Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 133682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
She frowns. But it’s not like she’s mad at me. It’s more like she’s disappointed. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”
I sigh. That’s such a good question. But how do I even begin to answer it? At the time, the ruse made so much sense in my head. But now I don’t know if it makes any sense at all. “I just wanted you to have the perfect wedding, and I didn’t want you to worry about me,” I say, hoping my excuse doesn’t fall totally flat.
“But I do worry about you. You’re my sister and I love you. Why are you faking it?” Legitimate concern tightens her tone.
“I really do like him,” I say, meaning it. “We’re having a great time together. You shouldn’t worry.”
With worry flickering across her pretty brown eyes, she asks, “Then why fake it? Why not date for real?”
I wince. “The billionaire and the jewelry designer?”
She shakes her head. “The woman and the man who’d both do anything for those they love—including fake a relationship.” She sighs, then hits me with a tough question. “Why are you doing this for me?”
This is so hard. This is everything I didn’t want to tell her. My gut churns. “I didn’t want you to worry about me on your special day. I didn’t want to pull any of the focus from you.”
“How would you even do that?” she asks, seeming genuinely confused.
And it’s time for the full truth. “I have to tell you something, and I don’t want you to tell Leo. I feel like such a jackass for asking that. I know he’s your groom and it’s a terrible thing to say, but I don’t want you to tell him what I’m about to tell you—the reason.”
In no time, Charlotte puts two and two together as she hisses, “Brady.”
The embarrassment hits me all over again but in a different way this time. It doesn’t hurt in the gut like it did on Thanksgiving. It doesn’t eat away at me like it did a week or so later when Charlotte told me Brady would be going to the shower. Now, after spending time with Wilder, I feel…rationally embarrassed. Logically ashamed. There’s no sting in my heart or my stomach anymore. But it was still a shitty thing to experience, so it still hurts to woman up and say, “Brady cheated on me with Iris at Thanksgiving and I walked in on them,” I explain calmly.
Charlotte is not at all calm. Red billows from her eyes. Smoke curls from her nostrils. She’s a cartoon character about to blow. “I will kill him now. With a pointy candy cane. Cousin Troy probably has a duffel bag full.”
“No doubt, but Brady is not worth the murder rap. Trust me.”
She crosses her arms fiercely. “Leo will kill him. Now. Tonight.”
“Yeah, that won’t cause any problems for your wedding at all if your groom becomes the candy cane killer,” I say dryly. Then I pat her hand. “See? This is the thing. I don’t want to draw attention at your wedding. Please don’t tell Leo. Please don’t say anything. I feel terrible asking you to keep this from your fiancé, but I know they’re close. They’re family and I don’t want to get in the way.”
“But I hate Brady with the fire of a thousand, million suns burning up his underwear so he has to run down the mountain streets naked in a hailstorm.”
I giggle at my sister’s dastardly mind. “That is sister love right there. But I can’t give Brady the satisfaction of me being the pathetic ex-girlfriend, so he can’t know this is fake.”
She nods crisply, like a dutiful soldier. “I understand completely. And you know what? This is war. We are going to make sure he does not win the Christmas competition.”
I crack up, long and echoing against the quiet night. “It’s like you can read my mind.”
“I’m not your sister for nothing. That asshole can’t come to my wedding and think he can possibly beat you in a competition.”
I stage whisper, “That’s partly why Wilder and I teamed up. To take him down.”
She grins like a nefarious raccoon rubbing its paws together before it plots to topple a garbage can. “That’s perfect. And you have my sister-to-sister promise. I’m not going to say a word. But I also want you to know I love you and he can really suck it because I will always look out for you.” She gives me a hug and then whispers, “My number one regret now is introducing the two of you. And I get why you kept it from me. I just hope you forgive me for setting you up with him.”
I laugh. “Oh, please! You could never have known he’d do that. I didn’t think he would either. We can’t always tell what people are capable of,” I say, though already in this fake relationship with my boss, I’m dead certain he’d never pull a wrapping room move.