“More like confused,” Callan replied, chuckling. “Until she reminded me that she’s immune to your particular brand of charm.” He clapped me on the back with an easy smile. “And she’s too good for you.”
As I followed him back out to the patio, I admitted that he was right about one thing: Sage Walker was definitely too good for me. But the look in her eyes when I had her up against the dryer… she was anything but immune.
Chapter Five
Sage
“Alright, everyone.” I turned and faced the group.
Rose, Mike, Callan, their bridal party, and some close family friends all stopped in a semicircle in front of me. We’d strolled fairly deep into my family’s orchard for the first pre-wedding event—apple picking.
I’d caught Sean’s judgmental and skeptical gaze following me the entire time—partly because I was the only one who’d chosen to trek out here in heels—the most adorable fall, chunky wedged booties with a bright orange flannel design, in my defense—and partly because Luke—my supposed boyfriend—was nowhere in sight.
I’d texted Luke the information for today, and he replied with a winky-kiss emoji that made me scoff at the butterflies it awoke in my tummy.
I should be surprised or disappointed that he wasn’t here. He’d had a little time to think over everything and change his mind.
His loss.
But I refused to think about that—about him. And our arrangement. My priority was being the best maid of honor to ever exist, which walking down the aisle with my shithead ex automatically nominated me for, but I didn’t want to coast into the title on Sean’s presence.
“We’ve got baskets and maps so you can get picking!” I spread my arms wide, motioning to the wicker baskets stacked on either side of my feet. “We’ll head back to the barn in half an hour to caramel dip the apples and enjoy some hot spiced cider.”
The group closed in, snagging baskets and breaking up into groups.
I caught my sister’s gaze when Mike grabbed a basket for them, and she beamed. I did my best to give her a wink. I knew this would be one of her favorite events, since caramel apples were her weakness. But I didn’t let our silent conversation linger; she was also wondering where Luke was just as much as some other people.
I’d given Luke far too much thought over the past two days, typing up several texts to renege on the deal, only to delete them. And now, it looked like he saved me the trouble by deciding that fake dating wasn’t his thing. Probably because it didn’t come with fake fuck—
“This was a great idea, Sage,” Fay exclaimed. The slender, strawberry-blonde woman smiled and bent to grab a basket for herself and Tina. “Where should we start?”
“Thanks,” I replied. “There’s actually a map in the basket of which apples can be found on which trees. We’ve got everything from Red Delicious to Fuji to Pink Lady that are ripe for picking.”
Tina reached for the paper and directed them toward the rows of Red Delicious.
“You look festive,” an unwelcome voice rumbled.
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, hoping the cool fall air would harden my spine.
“Thank you,” I said tightly, facing Sean who’d let everyone else go ahead of him so we could have this moment together.
Festive was code for ridiculous. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
Paired with my adorable fall wedge booties, I had on a navy dress, a bright orange sweater, and vivid teal leggings. Oh, and a headband with bright orange bows on the side.
“You make that necklace?” He nodded to the crowning piece of my ensemble.
I glared and then bent down for a basket. “I think this is what you’re looking for,” I said and shoved it into his chest.
“And what are you looking for, Sage?” He chuckled and took hold of the basket like it was some stupid task he’d put up with for appearances. “Because that outfit says you’re looking for attention—”
“From her extremely attentive boyfriend.”
My eyes widened as Luke appeared from behind Sean, cutting in front of the jerk and essentially physically blocking me from his view.
Luke’s knuckles grazed my chin, tipping my head up and my breath rocketed into my lungs, blasting off without a countdown, safety checks, or any seat belts.
I had a half of a second to realize that what was about to happen would change everything. Forever.
And then his head dipped down and he kissed me.
Just a brush of his too-charming lips against my stubborn ones. A brush of warmth against worry. Of hot male against hot mess female. He didn’t deepen the kiss; I felt no trace of his tongue. And yet, there was a subtle play of his lips over mine that was the most subtle caress and strongest assault on my senses I’d ever felt.
And then his mouth was gone.
It was just a peck. No big deal.
Except that it felt like a needle puncturing the shell of a balloon. And all my puffed-up protests about why Luke was exactly the kind of man I would never fall for again began to eke out without restraint.
“Sorry I’m late, sweetheart.” His apology rumbled and made me shiver. He drew back, and with a twinkle in his eye, asked, “Let’s go pick some apples.”
He took the last basket from the ground and turning to see Sean still standing there, said bluntly, “Oh, sorry, man. I didn’t realize there was a reason for you to still be standing here.”
I was going to kill him for the kiss. I swore I was. But maybe I’d let him live just a little bit longer for the look that was left on Sean’s face when Luke so nonchalantly smirked and brushed him off.
I hardly had time to savor the reaction before I felt a solid bar of heat around my back, Luke’s arm propelling me in the opposite direction of the rest of the group toward the Pink Lady trees.
The farther we got, the more the reality of what just happened sank in.
Luke Chambers—Lucky Luke—kissed me.
Kissed. Me.
I stumbled over the thought and pulled from his grasp. “What the heck was that?” I hissed.
