Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered #1)(43)

No. Georgie’s family was her main problem. If Travis implored Stephen to start treating Georgie with more respect, it could backfire. Maybe even earn her more of that famous Castle ridicule. He would not be responsible for that. In fact, the very prospect of anyone giving her shit made his blood rise several degrees. The only way to keep Georgie’s confidence was to let her family believe the ruse, too. No way around it. No way to assuage the guilt of lying to his best friend, either. “We’re seeing each other. It’s casual.” He fixed Stephen with a look. “She understands I’m not looking for anything serious.”

Stephen’s mouth fell open. “Travis, are you really this fucking stupid? My little sister has been in love with you since she hit middle school.”

Light streaked across his vision. He was dropped into a vacuum of no sound, as if he’d fallen into a lake. But he kicked to the surface as fast as possible, because surely he’d misheard. “No, she’s not.” His voice sounded funny. Hoarse. “Georgie? You’re full of shit.”

“She stole my yearbook so many times to pledge her undying love to your senior picture, I finally just let her have the damn thing.” He grabbed a coffee off the roof of his van and drained half of it. “Had your rookie year poster on her ceiling and everything. And don’t get me started on game day. If anyone talked while you were up to bat, she’d bite their head off.”

That image of Georgie sitting in the bleachers with nachos in her lap came back through a totally different filter, accompanied by dawning understanding. Oh yeah. She’d had a thing for him back then. No doubt about it. How could he have missed it? Or maybe he was so used to being the center of attention back then, he’d acknowledged it as his due and kept moving.

He almost wanted to cancel the whole arrangement, right then and there. No way was he going to be this girl’s boyfriend, fake or not, if she was in love with him.

But Georgie wasn’t in love with him. The notion was ridiculous. She’d had a crush on the superstar, a childish infatuation. He was no longer that superstar. Far from it. And she was no longer a middle schooler with awkward limbs, either. If he treated Georgie like she was still that young girl with braces, he was no better than everyone she wanted to prove wrong. They were both adults. Different people from whom they’d been when she stared up at that poster. Hell, he’d fallen way too far to earn that kind of hero worship from anyone, let alone Georgie. She’d probably laugh at that old torch she used to carry. Before she found him facedown in a hangover and tempting the rat population.

He chose to ignore the thorn in his throat when thinking of Georgie laughing off the past infatuation. “Listen, I don’t do serious. And I’ve been up front with your sister about that. If she chooses to ignore the warning, that’s on her. But I don’t think you’re giving her enough credit. She’s old enough to listen.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Restless and agitated, Travis cut him off. “Are you going to hit me or not?”

Stephen looked like he wanted to say more, but shrugged and set his coffee down on the roof of the van instead. “I think you know I have to.” He put up his fists, rolled his neck. “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”

“Fuck’s sake. Just do it already.”

His friend stared at him for so long, Travis wondered what the hell he was seeing. Finally, Stephen let his hands drop. “Nah, I’m going to pass. I think you’re headed for something even more painful.”

Travis was left standing beside the minivan feeling like he’d been sucker punched anyway.





Chapter Thirteen


Georgie rolled on her back in the grass, laughing as half a dozen five-year-olds dog-piled on top of her. The impact of the children knocked her red wig off, sending hair spilling out in every direction, covering half her face and nearly dislodging her spongy red nose. A dog joined the party, licking her face and sending kids and parents alike into fits of amusement. This was the part she loved most about birthday parties. The sugar high. When kids turned totally loopy and stopped being shy. Yes, the second half of a party was always the best. It was also the portion of the show where physical injury became a real possibility, but that was just splitting hairs.

Speaking of splitting hairs, it had been forty-six hours since she’d seen Travis. They’d made a deal to be in a fake relationship and shook on it, but it seemed they were waiting for the other to make the first move. If they remained true to form, Georgie would be the one to show up and foist her presence upon him. Doing so never gave her pause before. Was it so bad that she wanted him to make the first fake move this time?

What did it say about her personality that she’d had to create distractions to keep herself from dropping in on him? That she was proactive? Thankfully those distractions had been super productive. Over the last couple days, she’d contacted a designer about a new website for the business and placed an advertisement for freelance employees. She didn’t have the money to bring anyone on full-time yet, but she would get there. Having a plan filled her with confidence and a sense of accomplishment.

A feather-like feeling tickled the back of Georgie’s neck and she looked around, assuming one of the parents was trying to get her attention. But nope. They were all congregated around the snack table gossiping. So why did her skin continue to prickle?