Just Pretend

Chapter Six

Gwen

I feel better after talking to my mom, but she gave me the same advice she always gives me; break up with Mark. She knows the implications but has a plan to keep him silent.

I'm the daughter of an international business mogul who has connections in the government, and Mark knows this. He knows that if my personal life gets out it could ruin my father.

I'm a pretty private person for that reason, but Mark and I have been together for more than enough time for us to accumulate photos of events that won't shed a good light on the CEO of Reddick International Holdings.

I work for him; did I mention that? I work for my father as a contract translator; hence the fact that I speak ten languages. I'm on loan to Carlton Industries for the next seven months and then I'm on holiday for a bit.

I can't wait.

I slide my phone into the back pocket of my black shorts and start walking into the house, my eyes lingering on the fence where Jason had disappeared and my cheeks redden. I'm thankful my mind had been occupied by the conversation with my mother, because I do not need Jason – someone I've known less than twenty-four hours – knowing that I fantasized about him.

I shake my head and walk inside, ignoring Mark sitting on the couch in front of his console, his eyes glued to the screen as he yells into the mic in his headphones, heading upstairs to our bedroom. I sit down on the bed and pull my rolling kit from under the bed and rolling up three perfect king size joints. I put one behind each ear before standing and picking up Mark's from the bed and quickly jogging down the stairs.

I drop Mark's joint on his chest and he looks up at me with a grin that threatened to soften my heart towards him; the expression reminding me when we'd just started dating and he'd been considerate. I smile and head into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge, and grabbing a second one just as the fridge door starts slowly shutting.

Mark hasn't looked up from the screen and is lighting his joint one handed while the other mashes the buttons of his controller into the plastic, and I shake my head in disappointment at his reaction as I pass him to the sliding door. I slide it open and he doesn't even look up from the screen as I cross the porch to the back gate.

I undo the latch and slip through the gap, closing the gate behind me as I turn to face the pool. Jason's already there; sitting at the edge of the pool with his muscled back to me.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

His back is broad and his shoulders strong with muscles rippling underneath bronzed skin. Why does he have to be so gorgeous?

I take a deep breath before walking over to him and running the side of one of the water bottles over the top his back and he looked up at me with raised eyebrows as his entire back became covered in goosebumps.

He stands up slowly, uncoiling himself to his full height and I bite back a gasp, realizing for the first time just how tall Jason is. He's a foot and a half taller than I am and if he were to hug me, my nose would reach the middle of his chest. I can bite back the gasp but I can't stop my eyes from appreciatively running over his chest.

'You'd be in that pool if it weren't for the joints behind your ear,' Jason says looking down at me, amusement shining in his green eyes. I grin and reach up with my hand to retrieve his and hand it to him as he shakes his head at me, grabbing the bottle I'd run over his back and putting it in his free hand before sitting back down on the edge and tugging me down next to him.

I put my feet in the cool, blue water and lean backward to get my lighter from my pocket and handing it to him while I reach for my own joint behind my ear and place it between my lips as I sit back up.