Read Online The Substitute by Denise Grover Swank - Free Book Online

to be free. His goal was to charm Nicole Vandemeer and so far, he was succeeding. No need to be late for the first event on her endless schedule. He stripped off his shirt and slipped an arm into one of the sleeves of the button-down shirt as the bathroom door opened.
    Megan stood in the doorway in a light blue sundress and he stopped dressing, his second arm partially in the sleeve.
    The sight of her sucked his breath away. Megan Vandemeer was a stunningly beautiful woman. And Jay Connors was a fool.
    They stared at each other for several seconds before she looked away.
    “You can use the bathroom now,” she mumbled, her cheeks flushing.
    “Thanks.” But he stayed in place, pulling his shirt on the rest of the way and starting to button it.
    Her gaze moved to the bed and then to his face. “Keep the jeans.”
    “But I figured your mother would have a fit.”
    Megan glanced up at him through long dark eyelashes, a mischievous grin lighting up her face. “She’ll hate it. That’s why you should wear them.”
    “So you want me to piss your mother off? After you freaked out about upsetting her?”
    “That’s different,” she said, picking up his tie off the bed. “You get to make an exit from this horror show. I have to live with her for at least another thirty years.”
    She looped the tie around his neck and in that instant he knew he was in deep, deep shit. He forced his breathing to remain normal even though his heart raced. Did she even know how sexy she was right now, knotting his tie at the base of his throat?
    She finished her task and appraised him. “I guess you’ll do.”
    “You guess? ”
    She turned her attention to her suitcase and started digging around for something.
    “We need a story,” he forced out.
    “What?”
    “People are going to ask questions. We need to tell them the same thing. Does your family know how you met your fiancé?”
    She turned her head and gave him a wry grin. “So you acknowledge his existence now?”
    He almost laughed out loud. How he’d enjoyed riling her up about her fake fiancé.
    “You showed me his blurry picture, right? But I still question his existence, if only based on the fact that the man has to be an idiot of epic proportions.” Why did he admit that? Focus, Josh. Focus . There was only a week left until everything was lost. He needed to do what he’d come here to do and that was it.
    She glanced down. “No. They hardly know anything.”
    “So how did we meet?”
    “Friends set us up.”
    “Where was our first date?”
    “At Six Seven Restaurant, overlooking the sound.”
    “Classy and romantic. And how did our first date go?”
    She stood, holding a pair of sandals in her hand. She flashed him a teasing grin. “You were smitten with me. I found you barely tolerable.”
    He stared into her twinkling eyes as she looked up at him. “And did any of that really happen on your first date with your fiancé?”
    Her smile faded, making him regret the question. “No. We met at a bar downtown for drinks. He declared us compatible. We each paid for our own tab and agreed to try dinner the next week.”
    “Sounds very…calculated.”
    “That’s Jay for you.”
    He wasn’t sure how to respond. Based on what little he knew of her, he couldn’t imagine her happy with someone like that. “When did you guys move in together?”
    “We didn’t.” He expected her to sound bitter. She only sounded resigned.
    Rather than commenting, he moved on to the next question. “What do you do?”
    She sat on the bed and slipped on her shoes. “I’m a fundraiser for an environmental nonprofit.” She glanced up, blowing away a strand of hair that fell in her face. “My mother finds it tacky that I’m paid to beg people for money. She says I could at least have chosen a well-respected cause. Suffice it to say, she wishes I would do something else.”
    “I bet.”
    “They know Jay’s an investment banker…that he works long hours.”
    “What else did you