and launched her career as a supermodel. It had been in Paris where she’d met Jose and fallen for him. But she was older now and no longer felt like that carefree girl. “Those photos were a long time ago.”
“Which photos? I’m talking about the one on your mom’s desk,” he said.
“Oh. This is embarrassing. I am totally not myself tonight,” she said. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time.”
“It wasn’t a waste and if you ever feel like trying this again,” he said, “give me a call.”
He got up and left and she sat there at the table, staring out the windows that led to the golf course. The sun had long since set. She should head home but her son was already in bed and her mom would probably want to grill her about the date. And that wasn’t going to go well.
So instead she signaled her waiter to clear away the dessert dishes and ordered herself a French martini.
“Want some company?”
She glanced up to see Derek Caruthers standing next to her table. He wore his hair short in the back and longer on top; it fell smoothly and neatly over his forehead. When they’d been kids his brownish blond hair had been unruly and wild, much like Derek himself. These days he was a surgeon renowned for his skills in the operating theater.
“I have it on good authority that I am not that charming tonight.”
He pulled out the chair that her date had recently vacated and sat down. “Surely not.”
“It’s true. I was the most awful date. I felt like the worst sort of mean girl.”
He signaled the waiter for a drink, and a moment later he had a highball glass filled with scotch and she had her martini.
“To old friends,” he said.
“To old friends,” she returned the toast, tapping the rim of her glass against his.
“How’d the meeting go today?” she asked. She envied Derek. He had his life together. He knew what he wanted, he always got it and unlike her he seemed happy with his single life.
“Not as I’d planned,” he said.
She took a sip of her drink and then frowned over at him. “That’s not like you. What happened?”
“An old frenemy showed up, making problems as is her habit and I had to shut her down,” Derek said, downing his drink in one long swallow.
“How?” Bianca asked. “Tell me your troubles and I’ll help you solve them.”
It was nice to be discussing a problem with Derek. A problem that didn’t involve her. The thirty-something who’d moved back in with her parents. She knew the gossips in Cole’s Hill had a lot to say about that. From jet-setter to loser in a few short months. She pushed her martini aside realizing she was getting melancholy.
“Actually you can help me out,” Derek said, leaning forward and taking one of her hands in his.
“Name it. You’re one of my closest friends and you know I would do anything for you.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said.
She smiled. Of course she’d help Derek out. He’d always been her stalwart friend. When she’d dreamed of leaving Texas and going to Paris to model, he’d listened to her dreams and helped her make a plan to achieve them. When she’d been lonely that first year, he’d emailed and texted with her every day.
“What do you need from me?”
“I need you to be my fiancée.”
Fiancée.
Was he out of his mind?
She shook her head and started laughing. Once she started she couldn’t stop and she felt that tinge of panic rise up that she thought she’d been successfully shoving way deep down in her gut.
“Thanks, I needed that,” she said. “You have no idea what kind of week it’s been.”
Derek leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, which drew the fabric of his dress shirt tight against his muscles. Distracted, she couldn’t help but notice the way his biceps bulged against the fabric. One thing that had been hard for her in the years of their friendship was to ignore how hot Derek was. He worked out. He had said one time that a surgeon had to be a precise machine. And that everything—every part of his body and mind—had to be in top shape.
“I’m not joking.”
“Uh, what?” she asked. She was tired. Life hadn’t worked out according to her plans and if she’d thought that once she reached this age she’d have everything all figured out, she was wrong. Really wrong.
She pushed her martini glass away, feeling a bit as if she’d followed Alice down the rabbit hole. But she knew she hadn’t.
“I need a fiancée,” Derek said. “The new board member who holds the fate of my career in my hands? It turns out she’s a borderline obsessive I dated a while ago. The only way to keep her off my back is to make sure she knows I’m off the market.”
“And how do I fit into this?”
Derek tipped his head to the side and studied her. “You could use a fake fiancé as well.”
She still wasn’t following. She was tired and her heart hurt a little bit if she were completely honest. Derek was one of her best friends and this sounded fishy to her.
“Why?”
“So your mom will quit setting you up on blind dates. You’re too kind to tell her you aren’t ready to date. If we are engaged then everyone will back off and leave us alone. I can focus on wowing everyone on the board at the hospital so that they have no choice but to name me chief. You can figure out what you want to do next without the pressure your parents are putting on you.”
She put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. When he put it like that she’d be a fool to refuse. “Are you sure about this?”
“I am,” he said.
When wasn’t Derek sure? She should have already known that would be his answer.
“If we’re engaged, why would we have kept it quiet?” she asked.
He leaned in closer to her. “To give Hunter and Nate time in the spotlight. Hunter’s wedding is really taking up everyone’s energy.”
“It is. And Kinley is busy planning it. She’s going to wonder why I never even mentioned we were dating.”
Bianca and Kinley were good friends. They both had been single mothers with toddlers the same age. Of course, Kinley wasn’t single anymore and had found happiness with Derek’s brother Nate.
Derek took her hand
