“Oh.” Eden put down her spring roll, watching it rock from side to side on her plate. “Are you mad at me?”

No, he was mad at Francis. Mad he and Eden weren’t officially in a relationship. Mad he had to deal with this bullshit at all.

“Willow?”

He shook his head. “I’m not angry. And even if I was, I wouldn’t have the right to be. But we said we were gonna make things look legit and you and that…” His upper lip twitched. “… guy having dinner looked bad. Now a bunch of people think you’re cheating on me.”

“But nothing happened! It was just a meeting!”

The panic on Eden’s face made him feel ashamed. He reached out and took her hand. “I guessed that. And it’s not your fault people act like women can’t have male friends or co-workers. But that caption…”

“I know.” Eden picked up the spring roll, crushing it between her fingers. “Francis said we were sitting down with his management team, but when I showed up, he said they couldn’t make it.”

Willow snorted.

“Yeah, it was probably a game. But me and Francis kinda have a relationship like that.”

“He lies to try to fuck you?”

Eden looked away. “We’ve known each other for a while and there’s respect there, but it’s complicated.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

She put down the spring roll. “Look, I know this is super weird, but Francis didn’t touch me and he’s not going to. I’m with you. I mean… I’m pretending to be with you.”

Willow stared at her, wishing he could be honest. Knowing it would fuck everything. “Okay.”

“Willow?”

He pushed his palms into his eye sockets. “Yeah?”

“I don’t want to hurt you, but Francis got me a last-minute slot at the Pure Pink festival last year and I finally started making enough money to quit my day job. He’s an important guy to know and I can’t turn down opportunities to meet with him just because it makes my fake relationship look fake.”

“Sure,” he told his hands. Then realised he was being a dick. He met her gaze. “I get it. I just really like you, Eden.”

Her lower lip trembled. “I like you too.”

“Okay, well, hearing you say we have a fake relationship makes me want to die.”

She looked down at the plate. “That’s the deal we made. You said you were fine with it. It was your idea.”

“Well maybe I’m a fucking idiot, have you ever considered that?”

“You’re not.” She smiled softly. “Willow, I can’t have a boyfriend.”

“But you feel this too, right? How good this is?”

“I feel it. We’re good together.”

“We’re great together. We’re a fucking match.”

Her throat contracted. “But that isn’t enough.”

“Because of Francis?”

“Fuck Francis. Who cares about Francis?”