Chapter 20

March 26th

Yeah, I kinda lied when I said I was done with the losing my virginity thing. This fake date has real sex written all over it. If he can get me out of the shapewear, that is.

"You really do look beautiful. I have to thank you for doing this for me." Patrick handed her a glass of champagne from the small bar along the side of the limo. "To help with the nerves."

"Thank you." Paige took a sip as the limo pulled out into traffic. "Where are we going? What is our backstory and what is my mission?"

Patrick chuckled and leaned back in his seat. "We're going to the New York Public Library for the Literacy for All Gala."

Paige's hand went to her heart as it fluttered. "The holy land for any bookworm."

Patrick smiled with amusement, but even a sexy man in a tux was no match for the New York Public Library, which had to be one of the most beautiful libraries in the country. Just thinking of Patience and Fortitude, the marble lions who sat sentinel at the entrance of New York's cathedral of literacy made her heart skip a beat.

"I just turned thirty," Patrick began to explain. "My mother has deemed that I am old enough to get married. She has invented a new sport—socialite slinging. She literally hurls women at me hoping one will hit the bullseye of my heart. It's exhausting. I'm not ready to settle down and she knows this but is making my life hell. Your mission is to be the perfect date for me tonight. Stay by my side. Answer the myriad of questions hurled at you, and if necessary, claw an heiress's eyes out protecting my virtue."

Paige had to set down her champagne as she laughed. "No problem," Paige said between laughs. "But how did we meet? How long have we been together?"

"Let's stick close to the truth. My friend Liam set us up a month ago on a blind date and we've been seeing each other ever since."

"Well, that's easy enough to remember. Tell me about yourself. I don't know anything about you."

"Ouch." Patrick put his hand to his heart. "You're the love of my life and you don't know anything about me?"

"Do you know anything about me?" Paige questioned teasingly.

"Touché." Patrick's smile dropped as he looked out the window. "We're going to have to wing it, darling. We're here."

Paige looked out the window and froze at the sight that awaited her. A red carpet and tons of photographers. "You never said there would be a red carpet. What do I do? What do I say?"

Patrick shrugged. "Whatever you want. Just be you."

"Real me or fake me?"

Patrick was laughing as the door opened and he stepped out into the flashing lights. He turned back to her and held out his hand. Paige wanted to hide in the corner of the car, but Main Character Paige would be brave. She was the one who walked into Jack's office and demanded her promotion. Tonight, she was Main Character Paige.

Paige plastered on a smile, held out her hand to Patrick, and slid as gracefully as she could out of the limo. "Who's your date, Patrick?" reporters were shouting.

"Paige Turner, my girlfriend," Patrick replied.

All eyes went to Paige as Patrick slid her hand into the crook of his arm and leaned down. His lips brushed her ear, looking at the reporters as if he were kissing her. "Relax and smile, darling. Think of the rare book room we'll get to see."

Paige's eyes lit up and suddenly there was an onslaught of photos.

"How long have you been dating?" a reporter shouted.

"Around a month," Patrick replied as they slowly made their way down the gossip line.

"Paige! How is it being the girlfriend of Patrick Bolten?"

"So wonderful I have to pinch myself to make sure it's real," Paige said sweetly, and Patrick had to smother an unexpected laugh under a cough. "But you really should ask him how it is dating me."

The press line chuckled and Patrick looked down at her adoringly. "It's what fairy tales are made of."

This time Paige had to bite her bottom lip not to laugh. Patrick placed his hand on the small of her back and escorted her inside. "Paige, I do believe we're going to have a very good time together."

"Me too, Patrick. Bring on the socialites and heiresses."

Oh, the socialites were brought. They came from right, left, and center and some even snuck up behind them. Soon she and Patrick were surrounded as if they were chum in the waters for these socialite sharks. The fakeness was unreal. They ignored her entirely. They tried to separate her from Patrick as they clung to each other for dear life. Then they turned their attack onto her. The underhanded compliments were always Paige's favorite form of passive-aggressive bullshit. "What a lovely dress. I didn't know they made it for plus sizes." In their world anything over a 000 was plus-sized.

Patrick's hand slipped to her ass on that comment and gave it a squeeze. Paige looked up at him with surprise and he winked.

"Paige?"

Paige froze. She knew that deep voice. It shouldn't surprise her he was here. He was a billionaire after all.

The sea of sharking socialites parted and Jack Griffin strode forward, looking devastating in his tuxedo. If Paige wasn't fearful of her fake boyfriend messing up her very real job, she would have laughed at the looks on the circling socialites' faces. Some switched their attention to Jack. Some were team Patrick. Then others glared at Paige as if how dare she know both Patrick and Jack.

"Hello," Paige said with a smile trying to figure out how she could say his name without sounding like the meager employee she was. "Patrick, do you know Jack Griffin? Jack, this is Patrick Bolten."

There. She did it. Both men looked at her strangely. The socialites all looked at her strangely. How did she mess this up?

Patrick laughed then and squeezed her hand, so she giggled. "I love your sense of humor, Paigey."

