Claiming Gigi Read online

  Claiming Gigi

  A Fantasies Unmasked Novella

  Erica Lynn

  Copyright ©2017 Erica Lynn

  Library of Congress Control Number: 1-5931588841

  All Rights Reserved.

  Except for appropriate use in critical reviews or works of scholarship, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also By Erica Lynn

  To my husband. Thank you for loving me.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to my cover artist, Megan Parker at EmCat Designs. These covers have been so beautiful. <3

  Jeanne St. James for always doing my formatting, even when I’m a last minute, no good procrastinator. I love you!

  My wonderful readers. I hope you’ve loved reading about Lacey, Stassi, and Gigi as much as I’ve loved writing their stories. It’s such an odd feeling to type THE END on this series, but I look forward to the next journey in this crazy writing world!

  Prologue

  Hey. It’s been a long time.”

  Gigi stared at the black work phone on her desk in utter disbelief, her half chewed bite of sandwich dangerously close to choking her, as she listened to his voice play over the speaker.

  “G? You there?”

  Gigi shook her head and fought the urge to duck, as if he could somehow see her. She leaned closer to the display, desperately hoping the words that came out of her mouth didn’t sound as pathetic as she felt for having such a strong reaction to his voice. “Yeah. I’m here. What’s up?”

  “Nothing much.”

  “Okay…” she crossed her arms and stared at the phone, waiting for some sort of sane reason as to why he’d decided to call her out of nowhere. After two freaking years. “What do you want?”

  “I’ll be coming into town in the next month or so. Thought maybe we could get together.”

  And why the hell would we do that? Gigi’s skin heated as red hot rage began to work its way through her body. It started in her chest, the place where he’d taken an ax to her heart and smiled while doing it, and spread throughout all her extremities.

  Calm down. Don’t let him know he still gets to you. Play it cool. She nodded her head, agreeing with her own inner monologue. Yeah. Exactly. The old Gigi would have been a total smartass. Not this time. He doesn’t get to illicit that kind of a response from you. Show him the mature woman you’ve grown into. “And why the hell would we do that?” Shit.

  His snarky chuckle caused her to hands to ball into fists, then relax again. Ball. Relax. She couldn’t decide whether she wanted to pummel or strangle him before she set his ass on fire.

  “Oh, G. I’ve missed you, kid.”

  “I’m not a kid. I wasn’t then, and I’m not now. So, again, what do you want?”

  “I told you. To meet up. Maybe have a few drinks.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “Are you for real right now?” Gigi couldn’t believe the words she was hearing.

  “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.” The phone remained silent for a few moments, then he was back. “I know we didn’t leave things on the best of notes, but—”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” she spat. “You broke my heart. Do you realize that? Do you even care? Oh, who am I kidding? You couldn’t care less.”

  “Of course I do, kid. You know I do.”

  “Stop calling me kid. I mean it.” True, she’d only been nineteen when they’d met. Twenty-four when he’d shattered her soul by sleeping with her best friend at the time.

  “G, honey, calm down.”

  “I will not calm down. What is this? What are you doing with her? How could you do this to me?”

  “You’re overreacting. Did we ever discuss being exclusive? Because, if so, I missed it.”

  Yeah. Right. At twenty-four she’d been willing to buy into his bullshit. And, yes, when push came to shove, they hadn’t actually ever said the word. Not once. In the five years they’d dated. Of course, as she soon found out, her best friend should have been the least of her worries. Turns out he’d been slinging his sausage around town to anyone who shot him a half-smile. Prick.

  “I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right. You’re a woman now. I won’t call you that anymore.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Do you still paint?”

  The question stung. Oh, yeah. It stung really freaking bad. “No. Not for a while.”

  “Hmm. Too bad. You were actually pretty decent.”

  Gigi tried to take slow, deep breaths, but found it more and more difficult by the second. Her heart raced inside her now heavy chest, and she was pretty sure a tiny bit of sweat was forming on the top of her brow. “I have to go. I—”

  “I miss you,” he said.

  She closed her eyes and let her head fall forward, her hands now perched on the edge of her desk, holding her into a standing positon. I miss you. She’d wanted to hear those words for years. Wanted to hear something from him. Anything at all so she could convince herself that maybe, just maybe, their entire relationship hadn’t been a joke. That while she was off falling in love and planning her life with this man, he hadn’t been merely staying with her simply because he had no reason not to. He hadn’t been dicking her around while he got his jollies all over town. For a long time she’d really wanted to believe that she’d managed to touch his heart, that she’d left a small piece of herself there. A sliver of space that no other woman would ever be able to truly fill. And now here it was. The words she’d been dreaming about for years. And they were empty.

  “It’s the truth, I swear it. G…I’ve missed you for a long time.”

