Fake It Till You Bake It(85)

Jada stuck her tongue out at her best friend. “Stop.”

“I will not. Only one of us has anything remotely resembling romance in her life and it certainly ain’t me. I’m not the one having wild, passionate sex with a ridiculously attractive man, who went out of his way to get some photos y’all took. My life is all about should we open a new hotel? What new employees will that entail? I’m living vicariously through you.”

Jada’s mouth twisted. “Yeah.”

Olivia’s head cocked to the side. “What? What is that look on your face? What aren’t you telling me?”

Jada reached the couch and plopped down. “My dad asked him what he thought of me when we first met and he said I thought I was bougie.”

Olivia took another bite of her Rocky Road and shrugged. “You are. Nothing new there.”

Jada glared. “Do I need to audition for a new best friend?”

Olivia snorted. “Like you could do better than me.”

Absolutely true, but she wasn’t going to swell her BFF’s head by verbally agreeing. “Anyway, he then said he thought I was beautiful and I was more beautiful on the inside than I was on the outside.”

“And you haven’t declared your undying love yet? Girl. Girl. I admire your fortitude and resiliency. Couldn’t be me.”

The ice cream in her stomach started to curdle. “I’ve been impulsive my whole life, which is how I ended up with a fake boyfriend in the first place.”

Olivia stared at her, clearly confused. “But there’s nothing fake about what’s going on now.”

Jada jumped up from the couch to take another lap around the room. “But shouldn’t I be taking things slow? Not rushing things? I was supposed to work there so I could gain control of my trust fund and decide what I want my life to be, not find a man to distract me. I’m on the right road. I’ve found something I’m good at, and I don’t want to mess that up.”

“He’s not distracting you. You’re doing great. He said you were.”

“But what if things don’t work out? My relationships don’t work out!”

Olivia pointed her spoon at her. “You’ve never dated Donovan Dell.”

Truer words had never been said. And wasn’t that the crux of the problem? He was definitely one-of-a-kind and made her long for things she’d never known she’d wanted. But everything could work out—as long as she didn’t mess it up.



* * *



“You met the parents? Wow. This relationship is moving fast,” Nicholas said.

Donovan lowered a dirty pot into the sink, hissing as the hot water hit his skin. “Is it? I haven’t thought about it.” Which was not like him, admittedly, but when he was with Jada, he was fully engaged. He didn’t feel the need to analyze every aspect of their relationship because everything was so natural between them. That didn’t mean they were moving fast. Right?

Nicholas, ever the best multitasker out of the group, measured out ingredients for his latest cupcake experiment, raspberry chocolate crunch, while he talked. He claimed his multitasking skills came in handy as he juggled multiple women. “Let’s recap. You had dinner with her parents.”

“Only because they heard that she met my mother and sisters.”

“Which does not negate my point. During this dinner, you told her parents and her grandmother, who happens to be our boss by the way, that she’s more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside. Am I correct or am I correct?”

Donovan scrubbed the pot like his life depended on it. “You’re correct.”

“And you weren’t lying when you said this, am I correct or am I correct?”

“You’re … correct,” Donovan said through gritted teeth. If he wasn’t elbow-deep in dishes and suds, he’d give serious thought to clocking his best friend.

“Sounds like you’re in love to me.”

The towel slipped out of his hand, splashing water everywhere. Donovan barely noticed. Air rushed out of his lungs in a whoosh. Donovan did the only thing he could do. He deflected. “What do you know about being in love?”

Nicholas cracked open an egg and added it to the bowl. “Nothing, but I’ve watched a lot of sappy romcoms on my Netflix-and-chill dates and the dudes in those movies always end up looking like you do right now.”

“Oh, my God, are you serious right now? I’m not listening to you.” Logically, it didn’t make sense. He couldn’t be in love. Not so soon. What he and Jada had was great, but it was new. Football and Sugar Blitz still came first. Right?

“Well, Pretty Boy Nick may not know anything about love, but I have been in love before and I recognize the real signs, not the movie kind, and you’ve got it bad,” August said from where he was restocking the refrigerator.

Donovan groaned. “Really? You too?” So much for brotherhood. “Did you bet on that?”

“Nah, ’cause that would have been a sucker bet.” August shrugged. “I call ’em like I see ’em.”

That he did. Always. Donovan stared at the man he’d known since he was a cocky eighteen-year-old determined to take on the world and win at any costs. Both he and Nicholas were so certain about Donovan’s feelings. Hell, they didn’t even know he’d tracked Rose down for those photos.