Chapter Five

Star

“What time will you be here?” my mom’s voice snapped through the phone, sharp enough to make me turn my chair away from Axel’s office.

I lowered my voice and glanced over my shoulder to make sure the coast was clear. “I don’t know, Mom.”

“How can you not know what time you’re going to be here?” she demanded. “Ask your man and tell me. I can wait.”

I rolled my eyes and silently counted to three before responding. “I’m at work, Mother. I can’t be doing personal things on company time. I’ll let you know tomorrow what time we’ll be there.”

“Well, the sooner, the better. I need to know what time we’re going ice skating and doing savory and sweet s’mores. Though, maybe we’ll do charcuterie for dinner too.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. This was the perfect chance to come clean and tell her my imaginary boyfriend wouldn’t be joining us for Christmas because he didn’t exist. But no, instead, I heard myself say, “We’ll be there for dinner, but don’t plan on us skating.”

Us. Why was I still saying us?

“Can you at least tell me his name?” she asked, her tone now suspiciously sweet.

“It’s a surprise, Mom. I like having him to myself,” I said and cringed as the words left my mouth. I prayed to any deity listening that she’d find that romantic instead of realizing I was full of crap.

“Fine,” she sighed dramatically. “Just call me tonight to tell me what time you’ll be here, please.”

“Okay. Bye.” I ended the call and dropped my phone onto the desk, then let my shoulders sag. Chin to my chest, I muttered under my breath, “See, the thing is, Mom, I don’t actually have a boyfriend. I’ve just been lying to you for the past year to get you off my back about being in my thirties and single.”

“Star.”

My heart nearly stopped. I froze, held my breath, and prayed that wasn’t who I thought it was. Please let it be anyone but Axel. Please, please, please.

I swiveled my chair slowly, and there he was, standing right in front of my desk. “Oh, shit,” I whispered as my face heated instantly. “You didn’t, by chance, happen to be deaf for the last two minutes, did you?”

Axel shook his head, and his dark eyes sparkled with something that looked a lot like amusement. “No, honey.”

I blinked.

Honey?

He’d never called me that before. Not once in five years. Under any other circumstance, I might’ve latched onto that detail and overanalyzed it to death. But right now, the only thing I could focus on was the fact that he knew my deepest, dumbest secret.

“Uh, well,” I stammered, “maybe you could develop amnesia, then?”

He folded his arms over his chest in a move that only made him look more intimidating. His broad shoulders and towering frame seemed to shrink the space between us. I had never been blind to the fact that Axel was ridiculously good-looking. Blindness wasn’t the issue. Restraint was. Every day for five years, I’d had to shove down the part of me that noticed how his muscles filled out his shirts or how his jawline looked like it had been chiseled out of marble.

And now, as he stood there, arms crossed, watching me squirm under his gaze? He was the embodiment of every bad decision I’d ever stopped myself from making.

“Why don’t you roll that part back to me about telling your mom you have a boyfriend when you don’t?” His voice was calm, but there was no mistaking the curiosity behind it.

I waved a hand dismissively and forced a laugh that sounded as fake as it felt. “Oh, that? That’s nothing. You know how moms can be.”

His brow arched. “No, I actually don’t.”

Oh, God. I instantly regretted my words. Axel didn’t have a mom—not one he knew, anyway. He’d grown up in the foster system, and while he rarely talked about it, I’d picked up enough to know he’d been on his own since he was eighteen. He didn’t have the kind of family who called to pester him about his love life or forced him into awkward holiday plans.

“I just... My mom’s been on my case about settling down,” I explained and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I got sick of it, so I told her I was dating someone, and I’ve just kept the charade up for the past year.” I bit my lip nervously. “And now, with it being Christmas, she wants to meet him.”

“She wants to meet your imaginary boyfriend?” he asked, his expression unreadable.

I nodded and cringed as I said, “Yes, that is correct.”

Axel let out a low hum, the kind that made me feel like he was piecing something together. “And your plan is...?”

“Well,” I said and felt increasingly ridiculous, “I just need to find a place that rents boyfriends. Then I’ll be set.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Rent a boyfriend?”

“Yup.” I nodded quickly, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole. “That’s totally a thing, right? I was going to take a peek in the Yellow Pages before you magically appeared behind me. Or, I could always consult my dating app.” Jesus, that was truly the last thing I wanted to do.

A place that rented out boyfriends sounded a hell of a lot better than any dating app.

“Pretty sure they call that an escort, and the price might be mighty shocking,” Axel said with his tone deadpan.

Yeah, he was probably right. But what other choice did I have? “Well, whatever,” I sighed and threw up my hands. “I’ll figure something out, and I promise it’ll be after I clock out for the day.”

Axel didn’t say anything; he just stared at me with that unreadable look of his.

“I should get back to...” I motioned toward my desk, which was already practically spotless since most things had been cleared out for the holidays. “Things.” God, I really needed to think of another word other than “things.”

“Where does your family live?” he asked, catching me off guard.