  Gigi sighed, then ran a hand through her hair. “I—”

  “You have to believe me, kid.”

  “That’s the problem. I don’t believe you. I’d be an idiot to believe a single word that came out of your lying, cheating mouth.”

  “Meet with me. I’m begging you. Let me show you how much I still love you.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “My…uh…” Gigi desperately tried to come up with a legitimate reason that didn’t sound completely fake. Lacey is sick? But I don’t even know when he’s coming in…no. That won’t work. Lacey is dead? Right. That’s much better. Idiot.

  “G?”

  Think, think, think.

  “You still there?”

  Think!

  “I’m not hearing a reason why—”

  “My fiancé won’t like it.” Gigi clapped her hands over her mouth the second the words left her lips. Shiiiiiiiiiit on a shingle.

  He remained silent. The stillness between her and wherever he was on the other line practically screamed at her to confess. To tell him she wasn’t engaged, that the truth was she just plain didn’t want to see his ass. My
fiancé won’t like it. Why on earth had she said that?

  Finally his voice came back, and the piece of shit didn’t even have the decency to hide his amusement. “Engaged, huh?”

  “Yes. Yes I am.” Gigi furiously nodded as she narrowed her eyes, as if begging the jerk to explain what exactly he found so freaking funny. She could be engaged if she wanted to. She cleared her throat and then spoke through clenched teeth, “and he’s absolutely fabulous.”

  “Okay. I’m sure he is.”

  “Yep. He is.” She didn’t know if he believed her, but she sounded pretty darn convincing to herself. She’d believe her. Wouldn’t she? “Look, thanks for calling, but I really need to go.”

  “I still want to meet.”

  “Not happening.”

  “G, it’s going to happen, and there’s no way around it. I’ll let you know when I’m in town and we’ll get together. We need to talk. It’s long overdue.” He was quiet for a beat, and that tiny spot in her heart, the one made hard as a stone long ago by him, was just about to soften, and then he spoke again. “Bring your fiancé. I’m sure he’s aces. If he hasn’t gone out of town on some sort of business meeting, of course.”

  “Screw you.”

  “Fine by me. But I still think we should start with drinks, first.”

  Gigi opened her mouth just as she heard the click on the other end of the phone. The line had gone dead. He’d hung up on her. He’d. Hung. Up. On. Her. In that moment the anger exploded inside her, and she grabbed her poor dead bamboo plant she kept on the corner of her desk, because she couldn’t even keep bamboo alive, and flung it across her office. “Asshole!”

  “That guy sounds like a total douche.”

  Gigi screamed and turned toward the door where a tall, and holy moly was he incredibly handsome, man stood. Dark brown skin, green eyes, and hair tasseled into a fohawk. Lord help her, she’d always been a sucker for fohawks, and his washed out jeans and black leather jacket weren’t hurting the picture, either.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Because a strange man lurking like a stalker in my doorway would have a different effect?”

  “Touché.” The man entered her office, just walked in like he owned the damn place, and crossed the room. “I don’t know who told you throwing plants was a good way to take care of them, but they were dead wrong. I wouldn’t take any parenting advice from them when the time comes.”

  “Come on in,” Gigi muttered, flopping down into her chair. “So how much of my conversation did you hear?”

  “Pretty much all of it.”

  “Snoop often?”

  “I wasn’t meaning to snoop. I swear.” He took a few steps toward her, then set the bamboo gingerly on her desk. “Your plant is dead.”

  “Then why did you? And yes, I know.”

  “Because when I walked by I caught a glimpse of you, and I couldn’t stop staring.”

  Gigi rolled her eyes. Fantastic. This is exactly what I need today. “Okay, creepy. I should warn you, if you’re thinking of killing me so you can wear my skin, there’s people here today. Not many, but enough. And not too far from here is a very tall guy who looks to be pretty well built. I mean muscles all over the place, built. I’m sure he could take care of business.”

  “Cameron? Yeah. I came with him.”

  “Oh. Well. Shit. The one other man here is your accomplice. I guess I’m screwed.” Gigi slumped back in her seat and brought her feet up to rest on her desk. “Just my luck.”

  “Lucky for you—” he walked to the side of her, his eyes sliding from her black combat boots, up her legs, and finally to her eyes “—I don’t want to take off your skin. Just shoot it.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “As in with my camera.”

  “Oh. I see. Yeah, I’m not interested in doing some skeezy photoshoot with a guy trying to convince me that dropping my panties and bending over is art.” Gigi rolled her eyes and motioned toward the door with her hand, “the door is that way.”

  He laughed, then. Bellowed, really.

