving his own suitcase, he went after her, trying not to run but certainly hurrying to reach her, but when he did, he saw Emmett was there with a bouquet of roses and his arms open ready to hug her.

Surprised that Emmett came to pick her up from the airport, she speechlessly embraced him then felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, so she let him go and turned around to find Tim standing a few paces away. The way his lips were parted prompted her to ask, “Tim, did you forget something?” Lucy had not registered how her feet were carrying her towards him until she had to tilt her head to maintain eye contact with him.

“Yeah,” he responded, then exhaled, “uhh, I forgot to say that…” He put his hands in his pockets hoping to conceal how they shook. “I-I’ll miss working with you.”

For a split second, she had fooled herself into thinking he might tell her he had feelings for her, but that would have been wishful thinking. She was no longer confident he did actually have feelings for her. “I’ll miss working with you, too,” she said. For several blinks, she looked up at him through her eyelashes wondering if he would say anything else, but he was quiet, so she offered him one last farewell smile and went with Emmett towards the exit. 

Tim could only bear to watch her leave for another second and then turned on his heel only wanting to move in the opposite direction of her without caring where that would lead.

Just because she liked torturing herself, Lucy glanced over her shoulder wondering if he was still looking, but he was not. She pulled the jacket over her chest tighter and realized she was still wearing his. She decided she was going to keep it as her souvenir from the tour. After all, she had planned to find one, and Tim unknowingly provided her with the perfect sentimental way to remember not only the life-changing whirlwind book tour but also the best relationship she had ever been in; even if it was fake, she had never been happier and felt more seen, respected, appreciated, and supported, and that deserved to be preserved.

Chapter Text

Tamara waited expectantly for Lucy’s arrival, and her jaw dropped a little when she saw her roommate arrive at their apartment.

With Emmett behind her.

Lucy did not have time to read the handmade banner hanging up that Tamara must have worked on while she was away, because she saw her roommate’s less than excited reaction about Emmett’s appearance. “Hey, Emmett,” she said softly, “I think Tamara really missed me and wants us to hang out just the two of us tonight. Can I call you tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Emmett replied and took a step back. He was about to leave then asked, “Does this mean you haven’t made your decision?”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I promise.” She dropped a kiss to his cheek and waved him out the door of her apartment. When she spun around, she saw the distinct quirk of Tamara’s eyebrow with that coy smile playing at her lips that prompted Lucy to ask, unamused, “What?”

“Decision, huh? What’s Emmett talking about?” Tamara wondered.

“It’s nothing.”

“You sure about that? It sounds pretty juicy. Let me guess- he asked you to go on a family trip with him? Or be his date to a destination wedding? Or,” she gasped, “has your perfect boyfriend already proposed?”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Nothing like that.” She set her purse down and let go of her luggage to busy her hands with while trying to casually say, “He wants me to decide if I want to be with him or not.”

“Why would he think you don’t want to be with him?” Options ran through her mind, and then she put a hand over her open mouth. “Oh my God! He knows about you and Tim!”

She hated that Tamara’s first guess was right, so she winced, which was enough of a response.

Tamara squealed. “I knew it! Oh, it’s so obvious you like him! It’s even obvious to Emmett.”

“I feel bad Emmett’s in the middle of this.”

“He wouldn't be in the middle of anything if you didn’t have feelings for Tim.”

“Yeah, well, Emmett’s caught between me and Tim, and I’ve never felt like a bigger idiot in my life.”

“Why?”

She plopped down on a stool abutting the kitchen island, needing to rest her weary bones. “Do we have any ice cream?” She asked, hoping some sugar would help soothe her weary heart.

“It’s that bad, huh?” Tamara was rather intrigued as she opened the freezer and took out their tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream. “Spill,” she requested as she pulled out spoons from a drawer, then rounded the corner to occupy another stool next to Lucy.

“At the airport, when the tour was officially over, I told Tim that ‘it’s been a blast’. How corny was that? Of all of the final words I could’ve left him with, that’s what I went with?” She wanted to hide inside of her jacket, then she smoothed her hands over the denim material of it when she remembered it was Tim’s jacket that she had very recently taken ownership of.

“That’s not bad. That’s kind of cute.”

“It was so lame. I’m a writer, and I couldn’t come up with anything better. I looked at him and totally blanked.”

“Are you really upset about what you said or that you had to say goodbye to him at all?”

Lucy narrowed her eyes at her. “How many weeks are left of that Psychology class you’re taking? I don’t think I like who it’s turning you into.”

“I so love being right,” she responded smugly and used her spoon to shovel out a generous bite of ice cream.

“What he said was so perfect, you know? He basically told me I should always believe in myself, and then he said he would miss working with me. How sweet is that?”

