Page 35 of Making the Save
“He needs to know they were all…”
“Fake,” I supplied when her sentence trailed off.
“Publicity motivated,” she said more politely.
I squirmed on the couch. “Why does he need to know that?”
After all, how much more embarrassed did I need to be?
Hey, I know you’re fake married to me, but here’s a funny coincidence, every boyfriend I’ve ever had has been fake too.
“Because he’s a man and he might have…expectations,” she said, willing me to understand her.
I looked at her blankly.
“About the nature of the relationship he will have with you,” she added. Then when it was clear I wasn’t getting it, she huffed. “Intimacy!”
“Intimacy?” I asked, not getting it, then suddenly it clicked. “Oh, you mean sex! Uh, yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
Except, even as I said it, I could feel myself blushing.
“I saw that kiss,” she said. “You need to be honest with him.”
“Why? What does it matter to him if I’ve had publicity motivated relationships in the past?”
Beatrice sighed. “Sydney, I’ve been with you since you were seventeen. You had that crush on the boy band singer…”
“Axil,” I supplied.
“Who was quite obviously gay.”
Obvious to everyone except me.
“Since then, I’ve watched you say yes to every bad boy and jerk Tyler brought to you like you didn’t have a choice. You shut down so hard there was no chance of allowing anyone in. But something tells me this hockey player is different. He needs to know you’re a…well, he needs to know you’re innocent.”
“Ha!” I laughed with zero humor. “Don’t be ridiculous. Haven’t you read the press about me? I can’t be a serial dating slutandinnocent.”
“There’s no shame in it, Sydney.”
“I admit nothing,” I said and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Fine,” she sighed. “Just understand he’s clearly very attracted to you and you are to him. Those videos of the two of you at the night club?”
She arched an eyebrow and suddenly I was embarrassed she’d seen me climb Wyatt like a tree.
“We were drunk.”
“In vino veritas, my darling,” she said standing. “But this one…is a man, not a boy, and you best remember that.”
She patted my shoulder and I reached up and clung to her hand. I would be lost without her.
“I don’t pay you for relationship advice either,” I said with a smile.
“You pay me for all things, and all things to you, I will always be. I’ll be at the flat in LA if you need anything.”
Beatrice lived in a loft in Los Angeles and a brownstone in Brooklyn when we were in New York. She called both of them flats.
“Also, I put in an order for more groceries. Should be delivered in a few hours. Remember, keep feeding him. I find they’re less grumpy that way,” Beatrice said, and she popped out the side door and closed it behind her.