Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 41373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 207(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 207(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
But I need a fake boyfriend this Christmas… and now he’s in my bed.
I’m only good at two things: sports and holiday spirit. But this Christmas feels different, even though I should have everything I want. My family’s bugging me again about why I’m still single, and I’m getting desperate.
Rowen’s nothing like me. He’s smart, accomplished, and back in Tennessee from the city—not by choice. Even though he’s straight, he agrees to be my fake boyfriend for my family’s Christmas party.
He says I’m hot and could have any guy I want, but I don’t get it. I’m just muscle with a reindeer sweater on top.
…But he wants me to teach him.
About being with a man.
Who could resist a gift like that?
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
SHANE
My heart skipped a beat when I saw the advertisement online, gleaming out at me like a bonfire out on a cold winter night.
Fixer Brothers Home Renovation Contest: Couples Edition!
I gripped my phone, staring at the simple ad on the screen like I was a kid who’d just found a golden ticket in a chocolate bar.
Yes. Fuck yes.
The jazzy piano version of “O Christmas Tree” playing on my living room speakers suddenly felt too calming compared to the surge of adrenaline hitting my veins.
This was what I needed. It would be my Christmas gift to myself. It didn’t matter what I had to do: I was going to enter the contest.
And I was going to win.
“This is not a drill,” I told my sister Mariel. “There’s a contest to be on the Fixer Brothers TV show.”
She didn’t even look back. She was reaching up high on a stepladder, pinning the last of the Christmas garlands around the living room ceiling.
I’d never won anything in my life—hell, I’d somehow never even managed to get so much as a participation trophy in anything I did as a kid. Soccer, baseball, basketball, football. I’d played and enjoyed them all, and I’d never been remarkable at any of them.
But I was not an average Fixer Brothers fan.
I’d wanted to be a home renovation client since the moment I’d first seen their TV show.
“You think The Fixer Brothers would come all the way out here?” Mariel said, stepping back down to the floor. “The middle of nowhere, Tennessee, to a house that’s a hundred years old?”
“Hey,” I protested. “I love my house, and you bet your ass they’d love it, too.”
“I’ll admit, it has a charm,” she said. “Especially around Christmas.”
It was the beginning of November, but my sister and I were steadfast: starting November first, we were allowed to hang holiday decorations. And that was exactly what we did, every year. She helped at my house, and I helped at hers.
She reached down to plug in the cord hanging from the garland and all around the ceiling, glowing white Christmas lights lit up, strung throughout the pine garland. These types of lights always had a way of making any room come alive, and suddenly my dusty old living room became more like a cozy, wood-framed hideout. Memories flooded my mind. The scent of ham roasting in the oven, Mariel and I as kids coming inside from snowball fights, and Gram laughing in the kitchen.
I felt like I came alive when those lights switched on, too.
The rollercoaster shitstorm of the past few years lessened, and I could remember what it felt like to be me.
To maybe even let myself want things again.
I glanced back down at my phone, the yearning in my chest almost too much to take. “The contest says it’s open to the whole United States,” I said. “Screw it. I’m applying.”
“It’s rare to win things like that. But I guess you’ve got nothing to lose.”
“Yeah,” I said, scrolling through the contest website.
She gave me a dubious look as she glanced down at my phone, seeing the details.
“Shane,” she said in a gentle tone. “Did… did you see that it says couples edition?”
I pulled in a breath of air, leaning back on the couch. “I did.”
“And that you have to showcase why you and your partner are perfect for the show,” she continued, “in a five-minute video you need to submit?”
I was like a stubborn puppy who wouldn’t give up his stick, not making eye contact with Mariel.
“I did see that,” I said, defiant.
She chewed on the side of her cheek. “How do you plan to… handle that? Being single, and all?”
That, of course, was the big elephant in the room.
Or the big elephant in my mind, because no one was more aware of my singlehood than me.
“How could I not apply, though? It’s my favorite show of all time,” I said.
It was an understatement.
I’d seen every single episode of their home renovation show, and I had re-watched all of them an embarrassing amount of times. I followed all of the guys on their individual social media accounts, too, and to me, the Fixer Brothers crew were even bigger celebrities than the damn Royal Family.
But my sister was right.
I was terminally alone, and the contest was supposed to showcase couples.
“I’ll… figure something out,” I told Mariel as she folded up the step ladder.
“This place looks damn good,” she said, glancing around at all of the decorations we’d hung.
We’d been at it for hours. We hauled home a Christmas tree, put up the lights outside, strung more lights and garlands inside, and arranged my seasonal plaid pillows on the couch.
“Gram would have loved it,” I said, already feeling the twinge of tightness in my throat.
It was our second Christmas without Grandma. We kept every tradition she loved alive, starting with these decorations and continuing into all the food we’d make on Christmas day. Her favorite was sweet potato casserole, and holiday garlands in particular were a must.