This had to be a fucking joke. When I had told Callie I wanted a professional for this week, I had meant it. And I was paying enough for the week to ensure that’s what I should have gotten. If I had wanted an amateur, I would have pulled some girl in a club. But I wanted someone who would play their role without any fuss. And while I had no intention of having sex with the woman, part of the act would be us sharing a hotel room. And I couldn’t see Lena being any happier with that arrangement than I was.

I looked at Lena, waiting for some sort of explanation, but she just stood there mute looking back at me. I couldn’t help but notice that she was pretty. She had full red lips and full cheeks that made me want to reach out and touch them. Her little nose was a tiny bit too small for her face, but rather than spoil her looks, it added a slight vulnerability to her features that I liked. Her long, straight hair shone, the dark brown color of it making her green eyes stand out.

And her body. What could I say about her body? She had large breasts and curvy hips, the sort of hour glass figure a lot of women would kill for. I couldn’t help but imagine my hands on those hips, her breasts in my mouth. She was dressed casually – jeans, flat black shoes, and a black t shirt – but that didn’t make her look any less fuckable.

I cleared my throat, pushing the image away. It didn’t matter how good this woman looked, there was no way I could spend a full week with her. She had always rubbed me up the wrong way. She was sarcastic and abrasive, always as cold as ice, and I got the impression she went out of her way to be cold to people on purpose. I could imagine her being some sort of trophy wife, the high maintenance type who pride themselves on being high maintenance and that wasn’t something I found even remotely attractive.

“Well?” I demanded, when it became clear to me that Lena wasn’t going to answer my question without further prompting. “What are you doing here? I wanted a professional.”

Lena held her head up high and smiled at me, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“I am a professional,” she said. “See my old boss was a complete wanker and he fired me so I had to find a new job quickly. And here we are.”

“Yeah, this isn’t going to work,” I said.

Lena came towards me, some of the casual arrogance gone from her face.

“Look, I need the money, ok? And you need someone who can pretend to like you for a week. Who better than someone who’s been doing exactly that for years at work,” she said.

“But Lena, you were bad at it,” I pointed out. “You think I don’t know you didn’t like me?”

“No, but you have no idea how much I dislike you. And that was me just doing enough to not openly despise you. It’ll be different if I’m actually trying,” she said.

“I don’t think …” I started.

“Five minutes until take off,” a voice said from behind me.

One of the cabin crew was approaching us. As she neared us, Lena reached out and picked a piece of imaginary fluff from my shoulder, a strangely intimate gesture. I was about to demand to know what she was doing when she smiled, and this time, the smile lit up her whole face and made her eyes sparkle.

“I can’t wait to meet your family,” Lena said. She clapped her hands in supposed joy. “Especially your sister. I never had a sister, and it will be nice to almost have one. And if she’s anything like you, I just know I’m going to love her.”

The cabin crew member stopped beside Lena and smiled.

“Would you like to get seated?” she said.

“Sure,” Lena said. She looked down at me. “Are you moving over or am I taking the window seat?”

“There are like twelve other seats,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but none of those are next to you,” she said. She rolled her eyes and smiled at the cabin crew member. “Honestly. Who said romance is dead huh?”

“Ah but he’s cute so that makes up for it,” the cabin crew member laughed back.

I rolled my eyes and moved over. Lena sat down beside me and fastened her seat belt and then she took my hand in hers and absently rubbed her thumb over the back of my hand. I tried to ignore the way her hand felt in mine, the way my skin tingled where it touched hers. Shit. Maybe she was a professional after all.

“My name is Helen,” the cabin crew member said. “Once we’re in the air, if you need anything, just let me know. Otherwise, your meal and drinks will be served approximately twenty minutes after take-off. Is that ok?”

I nodded my head and she moved away, and I pulled my hand away from Lena’s.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Call it an audition,” she said. “And don’t tell me it didn’t work, because even you were buying it at one point when you told me there were other seats, not demanded I get off the plane.”

I sighed. She had a point. She had drawn me into the role she was playing, and she had more than fooled Helen. But could she keep it up all week? I had very little choice but to let her try it. It was Lena or no one at this point.

“Fine. The job is yours. But one fuck up Lena, one person who suspects it’s all a sham, and that’s your fee gone,” he said.

Lena considered this for a moment.

“Your grandmother,” she said finally.

“What about her?” I said.

