Authors: Sienna Valentine
C
larice walked back
towards the roaring patio party, shoes in one hand, ring box in the other, trying to comprehend what had just happened to her. Part of her wanted desperately to look back and see if Harrison was still watching her, standing on the beach like a handsome ghost, waiting for the night to swallow him back up. It was like a scene from a movie she should be watching all by herself in her apartment back in New York, instead of living it out here, sand between her toes, moonlight on her shoulders. But she didn’t want to give Harrison any false hope by turning back to look at him. She had no idea what she was going to do.
Still shoeless, she wandered back through the cacophony of eating and dancing people towards the table where the girls waited. The food had been served and the three had wasted no time in digging into the spicy prawn dish. Trudy spotted Clarice coming through the crowd, and immediately she perked up and stared as her friend returned.
All the girls stared at her silently as she pulled out her chair and sat down, waiting for her to say something.
“So?!” said Liz finally with a mouthful of food. “What the hell was that? Did he just want to show you his Long John Silver or what?”
Stressed as she was at the moment, Clarice couldn’t help but laugh at that, and neither could the others. “Something like that, I guess?”
“Well spill it, for hell’s sake!” said Sophie. “You can’t just take a walk with the
owner
of this place and expect us to…”
Clarice sighed and shook her head. She wanted to keep this from the girls—at least from Liz and Sophie, who just didn’t keep secrets like Trudy—but the weight of her talk with Harrison was far too much to carry on her own. She needed advice and help from her friends.
So she simply opened the ring box and plopped it in the middle of the table, Harrison’s business card tucked underneath, without a word.
All the girls froze, Sophie with a forkful of food raised half-way to her open mouth. Their eyes slowly widened as they absorbed the view of the huge carat diamond ring glittering under the light of the dancing tiki torches that surrounded the patio.
“Um,” said Liz.
“What. The hell. Is that,” said Trudy, pointing her finger hard at the ring.
“I’ve never seen a ring that big…” said Sophie in a breathless, envious whisper.
Clarice folded her arms and enjoyed the sight of all three of them being shocked and near speechless at the same time. It was almost worth the hassle of whatever dumb mistakes she was about to make because of the proposal. “So now that we’re all caught up, what say you help me with this little pickle?”
“All caught up? God I hate you sometimes,” said Trudy with only a hint of a smile. “Spill it, sister.”
“Did he
give this to you
?” asked Sophie. She was finally too overcome to help herself from scooping up the ring box and giving the jewelry a hard inspection.
“I knew you guys dragging me to this place was going to turn out weird,” protested Clarice. “There’s your proof,” she nodded toward the ring.
“What happened?” asked Liz.
“Harrison and I met this morning when I couldn’t find my way back to the suites, and he was… ridiculously charming,” said Clarice with a big breath. “So handsome. Anyway I had almost forgotten about it when he came over tonight. He took me out to the beach and pulled out this ring and asked me if I would marry him.”
The girls fell silent once again, until Sophie kicked Clarice’s shin under the table. “Shut your
mouth
.”
Clarice put up her hands. “Hey, shit, I surrender! It’s not like
that,
we barely know each other. He was just being a dramatic idiot. He needs my help and this is part of it.”
“Part of what?” asked Trudy.
“He wants me to pretend to be his fiancée for the week while his parents are visiting from
out of town,” said Clarice. “He said he’ll pay me, and I can keep the ring.”
The girls exchanged glances with each other, heavy with as much excitement as there was worry.
Trudy leaned across the table. “Seriously? This guy needs to pretend to have a wife? What’s his deal, is he gay and hasn’t told them yet?”
“Uh, no,” said Clarice with a laugh. “He is definitely into women. But he’s not the marrying type and his parents want him to be, so…”
“So he’s fooling them with an elaborate ruse, and you’re helping him?” asked Trudy.
Clarice felt a little redness flush across her cheeks. “Well, shit, when you say it like that, it sounds really stupid.”
“It
is
stupid,” said Liz. “This is definitely going to backfire.”