“Did he mean he would miss working with you as your editor or as your book boyfriend?”

Lucy had been about to spoon herself some ice cream when the question made her whole body go rigid. “Do you think he meant he would miss being my book boyfriend?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t there. How did he seem when he said it?”

She could not help the way her lips curled. “He was giving me that look when he’s not trying to be sweet, but he is anyways. He’s such a secret softy. It’s so cute.”

Tamara hoped putting some ice cream in her mouth would keep her from laughing at how enamored Lucy looked when she talked about him like he hung the moon. “So what if he was saying he’s going to miss being your book boyfriend?”

Lucy’s cheeks pinked up. “That would mean he likes me…right?” The thought was equal parts alluring and infuriating to the point she stabbed her spoon into the ice cream. “I have to stop thinking he likes me. I’ve tried so many different ways to tell him how I feel, and he keeps shutting me down. Message received.”

“He told you he doesn’t like you?”

She blew out a wry laugh. “Worse. He said I deserve better.”

Tamara sat up straighter. “That’s what he said? You deserve better?”

“I know! He’s such an idiot. He acts like he’s not incredible in his own ways. We spent most of the tour together constantly, and even when were arguing, I couldn’t help but think that he’s such a great guy. Sure, sometimes he uses old school words, and don’t get me started on how he always wants to correct my word choice, but other than that, he’s the best.”

“Did you tell him that’s how you saw him?”

“Are you kidding? You realize what I would sound like if I said all of that to him.”

“Yeah. You would sound like you’re in love with him, which, I already figured out, and if he thinks he’s not good enough for you, that means he thinks so highly of you that he’s unworthy of you.”

She smiled at the compliment. “You think he thinks highly of me?”

“I do. That’s a man that might be on the road to falling in love with you, too.”

“Then how come he won’t just say that?”

“You would have to ask him that question.”

“I feel like I’ve put myself out there enough times and gotten hurt over and over again. If anything else is going to happen with Tim, he has to be the one to make the next move.”

“Life isn’t one of your romance novels. Guys, especially the emotionally closed off guys, aren’t exactly big on the whole love profession thing.”

“I don’t need anything like that. I just want him to walk up to me and ask me out. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for.”

“Guess not. Let’s hope he gets his act together.”

“We’ll see.”

“In the meantime, what about Emmett?” Tamara asked.

Lucy exhaled loudly. “That’s a different story. I need more ice cream before I talk to him.” She picked up her spoon again in the hopes the cold temperature of her dessert would numb her wounded heart.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

Bright and early Monday morning, Tim reported to the Mid Wilshire Press offices ready for his first official day as the Executive Editor of Nonfiction. He collected his belongings to move into his new office. With a paper box of his things in his hands, he walked down the hallway and thought he saw Lucy out of the corner of his eye. His mouth went dry as he moved towards her, but when he got close enough, he realized it was not Lucy, which was quite the disappointment. He already missed her. The tour had ended on Saturday, and he had spent every moment since wishing he could see her again. Something dawned on him. He knew exactly how he could see her again. Walking purposefully, he deposited the box in his new office then went over to Grey’s and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Grey called, then watched as his door opened, and he smiled as he greeted, “Tim, welcome back, son.”

“Thank you, sir,” Tim responded.

“I heard you did well on Chen’s book tour. You’ve more than earned your promotion.”

He curtly nodded out of respect. “I appreciate that, sir. I was actually hoping I could talk to you about the promotion. You said with my promotion, I could work on any books I wanted, so along with my nonfiction work, I would also like to help Lucy with her next book.”

Grey was confused. “You’ve said you don’t like working on romance novels.”

“I know what I’ve said. I’m still not the biggest fan, but I would like to keep working with Lucy.”

He steepled his hands together. “We hired your replacement on your old team, and I think it would be good for him to learn the ropes with a writer like Lucy. She’s smart, capable, hard working, and one of the more pleasant ones.”

“She is,” he agreed with a warm feeling blooming in his chest.

“A new editor could learn a lot from her. I’m sorry, but I think for this book, she’ll work with another editor. We’ll see about the next book, though, and in the meantime, you can work with any other author you’d like.”

Disappointed, he frowned slightly. “No, there’s no one I want to request to work with right now. Thank you again for the opportunity, sir. I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t.”

Since Tim’s plan had been foiled, he wondered when he would see her next, especially when he kept mistaking other people for her everywhere he looked. The woman working at a table at Mugs had the same hair as her, but as he neared her, he realized it was not Lucy. He thought he heard her laugh when walking down the street, but when he tried to follow the sound, she was nowhere to be found. Even as he sat at a bar where there was a low likelihood he would stumble upon her, he still scanned his surroundings hoping she might appear.

