Chapter 1 - Ten Hundred-Dollar Bills
Nora Bennett had spent twenty-five years believing she could prepare for almost anything.
She made lists before grocery shopping. She made spreadsheets before vacations. When she was twelve, she had created a three-page emergency plan for a family trip to Disney World because her mother had casually mentioned the possibility of rain.
But there was no checklist for walking up to a dangerous-looking stranger and asking him to become your boyfriend.
Especially when the stranger happened to be the kind of man who made an entire hotel café unconsciously give him extra space.
Evan Cole sat alone beside a tall window overlooking Charleston Harbor, one hand curled around an untouched cup of black coffee.
Nora noticed him immediately.
Everyone did.
He wasn't the loudest man in the room.
He didn't need to be.
Dark, slightly unruly hair fell across his forehead. A day's worth of stubble sharpened a face that might have belonged in an expensive men's fragrance advertisement if there hadn't been something colder behind his eyes.
He wore a charcoal suit without a tie.
No wedding ring.
No visible companion.
Most importantly, nobody seemed eager to interrupt him.
Perfect.
Or insane.
Nora hadn't decided which.
Her fingers tightened around the envelope inside her purse.
One thousand dollars.
Ten new hundred-dollar bills.
It was absurd.
It was humiliating.
It was also her last idea.
At noon, her entire family would gather at Magnolia House for her grandmother Eleanor's seventy-fifth birthday celebration.
Her parents would be there.
Her sister Claire.
Three aunts.
Two uncles.
More cousins than Nora cared to count.
And Miles Harper.
Miles was the reason Nora was about to hire a stranger.
She crossed the café before fear could stop her.
Evan noticed her when she was six feet away.
His eyes lifted.
Not appreciatively.
Not rudely.
Assessingly.
That somehow made her more nervous.
She stopped beside his table, opened the envelope, and placed the ten bills next to his coffee.
His gaze dropped to the money.
Then returned to her face.
Nora swallowed.
“I'll give you a thousand dollars if you pretend to be my boyfriend until tonight.”
Silence.
A waiter passing behind her nearly walked into another table.
Evan glanced at the money again.
“Is this where I agree and wake up tomorrow missing a kidney?”
Nora stared.
That wasn't on the list.
“No.”
“Good. I happen to like both of mine.”
Despite everything, a laugh escaped her.
It surprised her almost as much as him.
His mouth curved slightly.
That tiny smile transformed his entire face.
For one dangerous second Nora forgot why she was there.
Then she remembered Miles.
Her mother.
Lunch.
Disaster.
“I'm serious.”
“So am I.”
Evan finally picked up one bill.
He studied Benjamin Franklin.
“Kidneys cost significantly more than a thousand dollars.”
Nora lowered her voice.
“Are you always like this?”
“Only before my second coffee.”
“Will you do it?”
He put the bill down.
“Why me?”
Nora had prepared seven possible answers.
She suddenly hated all seven.
“Because you look convincing.”
“As a boyfriend?”
“As someone my family won't interrogate.”
One eyebrow rose.
“That sounds less flattering.”
“It was meant as a compliment.”
“Your compliments need work.”
Nora exhaled sharply.
“This was a terrible idea.”
She reached for the money.
Evan placed two fingers on the stack before she could take it.
“Sit.”
The single word wasn't threatening.
Yet she sat.
Later, Nora would wonder why.
At that moment, it simply seemed easier than arguing.
She opened the notes application on her phone.
Evan leaned forward.
At the top of the screen, in capital letters, were the words:
FAKE BOYFRIEND.
He stared at them.
“You've made instructions.”
“Background information.”
“That's somehow worse.”
“We need consistency.”
“Of course we do.”
Nora ignored the sarcasm.
“We've been dating for three months.”
“Have we?”
“We met at a coffee shop.”
“This coffee shop?”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
“You travel for business, which is why my family hasn't met you.”
“That part happens to be true.”
“You own several companies.”
His humor disappeared.
“How do you know that?”
Nora pointed to the folded newspaper beside him.