“But you get to keep the ring?” said Sophie, still twirling the box in her hands.
“Backfire how?” Clarice began to scoop herself up some of the dinner before it got too cold. “I’m leaving for New York as planned either way, and it’s not like they’re
my
parents. I’m never going to have to see them again.”
“Backfire for him, at least,” said Trudy.
“Again — so?” said Clarice with a shrug. “It’s his life to wreck.”
“Give me a break,” said Trudy with an eye roll. “Don’t try to act all hard and cold now like you’re some grift-master taking one last job before you quit. What’s going on, really?”
“I really told you,” said Clarice, but she was feeling the heat of her best friend’s interrogation, realizing maybe the tough act wasn’t for her girls but for herself. “He asked for my help, so I’m going to help him. I don’t really have anything to lose, do I?”
“It’s just so… not like you lately,” said Liz.
“Lately,” repeated Clarice with a pointed finger. “So not that strange.”
“Still strange enough,” said Trudy.
Clarice took a big breath and let it out slowly as she stirred the meal around her plate. “Look, I don’t want you guys to feel bad, because you put so much work into this trip and into trying to make me feel better, but this place, what it’s about, I’m just not into it. Maybe I will be or would have been when I felt better, but I tried to meet up with a random guy here and it was just uncomfortable.”
Trudy’s face fell in such a way that Clarice felt her own heart crack under the weight of guilt.
“I’m happy to be here, don’t get me wrong,” she amended, “but Harrison noticed earlier that I wasn’t comfortable. So he wanted to offer me this job to help both me and himself, to give me something else to do while I’m here that will still be a fun adventure. Just not the same kind of fun you guys will be having. And I’m seriously considering taking it.”
The girls were quiet, and the noise of the party filled in the empty space. Everyone was getting drunker by the minute, and already plenty of people were making out and sitting in each other’s laps without a care of who was looking on to watch. From the grill came the loud sound of sizzling meats, and smoke plumed into the air, carrying its scent across the patio and onto the beach.
“This is a little bit crazy,” said Trudy finally.
“Yeah, so is this whole place,” replied Clarice with a smile. “You guys are the ones who wanted me to do something different, right? Try something to break me out of my rut and help me go home a new, adventurous woman?”
“Well yeah, but we thought that would just be a lot of good dick,” said Liz. “Not… not these romantic comedy shenanigans. What if you end up getting hurt?”
Clarice frowned. “Getting hurt how?”
Liz shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m not a psychic, but since when do plans ever go the way they’re supposed to? We’ve only been here like one day and look, already, at how our plans have exploded.”
“She’s not wrong,” agreed Trudy.
Clarice sighed. “C’mon you guys, when I’m worried you push me hard to keep going but when I want to keep going, you guys hit the brakes and try to pull me back. I’m not made of glass, you know. I know shit’s been rough for me the last few months—“
“Last few
years..
.” added Trudy matter-of-factly.
Clarice ignored her. “But you’re all right, I do need to crack out of this shell I’ve been in. I’m trying to do that, that’s all. I know it’s not the way you intended, but can you at least trust me enough to let me try this if I decide it’s what I want?”
The girls exchanged looks with each other, Sophie finally pulling her gaze away from the ring.
“Are you really going to do it?” she whispered with bright eyes.
“I’m not really sure,” said Clarice. “I have to decide by tomorrow and I just need to know you guys will back me up no matter what happens.”
“Of course we will,” said Trudy with no hesitation. “That was never in question, hun. Backing you up is exactly why we’re here.”
“Do you know what helps you make big decisions? More goddamn alcohol,” said Liz, as she stood halfway up from her chair to wave over the waiter.
Clarice laughed. “Don’t mention that to Harrison, he would not be amused.”
H
arrison slept fitfully
and only for a few quiet hours in the deep night. After he and Clarice parted on the beach, he returned to his office in a hurried haze to try and gather more back-up names for his plan. Inside, he had a dreadful feeling of doom that warned him Clarice wouldn’t be coming through for him, and he wasn’t the kind of man not to have a plan B.
