Chapter 21

March 26th

Lesson of the night. More is not always merrier.

"Paige?"

"My, aren't you popular, little one," Jack whispered into her ear.

Fraser's eyes narrowed with recognition as he turned along with Patrick and Jack looking at the newcomer.

"Hello, Max," Paige said with a nervous laugh. "Let me guess, you're Jack's cousin, too?"

Max looked confused, but his snobby blonde date from Valentine's Day looked very sharky as she eyed the three men around Paige.

"Not that I know of. I'm here representing the police department. We work with this charity and pass out books to children. We also have the Read with a Cop program that this charity helps fund," Max said as his eyes struggled to stay on her face. He was at least being respectful with his date clinging to him.

"Patrick," the date cooed, reaching for him. "It's sooo lovely to see you again."

Paige rolled her eyes. Max was the only one who saw it and frowned as he looked between his date and Patrick. "Patrick," Max said, holding his hand out for Patrick.

"Max. I guess you know my girlfriend, Paige Turner."

"And I know Max," Fraser said frowning. "You're just always around, aren't you?"

"I live to serve and protect." How did that sound so sexual? It had to be the way he said it as he kept eye contact with Paige, but it made her stomach do all sorts of flips.

"Oh gosh! I know you too," his date said to Jack. "You're Jack Griffin of Griffin Publishing. I'm Angie's daughter, Sierra."

Paige recognized Jack's smile as one of irritation. Well, this was turning into a reverse harem nightmare and Paige wanted out. "Patrick, you promised me a dance."

Not missing a beat, Patrick snagged her from Jack and pressed a kiss to her knuckles as if he were Prince Charming. "Your wish is my command."

Patrick slipped his arm around Paige's waist. She didn't breathe again until they were on the dance floor. Patrick pulled her tight against him as they danced. "Liam described you as a bookworm, yet I think you know more people here than I do."

"That's as surprising to me as it is to you."

"I didn't know you worked for my cousin." Patrick's grip tightened on her possessively. "Just be careful around him."

"Why?" Paige asked. Funny, Jack had said the same about Patrick.

"I guess he told you we're cousins." Paige nodded. "Well, we tend to be a bit competitive."

Ah. It made sense now. "I get that. It's the same for my cousin and me—the cousin whose wedding we will attend together tomorrow."

"Look at that, Paige. We have more in common than we thought."

Paige had to admit that Patrick was the perfect fake date. She could see how these tropes worked so well. It would be easy to fall for Patrick. The man had stayed by her side all night. He casually touched her. His hands brushed the back of her neck, trailed down her back, rested on the small of her back, curled around her hips, and then he kissed her right in the middle of the dance floor. It wasn't the teasing barely brush of the lips from Jack. No, this was a kiss that left no doubt of who she belonged to. Well, not like that. She wasn't any man's property. But at that moment, her lips completely belonged to Patrick.

Paige had been kissed before, but by two men in one night had never happened. Especially when they were both hot but so very different. Jack's spoke of pure confidence. Patrick's spoke of arrogance. But by the talented way he kissed, it was deserved.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Fraser looking pissed off. It mirrored the look from Max's date, Sierra. "How do you know that woman?" Paige asked.

Patrick spun them in the dance and glanced to where Paige had indicated. "Sierra? Yeah, she was a one-night stand about six months ago. I thought it was fun and we'd walk away on good terms. Then I saw some texts coming across her phone when she was in the bathroom about trying to trick me into a relationship. I don't do relationships, hence why we're in a fake one. It's strange she's with Max though."

"How come?" Paige asked as Patrick led her from the dance floor in the complete opposite direction from where his cousin Jack was standing. Jack didn't chase like Fraser had been trying with her. Jack waited for her to come to him. And she would keep him waiting until Monday morning because she was going to steer clear of him the entire night.

"She's a big society girl. Even went to Paris to have her coming out. She's exactly the type of person my mother wants me to marry. So, I'm having a hard time imagining that relationship lasting," Patrick explained. "I bet her mother is near fainting that she's dating a man with such a pedestrian job who doesn't come out in society much."

