Read the first chapter of Falling For Her Fake Wedding Date.
Emma Sinclair had mastered the art of keeping her face expressionless regardless of how she felt. It was what allowed her to maintain a calm facade despite her mother’s disapproval.
“Really.” Brenda Sterling used her fork to shift the greens on her plate as if she expected a creature to crawl from underneath. “Why didn’t you come to the house for lunch? Ivy makes an excellent Caesar salad, nothing like this,” her lip curled, “whatever this is supposed to be.”
Emma suppressed a sigh and cut into the scorched salmon on her plate. “I’ve already explained. I have meetings this afternoon. This was the only time I had available on my schedule.”
“Did it have to be this restaurant?” Brenda cast her eyes toward the potted plants hanging from the ceiling. “The villa has an excellent lunch menu.”
The trip would have taken Emma out of her way and made her late for the appointment she had after lunch.
Emma enjoyed the ambiance of The Hanging Garden Restaurant, but she wasn’t foolish enough to express that to her mother.
Instead, she remained silent, using the excuse of chewing to avoid responding to Brenda’s commentary.
Under her lashes, she glanced at her half-sister, thankful that for once, Lanie was preoccupied with her phone and didn’t join their mother’s diatribe.
“Oh, pooh!” Brenda waved a hand. “Why didn’t you reschedule your meetings? It’s not like there would have been any major upheaval.”
Her mother’s lips curved into as close to a smile as Brenda could render. “Delaney’s job is more important, and she’s taken the afternoon off.”
The hand on Emma’s lap clenched into a fist, and she did a mental run-through of the outfits of her upcoming summer line. Imagining the pretty colors helped curb her tongue.
To Brenda Sterling, Lanie’s job as assistant interior designer trumped Emma’s position as CEO and head designer of The Tropical Trendsetter. If Emma was president of Saturn Island and Lanie had been unemployed, Brenda would have considered Lanie’s position more important.
Emma exhaled slowly, releasing along with her breath, the resentment that had flooded in with her previous thought.
“It’s her wedding.”
“You’re her maid of honor.”
Lanie’s head tipped up, her wavy blonde hair slipping over her shoulders. “What did you say about the wedding?”
Typical. Her half-sister had weddings on the brain. She supposed it was understandable since Lanie was getting married in a little over three months.
Brenda turned to her younger daughter. “I was reminding Emma that she’s your maid of honor.” Brenda cut a glance at her. “If you’d make an effort, you’d lose weight and then you’d be a matron of honor rather than a maid.”
Would these encounters with her mother ever change?
“Have you told her?” Lanie’s voice held a whine, and Emma mentally braced herself for whatever came next.
“Told me what?”
Lanie met her gaze, vibrating with excitement. “My friend, Andrew, has agreed to escort you to the wedding events.” Lanie clapped her hands. “You’ll love him.”
Emma stared into her sister’s hazel eyes. “No.”
Lanie’s face fell. “But the two of you would look great together in photos. His body type complements yours.”
Did she want to know what that meant?
“No,” Emma repeated, injecting the steel into her voice that had prevented her from being railroaded by well-meaning people as she’d built her business from the ground up.
“But Emma, if you don’t go with Andrew, my numbers will be uneven for the events.”
Emma wiped the corners of her mouth, appetite gone. She wasn’t sure if it was the reminder of the long list of events Lanie had planned leading up to the wedding. Or if it was because her sister believed Emma was desperate enough to take one of her batch mates instead of attending the wedding alone.
“I refuse to be paired with one of your friends, Lanie. It’s your wedding, send him an invitation and let him bring a date.”
With the size of the wedding, two additional guests wouldn’t make a difference.
“If you won’t go with Lanie’s friend, let me arrange a date with one of your father’s associates.”
“Stepfather.” Emma corrected automatically.
Brenda’s mouth tightened. “Howard has several single business partners.”
Her mother’s unspoken words echoed in the silence. Emma’s stepfather, who owned Sterling Properties, the largest real estate firm on Saturn Island, would benefit from her sacrifice.