“Uh, they’re up in Redmond, Utah,” I said and kept my voice cautious. This definitely wasn’t the direction I expected the conversation to go.

Axel nodded like he was filing the information away. “Are you just going for the day, or...?” He let the question dangle.

“Uh, well,” I hesitated and tried to figure out why he cared. “She’s expecting me on the twenty-fourth, and I plan to make my escape on the twenty-sixth.” Hopefully, sooner , I thought, but I knew my mom wouldn’t let me leave any sooner. “Just a couple of days. I’ll show up, deal with her nagging, and leave. It’s not a big deal.” I shrugged, very aware that this wasn’t exactly work-appropriate small talk. “Definitely not something I need to be discussing with you.”

Axel didn’t seem fazed. “A lot of family there?” he asked.

“Uh, not really,” I said and fidgeted with a pen on my desk. “Just my mom, dad, sister, her husband, their son, and my aunt and uncle.” I paused. “Why do you want to know this?”

He nodded again, his expression calm but focused like he was planning something. “When are you leaving?”

I blinked. What in the world? “The morning of the twenty-fourth. Probably around ten.” I figured that would buy me some extra time to avoid skating or whatever other activities my mom had planned. If I left late enough, I’d get there just in time for dinner, which meant less time for her to grill me.

Axel clicked his tongue thoughtfully. “Good. I’ll pick you up at ten on the twenty-fourth.” He turned on his heel and headed back toward his office like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on me.

“What?” I squeaked and jumped to my feet. “You’ll what ?” My voice cracked, but I didn’t care. What on earth was he talking about?

He didn’t even turn around; he just kept walking. “Redmond’s cold, right?” he asked over his shoulder.

I scrambled out from behind my desk and hurried after him, my boots clicking against the tile floor. “Well, yes,” I sputtered, following him into his office, “but I don’t know why you need to know that. And I definitely don’t know why you just said you’re picking me up.”

Axel settled into his chair like this was any other day. He leaned back slightly and looked up at me. “Unless you want to take your car,” he said, his tone calm and measured. “But I think my truck is more reliable than yours. Especially in the snow.”

My head was swimming. I couldn’t wrap my brain around what he was saying, let alone why he was saying it.

“You need to slow your roll, Axel. I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I’m saying,” he replied patiently, “I think we should take my truck since it’ll handle better in the snow.”

I blinked a few times and tried to make sense of this bizarre conversation. “Roll it back even further to where you said you’d pick me up.”

“Ten o’clock on the twenty-fourth,” he repeated as if it were obvious.

“Why?” I enunciated the word like he was missing something crucial. “Why are you picking me up?”

“Because you need someone to go with you to your mom’s for the holidays.”

“And you’re saying that someone is you?” I clarified and pointed at him like maybe I’d hallucinated this whole thing.

He nodded as if he was completely unbothered.

“You’re my boss.”

“I won’t be paying you while we’re at your family’s, Star.”

I groaned and threw up my hands. “That’s not what I meant! Let me dumb this down for myself, okay?”

Axel gave a slight nod and watched me with that calm, infuriatingly patient expression.

“You’re going to come to my family Christmas in Redmond, Utah,” I said slowly, “and be my boyfriend . That’s what you’re offering?”

Axel nodded again.

I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened it again. Words refused to form. “I... uh... well...” I inhaled deeply. “ Why ?” I finally blurted.

Axel chuckled, and the sound was rich and warm. “Do you have someone else in mind?” he asked casually. “Maybe you could call Brad again and see if he’s willing to ditch his fiancée for the holidays to help you out.”

My face burned like a Christmas tree caught on fire. “You heard that?”

Axel leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. “You know I never close my door, honey. I hear everything.”

There it was again— honey . It was disarming, like he knew exactly how to charm me with a single word. Worse, it sent an unexpected thrill through my chest that I was completely unprepared to deal with.

“I just... I mean...” My brain short-circuited under his steady gaze. “I don’t think...”

“Your options,” Axel interrupted, his voice calm and sure, “are to tell your mom you lied to her for a year, or you bring me.” He spread his hands. “Pick one, Star.”

He made it sound so simple. Like there was nothing weird about the man who signed my paychecks volunteering to be my fake boyfriend for Christmas.

Maybe it was that simple.

“I don’t know if you understand what you’re getting yourself into,” I said, folded my arms, and leaned against the edge of his desk. “My family is a lot . Like, a lot, a lot .”

Axel leaned back in his chair and was completely at ease. “I’m a big boy, Star. I can handle whatever you and your family throw at me.”

I stared at him and tried to gauge whether he had any idea what he was signing up for. My mom was relentless, my sister was nosy, and the Christmas chaos was unmatched. But the thought of showing up alone and enduring their pity and lectures about my non-existent love life sounded worse.

I inhaled deeply and tried to steady myself. “Fine. Pick me up at ten on the twenty-fourth.” What other choice did I have?

Axel’s lips quirked into the faintest smile. “It’s a date.”

I groaned. What had I just gotten myself into?