He looked over his too-darn-broad shoulder and shot me a grin. “Never been kissed before, beautiful?”
Beautiful.
My jaw dropped and then snapped shut, determined to ignore how the rumbled word fanned the pile of embers between my legs into a full-on flame.
“I have been kissed before,” I bit out, forced to follow him as he kept walking down the orchard row. “But that was—”
“Much better than all your other kisses?” he broke in confidently.
Yes.
No!
“That wasn’t my point,” I replied, adding before he could say anything else, “My point was you shouldn’t have kissed me. That wasn’t part of the plan.”
He chuckled. “What kind of boyfriend doesn’t kiss his girlfriend?”
Luke finally stopped in front of a ladder, somewhat concealed by the fullness of the tree.
“The fake kind,” I grumbled, clearly not thinking this situation all the way through.
It wasn’t until I reached the ladder that he held out for me that I turned my gaze over my shoulder and saw the rows of apple trees stacked like helmeted soldiers shielding us from the rest of the group.
“Why did you bring us all the way out here? We can’t even see the rest of them.”
“Privacy.” He grinned.
What was the point of the show if no one was watching?
“But I don’t want privacy,” I insisted, looking back at him. “This is a show for my ex to see, remember? If he’s not seeing, then he’s—”
“Imagining,” Luke broke in, but that wasn’t what clogged my breath in my throat.
He was too close.
With one arm snaked up the side of the ladder, his flannel-wrapped torso casually leaning against it, and his head tipped toward mine, he’d brought me into a moment of intimacy I hadn’t been expecting—though I’m not sure I could’ve prepared for it even if I had be
en.
The scent of him seeped into my nostrils like smoke from a fire, permeating my cells and infecting my blood with his heady masculine musk that would linger long after he was gone.
Why was this happening?
I knew better than to want a man like him—no matter how much my body felt differently.
“Imagining?” I gulped, and his eyes roamed over my face, leaving a ripple of heat in their wake.
I prayed he thought the pink in my cheeks was from the chilly fall air and not from his closeness—or the way he’d taken too-welcome liberties with my mouth just minutes ago.
“Trust me,” he rasped, and I felt like I should do anything but. Trusting a man this good-looking was never a good idea. “It’s worse for him to imagine all the dirty things I could be doing to you right now rather than have to watch a few harmless PDAs.”
I sucked in a breath, grateful that I still had one heeled foot on the ground or I might’ve lost my balance.
Dirty things.
“Like what?”
I couldn’t believe what I was saying—what I was asking. But the way he said it, the words came out like they were the world’s best-kept secret, and he’d be willing to share it with me if I just asked.
So, I did.
His eyes widened with momentary surprise, and it was in that split second that I saw a flare of something deep in their depths. Something hungry. Something forbidden.
Something caged.
He lifted his hand, resting his knuckles under my chin and angling my face to his.
“First, I’d give you a real kiss to complain about.” His thumb pressed on my lower lip, baring more of the bright red stained skin to his burning gaze. “Open mouth. Lots of tongue.”
Like a siren’s call, my tongue slid out to wet my lips, catching the tip of his finger in the process.
Luke let out a low hiss, his warm breath like a smoke signal of warning that there was something very, very real about our very, very fake arrangement.
And he recognized it too. And ran.
“What happens after that is proprietary,” he said, his tone more coarse than before.
Nodding his head back, he silently indicated I should get climbing. And just like that, the balloon of desire inflating my chest popped with a pain that felt audible.
I rolled my eyes, grabbing hold of the ladder and climbing the first three rungs—the farthest I could flee without completely burying my head and fabulous headband in the branches.
“I didn’t realize the playboy’s playbook was protected from his pretend girlfriend.” I pulled a Pink Lady apple from the branch and dropped it into the basket Luke was holding.
“It’s not,” he replied, drawing my attention. But when I looked at him, the headiness I’d begun to drown in was almost completely masked over by his ever-present lighthearted expression. “It is protected from his best friend’s little sister.”
Great.
“So that’s off-limits, but it is within bounds to kiss me?” I jibed, tossing down another apple with a little more force.
At the mention, his eyes dropped below my waist—which was conveniently almost at the height of his face. One more rung and those pearly whites would be in biting distance of my—
“Necessary.” I watched his Adam’s apple bob like it was beating the word from his tongue. “It was necessary.”
I returned my attention to my task, plucking and dumping apples one after another like I was pulling off all the sweet and delicious reasons to want this man who was so obviously very bad for me.
Reaching out, my fingers closed around another Pink Lady, the green skin tinted with bright pinkish blush; I’d always thought they were the prettiest. And most delicious.
“Did you bring us to the Pink Ladies on purpose?” I wondered, breaking our few minutes of silence.
Half turning on the ladder, I extended my arm, about to drop the perfect specimen of apple into the basket when large, strong fingers closed around mine.
No man’s hands should be that big.
Watching his grasp curl around mine, I had to believe he could easily hold five apples in his palm.
“Pink Ladies are my favorite.”
I hazarded a glance at his face and realized he was looking at me when he spoke.