“If your grandmother suspects this is a sham, then you don’t pay me. She’s the one you care about and if I agree to just anyone suspecting something, all you have to do is come clean to a trusted friend and have them doubt us and boom, my pay is gone,” she said.

I smiled despite myself.

“I like the way you’re thinking Lena. Maybe this can work after all. You’re on,” I said.

I held my hand out and Lena shook it and again, I ignored the tingling sensation where our palms touched. It looked like we were about to do this for better or for worse.

I was once more regretting agreeing to this. After Lena did her little show on the plane, she barely spoke another word to me. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t particularly want to talk to her either, but I was concerned that she wasn’t going to be able to put herself into this role completely. And it wasn’t just on the plane that she ignored me. When we landed and got off the plane, she was all smiles and thank you to our driver who loaded the luggage into the trunk and held her door open for her, but I might as well not have been there. She still didn’t speak a word to me.

My concerns were growing with each mile we drove, until finally, we pulled up at the hotel where all of the wedding events would be taking place. I had, by that point, pretty much decided to call the whole thing off. I opened my mouth to tell Lena that, but she was already on her way out of the car. I sighed and got out myself and before I had a chance to speak to Lena, my parents appeared in the doorway to the hotel. Wonderful.

They came towards us as the driver unloaded our luggage. My mom pulled me into a hug, and I hugged her back.

“Hi mom, how’s things?” I said.

“Good,” she smiled. “It’s so nice to see you. And who is this?”

She released me and turned her focus to Lena. I swallowed hard. This was it. Lena was going to ruin this whole thing. Was she just going to come out and tell my mom I had paid her to be my girlfriend? Or was she going to be the moody bitch she had been all of the way here?

As it turned out, she was neither. She smiled, the one that lit up her whole face, and embraced my mom. They air kissed each other’s cheeks and Lena acted like she had been doing that her whole life. Maybe she had. I wouldn’t know.

“Mrs Summers,” Lena gushed. “It’s so nice to meet you. Rafael has told me so much about you. I’m Lena.”

“Ah well then I am on the back foot,” my mom said. She swatted at my arm. “Because Raf here has kept you all to himself. He has been all very mysterious. He wouldn’t even tell me your name you know; he just said he was bringing his girlfriend and that I would like you.”

“Well, I hope that much is true,” Lena smiled. She gestured down at herself. “And please don’t think I thought this was an appropriate outfit in which to meet you. I thought we would have time to get to our room and change first.”

“Nonsense,” my mom exclaimed. “You look lovely. Doesn’t she look lovely Harry?”

My dad, used to my mom’s exuberance and happy to stay quiet for the most part, nodded his head and smiled.

“Yes,” he agreed. “Nice to meet you, Lena.”

“And you, Mr Summers,” Lena said.

“Now no more of that Mr and Mrs Summers nonsense, you hear me?” my mom said. She linked her arm through Lena’s and began to lead her inside. “I’m Sofia and this is Harry. Come along and grab a drink and meet the others. Harry, can you have a porter come and collect their luggage and get them checked in?”

“Oh no, I need to change first,” Lena said.

“Nonsense,” my mom said, her word of the day it seemed. “You look just fine. We’re only going to have one quick drink in the bar.”

Lena gave in graciously and allowed my mom to lead her away. I followed my mom and Lena down a corridor as my mom chatted away and asked Lena the occasional question which she answered fully and with interest. I found myself starting to relax a little bit. Lena was good at this, and if she wanted to turn off the charm and ignore me when we were alone, I could live with that. In fact, now I had seen her in action and knew she could turn it on and off like a tap, I would welcome it.

We reached the bar and my mom and Lena entered followed by me. There were a few people sitting at the tables, but overall, the bar was pretty quiet, and I instantly spotted the table my family were sitting at. There was my grandmother and Sammy, my sister, and of course my niece, Eve. Bradley, Sammy’s husband to be wasn’t there and I realized that his side of the family weren’t there at all. It must have been some sort of a bride thing. I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t really care. I loved my sister, don’t get me wrong, but I remembered when weddings lasted a day and that was more than enough. Now we have to be here for the week and get involved in all kinds of shit I would rather avoid having to do. Weddings weren’t really my thing. Sue me.

The irritable feeling inside of me went away a lot when my grandmother got up from the table and came over to me. She pinched my cheeks which really should have embarrassed me and if it had been anyone else doing it, it would definitely have been embarrassing, but my grandmother could do pretty much anything to me and I would be cool with it.

