Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
It sent heat rushing down my spine.
It sent memories flashing behind my lids.
It sent fluttering wings free in my stomach, and my fingers curled into a fist where I didn’t even realize I was holding onto his shirt.
When he pulled back, he smirked down at me, lazily — like that kiss had meant nothing to him. Like it was easy. Like it was fake.
And I reminded myself quickly that it was fake.
For a moment, I stood there, staring up at him with my mouth open like a guppy, my breaths shallow and short. Something shifted in Kyle’s expression then, like he was searching for whatever emotion he thought I was feeling.
I quickly wiped my face blank, inhaling a deep breath and tucking my hair behind one ear as I put distance between us. “Ready?”
“I was about to ask you the very same thing,” he said. Then, he frowned, looking behind me. “Where’s Sebastian?”
Warmth spread through me again, but I dumped a bucket of ice water over it.
“School,” I answered. “My mom’s flight just landed. She’s got plenty of time to get settled, and then she’ll pick him up later.”
Kyle’s face went a bit ashen at the mention of my mother.
Probably because the last time he’d seen her was the night before he found out I was pregnant.
And then he’d left.
Yeah… let’s just say I couldn’t exactly tell my mom who I was going to this wedding with. I’d been very adamant about the time she flew in so I could avoid her finding out at all costs.
She was just happy to hear I was dating again, and aside from the adorable kind of prying all mothers did, she was leaving me alone about the details.
For now.
I knew if this went on for too long, she’d want answers. And there was no way I could tell her Kyle Robbins was back in my life.
I definitely couldn’t tell her that we were dating — which was why reminding myself this was all temporary made it a bit easier to breathe.
The kiss was fake. What Mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her. And soon, this will all be over, anyway.
But holding up my end of the bargain had my chest tight as Kyle opened the back seat door and helped me inside. Him pretending to be my boyfriend around Marshall was one thing.
Me pretending to be his girlfriend around a wedding full of his old college buddies?
This was a whole new level of what the fuck did I get myself into?
As soon as Kyle climbed into the passenger seat again, the guy in the driver one turned around to face me.
“Hey, I’m Braden,” he said, extending a hand with the widest, most dazzling smile I’d ever laid eyes on.
He was hot — the kind of hot that makes you a little breathless to be in close proximity.
Kyle I was used to. I could still see him as the little brat I used to fight with. But Braden was an NFL player.
I was in a car with two freaking NFL players.
I was about to be at a wedding full of them.
I shook his hand with an awkward smile, my heart working overtime again. “Madelyn.”
“She packed lighter than you,” Kyle teased Braden when we released hands. He turned to me next. “I can’t convince this guy to use his signing bonus to get a car from this decade, but he has no problem buying a new pair of shoes every day and insisting they all need to come with him on a long weekend trip.”
“You’re just salty because I dress better than you,” Braden quipped, throwing the car into drive. “Always have.”
“It’s four nights,” Kyle said. “You have two giant suitcases for four nights.”
“Well, we might be hiking!” Braden said, as if that was all the defense he needed. “And then there’s the rehearsal dinner, the groom’s brunch, the wedding itself, whatever we end up doing the next day — which could be hiking. I’ll be hitting the gym every day, we might play football while we’re there — what? Don’t look at me like that. We might!”
Kyle barked out a laugh, razzing his friend as my eyes lost focus once we pulled onto the highway.
What the hell am I doing?
My hand gripped the seat below me, my chest aching with the pressure of each breath. I thought I might actually be hyperventilating when I felt a pair of sea green eyes on me.
Kyle had pulled the visor down, and he was staring at me through the mirror of it.
When our eyes met, time slowed, the sound of traffic and the radio and Braden continuing to defend his packing all fading until everything was muted.
Relax, he mouthed in the mirror.
I glared at him, and he smiled.
Then, he reached one massive hand behind him and squeezed my knee.