Her mother thought nothing of offering her up to men who were old enough to be her father.
“I’m not interested in dating one of Howard’s associates.” Emma folded both hands in her lap.
“You’re being ridiculous.” Brenda huffed. “This is an opportunity for you to get married and stop pretending you’re happy being single.”
Her mother didn’t get it. She was, if not happy with her relationship status, content with her life. She enjoyed her work and had long since come to terms with the fact that her family would never love her the way she wanted them to. They’d never love her the way she loved them.
“So, either I go with a man ten years my junior, or one old enough to be my father? Those are my choices?”
Lanie at least had the decency to blush, her pale cheeks deepening to pink.
“No, thank you,” Emma repeated. “I’ll find a date for the events.”
Brenda scoffed, and Lanie giggled.
“By this weekend?” Her sister’s tone brimmed with amusement. “That’s in two days!”
She’d forgotten how close the first event was. Did she have time to find a date?
“What are we doing again?”
“Really, Emma.” Brenda wadded up her napkin and dropped it on her plate. “You’re her maid of honor. You should be aware of the events the bride has planned for her wedding.”
She didn’t understand why. Lanie had a host of bridesmaids—most of them women content to play the role of socialite. They were eager to prove themselves useful to Lanie.
“I’m pretty sure I explained I didn’t have time to do maid of honor duties. Besides, isn’t Brittany the real maid of honor?”
Brittany Dixon and Lanie had been friends since high school. Quite frankly, Emma was surprised the friendship had lasted as long as it had with how competitive the two of them were with each other.
“You’re a real maid of honor.” Brenda scoffed. “What would people say if your sister was getting married, and you weren’t in the bridal party?”
There it was, Brenda Sinclair Sterling nee Miller’s reason for doing everything. How she and their family appeared to the invisible audience she performed for.
Emma focused on Lanie, ignoring her mother’s discontent. “The event?”
She made a mental note to add the events to her calendar, so she’d have advanced notice of where she was expected to be. She may do some inventive scheduling to get herself out of a couple of them.
Lanie rolled her eyes. “We’re golfing at Daddy’s club. It’ll be the wedding party and their dates. One of the groomsmen is the son of a potential investor and Daddy wants me to impress him with my golf skills.”
Of course. Because the members of her family always had an agenda. Heaven forbid any of them do something out of the kindness of their hearts or because they wanted to.
“I’ll invite Andrew, anyway.” Lanie’s gaze swept over Emma’s face. “You won’t have to golf alone.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Emma caught the eye of their server. She’d bring a date to Lanie’s golfing tournament and every event afterward, even if she had to pay someone to accompany her.
***
Emma got through the rest of her day by pushing her mother’s and Lanie’s words into the deepest recesses of her mind. When her last online meeting ended, she disconnected the call and slumped onto her desk.
“Emma?”
She sat up in her chair and attempted to smile at her team member.
“Hey, Peyt.”
Peyton Knight was a designer who also modeled for Emma’s company.
Concern knitted Peyton’s brows. “Are you okay?”
“Long day.”
Peyton chuckled and shut the door behind her, coming fully into the room. “Emma, I’ve worked with you for two years, sometimes until the wee hours of the morning, and I’ve never seen you this exhausted.”
Emma sighed. She struggled with being the boss as it meant she was always maneuvering a line of expectations. What was acceptable to share with her employees and what was not?
She hadn’t exactly had healthy relationships growing up, so she wasn’t sure what to do. Her closest friends were the women she’d hired to manage the social media presence for the Trendsetter. Brianna Hutchinson and Gabrielle McPherson had befriended her and adopted her into their friend group.
Peyton pressed her lips together. “Never mind.” She slid a thin paper folder onto Emma’s desk. “These are the results from the target group. I’m sure you’ll go through them, but I recommend changing the fabric. Fifty percent of the participants complained that the pants showed wear and tear between the thighs after a few uses.”