“Who are you looking for?” Angela inquired.

“No one,” he answered.

She did not believe him whatsoever. “I brought you to this bar, so I could have some tequila with my best friend, but you’ve been distracted all night.”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized solemnly.

“What’s going on?”

He stared down at his beer glass as if it contained the answers, then he saw the door of the bar open. Reflexively, his eyes snapped up to the entrance to watch as a woman with long brown hair walked in. Sadly, the woman was not Lucy, which was not surprising but still upsetting.

“Tim? Hello?” Angela asked to get his attention.

Aware lying to her would not work, he decided to go with part of the truth, “I guess I’m still adjusting after the book tour.”

She smirked, because everything about his more sullen than usual demeanor made more sense. “You mean you miss Lucy,” she interpreted the subtext, and he only pursed his lips and looked at his beer, which prompted her to ask, “Have you talked to her since the tour ended?”

“Nope,” he answered glumly.

“Aren’t you working on a book together?”

“Nope,” he replied again just as unhappily as the first time.

“Why not?”

“It’s not like I wanted to work on another dumb love story anyway, okay? But my boss said with my promotion, I could work on any books I want. I just had to be Lucy’s book boyfriend first, so I did the damn tour, and I got my promotion, and now I can’t work with her, because I work in nonfiction.”

“What they say is true– careful what you wish for.”

He scoffed. “It’s for the best. She’s got her perfect boyfriend and is probably adopting her dream dog any day now, so she definitely doesn’t need me around anymore.”

“You’re still being an idiot,” she groaned and took a generous sip of her drink, then set it all out logically, “You like her. I think you might be in love with her. There’s a chance she feels the same way. Get out of your own way and get the girl!”

“I’m not right for her, Angela.”

“Not this again.” She sighed. “You only think you’re not good enough for her, but that’s not true.”

“She’s Lucy,” he said as if that was enough of an explanation. “She deserves better.”

“And you told her that, which probably pissed her off. Am I right?”

“She wasn’t too happy when I said it.”

“Alright, so this better man that she deserves…what would he do after her getting her upset?”

“Probably get her a present. She loves presents.”

“Great. Go buy her something nice. Maybe jewelry.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“What would be the point?”

She finished her drink as she collected her thoughts, then said, “I wasn’t big on commitment before Wes. I never wanted to get attached to anyone, and it worked until I met him. Every other guy, I would run away from when things got too serious, but Wes…he was the first guy I couldn’t bring myself to run away from. Meanwhile, he was a big commitment guy. He had a fiancée before me.”

“Things worked out for you guys. That’s great.”

“But things only worked out because I was willing to be a better person for him. I had to grow up and stop running. I had to choose him even on the hard days. So when it comes to Lucy, become the guy she deserves. Choose every damn day to be a person that’s worthy of her. Put the work in, and then you get the girl without her making a mistake.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Her plan was tempting but not exactly clear.

“Start with getting her a present, and after that, ask yourself what the man she deserves would do over and over again, and do whatever it is you can think of. Soon enough, you’ll become the person you think she deserves, she’ll fall for you, and you can ride off into the sunset like one of those love stories you hate so much.”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Fight for her, Tim. Tell her how you feel, and fight for her. You’ll regret it if you don’t.” She could tell he was unsure, so she suggested, “Look, she still has a boyfriend, so get her an apology gift and lay it all out for her. Put the ball in her court. See what she says after that.”

Though he did not say anything, he pondered her advice for the rest of the night and the following morning, too. He set out on a run to start his day on the right foot, jogging in the fresh air for the sake of gaining some mental clarity yet unable to let go of the idea of doing something nice for Lucy; not because that would win her favor but because she deserved someone that would give her a thoughtful gift like Angela had said. If only he knew what to get her. He saw a woman walking her dog and slowed his pace to really look at her. She somewhat resembled Lucy, but her eyes were not as beautiful, and her smile was nowhere near as vibrant. It was certainly not Lucy. The woman was walking a pit bull. He remembered the video she showed him of the pit bull mix she was interested in adopting. That was when more inspiration struck. Instead of running, he walked home with his head bowed while scouring the internet for the name of the shelter Lucy chose to adopt from when he only vaguely recalled the logo in the bottom corner of the clips he had been shown. Hours of copious research passed. Finally, he found it. He knew exactly what to give her and how to get it.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─── · 📚 · ─── · ᥫ᭡ ·

In his running gear the next morning, Tim entered the animal shelter determined. He went up to the front desk and said, “I need to adopt a dog.”

“Well, I can help with that. I’m Celina,” Celina Juarez introduced herself. “We can go to the kennels where you can meet all of the animals we have available.”

