HaileyI slid on my favorite ballet flats, pulled my hair into my standard ponytail, and grabbed my purse to leave. Mandy and I were having dinner together tonight. She had practically demanded it. I had dropped off the radar, and she wanted to catch up. I had felt guilty about ghosting her as she called it. I didn’t mean to. It was just that my schedule and hers rarely matched up, and the few times it did, I had been spending the time with Terran.I wanted to talk to her and had missed her company as well as her savvy advice. There was so much happening in my life that I wanted to share with her. I was confused and excited about my relationship with Terran, if I could even call it that. I needed her advice on what to do. She was so much better at these things than I was.I showed up early to the orphanage on purpose. I wanted to say hi to the kids. It had been a while since I’d seen them. Between work and spending time with Terran, I felt like I had neglected the kids. I waved to the

TerranI strolled through the lobby of the talent agency, smiling at people as I passed. I recognized a few faces from the movies.“Hello,” I greeted the woman sitting at the tall black desk in front of the talent agency’s large logo.“Hi, do you have an appointment?” she asked, barely looking at me.“Yes. With Gabriel.”She looked up and smiled. “Oh, Mr. Maddox, I presume?”“That’d be me.” I winked.She pushed a button and talked softly into the microphone attached to her headset before telling me to head down the hall to his office. I had been to the office a few times before and knew my way. I knocked once out of courtesy before entering the office.“Hey!” Gabriel said, getting up from behind his desk.“Gabriel, thanks for seeing me on such short notice.”“Of course. Come in, sit down. What can I do for you? If you’re thinking of getting into the business, I have to be blunt with you—you’re a little aged.”I laughed. “Aged like fine wine. No, seriously, though. I’m not here about m

HaileyThe exclusive contract with Terran’s company was not in play yet, which meant I was free to do some jobs on the side while I waited for the next campaign to be put together. This job had been lined up weeks ago. It was a catalog gig. It didn’t pay a lot, but I would bank the money. I was always saving up for that rainy day, which in the modeling world was the day clients decided you were no longer young enough, sexy enough, or thin enough and couldn’t get a job. I had seen plenty of the women I had started in the business with fade to obscurity for one of those reasons. Most were either struggling to get jobs or had given up modeling altogether.“Over here, Hailey,” the photographer called my name.I turned, posed, and waited for the series of clicks indicating he got his shot. It was a hectic shoot with backdrops changing and a location change scheduled for later. There were several photographers working, trying to get the full catalog photographed in a single week with a hand

TerranIt had been a few days since I’d seen Hailey, and I was surprised at how much I missed her. We’d both had a busy past few days and had only had a few brief phone conversations. All week, I had been telling myself tonight was the night I told her about my predicament. I needed to get it all out on the table if I wanted this to work. Either she was on board, or she wasn’t. If she wasn’t, I was going to have to end what we had, or at least put it on hold while I searched out a woman who would agree to be my fake fiancée for a few months. Once my inheritance was secured, I could go back to Hailey—if she would have me.I knocked on her door, and as usual, she met me at the door, her purse in hand.“Hi,” she said with a friendly smile.“Hi,” I said, giving her a quick kiss.She was wearing a pretty feminine dress that fell mid-thigh. It was classy and elegant, just like her.We were going to a nice restaurant tonight. I felt like we had done the casual thing enough, and I was ready t

HaileyNervous energy was humming through my body as he led me across the thick white carpet in my bedroom.“We’ll take it slow,” he whispered as we stopped next to the bed.I nodded my head, almost afraid of going too slow. I didn’t want to back out. I wanted this with him.He leaned down and kissed me sensually and passionately as his hands moved to the back of my dress. I felt the zipper going down and nearly jumped away. He deepened the kiss and quieted the nerves, replacing them with passion.I felt the dress open in the back, a cool breeze washing over me. His hands moved to my shoulders, pushing the dress down my body, revealing the sexy lingerie I had put on with the anticipation of this happening.“Holy shit, Hailey,” he breathed, taking a step back to look at me.I was used to posing in similar outfits and not a bit ashamed of what he was seeing. I suddenly felt emboldened. This was my comfort zone. I reached up and unpinned my hair, letting the curls fall loose around my ba