  She was struck by how different his laugh was from he-who-shall-not-be-named. The sound filled her office and bounced off the walls. It was hearty. The kind of laugh that made you want to join in with him. It brought…warmth. It did everything his laugh never did.

  “I’m not saying I’d turn the opportunity down, but that’s not what I do.” He pulled a wallet out of his back pocket, then fished around until he produced a small business card. “I usually shoot engagement and weddings, shit like that, but I’m looking to branch out. You, well, you’d be perfect for what I’ve been thinking. I mean, you are perfect.” He looked at her, his dark green eyes burning into hers, as he held the card toward her between his index and middle finger.

  As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Gigi couldn’t help but be curious. She opened her mouth to tell him to get the hell out of her office, but closed it when she got a better glimpse of his eyes. Those eyes. Green. Deep. Eyes that pulled at the very thing that made her feminine. Eyes he’d probably used to his advantage on more than one occasion. Hell, more than a hundred. And yet, here she was, reaching out and plucking the card from his fingers. “Jackson Mirales,” she murmured.

  “In the flesh.” He stood in front of her, arms crossed, looking down through ridiculously dark lashes. “And I meant what I said. You’re perfect.”

  “Thank you. But—”

  “No buts. I have to shoot you.”

  “Sorry—”

  “Nope. Not sorry. You’re not getting me. I have to shoot you.” He squatted down and placed his elbows on his knees, fingers laced and tucked under his chin. “You’re everything I could have imagined.”

  “And you’re really starting to add a new layer of psychotic on top of your already creepy first impression.” Gigi ran her fingers through her hair, suddenly a little self-conscious about her look. She’d never been the kind of girl to wear high heels or cute, sparkly tops and dresses. Her combat boots were the only shoes she allowed on her feet, and jeans and T-shirts or tanks suited her just fine. At work she simply threw a blazer on top, and since she was so damn good at her job, her bosses let her go with it.

  “I can accept creepy if it gets me what I want, and what I want—” he reached out and grabbed a few strands of her hair—“is to photograph you. That’s it.”

  She swallowed the suddenly thick lump in her throat as he tucked the strands behind her ear. Her blonde hair was cut in a long bob, and had a few streaks of purple in the front. She found herself wondering if he’d touched the blonde or the purple…

  “So what do you say?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Look, can you at least come take a look at my studio? You can see some of my work, and I’ll tell you what I have in mind. If you still aren’t interested, hey, it is what it is.”

  “I hate that saying.” Gigi mused. “I prefer people who take responsibility in life.”

  “You mean like lying about having a fiancé?” Jackson held up his hands when she jerked up, “hey, hey, no judgement.”

  “Okay—” she said, pointing at him “—that’s different.”

  He shot her a smile so devilish she feared her uterus might explode. “All right. I’ll take your word for it. But for what it’s worth, that guy sounds like a total douche.”

  “That’s the second time you’ve said that.”

  “It bears repeating.”

  Gigi couldn’t help but laugh. He was right. It did bear repeating. “He’s an ex, and it’s a long story.”

  “Meet me this evening and you can tell me. I just saw Stassi in the hallway, and we’re going out tonight. All of us, with Cameron and Lacey, too. If she agrees to his pleading. That dude is like a lost puppy.”

  Cameron has met Gigi’s sister, Lacey, the night before, and was desperate to take her out. He’d even been sweet enough to bring them all lunch since they had to work on a Saturday.

  “We are, are we?” Gigi op
ened one of her drawers and pulled out some taffy. She messed with the wrapper, she could never get the damn things open, and arched an eyebrow when Jackson took it from her, opened it, and placed it back in her hand. “I’m not sure whether I should thank Cameron for bringing you or kill him for it.”

  “We can go over the pros and cons of both options at dinner before you tell me the story about your ex. But from what I can tell, you need someone to pretend to be your fiancé for a while, and I need to photograph you so I can quit dealing with doe-eyed brides. I think we just might be able to help each other out.”

  Gigi popped the sweet candy into her mouth, chewing it as she looked at him. Was he serious? He wasn’t actually suggesting…

  Chapter 1

  Four Months Later

  What do you mean it’s bullshit?”

  Gigi had never struggled to breathe as much as she was in that moment. Through the breakup with him, fights with her sister, times when she felt so alone she didn’t think she’d ever be able to pick herself up…they didn’t compare to this moment. She’d known it was coming. The moment she had to fess up to what they’d been doing. The lie they’d been telling.

  “Gigi. What do you mean it’s bullshit?”

  She looked up at Stassi through burning, tear filled eyes, and for the first time in four months, let it all go. “Our engagement is fake.”

  Stassi took in a deep breath and held it, her eyes searching Gigi for God only knew what. She slowly let it out, her gaze darting around the hallway. “What do you mean fake?”