It was all over the press, just like she wanted.
'Hamptons Socialite Lands Billionaire Tech Genius'
'Thorne & Ross: The Hamptons' New Power Couple'
'Grayson Who? Nemily Spotted at Memorial Day Event'
It had been hard to get Nolan on board with her plan. He struggled with seeing her endgame to this particular scheme.
"You said you wanted to help," she'd told him calmly as he'd paced the length of her kitchen a few weeks ago.
"Of course I do, Ems," he replied. "But this is crazy! No one is going to believe this."
"These people live and die by the tabloids. You'd be surprised." She smirked. "Do you know how easy it is to get printed in one? All you have to do is breathe in public and one of them will write a story on it."
Walking over to meet her where she stood at the island, he put his hands on the smooth wooden surface and met her gaze. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Nolan, this will work. Trust me. All you have to do is play the part. Leave the rest to me."
And she had been right. The press loved the idea of the Nolcorp CEO and philanthropic ex-fiance of David Grayson together. The pair had been on the cover of at least five tabloids every day since the story broke.
Surprisingly, it hadn't been hard at all to pretend Emily was his girlfriend. They spent a lot of time together anyway, it just required more physical contact. Of course that meant he was off the market however, and, well, that was a bummer. There were countless social gatherings in the Hamptons, always new people to meet and dates to be had. Now he had to only have eyes for Emily, and, admittedly, he did.
At first, it was almost awkward to have to pretend like his partner-in-crime best friend was now his lover. When introducing her for the first time since they went public, he'd simply called her "my Emily" - the word girlfriend feeling too foreign to say at the time. He found, however, that somewhere along the line something had shifted.
Whereas before he had to make a conscious effort to be the doting boyfriend under the scrutiny of the media, now it was effortless. Easy. They shared more laughs than before, reading all the wild stories the trashy magazines wrote about them and relishing in the curious and sometimes dirty looks Victoria gave them in public. Emily also seemed to smile more often, and they were genuine - he could see it in her eyes.
Her touches felt different now, made his skin tingle, and when they were away from prying eyes (and more importantly ears), she opened up more. Trusted him more. She spent a greater amount of time with him and less alone in her father's house, and not just because they were always being watched these days.
Suddenly they weren't just pretending to date anymore.
"This is my... my Emily," he'd stammered to Padma.
And she was.