“No, no, I need a specific dog. Well, he’s not for me. He’s for someone else. She-she wants one particular dog.”

“If the dog isn’t for you, we’ll need to meet and interview the potential owner and get some of their information.”

“Look, I know you have your proper channels, but I’ve screwed up with her a million times, and me getting her this dog is my way of apologizing.”

“I’ve worked here for a while, and not once have I heard of a boyfriend getting their girlfriend a dog as an apology.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he corrected her bitterly.

Celina smiled wide. “Oh, so this is your big romantic gesture so that she does become your girlfriend! I guess I can make a few exceptions for that.”

“It’s not a romantic gesture. I’m not the guy that does stuff like that.”

“Why not?”

“Because…I’ve never done it before.” He winced, since that was not a strong explanation, but it was the truth nonetheless.

“Maybe you haven’t been that kind of guy, because you haven’t met the right girl yet.”

He pursed his lips. “Did Angela pay you to say that?”

“I don’t know who Angela is. I’m just a hopeless romantic.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not,” he responded flatly.

“Sir, you came here to adopt a dog as an apology. That’s pretty romantic.”

“My friend told me to do it. Well…she asked me…” He stopped himself. “It doesn’t matter.”

Intrigued by everything he was not saying, she dropped her elbows to the counter and propped her head up on her hands. “It matters to me. Tell me everything.”

He was not at all pleased by her interest in his tale of woe. “I don’t need to get into all of this. Can I just get the dog?”

“Normally, the adoption process takes a few days or even weeks. If you want to walk out of here today with a dog for your girl, you’ll need to tell me what I want to know. So your friend came up with this romantic gesture idea?”

He crossed his arms, aggravated that some stranger wanted to hear about what brought him into an animal shelter, but her expression indicated she would not help him until he shared, which was not exactly something he liked to do, especially with complete strangers, but for Lucy, he was willing to do it. “No,” he sighed, resigning. “My friend asked me what I would do for Lucy if-”

“Wait,” Celina interrupted, “is Lucy the woman you’re trying to apologize to?”

“Yup,” he confirmed. “I’ve gotten her upset on more than one occasion, and my friend asked me what the guy Lucy deserves would do to make it up to her, and I said, obviously, he would get her a gift.”

“If you want to get her a gift, you could buy her earrings.”

“But she’s been talking about adopting a dog for months, and she told me she picked him out and everything.”

“A man that listens is a good man in my book. Lucy is a lucky girl to have a guy like that. Whether it’s your intention or not, if you show up with a dog for her, she’ll totally jump your bones.”

His palms felt sweaty at the mere thought of that, but it was an impossibility. “She’s already got a boyfriend, and he’s the kind of guy she should be with.”

“I do that a lot. When a new dog comes in, I play with them, get to know them, and sometimes name them if we don’t have any information about them, and then, I try to picture what kind of owner they should be with, but sometimes, that’s not who walks through the door and wants to adopt the dog. I get surprised all the time by the owner and dog pairings that come out of this shelter. So just because you shouldn’t be with Lucy doesn’t mean you won’t be with her.”

“We have nothing in common, and we argue all of the time.”

“Opposites attract and sometimes make for the best pairs. Haven’t you ever seen a romcom or read a romance novel?”

“Those aren't real.”

“Where do you think the inspiration for all of those fictional stories comes from? There’s got to be a grain of truth in there somewhere.”

He pondered Lucy’s new trilogy of books she was writing about two cops working together and falling in love. She had said her cop characters were similar to her and him. But her characters got together in the end… “Less truth than you think. I’ve told you everything now, so now can I please adopt that dog I came here for? He’s a pit bull of some kind. I saw him in a ClipTok video. He’s super grumpy, and his name’s Kojo, I think.”

As her face fell, she made a sad sound. “I’m so sorry, but Kojo has already been adopted.”

“That’s impossible. Are you sure we’re talking about the same dog? Long face, doesn’t look happy, white coat with brown spots. No one wants him.”

“I know exactly who Kojo is. He was at the shelter for a while. I didn’t know if he’d ever get adopted, but I always pictured some tough, cranky guy that was just like him to adopt him, but just a few days ago, this really sweet lady came in, and I never expected her to pick Kojo, but he was the only dog she wanted. She was very sure about it. Total opposites, but they somehow made sense just like I said earlier.”

“Does he have any siblings? I’ll even take a cousin.”

“No, not that I know of,” Celina answered then laughed. “Funny enough, the person who adopted Kojo asked the same question. She said she ideally wanted to get sibling dogs with someone I could tell she had a huge crush on. I think there are easier and lower maintenance ways to come onto a guy and force him to spend time with you that don’t include dog sibling play dates, but she said that was the dream.”

