A Weekend With Her Fake Fiancé

“Look, it’s no big deal, right? Three days of pretending and then it’s over and hopefully I get the job. Easy.”

“What about leaving Alaska? I thought you liked it here. I like it here,” Clara said.

“I do like Anchorage,” said Carmen.

She loved Anchorage the same as Mama and her sister did. She’d hate to leave. But that was beside the point. You did what you needed to do.

“California is pretty too, though. If I get the job it will be like we’re living on the island again. Beaches and sunshine and the ocean. They have good nursing programs at their colleges too.”

“Hmm...” Clara didn’t sound convinced, but it was too late to back out now. “And you think taking this man you had a fling with and having him pretend to be your fiancé will get you this new job? After you two...you know...?”

Yeah, she’d told her sister about the one-night stand. Hard to hide a man staying over in your bed when you shared the same living space. Ugh. Clara was right. Whatever had made her think inviting Zac to be her fake fiancé was the most brilliant decision ever?

In the end, though, what choice had she had? With Priya’s stellar background and experience, Carmen needed to produce someone who could seriously schmooze. Priya’s family was rich, and she’d had the best education and training money could buy. Carmen had worked nights and weekends to pay for her RN degree at the University of the Southern Caribbean.

After that she’d scraped together enough money from tips at the bar and working third shift at a twenty-four-hour convenience clinic to move her family from Trinidad to Anchorage, where she’d interned at Anchorage Mercy and completed her graduate degree.

Then she’d sat for the national certification exam and applied for her Advanced Nurse Practitioner license. The whole process had taken a decade, but it had meant a more secure future for the ones she loved and she’d do it all again, if asked.

Carmen said at last, “Zac knows the score.”

“Does he?” Clara said, her tone skeptical. “I don’t want you to get your heart broken.”

Carmen didn’t want that either. Problem was, she’d never really had a Plan B when it came to this weekend. And, honestly, their mutual attraction might be a good thing if they could keep to the script and use it to their advantage, making their ruse more believable. Lord knew their chemistry was still sizzling hot, despite the fact months had passed since they’d done the deed.

“I’ll be fine—promise,” she said, to convince herself as much as Clara.

She pushed away from the wall and squared her shoulders before walking out of the stairwell again. The hallway was delightfully empty, thank goodness.

“You’re all set to take care of Mama this weekend?”

Clara sighed. “Yep.”

Regret pinched Carmen’s chest. She hated to ask her little sister to care for their mother, but it couldn’t be helped in this situation. She wanted Clara to experience all the things she’d never had at her age—parties and fun and boyfriends and dating and all of life’s good things.

“What time’s your flight?” Clara asked.

“We fly out Thursday morning. Zac’s meeting me at the airport.” Carmen picked at her nails—a bad habit that tended to recur when she was stressed. “On a private jet.”

“Weys! Well, try to have a good time this weekend. You deserve to let loose. Just not too much, eh?”

“Don’t worry. It’s still a working midwifery conference.” Carmen laughed. “Mama doing all right?”

“She’s fine. Watching her telenovela.”

“Good. Okay. I need to go. Tell her I love her and I’ll see her later tonight.”

Carmen ended the call and headed back into the busy ER. She’d hoped her little walk would help clear her mind and sort out her thoughts. Instead, it had only brought more concerns to the surface.

If she was honest, her sister had touched on something she feared herself. Not that she and Zac wouldn’t be able to fool people into thinking they were a couple, but that Carmen wouldn’t be able to stop fooling herself into believing they were...

CHAPTER THREE (#ued51ac88-162a-5fd1-ac76-aaf1a372361c)

LATE THURSDAY MORNING, Zac took a moment to collect himself as he stepped into the ticketing area of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. There were, of course, dozens of people milling about, but his eyes went immediately to a petite beauty with glowing mocha skin and copper-streaked curls, standing on the other side of the security gate, checking her watch.

Dressed in jeans, an emerald-green turtleneck, a black parka and black suede boots, Carmen looked a far cry from the way she looked dressed in her usual scrubs at the hospital. Younger and way sexier, if that were possible.

Whoa, cowboy.

He took a deep breath and reminded himself why he was here. This wasn’t a vacation. This wasn’t about sex. This was work.

After going through the security checkpoint, he strode toward her, coming up on the side opposite to where she was looking.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, setting his leather carry-on bag on the floor near his feet.

She turned and looked him up and down, checked her watch again, then took off for the nearby escalators, calling to him over her shoulder as she went. “You are late. I hope this isn’t a sign of how the rest of the weekend will go. And you’re also overdressed.”

“I wasn’t sure what to wear. We didn’t discuss that,” he muttered, racing after her and catching her up near the end of the concourse, feeling uncomfortable now in his dark jeans and tweed blazer, with the open collar of his white dress shirt suddenly too confining for comfort. “You already have the gate number?”

“Don’t need one,” she said to him over her shoulder. “Private jet, remember?”

“Right.” Zac nodded, feeling even more like an idiot. He knew that. Should’ve remembered from the days traveling with his father.

He forced his attention away from the seductive sway of Carmen’s hips as she walked slightly in front of him and focused straight ahead instead.

Mind on the game, buddy.

A flight attendant waited for them near a side door and escorted them out onto the chilly tarmac, where Zac got his first view of the plane, which was similar to the one his father had owned when Zac was growing up. The knots in his gut tightened.

They approached the small, sleek white aircraft with the fancy logo of the California clinic painted on its tail. Whoever owned that clinic certainly had cash in the bank. These things carried a sixty-five to seventy-million-dollar price tag. Flew like a dream too.

Back in the day, before his father’s betrayal had caused the world Zac knew to crash down around him, he’d logged enough flight hours to become a pilot himself. But that had been another life—a different Zac.

“Here we are,” the flight attendant said, stopping at the bottom of a set of steps. “Enjoy your flight.”

“Thank you.”

Carmen climbed the steps in front of him and Zac did his best not to notice how her jeans cupped her cute butt perfectly. She stopped just before the top and turned to face him. Distracted, he nearly collided right into her. Good thing he had a firm grip on the railing, otherwise he might have had to grab her to keep his balance. And touching her at this point, even for safety reasons, would be a big mistake.

“Ready for this?” she asked. “Did you bring your dossier?”

He squinted up at her in the sunshine and avoided staring at the gold cross necklace nestled atop her bosom. “I am. I did. Did you?”

She inhaled deep, then nodded. “Yes. We can go over them during the flight. I was hoping you’d be on time so we could do it beforehand. I think Priya and Lance have already boarded.”