Evan followed her finger.
His own photograph appeared beside an article about Cole Development acquiring a waterfront property.
“Oh.”
“I'm desperate, Mr. Cole. I'm not blind.”
“Evan.”
“What?”
“If I'm your boyfriend, calling me Mr. Cole might raise questions.”
Nora stared at him.
Something about hearing him accept the premise sent nervous energy through her stomach.
“Right. Evan.”
“My girlfriend has a name?”
“Nora Bennett.”
He repeated it once.
“Nora.”
She hated how good her name sounded in his voice.
She continued quickly.
“My grandmother, Eleanor Bennett, is turning seventy-five. We're having lunch at Magnolia House.”
“Your family owns it?”
“My grandmother does. It's been in her family for generations.”
“Sounds pleasant.”
“You haven't met my mother.”
“Point taken.”
“My parents are Robert and Diane Bennett. My sister Claire is twenty-eight. She's married to Daniel Price. They're expecting their first baby.”
Evan nodded.
“You've rehearsed this.”
“Three times.”
“Of course.”
Nora hesitated.
“And Miles Harper will be there.”
Evan's eyes sharpened.
“There he is.”
“There who is?”
“The actual reason I'm sitting here.”
“Miles isn't the reason.”
“Your voice changed when you said his name.”
Nora hated observant people.
“Miles has known my family forever.”
“Ex-boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Wants to be?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And I don't.”
Simple.
Final.
Evan watched her a moment longer.
“What does your mother think?”
“That I should.”
“There it is.”
Nora leaned back.
“Miles is thirty-two. He's successful, attractive, polite, remembers everyone's birthday, sends handwritten thank-you notes, volunteers at charity auctions, and never misses Sunday brunch.”
Evan looked genuinely disturbed.
“He sounds terrifying.”
Nora laughed again.
“I don't love him.”
This time Evan didn't joke.
Something changed in his eyes.
“So why hasn't that ended the discussion?”
“Because my mother believes love is what happens after you make a sensible decision.”
“That sounds miserable.”
“She isn't miserable.”
“You didn't answer the question.”
Nora looked toward the harbor.
“My mother thinks I'm wasting my life.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Evan noticed.
“What aren't you telling her?”
Nora looked back.
She hadn't intended to tell him.
But he was a stranger.
By tonight he would disappear from her life.
Maybe that made honesty easier.
“I don't want the family business.”
“What do you want?”
“To bake.”
Evan blinked.
“Bake?”
“Pastries. Bread. Cakes. French desserts. American classics. Anything.”
The nervous woman vanished for half a second.
Her face lit up.
“I've been attending pastry school for eighteen months.”
“Secretly?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My mother expects Claire and me to run Bennett Events eventually. Claire loves it. I don't.”
“So leave.”
Nora gave him a humorless smile.
“You make that sound easy.”
“It is easy.”
“For someone like you.”
Something unreadable crossed his face.
“You don't know anything about someone like me.”
“Exactly. Which is why this arrangement is perfect.”
Evan slowly leaned back.
She explained the rest.
Her grandmother knew about pastry school.
Eleanor had encouraged her.
Nora had spent nearly two years saving money.
She had found a small brick storefront on King Street.
She had created financial projections.
She had spoken with lenders.
She even had a name.
Wildflower Bakery.
Today, she planned to tell her family.
Unfortunately, Diane Bennett had decided that today was also the perfect opportunity to encourage Nora and Miles toward something permanent.
“She believes I'm rejecting him because I'm afraid of commitment,” Nora finished. “She promised that if I had a serious boyfriend, she'd stop.”
“And your solution was to manufacture one.”
“For one afternoon.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
“I deal with tomorrow tomorrow.”
“That doesn't sound like someone who makes checklists.”
Nora glared.
Evan smiled.
Then his phone vibrated.
The screen lit up.
CALEB: DOCK 14. PROBLEM.
Nora didn't see the message.
Evan turned the phone facedown.
Caleb Rhodes had been his right hand for eleven years.