Too many coincidences were mounting that he had to ask, “You said the person that adopted Kojo was ‘sweet’. Was her name Lucy?”

She scrunched her nose and tried to remember for a second until it clicked. “Now that you mention it, yes! Her name was Lucy. Lucy Chen. She’s a romance writer. How cool is that?”

Though he was frustrated another one of his plans failed, he was glad Lucy adopted the dog she wanted. “Very cool,” he responded coolly.

“Wait!” Celina gasped. “Is she your Lucy?”

He flattened his lips into a thin line. “Thanks for the help.” He did not want to be in the animal shelter any longer knowing he could not do as he set out to when he arrived.

“Hang on,” she said, “You should know I told Lucy that Kojo’s never gonna be the easiest dog. There are other ones here that don’t growl or sulk like he does, but she said he was perfect for her anyways. You know why?”

Tim hated that he was curious to know the answer, but he kept his feet planted in the same spot instead of walking away, a captive audience for whatever she was about to say.

Celina barely resisted from smirking at the way he silently showed his interest. “Lucy said Kojo reminded her of someone really special to her.”

His heart stopped. He had noticed a few similarities between him and Kojo simply from watching the short video Lucy had shown him. He could not fathom why she wanted the grumpy dog, but she had been so sure. He was the one that said the dog was not right for her when he first heard about Kojo, but she objected to the point that she had gotten mad at him for suggesting otherwise.

Taking his speechlessness as realization washing over him, she put the pieces together quickly, too. “I don’t think you need a romantic gesture to get Lucy. I think you just have to go to her and tell her how you feel.”

His mouth went dry, so he croaked out, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“If you love her, you should fight for her.”

“Now I know Angela must’ve paid you, because she said basically the same thing.”

“Or maybe we’re both right, and you should listen to us,” Celina countered.

He shifted his weight to his other foot, unsure. It was tempting. So tempting. Terrifying but tempting. Whether he went to her or went home, he knew there was no need to remain in the shelter, so he said, “I should go.”

As he swiftly moved towards the exit, she called after him, “Yes! Go to her!” Fawning over being a tiny part of a love story, she grinned and muttered happily to herself, “I love when things work out.”

If he turned left at the end of the street, Tim knew he would be on the path back to his house, but if he turned right, he would be heading in the direction of her apartment.

He turned right.

Though a further distance than he had initially planned to run, his legs beginning to ache and his lungs feeling heavy, he reached her apartment building. Grateful for the elevator ride up to her floor to catch his breath, he took the few moments to slow his heart rate and wipe the sweat off of his brow. Much more slowly than his running pace, he walked over to her unit door and hesitated. It took every ounce of his strength to actually knock, but he did. He stopped breathing when the door swung open, but the person standing there was not Lucy. It was an even shorter woman he had never seen before. He recalled Lucy mentioning a few times that she had a roommate, but she had not been around the few times he had visited their apartment.

With half lidded eyes, Tamara scanned whatever mad man decided to show up at her front door so early in the morning. “What do you want?” She asked, then her brain caught up to the sight in front of her, and she woke up completely, her mind no longer foggy. A sly smile began to form as she said, “You’re the book boyfriend.”

“I’m Tim,” he said, since he was no longer a book boyfriend. “Is Lucy here?”

“About time you showed up,” she snapped then shouted, “Lucy, your boyfriend’s here!” When there was no answer, she left the doorway to walk through the common area of the apartment over to Lucy’s bedroom. She opened the door, scanned the room and en-suite bathroom, then frowned. “She’s not home.”

He nodded, because of course she was not at her apartment the one moment he showed up looking to speak to her. “That’s par for the course, I guess.”

“Should I tell her you’re looking for her?”

“Better you don’t mention any of this,” he grumbled. “Sorry to bother you.” He offered a tight half smile in thanks, and then he left with his hands in the pockets of his joggers. Just his luck. He tried to work with her, adopt a dog for her, and even just talk to her, but nothing was working out how he wanted. Disappointed and sure that meant that the universe was trying to tell him he should leave Lucy alone, he decided that since he had no other plans for the sunny Saturday, he could amble on his way home. A block away from Lucy’s apartment, he saw the familiar sign for a Mugs and thought some coffee might be exactly what he needed after an already eventful morning. On instinct, he scanned the café when he walked in. Just as he had for days on end, he thought he saw her. There was a woman at a table in the corner crowded around her laptop with long chestnut hair in a messy bun with a pen piercing through the knot. She had the same furrowed brow Lucy had when she was typing furiously. And oddly enough, there was a dog at her feet that looked like Kojo. Despite the similarities being uncanny, Tim knew his mind was playing tricks on him; he had been imagining her everywhere since returning to L.A. at the end of the tour, but not once had he truly seen her. But then the woman at her laptop looked over at him. When he met her eyes, his tongue felt heavy in his mouth, because for once, he was not imagining her. Lucy was really there.

