His Fake Hired Girlfriend

Chapter 6

Anna POV

Ethan brought me to a huge table full of food. It was all your standard cookout fare. Hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and dips covered the whole table. It smelled great. If I weren't so worried, I would be pigging out right now.

"So what do you like?" Ethan grinned at me.

"What choices do I have?"

"Looks like we have...burgers, hot dogs, grilled corn. And...some type of mysterious noodles?" He chuckled, picked up the dish of noodles, and looked at it carefully.

"They're called Miracle Noodles. I'm monitoring my weight for our trip." I heard a lady say from behind me.

I glanced back and saw a blonde-haired lady approach us with a bright grin. I'm presuming this is his mother because they share similar facial traits. Ethan lets out a giggle and lays the bowl back onto the tables in front of us.

"You don't have to watch your weight, you know that." Ethan chuckled, shaking his head at his mother.

"Says you. I'm going to shed 10 pounds with these noodles. No calories, no fat, and just one carb. They're pretty excellent; try some!" She grinned, scooping up a fork full of noodles and putting them in front of Matthew's face.

"Polite pass." He chuckled.

I stood uneasily as I watched the two share their chat. I felt weird at the barbecue the whole time. Dane hasn't been in sight for long. Although, I suppose I shouldn't use Dane as a safety blanket to begin with. He is the only recognizable face I saw, and I only recently met him.

"Who is this?" The lady smiled at me.

"This is Anna. She is one of Dad's...friends?" He questioned, leaning towards me attentively. Oh right. What am I meant to say about Dane? What has he told his wife?

"Oh! Well, it's nice meeting you, Anna." The lady smiled at me.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Fain." I grinned in return.

"Mrs. Fain? Please, call me Lizzie. Can I get you anything to drink? We have beer and water. There is surely Coke someplace around here." She remarked, glancing around the table for another cooler.

"I'm good, thank you though!" I answered by doing my best to seem confident.

"Well, I'm going to go and see your father goodbye. I have a lot of stuff to get done. I merely dropped by for some lunch." She giggled before waving me farewell and gave Ethan a brief peck on the cheek. His cheeks started to heat up, and his shame was visible against his pale complexion.

"Love you. Be cautious going home." He grinned as his mother walked away from us.

"So that was your mom?" I inquired when she was out of sight.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. She can be extremely..."

"Enthusiastic?" I laughed.

"Very. She likes people. Sorry about that." He repeated with an uneasy chuckle.

"Don't be sorry. She appears pleasant," I said honestly. His entire family seemed pleasant.

"She is. Probably the sweetest lady on the whole planet. But then again, I'm sort of prejudiced." He winked.

We proceeded to prepare a dish and locate a spot to sit and enjoy our dinner. It was everything exactly as amazing as it smelled, and I am pleased that I didn't miss out on eating. Ethan's plate was plenty of food, and I watched him as he ate every last morsel of what was on his dish. He saw my staring and immediately wiped his lips, seeming ashamed.

"Sorry, I don't usually just shove my face with food like this." He laughed, embarrassed by how he was eating.

"Don't worry, I generally eat in the same manner. I could probably eat four entire platters." I overstated. He grinned broadly at me and shook his head with a giggle. His grin was distracting by how dazzling it was. He was honestly incredibly gorgeous.

"I don't think I believe you. I—" He spoke before being cut off by his phone ringing loudly in his pocket. "Sorry, let me take this real quick." He murmured before responding. "Ethan Fain speaking. Yes, I was just getting back to you regarding your contract with us. It was brought to my notice that you did not get your copy; is that correct? Alright, so I have everything here at home and can fax it over to you immediately if you would like. Alright, I'll send it straight that way. Goodbye." He remarked before hanging up.

"You can go if you need to," I whispered as he started typing a text on his phone.

"I'm sorry it's just a bunch of stuff that didn't get done for work." He answered without glancing up from his phone.

"That's OK. I should probably start going anyway..." I rose and grabbed my stuff. I didn't want to go. We had barely been here for approximately half an hour. I was genuinely having a pretty wonderful time with him.

"Wait, you're going already? You just got here. I can complete this soon. I only need to go and submit a fax to this customer." He murmured, holding my wrist softly. He saw his quick movement and loosened his grasp. His cheeks started to burn up once again. I have seen that they do it quite a bit.

"I don't want to keep you away from work," I murmured, sliding my hair behind my ear.

But I need you to want to remain.

"I simply need to hurry inside and submit this fax. You may come with me. "It will be incredibly quick, I guarantee," he insisted.

I smiled and followed him back inside the home. It was wonderful being away from the masses of people who were in his yard, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't very interested to see what his home looked like. His mansion was huge. I knew it looked enormous on the outside, but it felt much bigger on the inside.

,