Chapter One The Proposition
Killian Jones stares across the table at Emma Nolan, a woman he would consider to be one of his closest friends, if not his best friend. She's remarkably pretty, even with no makeup, slightly greasy hair tied back, and a slightly large tee shirt she got at a Red Sox game.
She'd texted him earlier this morning, begging him to meet her for a late afternoon lunch at the Starlight Diner, one of their favorite places to go for their coveted chats, and being the good friend he is, he'd thought nothing of it.
Now, as he sits with her, watching how she slowly eats her favorite greasy burger, he realizes something's wrong. Not in a dangerous sense, but there's something clearly on her mind. She hasn't said much at all to him since they met up at the front door of the diner, eager to shake off the cold of the winter.
"What's going on?" he asks.
Slowly, she looks at him, away from the intense gaze she'd once held with the frosty window to the outside world. She seems skittish and afraid, something entirely un-Emma.
"I need your help," she says, just a hint of desperation in her tone. "I've had this trip back home planned for… forever, and my parents are paying for it because it's been a long time since I've been home for Christmas."
He stares at her, waiting for her to continue. He can sense where this is going already, but it hasn't yet, so he's the slightest bit hopeful she'll surprise him.
For at least a minute, all he can hear is the melody from "Little Drummer Boy" that gets stuck in his head and he finds himself staring beyond Emma at a little boy propped up on his knees, pressing his fingertips to the cold windows to draw silly faces.
Looking back at her, he clears his throat. "And?"
Emma presses her tongue between her lips and avoids looking at him as she speaks, "And I… may have told them I'm engaged."
He tilts his head to the side slightly, grieved that she wouldn't be honest with her parents.
"What? Emma-"
She shakes her head. "I know. But they were so excited when I told them I was getting married. I don't want to admit to them that I failed them again. I mean, first there was Neal and they thought we were soulmates, and then that fell apart-" Emma stops herself. "I can't go to them alone at Christmastime after years of not going home at all. What does that say about me?"
He would consider himself a good person. Not a great person, of course he's got his faults, but he's at least good. But this? This might be where he's got to draw the line.
With wide eyes, Killian shakes his head. "What? Darling, I know I'm devilishly handsome and I exude fiancé material, but this is just… nonsense. They'll love you regardless."
Emma's shoulders fall as she pops one of his fries into her mouth. She wears a crease in her brow and tosses her head back just slightly before falling back against the red cushion behind her.
"Killian, you don't know my parents-"
"Don't beg," he says, holding a hand up in front of him. "I won't hear it, Emma. I won't say yes to this."
Her attention goes to her plate and she stares at it for a few incredibly long seconds as the first bars of "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" start up.
Killian finds himself getting uncomfortable at the sight of her. Emma doesn't touch her food. That's how he knows he has no choice in what he's about to agree to.
He presses his tongue against the inside of his cheek and sighs heavily through his nose as he plays with a fry on his plate. "When are you due to leave?"
Emma looks up at him, smiling in a pleading way without saying anything. "In a few hours."
Killian closes his eyes for a moment before he huffs a breath and grabs his mug of hot chocolate to sip. "And what do your parents know of this man you've agreed to marry?"
She sits upright again, suddenly much happier.
"I told them we'd been going out for a while," she says. "But I didn't tell them his name or what he does."
Killian lifts an eyebrow at that.
Emma glares back at him. "What? I was being careful."
Killian sighs. "Alright. So, say I do this for you. I go home with you and we spend the week with your parents…"
"It's just for the week," Emma insists. "I can tell them what happened when we're safely back in New York." She has a bite of her burger. "No harm, no foul. They'll just think it didn't work out."
While he'd like to tell her she's being a completely naive fool, acting so cavalier about going home with a man at her side that she doesn't intend to marry, Emma's had a tough year. From losing her job in the spring to a particularly hard break up in the summer, she's become determined to finishing well.
He's not the kind of person who would support this kind of behavior normally. But it's Emma, his best friend, who has had a hard year, and he knows she wouldn't ask just anyone for help like this.
The way she anxiously averts her gaze, nibbling on her lip while she watches the rush of traffic outside of their window, is nearly enough for him for him to give in, if not for the sad look in her eyes when she finds his again a moment later.
"Please, Killian?" she asks quietly. "I just can't go home alone."
His brother Liam will throw a fit, he's certain. They have their holiday traditions and if he leaves with Emma for the week, they won't be able to spend all of Christmas Eve in their neighborhood soup kitchen, or Christmas Day sitting in front of the television while they watch their favorite films.