“Really?” I squeaked, disentangling my hand from his and burrowing back into the belly of the tree in search of another prime pick. “I pictured you more of a Honeycrisp guy.”
I pretended to examine one apple after another like Luke’s own apple of temptation was among them and I was desperately trying to not fall victim to it.
“Honeycrisp is the easy favorite,” he explained. “But there’s something about the Pink Lady… both her sweetness and her tartness that is just… more.”
A shiver laced down my spine. I knew he was looking at me again; I didn’t have to check.
“They’re harder to grow,” I told him, quickly diverting into a more factual tone. “Even though they’re the earliest to blossom, they have a longer growing period, so not a lot of people want to grow them. They’re always the last apples we harvest.”
He probably already knew this. It wasn’t like he hadn’t grown up best friends with my brother.
I tossed another apple into the basket, not wanting to risk another hand-contact moment and embarrass myself more than the girl who needed a fake date for her sister’s wedding.
Unfortunately, I survived the contact, but I didn’t survive his smile.
That small, sexy one I knew had panties falling faster than leaves during a New England fall.
“Well, they’re definitely the ones worth waiting for,” he said in a low, rasped tone. “The best things usually are.”
Our eyes connected with a hot spark, goose bumps erupting over my skin right along with the low ache burrowing between my thighs. My breath hitched and the apple in my hand swooned right out of my grasp, falling onto the ground with a thud. At least it was the fruit and not me.
“Sage!”
I jumped, the trace between Luke and me broken as Mike called through the orchard for us.
“Crap, we’re supposed to be back at the barn,” I muttered, scrambling down the rungs of the ladder. “Com—” I went to call to him right as my heel caught on the last step, and I toppled forward with a strangled cry.
“Whoa, there.” A big arm wrapped around my waist, ribbed and thick like the root of an oak tree.
Luke lifted me carefully, making a point to take several steps away from the ladder—keeping me pressed against him—before he set me down on the ground.
One arm.
He’d used one arm to lift me. Not stick-skinny Rose. Me. Perfectly-plump Sage.
Forget finding my balance, I was still trying to catch my breath when my feet touched the ground, and I murmured my thanks.
He didn’t let go right away and when I looked at him, I was surprised by the severity of his expression—like there was something more he’d caught by having me in his arms.
“Sage?” Mike yelled again, his voice much closer.
“We’re coming, Mike!” Luke called over his shoulder, his heated gaze never leaving mine. “Just putting our clothes back on.”
Gasping, I stepped back quickly out of his hold and swatted his arm. “Seriously?”
“No, fake-ly,” he joked and grinned, although his tone didn’t seem as light as before.
“Go,” I ordered, pointing my finger in the direction of the barn and the rest of the group. I needed a minute for the fire department to get here and put out the flames in my cheeks.
Chuckling, he lifted his hand to the side of his mouth and murmured, “If I was serious, I wouldn’t be letting you put your clothes back on, and I definitely wouldn’t be worried about making it to the barn on time.”
His smile widened when I gasped, and then he casually turned and adjusted the basket of apples on his arm, leaving me to check for the smoke signals of my panties going up in flames.
It was
n’t fair that he could be so unaffected so instantly.
And that frustration had me bending down to pick up one of the fallen apples, my arm swinging wide and sending the fruit flying directly into his perfectly formed behind.
Luke grunted and hopped forward comically, grabbing his butt as he faced me. “Did you just throw an apple at my ass?” His surprise morphed into a sexy laugh.
“An apple a day keeps the playboys away,” I retorted with a huff, folding my arms.
He smirked, picked up the apple and brushed it off on his sleeve—which was shockingly one of the sexiest things I’d ever seen—and then looked at me while taking a huge bite, shooting me a wink as he chewed.
Dammit.
This was by far the worst idea I’d ever had involving a man.
And that was saying a lot since at one point, I’d dated Shithead Sean.
Chapter Six
Luke
“If you’re not careful, everyone’s going to think you’re avoiding your handsome boyfriend.” I came up behind Sage where she stood over the pot of melted caramel.
She instantly tensed but managed to keep her attention focused on her task, though she couldn’t hide the color that turned her cheeks pink.
“I’m not avoiding you,” she insisted, dunking a slice of one of the apples we’d picked earlier into the vat of hot caramel. “I’m the maid of honor. I have to mingle with everyone and make sure they’re all having a good time and that everyone’s pumpkins are being carved.”
Sweet little liar.
Since we’d rejoined the group after the orchard incident, she’d bounced from group to group, making small talk while everyone enjoyed cider. I tried to keep up, but she eventually eluded me by heading inside to help her mom serve the turkey and apple sandwiches for dinner. But finally, her avoidance became most obvious when she’d wrangled everyone over to the plastic-covered tables, set up with knives and other carving tools, doled out the pumpkins to each individual or couple, and then left me alone to carve ours.
I’d pushed the boundaries out there. First with the kiss, then with… everything else. But man, I couldn’t help myself. I thought being around her would normalize that this was Sage, Callan’s little sister, and dull the desire I felt. Instead, my body kept demanding to know why I wasn’t actually pursuing her.
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