He stumbled back to his penthouse at one in the morning and tried to sleep, but it was nearly useless. He gave up around five-thirty and instead showered, shaved, and got ready for his day. His father would be arriving in the early to late afternoon sometime, and no matter what Clarice said, Harrison would have to face him. He just wished he knew what would happen when he finally did.
He had no texts or messages waiting when he woke up, and anxiety shot through his veins at the sight of the empty phone screen. He left his suite and headed down for the lobby to do a check-in on the night staff, but more because he was desperate to see if she had left a message for him there. Of course she hadn’t.
Harrison’s nerves were alight. He desperately needed to hear from Clarice or he would be swinging in the wind when his father arrived. He and Bruce had arranged a bit of a back-up plan, as well, but it was nothing more than pure desperation — something Bruce had called a “Hail Mary” — and it involved a lot of bullshit excuses about why Harrison’s fiancée was absent despite his earlier assurances she was on the island. He might be able to pull it off, but he was fairly certain his father would see right through it.
The elder Moore would be instantly suspicious after a long history of Harrison trying to wiggle around the strict expectations of his upper crust upbringing. That wasn’t even considering the inherent intelligence in a man like George Moore, titan of industry. He wouldn’t need to call Harrison a liar to his face to still know something was amiss, and that was all it would take for him to decide his son was really just trying to con him. Yet despite what he had told Clarice, if his father really did feel like Harrison was trying to con him, his eventual inheritance
could
actually be in jeopardy.
Clarice was his only real hope, and she was a complete stranger with no reason to help him at all. His heart was pounding as he realized that this might be one of the stupidest things he’d ever done, and the competition for that honor was fairly lengthy.
It was still early, but Harrison’s nerves were so ragged that all he could think about was having a shot or two to take the edge off. Before he could round the corner from the lobby to head down to the Neptune Bar, he heard the sound of the lifts arriving on the floor, and instinctively glanced over to see who was coming downstairs.
The doors split open to reveal Clarice, fresh-faced, beautiful, and smiling. She wore a white dress that made her look purely angelic. Her black hair shone in the morning sunlight, soft and just a bit wavy from the heavy humid Balinese air.
“Clarice,” he said with a breath. He headed towards her as she exited the lift.
“Hi, Harrison,” she said. “Sorry, I feel like an idiot, but I lost your stupid business card. I was coming down to find you.”
Relief washed over his muscles. “You were? With good news, I hope?”
She held up her left hand with an awkward but charming smile. The ring gleamed on her delicate finger, a nearly perfect fit. “At least the girls can’t tell me I didn’t try something new and adventurous on the trip this way,” she said. “And I don’t know why I would turn down a shower of luxury. I guess what I’m saying is, I’m in.”
Harrison smiled. “Clarice, you are a fucking
lifesaver
! Thank you!” Without thinking, Harrison scooped her petite form up in his arms and swung her around off her feet as she squealed and held onto his muscles. Harrison couldn’t help himself; he leaned down and kissed her full lips in a passionate but closed-mouth motion.
Clarice turned red, her eyes wide when he pulled away from her.
“I’m… sorry,” said Harrison, setting her down and running a hand through his hair. He gave an awkward laugh and felt his own cheeks warming. “I’m just so relieved, is all.”
“Well, we’re going to have to do more of that anyway to pull this off, right?” she shrugged. The way her face was glowing told Harrison she didn’t mind that part of the deal one bit.
And neither did he. Not at all.
“
H
o
…ly….shit….”
Clarice couldn’t stop herself. She stood in the doorway of the suite that was three times the size of the one she had already been staying in. A private bedroom with its own patio branched off to one side, connected to a massive bathroom with both a claw-foot tub, and an enormous glass-encased shower. The living room was fully furnished and full of lavish, cream-colored fabrics with baby blue accents. Fresh flowers had been placed in vases throughout the room. The place was basically an apartment on the beach that happened to be connected to the resort, and it was by far the most lavish place Clarice had ever stayed.