"I think he's heroic," Paige said, instantly coming to Max's defense. "I've met Max several times when he was on duty and he's really a nice guy."

Patrick's brows furrowed and he looked as if he were going to say something, but then Sierra joined them and whatever Patrick was going to say died on the lips he was now using to kiss Paige. "Maybe she'll go away?" he whispered against her lips causing Paige to smile even as Patrick kissed her.

Sierra finally spun away and stomped off. Patrick broke the kiss and smiled down at Paige as he held her face in his hands. "Ready to get out of here?"

"Yes," she said, trying not to sound so breathy.

"Let me say good night to my mother. I'll meet you at the bar nearest the door."

Paige smiled and watched Patrick walk away before finding the bar. She was approaching it and stopped behind a giant plant when she saw Sierra talking very animatedly to Max. "I can't believe someone like Patrick would bring someone like her to this event."

"Paige is nice. Why wouldn't he bring her?" Max asked.

"She's a fat nobody and a gold-digging slut. Did you see that dress?"

Max set down his glass as tears threatened to spill from Paige's eyes. She'd felt beautiful tonight and then Sierra had ripped her apart to the one man she respected.

"I did see that dress. Paige looks stunning in it because she's as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside. The only one looking ugly right now is you, Sierra."

Max truly was her hero. She watched as Sierra stormed off. Max downed his drink and went after her.

"Ready to go?" Patrick asked, joining her.

Paige caught Fraser striding toward them, looking very unhappy. "Yes, and not a minute too soon."

Patrick put his arm around her and directed her toward the exit while falling in directly behind her, effectively cutting her off from Fraser. Paige looked up to see Jack watching her leave. He didn't smile. He didn't frown. He took her in from head to toe. Even from across the room, it felt as if her clothes had been scorched from her body.

When Paige glanced away, her eyes connected with Max's. Max looked at her completely differently. His gaze was kind, if not slightly worried. When their gazes locked, he slowly dipped his chin in acknowledgment and smiled sweetly at her. She smiled back at him before walking through the door.

Tonight had not gone the way Paige had ever imagined. Her mind was whirling with what it all meant as she slid into the limo.

Patrick pressed himself against her in the large backseat, and grabbed her hand in his. "I had no idea that my fake date would be such a hit. Thank you. It gives us credibility that people know you. Although, I'm now wondering how you know all these men."

"Oh, um..." How could she explain how she met Max? Wait, this was a fake date. She didn't need to be truthful with him. "Max drove me to the hospital when I was having an allergic reaction and Fraser was the doctor who treated me. And you know I work for Jack."

"And you don't have a relationship with any of them?"

"Well, as you can see, Max has a girlfriend and I would never cheat or help someone else cheat on their girlfriend. Fraser wasn't free to be my date, and I won't mess up my job by dating Jack."

"Admirable. Does that no cheating go for fake dates too?" Patrick asked with a smirk.

"Yes. I assume you can keep it in your pants for the next twenty-four hours. Then we can break up and you can bang all the Sierras you want."

"I was thinking of banging someone else." Patrick's eyes turned darker and Paige's heartbeat ramped up. "I bet the sex between us would be very, very real."

Was this it? Was this the moment she'd wanted? Was it with the guy she wanted? Did that matter? Patrick had been the perfect gentleman tonight. His kiss made her burn and definitely made her want more. He would do the job and do it well.

His hand began to slide up her thigh and even through the dress and the shapewear, his touch sent tingles racing straight to her bookmark. Patrick turned and looked at her. His eyes were heated and his breathing was steady, but faster than normal. It matched hers as he kept his eyes on hers while his hand slid upward.

So this is what it felt like. The pages from her book were coming to life and she was here for it. Her heart pounded, her core throbbed with need, and damned if she couldn't wait anymore. She wasn't going to sit back and let sex come to her. She was an active participant in her sex life and she wasn't going to be ashamed of that.