But it's Emma, he thinks he might be a good person, and this is what a good friend would do.
On a deep sigh, Killian awards Emma the slightest smile. "Well, I suppose a week away wouldn't be the end of the world as we know it."
Emma's eyes water up just a smidge and she beams at him. "Killian, thank you. You're saving my life."
His heart skips a beat and his smile spreads. "Anything for you, darling."
/
"So let me get this straight. You're going home with this woman, wherever that is, pretending to be her fiancé, because she's lonely? Killian, of all the ridiculous nonsense you've gotten yourself into over the years-"
"Li, I know," Killian sighs. He stands in his bedroom, folding laundry while his older brother and roommate stands in the doorway, throwing a juggling ball one-handed against the frame and catching it again. "She's just… I can't say no to her."
Liam snorts. "Well, of course you can't. You're bloody insane. And you're in love with this girl."
He stares at his brother wide-eyed for a frozen second. Liam's words nearly cause him to forget what he's doing. He manages to keep his calm as he settles a pair of jeans into his suitcase.
He'd known telling Liam he wasn't going to be home for Christmas wouldn't be easy considering all the facts, but he hadn't thought it would lead to a full and complete argument over the morality of the situation.
It's making him regret his choice, because Liam's older and he's always been right, but deep down, he knows what's right is being there for Emma. They've been friends for five years. She's helped him in more ways than one, just by being there for him, so he knows it's time for him to step up and do the same for her.
"I'm not in love with her."
Liam steps into Killian's room, blessedly giving the juggling ball a rest. Killian looks up at his brother.
"You haven't had a single girlfriend since you met her." Liam states. "You spend all of your time over at her place, even when she had that idiot furniture salesman as her lapdog." His brother gestures outwardly in frustration. "And you're always talking about her. I cannot think of a single conversation I've had with you recently that hasn't ended with you telling me about something Emma said or did. I think I know more about her than I know about you lately!"
Killian sighs. He gives his brother a hard look. "I'm not in love with Emma."
"Right," Liam scoffs, tossing his hand at the luggage. "Look at you. Look at what you're doing. Packing to go visit her parents during Christmas- of all the times of year- just because she's yet to find anyone to spend her life with. Name me one person in your life that would be crazy enough to do something like this for you."
Killian stares at Liam, his jaw falling agape as he considers an answer.
"That's right. You can't. Because the answer is nobody in their right mind."
"Liam, it's just a week." Killian says. He knows his argument is weak, but continues adding clothes to the suitcase in order to pretend it isn't.
"A week!" Liam laughs. "A week pretending to be engaged to a woman you're passionately, madly in love with. Do you even know what engaged people act like, little brother?"
Killian's jaw clenches and butterflies swirl in his belly.
"Oh, would you quit it?" he blurts out, too frustrated to let this continue. He looks up at his brother. Liam searches his eyes. "I'm not a child any longer. You usually know better than I do, but you're wrong about this. I'll be fine. She needs my help and I'm going to help."
Liam stares silently at him for a few seconds. His arms fall against his sides, hands colliding with his body noisily. "Fine. I can see there will be no persuading you otherwise."
Killian shakes his head. "No. I'm going."
His older brother sighs. "Very well. I suppose so." He drops his gaze and plays with his juggling ball, twisting it in his hand ever so timidly. "I'll miss you for Christmas."
Killian can't keep from smiling just a little as he finalizes his clothing selections and settles them into his bag. He drags the zipper along the side after closing the cover.
"I'll miss you too, Liam. I'll be back the day after and we can have our day after Christmas sail."
Liam nods in agreement. He sighs. "Alright. Don't get yourself hurt, Killian. This might end very badly."
He can tell his brother doesn't mean to fight him this time. Instead, he's purely concerned for Killian's well being. He pulls on a smile and settles his suitcase on the floor beside himself.
He sighs, allowing himself to think of a possible future where things have gone straight to hell. He doesn't disagree with his brother that this is a terrible idea- of bloody course it's a terrible idea- but he figures that he owes her this, at the very least.
A week of playing pretend in a quaint town like the one she'd described to him, with her parents who seem lovely, can't be as bad as it seems on the surface.
"Well, let's just hope it doesn't."
/
Killian meets Emma at the only moderately festive check-in area at the airport and immediately he can see a positive change in her. Gone is the nervous homebody and instead, an Emma he hasn't seen before.