Once she had accepted his offer, Harrison had a whole list of things she needed to do to get ready for the impending arrival of her pretend father-in-law. First and foremost was upgrading her room to a bigger suite—a shared suite, something fitting for their status as a couple. Clarice had thought it was a silly detail, but she didn’t feel like arguing that point anymore, not once she saw the room.
“This is like a one-percenter’s wet dream,” she said to herself as she maneuvered around, smelling the fresh flowers and peeking into closet doors. The bellhops had already moved her luggage and re-hung her delicate clothes in the huge bedroom closet.
As she wondered whether or not she should bother unpacking, Harrison arrived, looking fresh-faced and positively sunny. He made a happy noise and blew her a kiss with both hands when he came into the bedroom to find her rummaging through her luggage.
“Hello, darling,” he said. “Is the room alright?”
“You can’t seriously be asking that question,” laughed Clarice. “I can’t imagine this place has a nicer suite than this.”
“We do, but that’s the one father will be staying in.”
“Oh, well, naturally.” She made a glance behind her, towards the king-sized four poster bed draped with silky purple fabrics. “I hope you don’t think sharing this bed is automatically part of the bargain.”
Clarice had a feeling he had practiced looking not disappointed in the mirror a few times before he got here, because there was something rehearsed about the way he threw his hands up. “Oh, give me a little credit. I hope you really don’t find me so ungentlemanly, of course not. The couches in these suites are almost as comfortable as the bed, and if I get really desperate, I’m sure I can sneak back out to my actual room for a quick nod.”
She made a noise like she disbelieved him, and he playfully glared back at her.
“Unless you
want
me to stay in the bed with you,” said Harrison, putting his hands on his hips. “Which it seems like you do, quite frankly, since you’re the one who brought it up. If you want me to, I can definitely make arrangements for that. I’m a bit of a sleep-talker, though.”
Clarice made a shocked noise and let out a harsh laugh. “Oh, you wish! I’m not about this random, casual sex place, remember? That’s the whole reason you hired me to pull off this crazy idea?”
“But we’re engaged, so it wouldn’t
technically
be casual sex with a stranger…” He took a few sly steps forward.
“Harrison.” Even as she rebuffed him, Clarice could feel heat between her legs begging her to take his offer. She tried to fight it down before he could see it on her face.
“Right, right,” he acquiesced with a laugh and checked the enormous gold watch on his wrist. “I have a few more things I need to attend to before they arrive. I also have something I need you to do.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
From his jacket pocket he pulled out a small unmarked envelope and handed it to her. “Here are the details of your mission, Agent Bond.”
“If one of us is Bond, I’m pretty sure it’s you.” Clarice giggled and took it from him. “Is this your life story?”
“More or less. The highlights. Things you’ll need to know to pull this off.”
“I didn’t make you a dossier on me.”
“Maybe you could?” he said. “It would certainly help. And the other thing I need you to do is get down to the boutiques and get some shopping done.”
“Uh, what?” she said. “Are you serious?”
“Quite,” he said. “I need you to look the part, darling. It’s not an insult to your current wardrobe, of course. You are a vision. But my mother would take me over her knee again if she thought I wasn’t drowning my future wife in the finest jewelry and clothing available. Go fill out your wardrobe for the week and tell the staff to charge it to my account.”
“
That
sounds like a legit story,” said Clarice. She pretended to be talking to a shop-girl. “Oh, yes, that’s what I said, charge all of this to the
owner of the resort
, he totally said I could do it!”
“I like the way you think ahead. It’s one of the things I’m good at, too.”
“Are you sure? Because I don’t think we’d be here making this deal if you were.”
Harrison playfully glared at her. “You’ve got quite a tongue on you, haven’t you?”
Clarice gave him a saucy grin. “What can I say? You seem to bring it out in me.”
His gaze turned to something more admiring and a little bit lustful. “I’ve already phoned ahead and told the shops to expect you, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“If I do, can I throw a fit like a pampered housewife and demand that they get my future husband, the owner, down here this instant?”