“Darling boy,” she said, smiling and pulling me in for a hug. “It’s been too long. You know, one of these times, you’ll leave me abandoned and when you come and see me, you’ll find me dead.”

“Don’t be so melodramatic, Grandma,” I said, laughing. “I only saw you last Tuesday. It’s not even a week ago.”

“I know,” my grandmother agreed. “But you should have seen the look on that poppet’s face when I was talking.”

I realized she meant Lena and I had to admire the fact that my grandmother had almost given her another reason to hate me. My grandmother beckoned to Lena who stepped forward and smiled.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Lena said.

“Ah, don’t be so sure about that now,” my grandmother said with a wink. “You might find I’m a cranky old thing.”

“Well, that you are mother,” my dad put in, joining us around the table. “But we love you anyway.”

My grandmother shook a fist at my dad and then laughing, she hugged Lena. While they were hugging, my father gave me our key card for our room. I glanced at it. Room five nineteen.

“Welcome to the family dear,” my grandma said, releasing Lena and smiling warmly at her. “You feel like one who might stick around.”

I felt instantly guilty when she said that, but at the same time, I felt relieved that my plan seemed to be working. My grandmother was in her early nineties and while she seemed to be as fit as she had ever been, I knew how quickly someone that age could go downhill, and I wanted her to think I had someone. She had always dreamed of the day I met a nice girl and settled down and I wanted her to think I had done just that.

“That’s the plan,” Lena said, smiling at my grandmother.

“Grandma, this is Lena,” I said. “Lena, my grandmother, Evelyn.”

The two women smiled at each other again and then as my grandma returned to her seat, I introduced Lena and Sammy to each other. They smiled and exchanged pleasantries and then Eve surprised everyone by holding her arms up to Lena to be picked up. Lena didn’t hesitate. She scooped Eve up and plonked her on her hip and began cooing over how cute she was.

“I can’t believe it,” Sammy said, shaking her head in wonder. “She’s usually so clingy. She’ll only go to us, Bradley, and his parents and that’s about it. She won’t even go to my best friend, her godmother, like that.”

“You must be a natural,” my mom said, smiling at Lena and pulling out a chair for her to sit down.

Lena sat down and thanked her, sitting Eve on her lap.

“Do you have children of your own Lena?” Sammy asked.

Lena shook her head.

“No,” she said. “To be honest, I never really wanted children.”

I cringed inside as my family all went quiet and then Sammy broke the silence.

“Oh, you and Raf might not be the best match then. He wants at least four don’t you, big bro?” she said.

I didn’t get a chance to respond before Lena laughed and nodded her head.

“Oh, believe me, he made it known it was a deal breaker. And I have to admit I’ve come around to the idea. I think before I always thought I didn’t want children because I hadn’t met anyone I could see as being a father to my children. Until I met Rafael.”

She turned and smiled at me and squeezed my hand. I returned the smile, relieved that she had turned the situation around so effortlessly. She really was good at this. Maybe even better than Callie.

My dad went up to the bar and came back a few minutes later with an ice bucket and a bottle of champagne. The bar tender followed him with a tray full of champagne flutes. We all took a glass and the bar tender poured the drinks for us and then we toasted to Sammy and Bradley and the start of their life together.

The conversation flowed almost as quickly as the drinks and somewhere along the line, Bradley and his parents joined us and then Melissa, Sammy’s best friend and her maid of honor and Liam, Bradley’s best man. The other bridesmaids and groomsmen weren’t there yet, and I silently wondered how the hell they had gotten out of it, and I hadn’t.

I hadn’t realized how late it had gotten until my mom announced that she was starving, and I saw that it was after nine o’clock. We decided no one really wanted to go and get changed at this point and so rather than go through to the restaurant, we ordered bar meals and stayed where we were. Once we finished eating our food, we were soon back to talking and laughing and at some point, Sammy excused herself so she could take Eve up to bed.

As evening became night, the lights in the bar dimmed down and a disco started up. I knew I must be drunk when Lena took my hand and pulled me to my feet.

“Let’s dance,” she said.

Normally I would have said no way, but somehow, I found myself following her onto the half full dance floor and soon we were laughing and dancing, twirling each other around and genuinely having fun. Or maybe it was only me that was genuinely having fun. Maybe Lena was playing her role all too well. Whatever. I was enjoying myself and I was sick of over thinking this, probably because I was on the drunk side of tipsy, and I was just going to let my hair down and have fun tonight. Everyone kept telling me that weddings were meant to be fun after all.