Paige turned her head so that her lips met Patrick's in a heated kiss. Paige grabbed his tuxedo lapel in her hand and pulled him closer as their tongues battled in the hottest kiss of her life to date. It only got hotter when Patrick's hand came up and cupped her breast. His hand squeezed, then taunted her as he dipped his thumb into her dress and ran his thumb over her nipple.

The gasp was real. She'd read about it in the books and occasionally rolled her eyes at the number of times the heroines gasped at the hero's touch. Well, when Patrick rolled her nipple while sucking on her tongue, she gasped. She moaned. And she hoped like hell he'd thrust his throbbing member into her wet folds, or however most romance books explained it. She didn't care if they called it a manroot planting itself in her dewy petals. Screw the euphemism, she wanted it done and she wanted it done now.

"I can't wait to have you," Patrick said, his voice rough with desire. And holy bookmark, that was enough to make her shapewear melt.

Patrick shoved her dress down, allowing her breasts to pop free from their tight restraint. The moment they were free, he grabbed them and lifted them up. While their eyes were locked, he sucked one taut nipple into his mouth. A groan that was very unladylike came out of Paige's mouth without even realizing it. When the hero tells the woman to open her eyes and watch him, Paige realized how truly hot that was. Because right now her head was thrown back and her eyes were rolled back into her head as he nipped, nibbled, and sucked her nipples until her whole body was undulating.

This wasn't fiction. This wasn't fake. This was real. A good lover was really like the heroes in the books. Her ex-boyfriends who had fumbled around here and there were wrong. They always blamed her bookworminess as the reason for her lack of excitement in the sex department. Romance novels don't ruin women's expectations. Book boyfriends just show women that men who care about pleasing a woman are very real and women are entitled to that. Not only that, but Paige had learned a lot about sex from the books she'd read, and she was so turned on right now she couldn't wait to experiment with what she'd read.

Paige reached down and rubbed Patrick's impressive erection. It didn't need to be a python to do the job. The sheer rigidity of it was a physical sign of how much he wanted her and that was sexier than being hung like a two-liter bottle.

"You know this doesn't make this a real relationship, right?" Patrick asked between gritted teeth as he began to shove her long dress upward.

"Yeah, yeah, fake relationship. Just don't stop touching me." Paige was fevered. She had to get out of these clothes, but she had to feel that hardness between her legs.

"Get on top of me," Patrick ordered as he pushed her hand off his erection and unzipped his pants.

Paige scrambled to straddle him, but then two things happened. One, the dress was so tight that she couldn't fully get her knees across his lap and two, the limo took a sharp turn, sending Paige falling to the side and her knee landing hard on that glorious erection and his balls.

"Shit!" Patrick cursed and shoved at Paige's thigh where her knee was acting like a human kickstand to his balls.

The limo suddenly slammed on the brakes. That should have been a good thing, but now she was slightly off balance. Paige tried to relieve the pressure on Patrick's balls but the sudden stop sent her flying off of Patrick. She fell hard off the back seat and landed in a messy heap of tits, legs, and arms on the floorboard. Only after her head smacked the small wood bar at the same time her stiletto-heeled foot sunk into the leather seat.

"Fuck!" Patrick's shriek was five octaves higher than normal as he fell to the side, across the length of the back seat, clutching his balls.

Oops. That wasn't the leather seat. Paige would have felt bad, but she was seeing stars and when she touched the back of her head, she felt something warm and sticky. "I think my head is bleeding."

"Your head? Who gives a fuck about your head?" Patrick yelled, sounding panicked. "My balls are bleeding! You stabbed me in the balls!"

The door was opened and a very worried looking chauffeur looked in. "Are you hurt? I'm sorry, there was a bike messenger and I almost hit him."

"Hit him next time!" Patrick yelled. "She fucking stabbed me in the balls with her stilettos. I need a hospital!"

"Right away, sir!"

"And get her out of my limo. I never want to see her again," Patrick said between pained groans.

Paige surely heard wrong. "Me? It was an accident. And besides, I hit my head. I need a hospital too."

"Get out!"

And that was how Paige was left standing on the sidewalk with her tits out, her head bleeding, and worst of all, with no date for the wedding from hell tomorrow.