Just when I was ready to be stubborn, Tristan accomplished what no other man could—instead of being angry at him for what he was asking, I felt sorry for what I had to do. I sensed his heartache in every word he’d written, and it broke my heart.
“Everything okay in here?”
Daryl looked uncomfortable as I wiped a tear away from under my eye. He took his seat again and waited for me to speak, but I could tell he was still feeling uneasy about how emotional Tristan’s letter had made me.
Resigned to doing as Tristan asked, I said quietly, “I’m fine, Daryl. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
“You won’t have to do anything but appear to be with him. Just a few times in public to make the press think you’re on a couple dates. He will have to live here with you, though.”
“Who? Who is this poor soul you’re going to force to pretend to be my new boyfriend?”
“Varo.”
“Varo? My bodyguard? No offense to him, but why would I fall for one of my bodyguards?”
Daryl shrugged and smiled meekly. “You know. You were thrown together after Tristan disappeared and one thing lead to another and…well, we can let the press take it from there.”
I rolled my eyes at such a ridiculous story. “Nice. So I was able to easily forget Tristan Stone and turned to the comforting arms of a man who barely speaks to me and has never once shown even the slightest interest in me. Yeah, that sounds like a real romance.”
More shrugging. “The outside world doesn’t know that. All they know is what we show them, and you two will look like true lovebirds when the cameras are flashing.”
“I’m a little confused why you think the press would care at all. I’m nobody. They only came out when I was with Tristan.”
“They’ll care because you’re all that’s left of Tristan Stone. They can’t have him, so they’ll take you. Haven’t you noticed the press milling about at the end of the driveway?”
I hadn’t noticed, but that was because I was too involved in being depressed. The few times I’d left the house recently I’d gone straight to the city, and there I was followed by West and Varo, so they had made sure nobody got close to me.
“So they’ll take our picture as we go on our dates and that will make it look like I’ve left Tristan behind? Isn’t that going to make me seem like a heartless bitch? He hasn’t even been gone for six months.”
“That’s another reason why they’ll be interested. The press loves showing the worst in people. They’ll eat it up.”
I already hated this.
“So I get to look like the world’s biggest bitch, Varo looks like some kind of gold digger since I’m living in Tristan’s house with him, and this helps keep me safe. Is that about right?”
“Yeah. Oh, one more thing. You can’t tell anyone about this being a fake. That means your giggly friend there with the fixation on penis size.”
I crossed my arms defiantly. “I’m not going to lie to my best friend, Daryl. We tell each other everything. I’ve never lied to her before, and I’m not starting now.”
Daryl stood from the table and leaned down toward me until his furry face was just inches away from mine. “Then you better figure out a way to not tell her and not lie because if you tell her and someone gets to her, all of this will have been for nothing. Remember, your safety is the reason you’re doing all of this. Tristan is going to be busy finding out what Karl is up to and he needs to know you’re not in danger.”
“Does Varo know about this yet? I can’t imagine acting like my boyfriend was in the bodyguard work description he agreed to when he was hired.”
“Don’t worry about him. I’ll take care of that. We’ll have him moved in here tonight.”
Terrific. I suddenly had a new man and somehow I had to find a way to explain to my best friend that he was none other than the one she’d tried to seduce to no avail. Fucking fabulous.
“By the way, how is the gardener search going?” Daryl asked, ripping me from my thoughts.
Confused by the change of topic, I shook my head. “You’re all over the place today, aren’t you? I hired one yesterday. West and Varo were supposed to check him out today and let me know.”
“Good. I’ll ask them about it when I talk to him. In the meantime, I’d suggest making plans for where Varo will be staying while he’s here. Perhaps the room next to yours? That way he can be close.”
“Why does he have to be close? The press can’t get onto the property, so why would we have to pretend to that extent?”
“You can never be too careful, Nina.”
What the hell did that mean? Was he implying that Jensen, West, or any of the other people who worked for Tristan couldn’t be trusted? Did he mean that Jordan couldn’t be?
Craning my neck, I turned to look at Daryl as he walked from the room. “Is there something I should know? You and Tristan seem to think that Varo is okay, but everyone else can’t be trusted?”
He stopped and seemed to think about my question for a moment. “Varo is okay, but we can’t be sure about anyone else. We’d like to think they’re safe, but for now, we can’t know.”
Before I could comment on how much I hated all of this, he was gone and I was left to think about what I had to do. Daryl acted like it would be a piece of cake to just pretend to care for someone else and act like Tristan was never coming back. Nothing was further from the truth. Just the thought of never seeing him again made me feel like curling up into a ball and never getting out of bed again.
I so just wanted all of this to be over. How wrong I’d been all those times I’d wished for a more exciting life. If I’d have known that it would involve all of this, I would have been happy with my boring life of sitting at home and watching TV alone every night.
But then I wouldn’t have Tristan. He was worth every bit of craziness our lives were now, although I couldn’t lie. A little less crazy would be even better.
Chapter Four
Nina
Unable to figure out a way of telling Jordan what I had to do, I retreated to my room and wished the world would just fix itself by the time I decided to come out. I knew it wouldn’t, but that didn’t mean I didn’t wish for it.
Even though I now knew Tristan received all my texts, I didn’t send him a message right away. What was there to say? Hey, I got your letter and I’m all cool with pretending I’m doing someone else? Or maybe something like I miss you. I love you. And now I’m going to be acting like I’ve forgotten you and moved on just as you said to.