I’d been reading the movie script that the producers had sent over along with the script for season two of Big Sky Ranch, and I was grateful that I didn’t have any scenes with Jessica Carson. She’d done one final interview, but The Hollywood Moment had released the article with me and Reese, and no one had given Jessica’s final Hail Mary the time of day. Charles and Sadie had informed me that they were trying to buy out her contract early. Otherwise, they would be writing her character off in a few months when her contract was up.
So, things were falling into place. People loved seeing me with a girlfriend, but that wasn’t the reason that I was in this anymore.
Hell, I wouldn’t have even agreed to any of this if it weren’t for Reese. But now that I was here, I didn’t want it to end. And with Thanksgiving tomorrow, my time was running out.
She was spending the day with that dick weasel, Carl, today, as all the furniture for his office had arrived. I’d been half tempted to drive over there and remind him that she was still with me. But my brothers had convinced me not to do it. Apparently, Reese needed to come to the conclusion herself.
We took the horses out every day after work now. We ate most meals together, and we fucked like bunnies at least twice a day. But at the end of the night, she would kiss me goodbye and go sleep in her room. And that bullshit rule was starting to piss me off. I wanted her in my bed all the time. I wasn’t sleeping well lately because I’d wake up thinking about her.
“Hey,” she called out as the door opened, and I closed my laptop and made my way to the front room.
“Hey, Miney.” I scooped her up and spun her around, kissing her neck as she laughed. “How was Dr. Limpdick?”
She pinched my arm. “Not nice, Chewy. But I do have news.”
I led her to the kitchen and poured us each a glass of wine while she moved to the fridge and started pulling out all the makings for a salad and got a pot of water boiling for some pasta.
As I said, we had a routine.
One I’d grown fond of.
I handed her the glass of Chardonnay, and she took a sip and watched me over the rim. “Carl broke up with Christy Rae Lovell.”
A pang hit my chest as if someone had just stuck me with something sharp. Thankfully, I was a damn good actor, and I made an effort to keep my face from reacting. “I see. What was the reason for their breakup?”
She set her wine glass on the counter and dropped the lettuce into a colander and started rinsing it. “He claims he misses me.”
The fucking bastard. Of course, he does. What’s not to miss?
I sipped my wine, moving to the stovetop to drop some penne into the boiling water. Was this it? Was she going to end things with me?
Now I was getting pissed. This fucker says he misses her, and she’s going to bail on me?
“So, what does that mean? You’re going back to him?” I shifted around, crossing one leg in front of the other as I leaned against the counter. I turned my baseball cap backward because I needed to do something to distract my hands from fisting.
“No, Chewy. We have a plan. I’m sticking to it. Unless you’re looking for an early out from our arrangement?”
“Nope. I’m not bailing, Miney.”
“Well, I told him that I’m happy with you,” she said, before turning back to the sink. My shoulders relaxed for all of two minutes before she said her next statement. “I mean, we both know how this is going to end, so stop worrying. You’ll leave after Christmas to go to Tokyo, and you’ll go back to being single, just the way you like it. We’ll end this fake relationship before you go, just like we planned.”
“Yeah. That’s the plan.” I cleared my throat. Suddenly, I didn’t like that plan anymore. It didn’t give me much time to prove to her that she should be with me.
That she was my girl.
Always had been.
Always would be.
We continued cooking and ate dinner, but the conversation was over. I didn’t like that there was an expiration date, nor did I appreciate that she kept bringing it up.
At the end of the day, how could she still want to go back to that asshole when we’d been so good together?
Now I was actually pissed off.
“You’re awfully quiet,” she said, standing and clearing our plates.
“Yeah. I’m a little tired. I think I’m going to call it a night.”
We’d had sex every single night since the first time, so I knew she wouldn’t like that I was bailing on her.
She studied me, a look of surprise crossing her features. She placed the back of her hand on my forehead and rolled her eyes. “No fever. You feel just fine.”