The Borrowed Boyfriend

The Borrowed Boyfriend

Ginny Baird

THE BORROWED BOYFRIEND

By Ginny Baird

Published by

Winter Wedding Press

Copyright © 2016

Ginny Baird

Digital Edition

ISBN 978-1-942058-14-4

All Rights Reserved

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient, unless this book is a participant in a qualified lending program. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to export portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected].

Characters in this book are fictional and figments of the author’s imagination.

Cover by Dar Albert

About the Author

From the time she could talk, romance author Ginny Baird was making up stories, much to the delight—and consternation—of her family and friends. By grade school, she’d turned that inclination into a talent, whereby her teacher allowed her to write and produce plays rather than write boring book reports. Ginny continued writing throughout college, where she contributed articles to her literary campus weekly, then later pursued a career managing international projects with the US State Department.

Ginny has held an assortment of jobs, including school teacher, freelance fashion model, and greeting card writer, and has published more than twenty works of fiction and optioned ten screenplays. She has additionally published short stories, nonfiction and poetry, and admits to being a true romantic at heart.

Ginny is a
New York Times
and
USA Today
Bestselling Author of several books, including novellas in her Holiday Brides Series. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), the RWA Published Authors Network (PAN), and Novelists, Inc. (NINC).

When she’s not writing, Ginny enjoys cooking, biking, and spending time with her family in Tidewater, Virginia. She loves hearing from her readers and welcomes visitors to her website at
http://www.ginnybairdromance.com
.

Books by Ginny Baird

Holiday Brides Series

The Christmas Catch

The Holiday Bride

Mistletoe in Maine

Beach Blanket Santa

Baby, Be Mine

Summer Grooms Series

Must-Have Husband

My Lucky Groom

The Wedding Wish

The Getaway Groom

Romantic Ghost Stories

The Ghost Next Door (A Love Story)

The Light at the End of the Road

The House at Homecoming Cove

Romantic Comedy

Real Romance

The Sometime Bride

Santa Fe Fortune

How to Marry a Matador

Counterfeit Cowboy

My Best Friend’s Bride

The Borrowed Boyfriend

Bundles

The Holiday Brides Collection (Books 1—4)

Christmas Magic: The Entire Holiday Brides Series (Books 1–5)

A Summer Grooms Selection (Books 1—3)

Romantic Ghost Stories (Books 1–3)

Real Romance and The Sometime Bride (Gemini Edition)

Santa Fe Fortune and How to Marry a Matador (Gemini Edition)

Wedding Bells Bundle

Short Stories

The Right Medicine (Short Story and Novel Sampler)

Special Delivery (A Valentine’s Short Story)

A fun romantic comedy and a classic beach romance!

From 
New York Times
 and 
USA Today
 Bestselling Author GINNY BAIRD, a heartfelt and hilarious tale about two lost souls finding their way to each other.

The Borrowed Boyfriend

Allison Murphy spends a week in March with the same group of girlfriends each year. What started as a college spring break tradition morphed into an annual reunion, ultimately encompassing boyfriends and husbands. Only Allison hasn't brought along a love interest in years, inspiring the others toward goodwill efforts at fixing her up. Faced with the prospect of yet another beach week mismatched with a virtual stranger, Allison's roommate Kate suggests a shocking alternative. Allison can "borrow" Kate's handsome and successful boyfriend for the trip. The trouble is Grady O'Brien stands for everything romantic idealist Allison is against. He's a ruthless businessman who will stop at nothing to get ahead. What Allison doesn't understand is just how far Grady is willing to go...

Wine industry entrepreneur Grady O'Brien knows an opportunity when he sees one. Allison Murphy runs a boutique wine label design company, while Grady heads up a firm that buys those sorts of businesses out. When Grady's girlfriend unexpectedly must attend a conference and their vacation plans are cancelled, she encourages Grady to accompany Allison to the beach instead. Grady agrees to participate in the ruse of playing Allison's boyfriend with a secret agenda in mind. He hopes to pave the way for acquiring Allison's Bella Fortuna Wine Designs by winning favor with its pretty owner and her friends. The one thing Grady doesn't count on losing in the bargain is his heart.

Chapter One

Grady flipped through the game scores on his tablet, pretending to ignore the conversation occurring across the room from him. Had he heard that right? Had his girlfriend of six months, Kate, actually offered to
loan him
to her roommate, Allison? Grady normally didn’t consider himself uptight, but he wasn’t sure he was into that. Besides, Allison Murphy wasn’t really his type.
 

