She only has one rule...
[WATTYS SHORTLIST 2022]
A buttoned up bookworm agrees to a fake relationship with a surprisingly literate male model in order to save his career. She only has one condition: No kissing allowed.
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At age 27, Cora Glass ha...
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Jamie made his way up the sandy path to the bungalow's front door. He took the front step carefully so as not to trip in the moonless dark. The clouds had grown thicker since he left the bungalow an hour ago, and the wind was whipping up the surf. He'd gone walking barefoot along the beach, hoping the chilly air and churning water would help him clear his head, but he only felt more muddled than before.
I think I might be in love with you.
Jamie groaned aloud for what must have been the hundredth time since those words escaped his lips. Of all the asinine things he could've said...
Cora's reaction hadn't surprised him. Words of disbelief, tinged with a faint horror. She'd been more than clear with him not to speak to her of love. When he'd begged her to come on the show, she'd insisted "I have no interest in a romance." He could still picture the whole scene as it had unfolded on the airport shuttle bus. He'd given her his word that he would not abuse her boundaries. "I swear," he had promised. "I will make it up to you somehow."
But Jamie Bowen was no gentleman. His word was not worth much. And how did he repay the debt he owed her? "I think I might be in love with you." The very thing she wanted least of all.
No, he hadn't been surprised by Cora's answer, but it had stabbed him through the heart all the same.
Jamie couldn't remember exactly what he'd said afterward, or how he'd come to find himself wandering the darkened beach. His mind had gone blank for a moment—a blur of embarrassment and pain. Apparently she had gone to sleep without him in the interim. He saw no sign of light or movement inside the bungalow, and he tiptoed to the second bedroom to avoid disturbing her slumber.
Jamie flipped on the lights and sat down on the edge of the bed. He felt more clear-headed now after his walk. A plan had taken shape. They still had one week left together here. It might still be possible to salvage things if he could speak to her before the crew returned.
He wouldn't go to bed at all tonight, he decided. He'd stay up and watch the sky until the first rays of dawn made their presence known. He would wake her with half an hour to spare before the crew arrived, and he would have his story carefully prepared.
Jamie went over the outline of it again now in his head. "Right," he muttered, slipping into an Oxbridge accent as easily as he might slip on another man's suit of clothes. "Oxytocin, oft-referred to as the love hormone..." They'd been stewing in it here for weeks. That was all he felt. It didn't mean anything. It wasn't real. Once they left the confines of their bungalow, it would pass as quickly as it came.
Jamie looked down at his hands as he planned out the words he'd say to her. Cora would believe it. Of that much, he felt certain. She always believed him best when he was lying. She'd swallow it without question if he said what she wanted to hear.
