It's Only Make-Believe
Read It's Only Make-Believe Online
Authors: Shawn Lane
It's Only Make-Believe
by Shawn Lane
Amber Quill Press
www.amberquill.com
Copyright ©2008 by Shawn Lane
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It's Only Make-Believe
by Shawn Lane
CONTENTS
* * * *
It's Only Make-Believe
by Shawn Lane
IT'S ONLY MAKE-BELIEVE
By
SHAWN LANE
* * * *
www.amberquill.com
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It's Only Make-Believe
by Shawn Lane
Also By Shawn Lane
Sorcerer's Lover
The Squire
At Long Last
Jake's Regret
A Knight For All
Most Likely To Succeed
The Other Side
Pulling Away
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It's Only Make-Believe
by Shawn Lane
"So, you're not even having sex?"
Sebastian Kincaid did not want to hear the answer. Except for not wanting to look like a geek, he would have plugged his ears and sung loudly during Melody Jenks's response to Ming Chow's inappropriate question.
The three of them were having lunch on the patio of a lovely little bistro where they frequently dined. They'd been discussing Melody's relationship, such as it was, with eligible bachelor Luther Winthrop.
"Keep your voice down," Melody hissed.
Indeed, Sebastian thought, lowering his sunglasses a tad to glance around at the other tables. No one seemed to be paying particular attention to them.
"But to answer your question..."
Bloody hell.
"No," Melody said. She took a large sip of her mango margarita, leaving a rather large imprint of dark red lipstick on the rim.
Sebastian relaxed a bit. So she hadn't had sex with Luther.
Good.
"The thing of it is we aren't really dating." Melody leaned her head on one of her hands. Her polished nails bore the same red as her lipstick. They both went rather nicely with her warm cinnamon skin.
"What? You've been on three dates," Ming protested.
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It's Only Make-Believe
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Sebastian shot the perky Asian with the dyed red hair a quick look of disdain. She really needed to keep quiet. He made a note to himself to give his paralegal extra work when they returned to the office. He checked his watch.
"Oh, please," Ming said, watching him. "We haven't been here that long."
"I didn't say anything."
Ming rolled her eyes and turned back to Melody. "You were saying?"
"Luther and I are old friends," Melody said. "Now that he's rich and eligible, women won't leave him alone."
"I should have such problems," Sebastian muttered. He took a large swallow of his beer.
Melody smiled. "You might have those problems if you loosened up." She indicated his Armani suit. "Everyone's causal these days. Haven't you noticed you're the only one still dressing like that in the office?"
"I'm a barrister. I like to dress the part."
"It's
lawyer
, Einstein," Ming said. "You're in America now."
"Well, whatever. What has that got to do with women throwing themselves at me or not anyway?"
"You're not approachable." Melody studied him with her large, chocolate brown eyes. "You're cute enough for a white guy."
Thanks
.
"An English white guy no less," Ming said, giggling.
"I think I have a new case you'll need to do loads of overtime on," Sebastian told her.
Ming bowed her head and took a sip of her drink.
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It's Only Make-Believe
by Shawn Lane
Melody laughed. "The point is you look
GQ
, but your expression and your attitude all say 'Get away from me.'"
"Hardly."
"Anyway, we're talking about Mel and Luther, not you,"
Ming said. "So women want Luther. Why does that mean you're not having sex?"
He hated himself for it, of course, but Sebastian almost wanted to know the answer. Pathetic really. He shouldn't be getting a woody over a co-worker anyway. Definitely bad form.
Melody shrugged. "Like I said, we're old friends. Basically, Luther asked me to pretend to be his girlfriend to keep all the overzealous women away."
Sebastian snorted. He knew it was indelicate, but really.
What nonsense.
Both women glanced at him.
"What's the derisive snort for?" Ming asked.
"It's more likely he hasn't come out of the closet and he wants Melody to pretend to be his girlfriend for that reason."
"Oh, no. Luther is not gay," Melody insisted.
Whatever. Sebastian gestured for the waiter to bring the check.
He'd had the hots for Melody since he ended up joining the law firm Peyton, Wallace, and Jenks earlier that year. Melody being the Jenks in the firm's name. He hoped to make partner himself one day, and getting hard whenever he was near Melody would not help his chances. He really needed to get laid. Maybe that would help. Of course, getting images of him and Melody naked out of his head might help, too.
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It's Only Make-Believe
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"You're more of a bore than usual, Kincaid," Ming declared, reaching down to pick up her purse. "What's got your tighty-whiteys in a wad?"
Sebastian ignored her and handed his credit card to the waiter.
Ming rolled her eyes again and turned her attention back to Melody. "Don't you want it to be something more?"
"Sure, but if Luther doesn't, what can I do?"