Grady stole a peek in their direction and spied Kate gesturing broadly to Allison. Both women stood behind the countertop bar dividing their apartment’s small galley kitchen from its cozy living room area. They thought Grady couldn’t hear them because he wore ear buds. Neither one knew that his playlist had ended its final track. He’d been listening to
La Traviata,
one of his favorites.

“All I’m saying is that you should think about it,” Kate persisted in low tones. “Seriously consider the option.”

Allison blinked in astonishment and poured herself some coffee. She wore ratty sweatpants and a plaid flannel shirt, and her long blond hair was in its typical morning disarray, but she still looked reasonably attractive. Okay, more than
reasonably...
The fact was, Allison was
hot
. But in a good girl sort of way, more like the girl next door. She was the type of woman men married, when those men were the marrying kind…

She leaned toward Kate and spoke in a hushed whisper. “Even if I did want a substitute, it wouldn’t be Grady!” Allison’s gaze flicked to Grady, and he saw her face flush red before he quickly returned his attention to his device. “What I mean is…” Allison lowered her voice even further, and Grady cocked an ear her way.
“Are you out of your mind?”

“And what exactly is wrong with Grady?” Well, good, Kate was sticking up for him. “Apart from the fact that’s he’s all ego, and believes he can do no wrong.”
Ouch. Maybe not.
“Okay, and he does tend to work long hours, and sometimes he forgets our dates. He probably would have forgotten my birthday, if I hadn’t arranged for my flower delivery beforehand.”
 

Now, that was unfair. Grady had planned to pick up a bouquet on his way to her place. But once again, Kate had jumped right in and preempted him.
 

“You know, you really shouldn’t do that,” Allison said softly. “Talk about him like he’s not even there.”

“Well, maybe that’s because he never listens!” Kate said, her voice rising.

Grady could feel both women’s eyes on him as they patiently watched for a reaction. Instead of acknowledging his eavesdropping, Grady slapped his forehead and cried, “Unbelievable! Double overtime!”

“See what I mean?” Kate asserted quietly. “Never pays attention at all.”

That’s where Kate was wrong. Grady O’Brien minded every detail. He simply had the good grace to let minor infractions slide. Like Kate’s domineering nature, and her unfounded accusations. For Grady, the trade-off was worth it. He ruled in the boardroom and was the king of the structured buyout. In his personal life, however, Grady was content to let somebody else take charge. He hadn’t been ready for a girlfriend when he’d met Kate. Then again, when she’d pestered him into it, he’d thought,
why not?
There was a certain convenience to having a woman on his arm at corporate functions. This helped rescue Grady from the slew of unwanted advances women used to hurl his way, both on and off the job.
 

It was a curse to be well employed and single in Marydale, Virginia, where the women outnumbered the men seven to one thanks to the small private women’s college that sat at the center of town. Kate worked there as the head of the development office. That meant she was a fundraiser, which was precisely how she and Grady had met. She’d been hitting up big businesses for contributions and his wholesale operation, Total Wines, was on her list. Once she’d set her sights on him romantically, Grady had pretty much caved.
 

He’d only been in town a few
days
before the single women came calling. Dropping by his office with home-baked cookies, leaving potted plants outside the 1920s Craftsman house he was restoring…and offering to help wash his paintbrushes? Now to some men this might have felt wonderful, but all the unwanted attention made Grady cringe. After his disaster with Meg, he’d virtually sworn off women. Grady certainly wasn’t going to take advantage of any doe-eyed coed, hopeful divorcée or single mom around here. He wasn’t eager for a long-term commitment, and that was clearly what these ladies were after.
 

Then along came Kate Fagan. Someone equally interested in having a partner on her arm when work demanded socializing, a person who viewed Grady as a temporary asset rather than a permanent acquisition. In almost every way, their arrangement was ideal. Kate was pretty and vivacious, with short brown hair and big brown eyes. Plus, she was exceedingly organized. Kate took care of everything outside of the office, from planning their dates to booking fun vacations. Now, she appeared to be arranging one just for him. And her roommate, Allison. Weird.
 

A mug clanked down on the counter, and Grady surmised it was Kate’s. She had a habit of setting things down before issuing statements. “You had a problem, and now—voilà! Problem solved! You get your old college friends off your back for the week, and you have a great time.”

“At the beach,” Allison said in stunned disbelief.

“Sure.”

“In Maine.”

“That’s where you’re going, isn’t it?”

“With Grady.”

“Why not?”

“You’re always harping on his faults!” Allison said a little too loudly before ducking behind the refrigerator and out of Grady’s view.

Kate’s retort was hushed but insistent. “Those are personal things you only discover once you get to know him. A week’s not nearly enough time. Your friends won’t have a clue.”