Counterfeit Courtship, page 5
“Sounds good,” she said, nodding. “Are you going to be okay doing this?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“There aren’t any women who think they’re your girlfriend who are going to jump out of the woodwork and try to pull out my extensions, are there?” She ran her fingers through the sleek ebony extensions that fell to the middle of her back. Kiera loved changing her hair as much as she changed her clothes.
Tyrone waved a hand. “Nah. I broke things off with any woman I had an attachment with months ago. I told you I didn’t want my dating history to be the reason why the show was canceled. I decided to take a break until the season was finished.”
It wasn’t lost on her that he didn’t say he’d broken things off with just one woman, but with any woman he had a connection with. Meaning there’d been more than one in his life at the time. She’d guessed his persona correctly at their first meeting. He must have been desperate to keep his show if he was willing to cut off all his relationships and come up with a fake relationship to clean up his image.
“Why not just fake-date one of those women?”
“You were the one I was caught kissing,” he said flippantly.
“Oh, right.” She glanced out of the window. His admission shouldn’t have made her feel so hollow. It was the truth.
“And I like you,” he said after several seconds. “It was fun hanging out with you at the wedding. I’d rather do this with you than anyone I was talking to before.”
She glanced over at him, and their eyes met. A half grin still hovered around his lips. She couldn’t tell if he was just being charming or if he was serious. That uncertainty didn’t stop the hollow feeling she’d had from filling up. She already knew she’d have to be careful around Tyrone. If she wasn’t careful, she’d easily be seduced by his sweet words and charm.
* * *
The party was just getting into full swing when Kiera and Tyrone arrived. A valet attendant parked the car and the two of them headed to the front door of the nightclub. Tyrone’s hand, warm and firm, slid into Kiera’s. A jolt of awareness shot up her arm. She stopped in her tracks and stared at him.
“What?” he said, lifting a shoulder. “Shouldn’t we be holding hands?”
“Yeah...my bad. It was just unexpected.” She’d forgotten how her body responded to his touch at the wedding.
He nodded. “I didn’t mean to startle you. Is it okay?”
There was no need for her to be so jumpy. She’d agreed to this. It wasn’t as if playing a part was foreign to her. She might not be an actress, but she’d pretended to be a happy guest at enough weddings and parties that she sometimes felt like one. She could play this part. If she needed a reminder of why she was here, all she had to do was think about the student loan payment that had nearly drained her bank account before Tyrone picked her up, or her rent due the following week. She could play this part and she could play it well.
She squeezed his hand. “It’s fine. Let’s do this.”
Inside they were immediately sucked into the party. Kiera was known by a few people there thanks to her connection with Tiana, but she rarely received a lot of attention when she was a seat filler at one of these events. She wasn’t a celebrity and had barely reached online-influencer status. She’d assumed some people would be interested in her and Tyrone. She had not been prepared for the level of interest.
“How did you two meet?” one of the hosts of another paranormal investigation show asked.
“You make such a cute couple!” the producer of the network’s most popular cooking show enthused.
“I can’t wait to see you both on the show,” said Tiana, who was also the producer of Haunted Homeboys. Tiana was average height, curvy with dark brown skin and thick curly hair that framed her face in a perfectly symmetrical afro.
The phrases were repeated over and over during the night by various people. Tyrone soaked up the attention like a sponge dropped in the middle of a swimming pool, expanding and inflating with each line of adoration and praise. Of course, he would. His plan was working. Everyone had nothing but great things to say about their show and now that the threat of being canceled was gone, things should only get better.
“Did you know that you were being filmed when you kissed?” Tiana asked.
Kiera shook her head. “Do you think we would have kissed there if we knew we were being filmed?”
Tiana lifted a shoulder. “People will do a lot of things in front of a camera.”
The people around them laughed. Tyrone placed his hand on Kiera’s back and rubbed as if he’d been touching her for years. “Other people will, but not us. If I would have known, I wouldn’t have done that.” He pulled her closer to his side. “I’d never want to embarrass Kiera like that.”
The women in the group swooned. Kiera barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. He really knew how to lay things on thick when needed.
“And I wouldn’t want to bring any distractions to his show,” Kiera said.
A deep laugh came from behind them. They turned and one of the network executives, Dennis Carter, walked up. “That’s good to hear.” Dennis stepped up to Kiera and Tyrone. So close that Tyrone let Kiera go and Dennis moved between them and placed an arm around both of their shoulders. “You know, I was worried at first that this was all a stunt to avoid bad publicity.”
“Why would you think that?” Tyrone asked. Kiera had to give it to him—he looked and sounded as if the idea of pretending to date Kiera was the most outlandish thing he’d ever heard.
“Stranger things have happened. All sorts of things conveniently work out during show negotiations,” Dennis said with a sly grin.
Kiera let out a shaky laugh. “I can imagine.”
“You know we pride ourselves on the image of the stars on our network,” Dennis said. “The Haunted Homeboys was one of our most popular shows last season. We’re really excited about ways to make the show even more appealing this season.”