"Precisely," Sebastian agreed, signing the slip. "She doesn't want to appear pathetically desperate like all those women Winthrop wants to avoid, does she?"
They rose from the table, and Ming grabbed Melody's arm.
"Let's go for drinks after work and we can talk about this further. You know, develop a strategy."
"Well..."
"How about Barton's?" Ming looked back at Sebastian.
"And you aren't invited, Kincaid. Ladies only."
"I assure you I have better things to do with my Friday night than drink fruity martinis and discuss Melody's lack of sex with Luther Winthrop," Sebastian said.
"All right," Melody agreed. "But I can't stay too long.
Luther wants to have a late dinner."
Swell.
* * * *
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It's Only Make-Believe
by Shawn Lane
His better thing to do last night was to watch a crime-show marathon on television. What a bloody idiot he was. Melody wasn't attracted to him.
"Get over it already."
"Get over what?" Melody, also known as the object of his lust, poked her head into his office.
God, he hadn't known anyone else was there. He plastered on his most-fake smile. "A headache. I have a habit of talking to myself."
"Oh."
She nodded and stood in his doorway with her arms folded across her chest. Too bad. She was blocking her pert breasts.
She was dressed even more casually than during the week, wearing gray sweatpants and a thin white T-shirt. Her thick mass of brown and blond braids had been pulled back by a gray twist. No makeup either. His cock didn't seem to care. It leapt to attention.
"I didn't expect to see you here this morning."
"I just had a couple of things to do since I left early to go to Barton's," she explained. "You didn't miss much. Too crowded. How was your date?"
Sebastian's mind blanked. "Date?"
She shrugged. "You said you had better things to do, so I assumed..."
"Right, right. It was extraordinary." Lord, he was a geek.
"Couldn't have been that extraordinary. Look where you are first thing in the morning." She smiled. For a moment, she hesitated, looking like she wanted to say something.
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It's Only Make-Believe
by Shawn Lane
"Want to have a seat?" He gestured to the chair in front of his desk.
"Yeah, there is something I kind of want to talk to you about. Let me get my coffee and I'll be right back."
Sebastian watched her disappear down the hall. He certainly hoped he hadn't screwed up a case. Though he was new to the firm, he'd been practicing law in California for a few years. He scooted closer to his desk. Wouldn't do for her to see his boner.
She smiled when she came back with her travel mug of coffee and sat down. "I'm glad you're here, Sebastian. I could really use a guy's opinion."
"Uh-huh. What's up?"
"About Luther."
Great, just great.
Melody sighed. "The thing is, I'd like to take our friendship further. I've been in love with Luther for the longest time."
She peered at him over her coffee mug. "I kind of doubt you've ever been in love with someone who doesn't feel the same way."
Um, welcome to my life, Sebastian thought.
"Sebastian?"
"Uh, yes, as a matter of fact, I'm in a similar situation myself," he admitted.
She raised her eyebrows. "Really?"
Sebastian pushed away the annoyance. "Why is that so difficult to believe?"
"I don't know." Melody shifted in her seat. "You just seem so—"
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"Put together?"
"I was going to say standoffish. Unemotional." She laughed. "No offense."
"Sure, stiff upper lip and all."
"Anyway, we were talking last night at Miguel's Cantina and—"
"I thought you went to Barton's."
She waved one of her manicured hands. "I told you, too crowded. We switched to Miguel's."
And that place wasn't too crowded? he wanted to ask, but decide not to bother. Miguel's was a meat market. He didn't like the idea of Melody there. Not that he had any say, obviously.
"Ming said if I really wanted to get Luther's attention I should make him jealous."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. Leave it to Ming to suggest something underhanded. He sighed. "Why don't you try something old-fashioned?"
"What's that?" She frowned over her mug.
"Tell him how you feel." Okay, he should probably take his own advice, but the truth was he knew she wasn't attracted to him. Unless Luther really was gay, Sebastian would bet he did like Melody.
"I don't think I could do that. I mean, how embarrassing if he doesn't return my feelings. You know?"
Yes, he knew.
"So, if I do decide to make him jealous, I need a man to do it with."
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Okay, his cock perked up at that. He cleared his throat and shifted in his chair.
Melody laughed. "Well, not do it with, exactly. I meant make him jealous. Someone he could see me going out with and think we were doing it."
"Bad idea."
Melody smiled a little. "Sorry you feel that way, Sebastian.
I was thinking of asking you to be the guy. But if you think it's a bad idea..."
"Wait." Lord, he'd yelped like a desperate puppy.
Down,
boy.
He forced a casual smile on his face. "You want me to be the one to make Luther jealous?"
"Well, yeah, Ming actually thought of it." She sipped her coffee and then brightened. "Hey, maybe it could work for you, too."