Harrison laughed. “By all means, the more obnoxious the better. You’ll fit right into my mother’s social circle.”
“Yeesh, maybe I don’t want to do this.”
Harrison wrapped his arms around her in a sweet, innocent embrace. “There’s no turning back now, darling. You made a solemn pretend commitment to me to be my faux wife.” He took her hands in his with a straight face as Clarice tried her best not to bust up laughing at him. “You can’t get imaginary cold feet, not now.”
“As long as it’s not pretend money in my bank account when all this is said and done,” she winked.
“If it is, then my father has much bigger problems than my marital status.” Harrison gave her hands a squeeze before he dropped them. “I’ve got some business to attend to before he arrives, but do give me a ring if anything comes up. I’ll contact you as soon as his plane touches down and let you know when we’ll be meeting.”
“Knock, knock,” Trudy’s voice rang through the main suite, followed by an impressive whistle. “Jesus Christ, please tell me this is the wrong room.”
“In here, Trude!” called Clarice. Seconds later, her best friend popped into the bedroom with wide eyes and an approving smile.
“This place is
incredible
,” she said, whirling around. Her pretty pink sundress twirled around her tan legs as she did. “I am jealous.”
“Only the best for my pretend girl,” said Harrison. Then he turned to Trudy with a frown. “Wait, you are aware of what’s happening, aren’t you? Or is that what you call a spoiler alert?”
“We got the Cliffs Notes last night after your surprise proposal, although I plan on extracting as many more missing details as possible, and I’m prepared to use any means necessary,” said Trudy with a playful glare leveled at Clarice. “But I do approve of you spoiling my girl here, for any reason. She needs it more than anyone I know.”
Clarice huffed. “Gee, thanks, you make me sound delightful.”
“Personally, I think
all
women need more spoiling,” said Harrison, placing a gentle hand on each of the women’s arms. “In fact, Trudy, you help yourself to whatever you’d like at the boutiques as well. Put it on my tab. I’d be happy to spoil Clarice’s friends.”
Trudy’s mouth dropped open. “You are truly going to regret that.”
Harrison laughed. “I doubt that very much. Now, I must be off.” He turned to leave the room, but then stopped and came back to Clarice. He leaned down to give a small peck on her cheek.
She turned red and felt her chest tighten up, but when she looked up at him with questioning eyes, he just said, “Practice makes perfect, right?”
Clarice nodded, fighting a grin. “Right, of course. We’ll see you in a couple hours.”
Harrison winked and gave Trudy a nod before disappearing out of the suite.
“That man is dangerously charming.” Trudy turned back to Clarice with a loving yet judgmental look, shaking her head slowly. “Girl, I still don’t get how all of this happened.”
“I already told you guys last night, there really isn’t much else to it,” protested Clarice, trying very hard to make it sound like less of a big deal than it was. She was still feeling less than stable about this whole adventure, which she tried to convince herself was half the point. She was worried her sensible, protective best friend would still try and talk her out of it just when she was getting the fires back in her engines.
“I still find this whole thing so hard to believe since it came out of nowhere,” said Trudy, throwing her big designer purse onto the plush bed and then following it with her body. “This guy seriously just… asked you to be his pretend wife? What the hell kind of twilight zone did we land in?”
“You’re the one that dragged us here, I take zero responsibility for any zones or twilights,” said Clarice with her hands on her hips. “Like I said, I met him yesterday when he helped me back to the elevators, and the next time I spoke to him was when he pulled me away from dinner last night. He asked me to pretend marry him last night, and I agreed to do it this morning.”
“How… romantic?” said Trudy with a laugh.
Clarice gave a sarcastic, dramatic sigh. “Yeah, I know, isn’t he great?”
“This is all really goddamn weird, hun,” said Trudy with a serious voice. “It’s not exactly your style lately to just run off with strange British men and their needlessly complicated life schemes. Harrison seems like exactly the type of fuckboy we’ve always hated and avoided — or is that just me?”