Jack raised an eyebrow, but any discussion was cut off when an elegant woman who could be anywhere between thirty and seventy depending on how much of her was real versus surgically enhanced gliding up to them. "Patrick, daaaaarling," she cooed. "Come. There's someone I want you to meet. Jack," she said, dismissing Jack and turning back to Patrick.

The socialites sighed but gave Paige victorious smirks. Some turned their attention to Jack and others wandered off to find new victims.

"Mother," Patrick said, not being tugged away by the woman. "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Paige Turner."

Two piercing blue eyes snapped to hers and then quickly dismissed her. "It hasn't been in the papers yet so it's not serious. I don't know any Turners, but I do want you to meet—"

"Go ahead, Patrick," Jack said smoothly. "Paige and I have known each other... how long now, Paige?"

"Oh gosh, maybe three years?" Paige's main character persona was slipping. She was struggling to hang on to it.

"We were just at this private club the other week together, but I missed speaking to her. I have something to discuss with Paige, so I'll take good care of her for you while you run off with mummy."

Holy page turner. There was history between these two for sure.

Mrs. Bolten smiled. Well, probably. The Botox was a little heavy to tell for sure, but then her long nails curled into Patrick's arm and he was yanked away. He reached out for Paige, but Jack stepped in between them, preventing Paige from grabbing onto Patrick's hand.

"Let's get a drink, Paigey."

"Um, I really should check on Patrick."

A particularly aggressive socialite was still sharking around. Jack turned to her and she smiled when their eyes met. "Leave us," Jack snapped just like he snapped at Paige to get into his office.

The socialite frowned but swam away in a swirl of silk.

"It's nice to see you outside the office, Mr. Griffin. What are you doing here tonight?" Paige was backpedaling like her life depended on it, trying to find a way to save face.

"Griffin Publishing is the sponsor of this event," he said, clearly amused by her lack of knowledge. "I think the better question is, what are you doing here with Patrick?"

"Oh, he's my date. I take it you two know each other?"

"He's my cousin. You didn't know that?"

Paige rolled her eyes as Jack handed her another glass of champagne. "Does it look like I know what's going on at these society events?"

"Which brings me back to my question. Why are you here, little one?"

"According to her," she said, nodding to one particular sharp-toothed socialite, "I'm a great big one." Paige cringed as she took a sip of her drink. She sounded bitter and hurt. She was, but she didn't want to show that side to anyone, especially Jack. Suddenly Jack grabbed her hand and tugged her away from the crowd.

It was just a few yards from where they'd been standing, but the enclave he pulled her into was completely private. "Don't listen to her. Men don't want that."

Paige's breath caught as her boss stepped so close she could smell the bourbon on his breath. "They don't?"

Jack's eyes locked with hers and he leaned so close their lips almost touched. "No. We want breasts that bounce as we hammer into you from behind while squeezing your juicy ass."

Paige stopped breathing. Jack wasn't even touching her and her heart was racing as if she were in the middle of having the kind of hot sex Jack was talking about.

Jack leaned down far enough for his lips to brush against hers. Paige's eyes closed as she breathed in the smell of woodsy cologne mixed with a smokey bourbon. His lips were smooth but firm, and then they were gone. "Be careful of my cousin, little one. And when you're ready for a real man, you know where to find me."

When Paige opened her eyes, Jack had his arm at the small of her back and was directing her out of the enclave and back to the party. It had been so quick she wondered if he'd actually kissed her, but the tingle of her lips told her it had been real. Not like her date. A date who was now looking for her.

Patrick's eyes locked onto hers and then dropped to where Jack's hand was on the small of her back. He looked so angry that Paige stopped walking.

"Paige? Is that you? Oh my gosh, I've been trying to get ahold of you."

Jack and Patrick's alpha-locked glare broke as they turned to the newcomer, staring daggers at him.

"Fraser," Paige sputtered. "What are you doing here?"

Fraser laughed as he walked over with the swagger only a man used to saving lives had. He wasn't the slightest bit intimidated by the fact that Paige was flanked by two angry billionaires. It was actually pretty hot when he reached forward and kissed her cheek. "This is one of the charities I support."

"I thought you were busy this week." Paige internally chided herself for sounding like a nagging girlfriend. But it was true and it was the reason she was here with a fake date.

"I'm on call. Hence why I'm drinking water." It was then Fraser who acted as if he saw the two men surrounding her. "Doctor Fraser Robertson," he said, holding out his hand.

"Jack Griffin, Paige's boss," Jack said, not removing his hand from the small of Paige's back.

"Patrick Bolten, Paige's boyfriend."

Paige bit her lip as Fraser's eyes went wide before turning back to her. "Boyfriend? I guess that's why you were trying to get in touch with me?"

"Yeah, about that . . ."

Jack chuckled as he pulled her against his side and farther away from Patrick. "Our Paige is full of surprises, isn't she?"

Patrick put his arm around her waist as well and pulled her to his side as if she were the rope in a tug-of-war game. "She sure is."

Paige felt a round of nervous giggles clawing their way up her throat as one last surprise was walking toward them.