She's wearing a Christmas red dress that brushes her knees, makeup, and her hair has not just been cleaned- it's been trimmed and curled around her shoulders. A bright smile ties the look together, as well as the breathless greeting that she gives before she comes to a stop beside him.
"You look…"
Emma glances down, a tiny smile on her lips. "I know." She clears her throat and glances around the area before turning back to him again. "So… there's just one little, tiny thing I haven't told you."
Killian frowns, brow furrowed. His stomach clenches in anticipation of something he hadn't considered coming to light, perhaps altering what their week will entail. "What?"
She opens her mouth to speak, but both of their attentions are stolen when someone calls out her name, "Emma!"
She turns and smiles at whoever it is. "Leroy. Hi."
Killian finds himself staring at a shorter man with a balding head. He's dressed in a uniform of a sort, presumably for an airline, and his smile is bright.
"Emma, it is so good to see you again. I'm glad you've decided to fly home."
Emma smiles softly. "Yes. I know. I'm overdue."
Leroy chuckles. He turns to look at Killian and his eyebrows lift. "And is this…"
"My fiancé," Emma nods. Suddenly, she takes his arm and all he can think is that she's incredibly warm and she smells perfect, like sitting by a warm fire in the forest. "Killian."
Killian smiles and tilts his head at the man. "A pleasure meeting you."
Leroy seems slightly skeptical of him, but nods. "Alright, well, if we're gonna make it before dinner, we better get going." He grabs both of their bags and begins to walk away from them. He glances over his shoulder even as he moves on ahead. "Follow me, if you would, Your Highness."
In the second it takes for him to realize what Leroy has said, Killian's eyes widen as Emma removes her hands from him. He turns to her, finding her grimacing slightly at the use of the formality.
It's clear to him that this isn't how she wanted him to find out about her little secret, but that doesn't quell the shock or the questions that populate his thoughts at a speed of at least a hundred miles a minute.
Trying to stay calm and tempered, Killian lifts his eyebrows and presses his lips together for a moment before asking, "What's this, now?"
Emma takes a few steps forward, turned toward him still. "I… didn't tell you and I'm sorry, but," She smiles at him, as if that helps matters at all, "I'm kind of a princess."
His eyes widen. "Bloody- what- Emma-"
"I know, I know," Emma says in a gentle voice. She reaches for his arm to get him to move forward. "Come on."
They're walking side-by-side now, Emma still holding onto his wrist as if it'll help him stay on task.
"Wha- why didn't you-"
"It was a secret." Emma tells him lowly. "I'll tell you my life's story when we get to the plane, but you need to pretend like you know it already."
His brow creases frantically and he can't find the words to speak. "Emma, this is bloody insanity. You want me to pretend I'm engaged-"
"Shh!" Emma gestures ahead of them, at Leroy who has begun to lead them outside.
Killian lowers his voice in a whisper. "Being pretend engaged to a princess isn't what I signed up for."
"I know," she cringes apologetically. "I'm sorry."
"Emma, we need to talk about this." Killian whispers. "Why should I come with you now?"
With the utmost seriousness, she says, "Friends don't abandon each other when they learn about the other's past."
"I'm not abandoning you," he defends himself. "I'm in shock. My best friend of five years is a princess and I'm only hearing about it in the middle of the airport on our way to lie for a week to her family, who apparently are king and queen, not just mum and dad."
She slows to a stop and so does he. "Look, I'm not going to make you come with me." Emma says quietly. She glances away from him, at the direction Leroy had been walking. "But Leroy already knows you're here. And that we're engaged. If we don't go home together, it's going to look suspect."
She has a valid point, but it doesn't loosen the knots in his belly or slow his heart rate. He drags his hand over his scruff and thinks about the situation, knowing they don't have a lot of time to make a choice here with Leroy only steps ahead of them.
"Fine." Killian shakes his head. He drops his hand to his side. "Since you've left me no choice in the matter. But know I don't feel good about this, Nolan."
Emma breathes a little easier and nods her head. He sees nothing but remorse in her eyes, something that helps him feel better. "I know. It's my fault. I should have told you before we got to the airport." She tilts her head forward. "We need to get going."
He looks ahead, finding Leroy awkwardly standing a small distance away waiting for them.
"You coming?"
As easily as the breath she takes, she smiles, "Yes. Sorry."
Her fingers lace with his, a reminder of the promise he'd made to her in the diner- that he'd be here for her, playing the part of her fiancé- and suddenly all he can think is that he is in way over his head.