Lucy could not believe that after yearning to see him for days, Tim walked into her favorite coffee shop unexpectedly. She shot up onto her feet as her heart hammered in her chest. He moved towards her slowly, which should have given her ample time to come up with the right words to say, but all she could manage was to breathe out a quiet, “Hey.”

“Hi,” he replied just as lowly as he feasted on the sight of her after days of only seeing poor copies of her.

“W-what are you doing here?” She tugged at the hem of her t shirt and kicked herself for wearing something so casual when she had hoped to look nicer the next time she saw him.

“I wanted coffee,” he answered, since that had been the reason he entered the Mugs.

“Right,” she exhaled a breath she had not realized she had been holding in. “Because coffee is what they sell here.” She wondered why she was being so awkward and begged herself to act more normally.

“They do,” he agreed then pointed at her laptop hoping to change the subject to something he could discuss more casually instead of how he thought he was embarrassing himself in front of her. “Are you working on your book?”

“Y-yeah. My new editor gave me some notes on the first few chapters, so I’m going over them now.”

“Notes? I personally edited your book. What notes could he possibly have?”

“Just small stuff. He’s really nice when he gives me feedback.”

His lips turned downward slightly. “Sounds like an upgrade from your last editor.”

“Not at all,” she disagreed. “I liked the old one,” she said softly and started to smile.

Tim looked between her gentle expression and the dog by her leg, quietly standing at attention ready to attack on command. His stomach flipped.

“If you have time, we can work through his notes together,” she suggested, grasping at excuses to spend a few moments with him.

“But I’m not your editor anymore.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t care about you…” she panicked, since that was not intended to be uttered aloud, so she tried to fix her mistake quickly, but saying, “Care about your opinion. I care about your opinion.” When he did not speak, she added, “I’ll buy you a coffee to make it worth your while. Just stay, please.” She could not believe how pathetic she sounded, but he did not react, which was a small miracle.

He wordlessly settled into the chair across from the one she had been occupying when he showed up.

She leaned over the table to turn her laptop around so that he could see the screen. “Here are all of my editor’s notes. I’ll be right back with your boring black coffee.”

“It’s not boring. It’s practical. Your chai tea monstrosity isn’t practical.”

“Coffee that makes you happy is practical.” The way he shook his head at her was surely meant to be disapproving, but she found it fond. “Add it to the long list of things we don’t agree on.”

“We could fill a book at this point,” he said lightheartedly.

She grinned, and in her periphery, she watched as her dog curiously sniffed Tim’s legs. “Oh, I almost forgot. I got Kojo.”

“I can see that,” he responded instead of telling her about his failed attempt to adopt the dog for her.

“We don’t have to flip to that chapter of the book of stuff we don’t agree on. I already know you didn’t want me to get a dog when I’m on a deadline, but I wanted him.”

“Any regrets about adopting him?”

“He’s pretty chill and hasn’t distracted me from writing, so no, I have no regrets, which means you were wrong about a dog keeping me from getting my work done.”

“I meant about getting him specifically. Any regrets about not getting one of the friendlier dogs?”

She admired Kojo happily. “Absolutely not.” She found Tim’s eyes, and they had lightened a shade in such a subtle way only she would notice. He had knocked the air out of her lungs simply by staring at her, so lightheadedly, she glanced at the busy baristas and said, “I should get your coffee now.” Lucy hoped the distance would give her a chance to calm her nerves, but his surprise appearance at Mugs had definitely knocked her off balance.

He knew he was supposed to help her with her book, but the screen blurred in front of him as he thought about the fact that he was really in her presence after days of craving to see her. Just to ensure his mind was not playing tricks again, he looked over at her where she was waiting in line to order while staring at her feet with a noticeable pink hue rising up on her cheeks. Tim drummed his fingers on the table. He was with her in a coffee shop that looked identical to all of the other ones they had occupied while on her book tour. If there was ever a safe place to tell her how he felt, it was in a Mugs. But speaking his mind had proven difficult; he kept saying all of the wrong things that only infuriated her. He looked to the laptop, and one last idea came to him. Tim opened a blank document and began to type. He hated every word and deleted it all, so he started over, then slammed on the backspace button. Agitated, he closed his eyes to inhale, then exhaled and refocused on the page begging for him to pour his truth onto it. He only managed to type a few words and read them back before he heard her voice behind him.

“What are you doing?” Lucy asked.

