Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I chuckle. “Feel free to collect on your debt if you change your mind.”
Andi rolls her eyes and starts unclipping the carseat from Jesse’s backpack thing. “Nobody is hitting anybody. Jesse promised me on the airplane, for your information. I wouldn’t let him come here if he didn’t.”
“She’s exaggerating,” Jesse says, following us inside the room. “I’m a full-grown man who makes my own decisions. I definitely could’ve hit you if I wanted to.”
“And this full-grown man wasn’t stepping foot in New York City until he promised to play nice,” Andi adds.
I look at Caroline. She’s biting back a smile just like I am.
Jesse sighs. “Alright. Fine. She has me wrapped around her pretty little fingers. But who can blame me?” He hugs Andi from behind carefully, plucking the car seat from her hands. He kisses the top of her head.
“So cute,” Caroline says.
“Gross,” I say. “Get a room.”
“This one will do,” Jesse says, looking around. “You mind if we borrow your bed while you’re gone?”
Andi whacks him on his pec. “Jesse,” she hisses. Then she smiles at me reassuringly. “We’ll play with and care for these adorable babies while you’re gone. And nothing else.”
Jesse gives Andi a look as if that might be up for debate.
“Alright, well, we appreciate this,” I say. I go to gather my clothes so I can get changed.
“Hold on,” Andi says. “Can I at least ask what the hell? You guys really have been dating and thought you had to hide it from us? Engaged? Really? Are you guys about to tell us this is some kind of joke?”
“Uh,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “We’ve been off and on for a long time.”
Andi waits, shifting her eyes from me to Caroline when she realizes that’s all I plan to say. “Really? You’ve been off and on a long time, and suddenly you decided, ‘hey, here’s a good idea, let’s get hitched!’”
Caroline plasters on a smile. God, she’s a terrible actress. “Yep. Pretty much.”
Jesse looks dubious. “You’d tell me if something screwy was going on, right?” he’s asking Caroline.
“Nothing screwy,” Caroline says quickly. “We’re just doing what we have to do.”
That draws a sharp look from Andi and Jesse.
“Because we’re that deep in love,” I add, trying to save the moment. “We kept thinking there was no way to make it work with our conflicting schedules. So we fought it for years. But we eventually realized we love each other too much.” I put an arm around her and pull Caroline to my side. She’s stiff as a board. “I love the shit out of her,” I add, smiling hard to try to sell the lie.
Caroline isn’t helping. She looks like she’s got the taco sweats and would rather be staring at a toilet right about now.
“Right…” Jesse says.
“I really need to hurry up, though,” I say, letting Caroline go. “We need to be out the door in fifteen minutes if we’re going to make this thing.”
I take my change of clothes and head into the bathroom. Once I’m inside, I spare a quick moment to desperately hope Caroline gets it together out there.
12
CAROLINE
“You told them?” Jake barks, his deep voice rumbling straight through my chest.
We’re in the back of a cab on our way to the gala. I’m wearing the dream dress and he’s in a suit with a black tie and crisp white undershirt. His dark hair is pushed back, almost making him look less like the beast from the ice. The five-o-clock shadow dusting his jaw gives him just a touch of ruggedness that goes with the classy look about as well as vanilla ice cream with warm apple pie.
“Hm?” I ask, blinking a few times and trying to tear my eyes away from him.
“I can’t believe you told Andi and Jesse the engagement is fake.”
“Those weren’t my exact words…” I’m speaking slowly and carefully. Maybe if I speak slowly enough, he’ll get sleepy and forget to be mad at me. Probably not.
Jake’s jaw muscles tick with his annoyance. “We agreed this needed to stay a secret. I still haven’t heard from my lawyer. We don’t know if this guy has to believe it’s legit. And I know my team has to believe it’s legit, or this will backfire in the worst way. You realize how important this is to me, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I say. “I’m sorry, Jake. But Jesse is my brother. I’ve never been able to keep secrets from him. When we were three, and I smeared poop on the wall in the bathtub, I couldn’t let our parents blame him. I admitted it was me. When I was seven and accidentally dented our dad's car with my bike, I told Jesse it was me and not an escaped bull, like I told our parents. When we were in high school and I–”