Caleb didn't use the word problem unless the problem involved guns, money, betrayal, or occasionally all three.
Under any other circumstances Evan would have already been on his way.
Instead, he found himself watching Nora Bennett rearrange the fake-boyfriend checklist.
He should have said no.
His world was built from secrets.
Nora appeared to be running away from hers.
That should have been warning enough.
Instead, he asked, “What time?”
Her head snapped up.
“What?”
“Lunch.”
“Twelve-thirty.”
He checked his watch.
“We have forty-seven minutes.”
Nora's eyes widened.
“You'll do it?”
“For today.”
Relief transformed her expression so completely that Evan felt something uncomfortable move through his chest.
“Thank you.”
“Don't thank me yet.”
She pushed the money toward him.
Evan pushed it back.
“We had a deal.”
“I don't need it.”
Nora frowned.
“You can't change the arrangement.”
“Consider it a discount.”
“No.”
“You're arguing with a man who just agreed to lie to twenty members of your family.”
“A deal is a deal.”
Her stubbornness amused him.
He took one hundred-dollar bill and slipped it into his wallet.
Nora looked offended.
“You said a thousand.”
“I charge one hundred.”
“For six hours?”
“For entertainment.”
“What entertainment?”
“Watching you explain me to your mother.”
She stared at him.
Then she smiled despite herself.
“You're impossible.”
“So I've been told.”
They stood.
Nora smoothed her cream-colored dress.
Evan watched the movement and reminded himself this was temporary.
She was attractive.
Beautiful, actually.
Painfully so.
But attraction was manageable.
Attraction didn't ruin lives.
Attachment did.
He knew that better than most.
They reached the hotel entrance.
A black SUV immediately pulled toward the curb.
Nora stopped.
“You have a driver?”
“Sometimes.”
The rear door opened.
Caleb Rhodes stepped out.
Six-foot-three.
Black suit.
Scar near his temple.
Expression somewhere between annoyed and homicidal.
“Mr. Cole.”
Evan saw the question in Caleb's eyes.
Who is she?
Nora saw something else.
Fear.
Not Caleb's.
Everyone else's.
The doorman straightened.
A hotel employee abruptly looked away.
Even two businessmen waiting for a taxi stopped talking.
Nora glanced at Evan.
“Do people always react like that around you?”
“Like what?”
“Like you've buried someone.”
Caleb coughed into his fist.
Evan gave him a warning look.
Nora didn't notice.
“It's the suit,” Evan said.
“That's a very intimidating suit.”
He opened the passenger door of his own car.
“Your grandmother's waiting.”
Nora climbed inside.
Evan walked around the vehicle.
Caleb followed.
Quietly, he said, “Dock Fourteen is worse than we thought.”
“How bad?”
“Someone moved a shipment using your authorization.”
Evan stopped.
“I didn't authorize anything.”
“I know.”
“Who?”
“We don't know yet.”
Evan's expression became cold.
“Find out.”
Caleb lowered his voice.
“There was another thing.”
“What?”
“The Harper name came up.”
Evan looked through the windshield.
Nora sat inside, checking her list, completely unaware.
“Miles Harper?” Evan asked.
“We're confirming.”
For several seconds, Evan said nothing.
Then he got behind the wheel.
Nora smiled nervously.
“Ready?”
Evan started the engine.
“No.”
Her smile faltered.
He looked at her.
“But I'm coming anyway.”
Ten minutes later, as Magnolia House appeared beyond the moss-covered oaks, Nora reached for his hand.
Evan looked down.
“This is for authenticity,” she said.
“Obviously.”
Her fingers slipped between his.
Neither of them commented on how naturally they fit.
And neither of them saw Miles Harper standing at the mansion's second-floor window, watching Evan Cole drive onto Bennett property.
But Miles recognized him immediately.
His face lost all color.
Because unlike Nora Bennett, Miles knew exactly who her fake boyfriend really was.
May you like
And he knew Evan Cole was the last man in Charleston he could afford to have looking too closely at his life.
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