His brain malfunctioned, so he slammed the lid of the laptop closed. “W-working,” he lied.

The uncertainly in his demeanor was intriguing as he was usually so confident. She scooped up the laptop before he had a chance to take it away from her then set the cup down in front of him as a trade. She returned to her seat and opened the device. She was grateful she was sitting down when she read the words, because her knees wobbled so much she could have fallen over. “W-what is this?”

Since the truth had already been written out for her to read, he had no choice but to explain himself, so he raked a hand through his hair and said, “I’m just an editor. I’m not as good at coming up with stuff the way writers are. That’s probably why I say all the wrong things to you.” He watched her stand up on shaky legs, so he copied the movement. Being on his feet did not exactly make him feel any more sure of himself, but he stared down and pressed on, “I’m sorry I keep hurting you. I know you’re supposed to be with Emmett, but…opposites can attract, right?” She blinked at him, and he swore at himself internally, because he knew he was not really making sense like he had hoped. “That’s why I wanted to write it out. None of this is coming out right.”

“I think I’ve got a pretty good idea,” she replied, her eyes flicking between the laptop and his face.

“No, I was trying to say more than that. You deserve-”

“Stop telling me what I deserve,” she cut him off and stepped into his space.

“But you deserve the guy that tells you how he feels and does all the right things like buys you gifts, and I know that doesn’t come easy to me, but I want to try to be that kind of guy if you give me a chance. I probably won’t be as good at it as Emmett is, but I swear I’ll try.”

“Emmett is a great guy.”

His chest felt heavy. She must have finally listened to him after the countless times he told her to pick the other man. “He is. I shouldn’t have said any of this.” He reached to close the laptop once more, but she put her hand over his to keep it open.

“Emmett will make a really great boyfriend for someone else, but I already broke up with him.” The way his lips parted in surprise made her smile. “I wasn’t being fair to him, because of how I feel about you.” She eyed the laptop. “I know this is usually your job, but I’m gonna be an editor for a second, since there’s a tweak I’d like to make to what you’ve written here.”

“You have a tweak for me?”

“Mhm,” she hummed and bent forward to add her own sentence beneath the one he had written then bit down on her lower lip as she waited for him to go over her correction.

He read the words on the page:

I love you.

I love you too

Tim had so many thoughts about her words, but none more glaring than the one he pointed out, “You’re missing a comma and a period.”

She had to scoff, because of course he would say that unlike those perfect guys in romance novels with their sweeping emotional declarations of love, but he was not like that; he was honest, and direct, and he was exactly perfect for her. “Shut up and kiss me,” she demanded, already pressing onto her tip toes to bring their faces closer. He was smirking as he leaned in, and then his lips molded with hers passionately. Not a kiss for a picture or to sell their fake relationship but a real kiss, because he loved her, and she loved him. Her hands smoothed over him, getting reacclimated with having him under her fingers. Lucy felt the gallop of his heart, the firmness of his abdomen, the defined ridges of his biceps even through the material of his sweatshirt, and the pricks of the short hairs on the back of his neck. Usually, they broke away as their public appearances were not the appropriate time for her to be making out with him, but there was nothing stopping her from devouring him endlessly…except when the faint hiss of a coffee machine reached her ears, and she remembered they were standing in a Mugs, which was a rather public place. “I live a block away from here,” she told him lowly, which seemed to confuse him, so she clarified, “Come back to my place with me.”

“You‘ve said it yourself- you’re more productive in a Mugs than at your apartment.”

“I’m not trying to work right now,” she replied, surprised he did not understand her meaning.

“Oh,” was all he could say when he realized what she meant. He was not fully processing what was happening as she packed up her laptop and grabbed Kojo’s leash, but he distinctly felt the moment her fingers slotted between his, and she practically hauled him along for the short distance to her apartment building, and before he knew it, she was pressing him against a wall of the elevator and kissing him fiercely, which he would have liked more if only they did not have to detach when they reached her floor, but her hot mouth was back on his while they backpedaled down the hallway.

Tamara’s eyes were glued to her phone when the apartment door flew open. She was watching ClipToks while eating cereal, and between bites, she reported, “Hey, Lucy, your book boyfriend was here a bit ago.”

Lucy pulled back from kissing Tim to look at him. “You were here earlier?”

Tamara finally looked up from her phone to find her roommate and Tim with their arms wrapped around each other, which was unexpected.

“It’s been a weird morning,” he said. “I came to tell you what I said at Mugs, but you weren’t here.”

Lucy’s eyes dropped to his lips. “That would’ve made this part more convenient.”

Tamara quirked an eyebrow. “Which part is that? Practicing making out to sell the next book? Love the commitment to the role that you’re starting to practice from now when the book isn’t even done yet.”