That was not good, still worrying about the problem distracted her from the issue of finding a date.
“I’ll talk to the supplier.” She’d convince them to change the fabric to a more durable one that would be suitable for the designs without increasing the price point beyond her target customer. “Thank you.”
Peyton nodded with cool professionalism. “I’ll let you get back to what you were doing before.”
She didn’t want to return to her brooding, especially not as she sensed refusing to be forthcoming with Peyton had been the wrong decision. Since she was the boss, couldn’t she take her team into her confidence? Peyton opened the door. In seconds, the opportunity would be lost.
“Wait.”
Peyton turned, one brow arched. Emma drew in a breath. She could do this.
“You wouldn’t happen to have an older brother who’d be willing to accompany me to a few events, would you?”
Peyton shut the door and took quick steps back to Emma’s desk. “I don’t.”
Emma’s hopes plummeted.
“But I know how you can get a date if you’re willing to pay for it.”
Emma perked up. “Yeah?”
Hadn’t she said she’d be willing to pay someone to escort her?
Peyton pulled up a website on her phone.
“Rent a Mate?” Emma cast an incredulous glance at Peyton. “Is this a joke?”
The site appeared legit. Did people rent fake dates? How had she never heard of this before?
“Nope. Not a joke. Zak and I have friends who work with them from time to time. They’re professional. Escorts go through an extensive screening process and follow strict rules.
“Anyone who breaks the rules, clients or employees, gets thrown out of the program.”
“Huh.” She was at a loss for words. Who would have suspected this aspect of Orange Valley society existed? Now that she was aware of it, what did she intend to do about it?
***
Emma stood in front of the refrigerator and debated what to eat for dinner. The part that cringed under her mother’s disapproval wanted a salad or to forgo the meal altogether. The part that rebelled against her mother’s treatment urged her to fast-forward to dessert.
In the end, she slid a frozen casserole into the oven to warm it before taking a bath. Later, dressed in fuchsia satin pajamas, she pulled up the Rent a Mate website on her phone and read every page while she ate.
The testimonials were glowing. She ignored them as she suspected they’d been written by friends or people who’d gotten the service for free.
She backed out of the site and went searching for reviews elsewhere. She didn’t find many dissenters.
“Get over yourself, Emma.” She huffed out a breath and returned to the sign-up page. Unless she produced a date in the next couple of days, she had no choice.
She created a profile and entered her information. A questionnaire popped up.
“What is your ideal date?” She read the first question aloud. What did that have to do with matching her with a fake boyfriend? Her mind drifted to the dates she’d gone on.
Stiff, boring affairs where she’d spent the time mentally designing outfits. Or the dates she’d hesitated to let down her guard for the men who flattered and cajoled her. Those were the worst because they reminded her that some men viewed her as a pawn, as someone to take advantage of.
They didn’t see past her shields or if they did, they didn’t care for the woman behind them.
But what if she had a choice? What if it was possible to create her ideal partner? Because wasn’t that what this was? A chance to create the perfect mate? Emma rolled her shoulders.
“Let’s do this.” She’d answer the questions honestly to give the algorithm all the information it needed to find her the perfect date.
Falling For Her Fake Wedding Date ((The Firefighters of Orange Valley Book 1)
Table of Contents
Can a date for hire become the love of a lifetime?
When Emma Sinclair’s younger sister announces her engagement, Emma is determined not to face the wedding alone. With a plan to hire a plus one, she’s ready to find the perfect date.
Carlos Gonzalez dreams of leaving his firefighter days behind to open a custom body shop. To make his dream a reality, he moonlights as a date for hire, offering companionship with no strings attached.
When Emma hires Carlos to be her wedding date, their connection is electric. Amid the celebration, they discover a deeper bond. But Carlos faces the ultimate challenge—proving that his feelings for Emma are authentic and not just part of the job.
Falling For Her Fake Wedding Date is book one in the Firefighters of Orange Valley series.
