The Pretend Girlfriend (A Billionaire Love Story #1)(81)

Aiden sat up in the dirt. His hair was disheveled. An ugly tear at the shoulder of his jacket ruined the expensive article of clothing. A few grass stains marred his slacks. Aside from that, he seemed none the worse for wear.

"Totally understandable, sir," Aiden said, fingering the tear in his jacket and shaking his head.

When the cop offered his hand, Aiden accepted.

"You two oughtta be more careful in here. People get mugged in broad daylight sometimes. What if I'd been a criminal?" the cop said. He looked a little embarrassed at foiling a make-out session rather than a mugging.

"We'll be more careful, officer," Gwen said. While in progress, the little scuffle terrified her. But now, amusement best described her mood. Here were these two grown men, looking rather bashful, trying to find some way to get out of this with as little embarrassment as possible.

Apologies went all around, handshakes, all that. The cop turned to go, when Gwen remembered that she and Aiden were following each other around in this maze.

"Sir, how do we get out of here? My boyfriend has no sense of direction," she said. Aiden shot her a look, and she winked back at him.

The cop directed them out, and they finally found themselves out by one of the greens. "Your poor jacket!" Gwen said.

"It's okay... That didn't go like I thought it would," Aiden replied.

"Oh? And how did you think it was going to go?" she said, giving him a poke in the side.

"Probably the same way you thought," Aiden said, "I guess we should probably leave, it's getting close to lunch."

His jacket reminded her of something at her apartment. "Let's go back to my place," she said.

"Mine is closer..." Aiden started.

"You're right. My place it is!" Gwen said.

Just being normal with each other, no armor in place, no contract, felt so right. The relationship seemed so much more genuine as they walked down a broad paved path, angling slowly towards a street where they could catch a cab.

They'd gotten nearly to the edge of the park when a middle-aged guy with a bulky camera hanging around his neck jogged over to them. "You guys want your picture taken? It's $5. Come on, you look so nice together. Don't you want to remember today?"

$5 for a cheap Polaroid? That's a rip-off, Gwen thought. She tried stepping around him, but the guy shifted from foot to foot like a basketball player on defense, blocking their way.

"We don't need a picture..." Gwen said, quieting when Aiden put a hand on her shoulder.

"One picture," Aiden said.

The guy directed them over to a nearby vacant bench, where they sat while he fiddled with the camera.

Aiden threw an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. When the cameraman told them to smile, he did. Gwen followed suit.

"Aren't you two just adorable?" the guy said, waving the rectangular photo in the air in front of their faces.

Aiden paid the man, who then promptly ran over to another young couple to pester them.

"This is nice," Aiden said, holding the photo so that they could watch it develop. It was a bit grainy, and the guy's composition was questionable (he didn't seem to grasp the rule of thirds). But the smiles on their faces, as the picture took form, were genuine. And due to the picture quality, you could hardly see the tears and stains in Aiden's jacket.

"You know my phone takes better pictures than this," Gwen said, trying to sound annoyed. She had to admit the picture had a certain charm to it, a certain solidity and reality that a digital photo stored in a phone's memory couldn't touch.

"I don't know. I think it's nice. Worth every penny."

Gwen started saying something smart, but stopped when she saw the look on Aiden's face. He was genuinely happy. That quiet, reserved guy changed into a normal young man, out with his girlfriend for a walk in the park and getting a souvenir to remember the day by. Gwen relaxed, letting her head against his shoulder.

Why couldn't every day have something nice like this in it? She'd been so busy looking at the long-term that she forgot that life consisted of moments, strung together across the years. Most of the time, people let those moments slip by as they worried, or forgot about them. But that picture could always remind them of their adventure in Central Park.

He hugged her closer. When she looked up at him, she saw the way the sunlight caught in his eyelashes. They were long and fine and she could almost count them.

But, as she'd just remarked, life consisted of moments. Fleeting instances measured in heartbeats. And like all moments, especially, it seemed, the good ones, this one came to an end.

And she especially didn't want this one to end, knowing that there was still trouble ahead, still obstacles needing overcoming if they wanted this relationship to work.

Aiden pocketed the photo inside his jacket, careful not to dog-ear any of the corners. "Shall we?" he asked, shifting to stand up.

Gwen almost collapsed on the bench without his steady body there to support her. You wouldn't think a hard seat like that could be so comfortable, but Gwen knew that she could easily have dozed the afternoon away there, leaned against him.

He offered her his hands, not caring about how reaching out widened the gash in the sleeve of his jacket, or about how the people walking around them must think he was some hobo trying to pick up a girl.