“No more practicing or pretending,” Lucy whispered, making both her and him smile. Though she could not tear her gaze away from Tim, she requested of her roommate, “Hey, Tamara, can you leave with Kojo for a while? I want to make sure Tim and I don’t get interrupted.”

He appreciated that Lucy wanted to prevent anything getting between them again as that had happened enough infuriating times.

“I’m leaving right now,” Tamara responded and abandoned the rest of her cereal in favor of making a very swift exit while Tim and Lucy stared at each other like they were about to explode any second.

The second they were alone, he scooped her into his arms the way he had once before that she seemed to like and carried her towards the couch.

“Bed’s over there,” she murmured against his lips then caressed them until he set her down on the mattress. They had been in a similar position with him climbing on top of her; they had almost had sex once before under circumstances she wanted to ensure they were not replicating. Lucy broke their kiss to say, “This isn’t for help writing a scene, and I don’t want it to be a one time thing.”

“Last time, we agreed to at least twice,” he joked, but her vulnerable eyes communicated she needed to have a serious conversation with him. “It’s not a one time thing,” he assured her.

“If we do this, then we’re agreeing to give us a real chance.”

He swallowed. The air between them was buzzing. He could feel the rise and fall of her chest against his. She was offering him more than he felt worthy of, and he was appreciative. “All I want is a chance to try to be good enough for you.”

“You already are,” she whispered and watched him open his mouth, no doubt to object. “This is not the time to argue. We have more important things to do right now.”

Even though they were very good at arguing, since they hardly ever agreed on anything, in that moment, they were on the same page; he wanted to be with her uninterrupted and uninhibited, and she was just as eager to do the same. They did, in fact, have more important things to do just as Lucy had said; Tim had to kiss her thoroughly. She had to cling to keep him as close as possible. He had to run his hands over every centimeter of her. She had to ruck up his sweatshirt for access to more of his taut, golden skin. Everything they did was out of need; peeling clothes off, lips fused to all the right spots, and hands devoted to furthering their connection were all done, because they were desperate to express their love for each other openly and honestly.

He loved her. He typed it out in black and white on her computer, and he might as well have written it on her body a thousand times as he devoted his time and energy to her for long, blissful hours. Lucy reveled in his promotion from book boyfriend to real boyfriend as it was better than she could have imagined.

· ᥫ᭡ · ─ · 📚 ONE YEAR LATER 📚 · ─ · ᥫ᭡ ·

Simone Clark felt a rush of deja vu when she sat on the “Good Morning Portland” soundstage and read on her cue card that she was about to welcome a guest that had already visited her show before. She looked around for the woman that she would be interviewing until she found her lip locked with a man in the corner.

Lucy rocked away from Tim only for him to reel her back in. She laughed against his mouth, “I have to go. The interview starts any second.”

“Just making sure you have enough luck,” he reasoned lightheartedly.

“Stay right here so I can see you while I’m on camera,” she requested while straightening the collar of his shirt.

“Good luck.”

“You already gave me all the luck I need,” she replied with a smirk and went over to the chair next to Simone’s. The cameras began to roll, but Lucy was not nervous; she had been interviewed plenty of times and was getting used to the previously distressing activity, and she had Tim by her side, silently supporting her.

Simone grinned. “It’s good to have you back on my show, Lucy.”

“It’s great to be back,” she responded happily.

“And you’re on tour again with a new book.”

“I sure am.”

“Before I saw you today, I was planning to ask you about that stud of a boyfriend you toured with last time, but I saw that you brought him here today. It’s nice to see you’re still going strong.”

“We are,” Lucy gushed. “He’s got a new job on this tour, though. He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my fiancée now.” She met his gaze and beamed while her thumb stroked the cold diamond on her hand.

“Congratulations! When are you planning to tie the knot?”

“Well, my book that just came out is the first in a romance trilogy, so I suggested to Tim that we get married right before the second book comes out, and the next tour could be our honeymoon.”

“How does your man feel about that?”

“He told me he doesn’t mind as long as we’re together.”

“Sounds like a keeper. I see why you’re able to write such great love stories.”

“I know I’m biased, but I’m starting to think I have one that’s better than anything I’ll ever write,” Lucy mused. That had not been the point of getting a book boyfriend in the first place; Tim was only meant to be a pretend partner, since readers seemed to care if romance novels were created by a writer with their own healthy relationship. Perhaps she never actually needed a book boyfriend to sell books, since her words could stand on their own whether she was single or not, but she was grateful she had one if only to transform her life into the most compelling and meaningful love story she would ever know.

· ᥫ᭡ · ── · 📚 THE END 📚 · ── · ᥫ᭡ ·