But I have this weekend. He's mine again.

After this... I'm just not yet ready to be heartbroken again. I could have fun. But I can't hope for forever. Not yet. I'm still too vulnerable.

So maybe for now, I should just enjoy the moment while this lasts. For this weekend only.... Ryder Van Woodsen is mine.

The minute I stopped pretending, I started welcoming all his gestures. I started responding positively and that encouraged him to do more. I didn't care. I only have this weekend when he belonged to me. Outside of this time and place, this fairy tale couldn't be real. I'm not yet ready for a relationship. And I doubt I'll ever be ready to have a relationship with Ryder Van Woodsen.

We partied after dinner in a bonfire by the beach. Janis and I are becoming more comfortable with each other. She's great. She's chatty and she seems real. Some thought that heiresses are airheads. Janis looked like she's got a good head on her shoulders.

"So you were engaged once." She said when Jake and Ryder went to get our drinks.

I nodded. "He was my best friend for years before we started dating."

"Why did it end? Because he gave you a fake engagement ring?"

I shook my head. "No. It was over long before that." I sighed. "I was planning our wedding when I caught him having an argument with my cousin over whether or not they should keep their baby."

Janis's eyes widened. "You did not!" Her tone was abhorred, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Did too." I giggled humorlessly.

"And you called off the whole wedding?"

I nodded. "But I made the big mistake of not canceling all the arrangements myself. I threw all the contacts and receipts in his face and asked him to make the cancellations himself, if he wanted his money back."

"And then?"

I sighed. "He didn't cancel. Probably figured it would be easier and much cheaper for him to push through with the wedding than call it off. So... my dream wedding happened. From the invitations, down to the honeymoon suite! It happened exactly how I wanted it to be. The only difference was, I wasn't the bride anymore!"

"He didn't!" Janis had her hands on her mouth. "That is disgusting! How... how could your cousin do that to you?"

I shrugged. "Beats me. But I think I've had a bit of my revenge already."

"How?"

"I attended the wedding."

Janis's jaw dropped and I had to smile at that.

"I went there with Ryder. I showed all my relatives how better off I was! I looked pretty and sexy, with an even sexier man in my arms!"

Janis laughed. "I'll bet Ryder tried his best to impress your relatives!"

I nodded. "He wasn't able to resist. He knew everybody was going to feel sorry for me because... I was supposed to be the bride that day. He tried his best to help me keep my head up high." I stared over at Ryder who was approaching me with my drink in his hand. "A pretty thing like that? Even the bride wished she was me."

Janis laughed again. "How wonderful! What a great way to get even! But still... what they did to you was... unthinkable."

"Well, heartbreaks can go as far as that. I lost my job after that because I couldn't believe in 'ever afters' anymore. I was telling bride-to-bes that green was the color of vomit, instead of the color of fresh harmony."

"Wow! That's severe bitterness."

I nodded. "That was before Ryder came into my life.." By that time, Ryder sat beside me and handed me my drink.

"What about me?" He asked.

I smiled up at him. "I was just telling Janis how much you helped me get over my breakup. Well, you helped me get even with my ex-fiance and my cousin first. I don't think I would have done it if it weren't for you."

"When did you find out that your engagement ring was a fake?" Janis asked.

"After I received their invitation and found that everything was how I wanted it to be. I thought I should cash in on my bad luck. I was broke then anyway. I didn't have a job and was living with my cousin's half brother. At the jewelry shop, the guy told me that he won't even pay a hundred dollars for my ring."

"That's cheap!" Jake said shaking his head.

"Yeah. He's cheap." I smiled. "But I'm over it now. That whole chapter of my life is over." I looked up at Ryder. "I'm so much better now." I said.

I wanted him to know that had he not been the Ryder Van Woodsen, I would keep my promise to him... that I would come to him when I finally get better. So he could get to know the real me. I know, that although I look happy in front of Janis and Jake, I couldn't hide the trace of regret in my expression... and I'm afraid Ryder can see through me by now.

He stared back at me evenly, raising a brow. As if he knew... that I've kept two of my promises already. But I don't have any intention of keeping the third.

I looked away, not able to bear the weight of his stare. I knew I was blushing when I looked back at Janis, who mistook the meaning of my blush for something else.

Janis beamed at me. "I'm happy for both of you." She said. "I think you are what each other needs."

Jake nodded beside her in agreement. He raised his bottle to us for a toast.

I was still thinking about the look on Ryder's face when I went to the ladies' room with Janis. She was still beaming at me.

"I am so happy Ryder found you." She said.

"Why?"

"He's happy." She replied. "You make him happy. You two are like... soul mates. You have this connection that looks cosmic in some way. You... complete each other's sentences, you fit together like pieces of a puzzle. I couldn't believe that Ryder will finally find his match!"