A bit of shame bubbled up in Clarice’s gut, and she admitted, “Yes, I know and I see what he is, that’s why this is all just a business arrangement. I’m not
actually
dating or marrying him after all. I’m just getting paid to
pretend
I’m a princess for a week. Clearly he’s a guy who loves his job, and his job is being king of a sex resort, so… I’m not letting myself get hurt, Trude. Promise. Anyway, you all told me to come here and have an adventure. Like I said last night, I’m not into the random hookups, so this is my adventure.”
Instead of the berating she was expecting, Trudy tilted her head and gave Clarice a sly smile. “Some serious pride welling up in me to hear you talk like that, girl. I’m finally seeing shades of the old Clarice who used to hop the fence at Coachella and flirt her way out of trouble with the security guards. I like it when you’re all fired up. You always end up landing miles ahead from where you were before in life.”
She let out a small laugh at that memory. “That’s exactly what makes me want to do this, Trude,” admitted Clarice. She sat on the bed next to her best friend with a huff. “I know it seems ridiculous to be a part of this scheme, trust me. When he first offered it to me, I wasn’t jumping on board right away. He sort of talked me into it.”
“With his dick, right?”
“No!” said Clarice with a laugh. “No, we’re not banging.”
“Yet,” said Trudy.
“It’s not like that!”
“I give you two days.”
“
Anyway
,” said Clarice with an eye roll. “He talked me into it with promises of luxury, I’m not too proud to admit. I wasn’t feeling totally great about this hedonistic party stuff anyway, so now I have something different to do… and something that’s going to make me richer. Plus, it will be a fun challenge to see if I can pull it off, and if I don’t, who cares? I’ll just never go to England for any reason, I guess, so as to not run into his parents afterwards.”
“Give me a break,” said Trudy. “I know you, girl, and I know you don’t give a flying fuck about being rich. What’s the real reason you’re giving into these shenanigans? And don’t try to bullshit me again.”
Clarice sighed and stared at her friend. She should have known better than to try and pull one over on Trudy in the first place. They knew each other too damn well. “The truth is, Trude, I haven’t felt like myself — my whole self — since Tanner left me. It’s like he took some part of me with him, the part that was brave and tried new crazy things and only wanted to be happy and active. I know it sounds silly to suggest he could have done something that damaging to me just by leaving me, but… he really did. And honestly, I’m terrified he took it for good… that I lost that part of me forever… I have to see if it’s true. I have to know if it’s still in me or if I’m stuck being afraid of living for the rest of my life.”
“Afraid of living? What do you mean?”
“Afraid of taking chances and risks, afraid of doing things that look ridiculous or insane. Some of the best things in my life have happened because I took chances on something foolish. If I can pull this off with Harrison, do something crazy and wild, maybe I’ll start to feel better. Maybe I can finally get out of this funk and remember back before Tanner, when I was just
me
, and I wasn’t afraid of anything. If I can trick some high society people into thinking I’m moving into their world without them knowing, maybe that would mean my instincts are still good and I’m not a useless pile of failed human being after all. Maybe it means the old Clarice is still in here somewhere.”
Trudy made a deeply painful noise and wrapped her arms around Clarice. She pulled her best friend down to the bed and embraced her tenderly. Warmth and love traveled like a slow tide down Clarice’s nerves.
“You are not a failure,” said Trudy. “You never were, hun. I hate to hear you talk like that about yourself. You’ve been my best friend my whole life, I don’t know what I would do without you, and any guy who can’t see how amazing you are is truly a pile of shit. Tanner has never and will never define you. You’ll always be who you are, you just need to get out of this funk and come back and enjoy life again.”
Clarice laughed, but it was punctuated with emotional tears. “Thanks, babe. It means a lot to hear that, honestly.”
“I’m serious. I’m sorry Tanner fucked you up so badly. None of us saw that coming and I know it broke your world apart. All I want is for you to get back on your feet, because you’re an amazing woman and you have so much to offer the world. That’s the whole reason I set up this trip in the first place, you know? I could see you struggling and I wasn’t about to sit there and do nothing.”