By the time the disco ended, and the lights came back up in the bar, I was pleasantly tired and a little bit breathless. Lena and I went back to our table and said our good nights to the others who were still finishing up their drinks and then we left the bar and headed for the elevator.

“We’re in room number five nineteen,” I said, and Lena hit the button for the fifth floor. “You know, I think my family might like you more than they like me.”

“Well, who can blame them?” Lena giggled. “I’m just naturally likable.”

“What? And you’re saying I’m not?” I teased her.

“I’m saying you hide the nicer side of yourself much better than I do. How’s that?” she said.

“Not great but I’ll take it,” I said with a laugh.

The elevator reached our floor, and we made our way down the hallway, counting off the other rooms as we went. Ours was about half way along the hallway and I got the key card out and opened the door. I pushed it wide open and indicated for Lena to go in first. She smiled her thanks at me and stepped into the room.

“Nice,” she said, looking around.

The room was a fair size and in the centre was a large four poster bed with a small bedside cabinet on either side of it. Opposite the bed was a desk with a chair and on the wall above the desk, a huge flat screen TV. In the corner was a full length couch that didn’t look like the most uncomfortable place to sleep. There was also a large wardrobe and a chest of drawers along the back wall on the other side of the bed, opposite the door.

Lena made her way through the room as I slipped the key card into the slot for electric and the lights pinged on. I closed and locked the door and watched as Lena opened the bathroom door and peered inside of it. I could see into the room over her shoulder. The bathroom wasn’t huge, but it was more than adequate, and it had a decent sized shower and a separate bath tub. There was a double sink beneath the mirror and plenty of toiletries sat out on the side for us to use.

It wasn’t exactly the most luxurious place I had ever been to, but it was nice enough for its purpose and as long as Sammy was happy with her wedding venue, who the hell was I to complain?

Lena came back out of the bathroom and opened up her suitcase. She pulled out a slinky looking red silk night dress and smiled at me.

“I won’t be too long,” she said, going into the bathroom.

I had to wait for her to come back lout before I could get settled on the couch because I needed to use the toilet and brush my teeth, so I began to unpack my suitcase while I waited. I didn’t have to wait too long, although I had finished unpacking by the time Lena came back out of the bathroom. She took my breath away. She had removed her make up and brushed her hair out and while she looked good with her make up on and her hair done, I had to admit she looked just as beautiful natural.

And that night dress. Holy fuck. It sat mid-thigh on her, the material thin and shiny red. The straps were thin spaghetti straps and the neckline was edged with black lace. It hung just right on her hips, clinging to her curves and showing them off. Her nipples poked through the thin material, and I had to wonder why they were hard. It wasn’t cold in the room.

“Wow,” I said, unable to stop myself from reacting to the sight of her.

Lena laughed softly, her cheeks turning pink at my compliment. She turned her face down slightly and peered up at me through her long dark eyelashes.

“You like it?” she said.

That was one way of putting it. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Lena stepped away from the bathroom door and I stood up and cleared my throat. I started towards the bathroom and found myself face to face with Lena. She started to move to one side, and I went the same way. We both went the other way, and it was that moment where we should have both laughed at the awkwardness of it, but suddenly being this close to her wasn’t awkward and there was nothing funny about the way my body was reacting to the sight of her.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I reached out, clasped my hand on the back of Lena’s head and pulled her to me, pressing my lips against hers. She moaned into my mouth and pressed her body against mine. I could feel the cool silk of her night dress and the heat of her skin through my clothes. I worked my hand into her hair and the other hand rested on her ass for a moment before I moved it around to the front of her body.

I slid my hand up her thigh inner, underneath the silky material of her night dress and I found her already dripping wet slit. I pushed my fingers between her lips and found her pulsing clit with my fingers. I began to massage it, moving it back and forth and side to side and making Lena cry out. I deepened our kiss, interlocking my tongue with hers.

I needed to taste her, to touch her. I needed to fuck her. I wanted to feel that hot, wet little pussy tight around my hard cock. I pulled my mouth from hers and kissed down her neck and across her exposed shoulder. I grabbed the hem of her night gown with one hand and tugged it up. Lena took the hint and pulled it off over her head, dropping it on the ground beside us. I kept working her clit as I kissed down her chest and then I sucked one of her nipples into my mouth.