Tyrone broke away from Dennis’s grip and faced him. “What are you thinking?”
Kiera shifted until Dennis’s arm dropped from her shoulder. She moved next to Tyrone, and he put his hand on the small of her back.
“We’d like to include more real-life clips of you and your brothers. Let the audience see you when you’re not investigating ghosts.”
Tyrone nodded. “Yeah, I remember that when we discussed the new contract.”
“At first we thought it would focus mostly on Dion and Wesley, but after learning that you and Kiera are a couple and now she’s working on the show, we can include clips of you two working together. Starting with the sci-fi convention near your hometown next week.”
Tyrone stiffened next to her. “Are you all going to be there?”
Dennis nodded. “I’m sending a few people to record you and your brothers on the panel you have. It’ll be good promo for the second season and while you’re there they can get some behind-the-scenes shots of you, Dion and Wesley. And since Kiera works on the show, she can be there to do your makeup and give us a couple of shots of the newest couple.” Dennis grinned at Kiera. “What do you think?”
Kiera smiled and wrapped an arm around Tyrone’s waist even though inside she cringed. She’d hoped to keep up this facade only when it came to the show. Not go to Tyrone’s hometown and make an appearance at a convention. Going to his hometown meant meeting his family and friends. She’d hoped to keep their lives as separate as possible, but if she was doing this, then she couldn’t use the excuse of not wanting to visit his hometown to avoid getting too close to his personal life.
“I can’t wait!”
Chapter Seven
Tyrone was sitting on the couch watching episodes of another paranormal investigation show on a rival channel when his phone rang next to him. He glanced down at the screen. Dion’s name appeared on the screen for a video call. Tyrone paused the television and held up his phone to accept his brother’s call.
“What’s up, Dion?”
“Hold on, let me add Wes,” Dion said quickly. A few seconds later Wes was also on screen.
Tyrone leaned back on the couch and frowned at his brothers. “Both of y’all? Is everything cool?”
Wesley nodded but Dion shook his head. “Did you hear about the cameras coming to the sci-fi convention?”
“Yeah, I saw Dennis at the network party last night. The party I told both of you to show up for. I can’t be the only one doing these promotions.”
“I know,” Wesley said. “I had to finish up a project for a client.”
“And Vanessa already had us set up to go to a concert,” Dion said. “I let everyone know that we’ll be at the next event.”
Tyrone shook his head. “We’ve got a second season so we need to make sure we are available for all preseason promotions. We can’t afford to mess things up.”
His brothers had been happy when they’d gotten the show, but it had always been Tyrone’s dream. Though they wanted the show to do well, they’d left the promotional stuff to him. Although he was used to doing promos through his work at the radio station, sometimes he wondered if his brothers cared as much about the success of the show as he did.
Dion raised an eyebrow. “Me not going to a party isn’t going to mess anything up.”
Tyrone barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Of course, his nonpartying brother would say something like that. “You need to still network with the people involved with the show.”
“Didn’t I say I talked to them and said I’d be at the next one?”
Wes sighed. “Alright, that’s enough. Can we get to the point of this call?”
Knowing how much Wes got tired of playing peacemaker between him and Dion, Tyrone changed the subject. “If it’s about the sci-fi convention in Myrtle Beach then we don’t have to worry. We’re just going to talk about the show on a panel and sign some autographs.”
Wesley shook his head. “It’s not just the convention. It’s them coming to Sunshine Beach to get a behind-the-scenes look at us and our family.”
Again, Tyrone didn’t see the problem. “They did say they wanted to include that in the new season. We’ve always wanted to bring attention back to our hometown. This is good for us, the town and the show.”
Dion stared back at Tyrone as if he’d lost his mind. “Do you not understand that they want to see us in our happy relationships? You need to tell us now if this thing with you and that Kiera girl are for real.”
“What?” Tyrone frowned, thrown off by his brother’s words.
“Are you really dating her or is this something you just made up on the fly the other day when you found out that kissing a strange woman at a wedding could ruin your reputation and our contract negotiations?” Dion said in his voice that meant “confess now and make this easier on all of us”.
Tyrone hated that voice.
He’d planned to tell his brothers the truth when things calmed down. Planned to make things easier on everyone and explain why this was a good idea, especially now that Kiera was on board. But the disappointment on his oldest brother’s face automatically made him go on the defensive. He loved Dion and would fight anyone who ever tried to harm his brother, but Dion could also be a judgmental asshole at times.
“You think I lied?” Tyrone said, trying his best to sound affronted.
Dion was unphased. “Yeah, I do. You never once mentioned dating anyone and suddenly you have a girlfriend? What about the taking your time and enjoying your freedom? All that I’m-not-ready-to-settle-down talk?”
“I met the right one. Like you said I would,” he countered.
Wesley twisted his lips. “Come on, Tyrone. You can be real with us.”
Wesley, too! Typically Wes was the one who remained neutral whenever Tyrone and Dion were on opposite ends. He wasn’t prepared for Wes to also assume the worst.