"Come on! I won't really say that I'm his match."

"You are. You're the one for him, I can tell." She said. "Jake, Ryder and I... we grew up together. And in high school, Jake and I started hooking up. We felt guilty that we left Ryder behind. We started getting serious when we were in college. And somehow we felt that Ryder feels out of place with us, especially if we plan our future or if we become affectionate with each other. We... wanted Ryder to find his girl. So we're sure that he'll be as happy as we are."

"And you believe he's happy with me?"

Janis nodded. "Yes. Ryder didn't seem interested in women, or dating. He didn't care much about romance. We thought he was not interested in having a relationship at all. We tried hooking him up with women before. He's just not interested. He was always busy with work. We didn't think he's ready to commit to any woman. We didn't even think he was capable of being romantic. He didn't show previous signs. That is why I was dumbfounded when he introduced you to us this morning. I was not expecting you."

"I hope... I didn't disappoint you." I said shyly.

"Are you kidding me? You're absolutely perfect!" She laughed. "You're absolutely gorgeous. I can see why he's taken with you, and I can tell you are not interested in his..." She trailed off, and then she turned red. I can tell she was embarrassed about what she was about to say next that she stopped herself.

"It's okay. I know what you mean. I'm not interested in his money." I giggled. "When I first... eh... started dating him, I didn't know he was rich! I mistook him to be something else."

"Oh my God!" She said. "You were the girl who thought he was a bartender?"

I stared back at her. How did she know that? "You know?"

She giggled. "I received a weird call from him one day. And he asked me, do I look like a damned bartender? I told him that technically, he is. He just owns his own bar. He said he met a girl, and she had mistaken him to be a bartender and she... liked him nevertheless."

I blushed. That was true. I liked him better when I thought he was... normal like the rest of us.

"So when he finally came clean about owning the bar, what did you do?"

"I slapped him."

Janis laughed. "Oh my God! No wonder he's so enchanted with you! Jake thought that Ryder had always been afraid of women who would only want him because he's rich. We thought maybe that was the reason why he was so aloof with women, and why he wasn't interested. He was too cautious. He's allergic to girls who would want his money more than him."

I smiled at Janis. As we approached our table and I looked into Ryder's eyes, I realized glumly that I liked everything about him... except for his money.

"Something wrong?" He asked me.

I shook my head as I sat beside him. Janis took out her camera and placed it on a tripod. Then she and Jake went closer to us and told us to smile. Ryder laughed and squeezed me tightly. I leaned my head on his shoulder and I smiled happily.

I only have forty-eight hours. During this time, Ryder would want me as much as I want him. We belong together and the issue of his A-list status is beyond us. Here, now, it feels like I'm ready to be in a relationship again, and Ryder is not the complicated man he is.

We sat by the bonfire as we watch Janis and Jake dance.

"She's buying it." I told Ryder.

"Buying what?"

"Us." I replied. "She didn't think we were pretending."

Ryder raised a brow. He pulled me to him so I can sit on his lap. Then he gave me a tight hug.

"Is that what we're doing, love?" He whispered.

I stared back at him, my heart pounding hard in my chest.

"None of this is real, Ryder." I reminded him.

He smiled, before leaning forward to kiss me on the lips. "But it looks real. It feels real."

I blushed. How could I be that transparent?

I looked at him seriously. "It's all for the show. This doesn't change anything, Ryder." I told him. "I'm only doing this because I owe you."

He narrowed his eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something but chose not to. Instead he leaned forward and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips and said, "But here, we belong together."

I nodded. "Only here. Only this weekend."

He took a deep breath. "Then let's make the most of it, shall we?" And he kissed me thoroughly.

I felt wanted. I felt woman. The kiss that Ryder gave me made me feel a myriad of sensations all rolled into one. Heat emanated from his skin to mine. I never wanted him to stop. But we have to stop. Because we are sitting by the fire in the beach with people dancing and partying all around us.

He stared back at me. His eyes filled with desire. My heart kept pounding in my chest as I struggle to catch my breath. I wanted him. I know from the look on his face that he wanted me too. I tried to think of reasons to stop falling into the edge of passion, but I can feel reason drifting away.

Finally, he stopped kissing me. He stared at me deeply. His eyes were drunk with passion and I can tell that he's trying to water the fire inside him. Because we both know where this is leading, and it was not part of the deal. We only need to put on a show in front of Janis and Jake. But inside our hotel suite, we're two strangers who happened to share the same room and some acquaintance.

"Let's dance, shall we?" He asked.

I nodded. We both know that dancing would distract both of us.