As I worked her, she reached towards me and fumbled my belt open and then she pushed her hand inside of my boxer shorts and before I knew it, her fist was wrapped around my cock. She moved her fist up and down, her pace matching the pace I was using on her. She took my breath away and I had to release her breast to take a gulp of air before I found myself suffocating.

It didn’t matter. She was already so close to climax that one more hard press on her clit took her over the edge. For a moment, her hand stopped moving up and down on me and instead, she gripped my cock tightly as her head went back and the tendons on her neck stood out, She moaned my name as a shudder went through her body and then she lifted her head back up and looked at me.

Her pupils were dilated with lust as she looked at me and her lips were pink and swollen from our passionate kissing. Her chest moved as she panted for breath, but like an expert, she was already working me again and I knew if I didn’t pull her hand away from me soon, this would be over before it had really begun.

I grabbed Lena’s wrist and slipped her hand back out of my boxer shorts. I kissed her again and started to walk her over to the bed, shedding my clothes as we went. We reached the bed, and I pushed Lena backwards onto it. She fell onto the bed on her back, right where I wanted her.

I quickly pulled off my socks and shoes, the only things I was still left wearing. I clambered onto the bed and Lena scooted back to make room for me. She opened her legs wide, and I could see the moisture on her slit and at the opening of her pussy and I moaned at the sight of her open to me and inviting me inside of her. I knelt between her legs and lowered myself down on top of her and then I lined my cock up with her pussy. In one long stroke, I entered Lena and filled her up.

She gasped as I slammed into her, and her hands came up and wrapped around my shoulders. I began to thrust inside of her, slowly at first, enjoying the warm tightness of her against me. We kissed as I moved inside of her and her hands roamed freely over my back and sides, then they went down to my ass and she clutched at my ass cheeks, pushing me in deeper and deeper until I was all of the way inside of her.

She let me keep moving for a second longer and then she bucked her hips, taking me unawares and we rolled to the side and then Lena came up on top of me. What a sight she was as she started to move, and her breasts bounced wildly up and down in time with her thrusts.

Her skin had a light sheen of sweat on it making it look like she was almost iridescent in the moonlight that came in through the still open curtains. Her hair whipped around her face as she worked us both up into a frenzy. She ran one hand down her flat stomach and then she pushed her fingers between her lips, touching herself as she rode me.

I watched the show, my breath catching in my throat. God she was fucking hot. So, fucking hot. I couldn’t stand it any longer and although I had planned to wait until Lena climaxed, it was my turn to buck my hips and throw Lena to the side. I got back on top of her, and I began to up the pace of my thrusts, moving my hips faster and faster, giving her no reprieve. She clung to me, panting and gasping and as a rush of warm liquid flooded out of her, she pressed her face against my shoulder and made a sound that was almost a whimper. She dug her nails into my back and held on as though she might float away if she let go of me.

As her orgasm ripped through her body, her pussy clenched even more tightly around me and that did it for me. I felt the heat in my cock and in my stomach and then I was climaxing, pleasure zipping around my body and sending me to places I didn’t even know existed.

My cock gave one final spasm, and I was done, the pleasure more intense than anything I had ever felt before. I slipped out of Lena and rolled to the side and we lay that way, side by side, as we panted for air. I couldn’t believe that this woman, by far the most annoying woman I had ever met, had also turned out to be by far the best sex I had ever had. There was some sort of irony there. There had to be.

When we finally recovered, I got up and went to use the bathroom like I had planned to earlier.

I did what I had to do and then I came back into the main room and Lena was laid where I left her, fast asleep. She was laid on her back, her head turned towards me, and she had one hand on the pillow beside her face. She looked peaceful, almost angelic, with her eyes closed and her lips slightly parted. Her skin was covered in goose bumps, and I could feel a bit of a chill kin the air myself now.

I didn’t want Lena to freeze in the night, so I gently moved the duvet from beneath her and put it over her instead. She muttered something I couldn’t understand and then she gave a quiet snore and then her breathing evened out again. I smiled down at her. After we had sex, I had planned to sleep in the bed with Lena, but now she had fallen asleep while I was gone, it felt wrong somehow, and reluctantly, I went to the wardrobe and got out the spare pillow and blanket and I went and laid down on the couch.