Even if their assumption was spot-on.
He tossed aside that thought. “I am being real,” Tyrone said. “We even went to the party together last night. Which y’all would have known if you’d bothered to show up. We met at the network offices one day and I asked her out. She said no, but you know me. I kept trying to charm her. By the time I got to know her I really liked her. Is it so hard to believe that I would actually like a woman enough to settle down?”
“Yeah!” they both said at the same time.
His brothers started laughing while Tyrone scowled at the screen. “Come on now. Y’all can stop. I’m serious. You’ll see when we’re in Sunshine Beach. She’ll be there.”
“We know. She’s the new makeup artist,” Wes said.
“She was going to come, anyway. I wanted her to meet y’all. Now I don’t know. I should keep her away before you poison her against me.”
Dion took a long breath. “Alright, if you’re saying you’re really dating her then we’ll see.”
Dion’s fiancée, Vanessa, walked up from behind and wrapped an arm around his neck before kissing his cheek. When she noticed he was on the phone she smiled and waved. “My bad. Hey, fellas.”
“Hey, Vanessa,” both Tyrone and Wesley said, waving back.
Vanessa’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Tyrone, I hear you’ve got a girlfriend. Is this for real?”
Even Vanessa! Damn, did no one think he knew how to have a girlfriend? “Yeah, you’ll meet her. She’ll be working on the show and staying with me in Sunshine Beach while we’re doing the convention.”
“Cool. I look forward to meeting her and seeing how you swept her off her feet.”
Tyrone’s smile felt wooden. Everyone was going to be watching his relationship with Kiera. He hoped they could pull it off with all the scrutiny. “Just wait until you talk to her. You’ll see she’s crazy about me.”
“But are you crazy about her?” Vanessa said with a raised eyebrow.
Dion and Wesley both focused on Tyrone. He thought about Kiera. The way she’d stolen his breath when he first saw her and how his body responded to having her close. Not only that, but she was also funny and easy to talk to. He nodded and smiled. “Yeah. She’s cool.”
Shock flashed across three faces, but Dion spoke first. “Well, damn. I never thought I’d see the day but I think you are crazy about her.”
* * *
Kiera used her left shoulder to hold her cell phone to her ear while struggling to pull her keys out of her purse. She stopped in front of the rows of mailboxes in the lobby of her apartment building. After shoving aside receipts, her umbrella, a smaller purse she used as a wallet and her makeup bag, her fingers finally landed on her key ring in the bottom corner.
“I just got home and I’m going up to pack now,” she said to her brother on the other end of the line.
“How long are you going to be down there?” Rodrick asked. The sounds of music and off-key singing were in the background. When she’d asked about it earlier he’d let her know Contessa was singing while making dinner. All previous problems they’d had were forgotten and the two were blissfully happy again.
“I’ll be in South Carolina for a few weeks. I’ll run the team doing the makeup before the brothers’ panel and then I’ll stick around while they’re filming scenes in their hometown. One of the first investigations is in their hometown before they move on to somewhere else.” She slid the key into the lock for her mailbox.
“I’m happy for you. You’re finally making big moves.” Pride rang into her brother’s voice.
“I’m trying to.” She opened the mailbox and cringed. The box was stuffed to capacity. She tried to check it once a week, but once a week often turned into once every two or three. Still holding the phone with her shoulder, she started tugging out items packed into the box.
“Not only that, but you’re also dating Tyrone Livingston. I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me that. Before you know it, you’re going to be a celebrity.”
“Not hardly,” Kiera said dryly as she pulled out her mail.
“What do you mean ‘not hardly’? I saw that picture of you two. I haven’t seen you that into a guy in a long time.”
Kiera pressed a hand to her temple for a second before resuming cleaning out her mailbox. She’d known her family would eventually see the pictures, and she hadn’t looked forward to the constant teasing and questions she would get. “It’s not like that.”
“What do you mean ‘it’s not like that’? You were kissing him. What is it like?”
She froze after her brother’s question. She hadn’t told her family about her deal with Tyrone. She and Tyrone agreed that the fewer people who knew about their arrangement, the better. They didn’t need someone’s loose lips to get word back to the press or the network. Not after Dennis basically accused them of faking the relationship.
As much as she hated lying to her brother, she also knew he couldn’t hold water. He was just like their dad and loved to gossip. If Kiera needed to know anything about someone in the family, one call to either of them would get her the full story. If her brother knew, then everyone in her family from Georgia to New York to Oklahoma would know.
“I mean... I’m not thinking about being big-time while dating him. I’m just enjoying being with him.”
“As long as he’s treating you right that’s all that matters. When are you going to bring him around to meet the family?”
“Um...there’s no need for him to meet the family just yet.” Kiera finally got all the items out of the box. She walked over to the recycling bin and immediately began tossing the sales papers, junk mail and flyers.
“Why not? We won’t hurt him.” Rodrick barely masked his devious laughter.
“See, that’s why I’m not bringing him around y’all. Before I know it, you’ll be showing him those awful pictures of me in middle and high school.”
