Pretend Love Romance by Penny Wylder
Diana
The rest of the weekend passes in a happy blur. I do get my hot tub time, and there don’t seem to be any lasting effects from my time in the river. Everything is perfect, including the heated gazes that Leo sends my way whenever he’s near me.
If my friends notice, they don’t say anything. But the looks he gives me are like a physical touch. I’m practically dying for more. He hasn’t kissed me again, but I know that he wants to.
Everything about him tells me that he’s dying for it, and I’ve had more than one moment where I lost myself in the fantasy of Leo pushing me against a wall and taking another kiss. And then taking everything else. God, I want him so fucking bad. There’s no way that we’ll get through this pretend engagement without it, and I don’t care. I want him.
He hasn’t asked me to keep things secret, but I have. Not because they wouldn’t understand—I think they’d be totally on board. But I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize it. If they accidentally said anything, I don’t want it to get back to his parents somehow and for them to realize that it’s all fake.
Paranoid? Maybe. But I’ll tell them when it’s finished.
“Okay,” Emily says as we pack up all of our cars to head home. “Ladies, this was perfect. And none of us died. Thank you so much for coming with me and making this the best bachelorette ever!”
“I’m glad the bar is as low as ‘none of us died,’” I say.
We all laugh, and I give my best friend a hug. “See you soon,” she says. “I’m going to be hounding you with last-minute wedding shit.”
“Of course you are.”
She blows me a kiss and we all climb into our cars and leave Blue Mountain. But once we all go our separate ways, I turn around and drive back. Leo is waiting for me when I pull back into the lot, smiling wider than I’ve seen in days. Less smolder and more joy. I like both sides.
I stay in the car a beat longer just looking at him. It’s almost criminally unfair how attractive he is. And if he thinks that I offered to do this purely because I’m selfless, then he’s wrong. I actually think that I might be getting the better half of the deal.
He takes my hand and helps me out of the car even though it’s unnecessary. Right now, I don’t mind.
“I won’t lie that I was afraid you would just keep driving.”
“Not a chance.”
A laugh. “Well, we don’t have any guests the next couple days so you can just keep your room. My parents are planning to come for dinner later this week. We’ll wow them with our romance and then you’re free to go, and I’ll absolutely never be able to repay you.”
“I think we’ll be even.”
He grabs my suitcase from my trunk and carries it without asking. I’ll have to get used to it this week. It’s entirely possible that he won’t let me carry anything or open any doors the entire time that I’m here.
We’re almost back to the cabin when a chime has him reaching for his phone. “Hello?”
Leo stops in his tracks and goes stock still. “I thought that—okay.” A pause. “When?”
He looks over at me, and winces slightly. When he speaks again, his voice is tight. “Of course it’s no problem. We’ll see you when you get here.”
He ends the call and looks at me, all traces of that joy gone. “That was my parents.”
“What happened?”
“They decided they want to experience Blue Mountain since I’ve been talking about it for years. They’re coming to stay for a few days so they can get to know my business and my fiancée better.”
I shake my head. “That’s fine. I was going to be here anyway.”
He’s hesitating, so I let him think for a second. “If they’re going to be here, they’re going to see us and where we’re staying. So if this is going to work, you’ll have to stay with me.”
Stay with him. In his cabin. Where he sleeps. With his bed.
Oh.
