Backstage by Abbey Foxx

Pretending doesn’t mean it’s not real

Sophia
Pressed into the shadows, Ryan’s lips tight against mine, I have to convince myself that none of this is real.
When he holds me tightly, I have to hide my trembling hands.
When he kisses me along the tenderness of my neck, it takes all my strength not to moan.
And when he undresses in front of me, I have to pretend I’m looking away so he doesn’t see my cheeks flush red.
I have to ignore the way my heart skips a thousand beats, the way my stomach turns around and around in somersaults, that tingly sensation all over my body when he dances his fingers over my sensitive skin.
No matter how much it makes me wonder if he really is pretending, I can’t afford to lose myself in that look of pure desire that flashes across his eyes like entire universes compacting.
Even if he does the things to me I’ve never felt anyone do before, what if I’m wrong?
I can’t let myself believe this fake relationship is real, because if it isn’t, I don’t think my heart could take it.
Ryan and I have an agreement, and I’ll do anything not to lose him.
Even if it means I have to pretend I’m not falling in love.

Ryan
This is the kind of stuff that sells newspapers.
On screen couple marry in sham wedding romance, only everyone thinks this is real, and we’re so good at it, I’m beginning to wonder myself.
All those looks she gives me, the way her kisses make my entire body throb with desire, the way I can’t get her out of my head for a single minute.
A million dollars of inheritance money from a dead great aunt I didn’t even know I had, and now Sophia and I are married for real and I can’t stop thinking about what it would be like if we’d done it for love and not just for money.
The best thing about this whole agreement?
We need to do everything we can to convince people this relationship is real otherwise we don’t get a single dollar of the money, which means treating each other like husband and wife whenever anyone might be looking.
The problem is, I’m beginning to want to do that more and more behind closed doors, and as much as I want to believe it’s true, I have no idea how Sophia feels.
And then she drops a bombshell I had no idea was coming, and our cleverly constructed lie slowly begins to come unravelling apart.
Neither of us can go back to make believe now, even if we wanted to.