by Dylann Crush
“You okay?”
“I’m fine. What’s up? I didn’t miss anything, did I? Wedding’s not for another week, right?” He shielded his eyes from the sun as she pushed the door open a bit more.
“What’s going on?” The stale smell of air that had been undisturbed for too long wafted past her. She wedged her way between the door and the frame. “I’m coming in.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary. I need to clean up first. Place isn’t fit to be seen—”
She elbowed her way past him into the foyer. He had on a pair of shorts, no shirt. She sucked in a breath at the sight of his bare chest. Her gaze moved from the scruff covering his chin to the pizza boxes littering the kitchen counter. The thrill of sharing her news faded. “What the heck is going on?”
“It’s fine, really. Just taking some time to work through some stuff.”
“What kind of stuff? Why didn’t you come talk to me? To Dad?” She turned on him. “What’s happening with you?”
“Nothing. Just doing my part to keep the good folks of Idont safe.”
“Ido,” she whispered.
“That’s right.” The edges of his mouth tipped up in a flimsy smile. “Have I told you how proud I am of you?”
She let out a laugh. “You’re proud of me? The man who wears a gun every day, risking his life for strangers?”
“Not anymore.” He turned away from her, heading toward the couch. “Gun and badge have been turned in. At least until I get cleared.”
“Cleared? From what?” She’d been crazy busy trying to finalize the details for the upcoming wedding and the grand opening of the Phillips House. Had she missed something? Had she been so focused on herself and her goal of securing the article in the magazine that she completely missed something major going down?
“I didn’t want you to worry.” He slumped onto the sectional. “It’s going to be fine. Suarez will go through the evidence and realize I didn’t have anything to do with it. But until then . . . I guess I get to catch up on all those TV shows I never have time to watch.”
“You took down your dad?” A ball of dread plopped into her gut while she waited for him to respond.
He nodded. “It was for the best.”
“Oh, Bodie.” She climbed onto the couch, pulling his head against her chest. “I’m so sorry. That must have been so hard.”
His hands roamed over her back. She relished the way she fit against him.
“Arresting your dad was harder.”
She pulled away, meeting his gaze. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine. Dad’s pissed, Pops is livid, and my mom has pretty much stopped speaking to me. But it was worth it.”
“Why did you do it?” His family had skirted the law for years. What had they done that made him finally turn them in?
He shifted her off his lap, settling her next to him on the couch. “It’s not important.”
“Why didn’t you call?” She and her dad were the closest thing he had to family, even before his dad and granddad got arrested. “I would have come over. You could have talked to my dad.”
“By the way, your dad should be getting cleared sometime soon. Turns out Buck had something to do with him ending up behind the wheel of that golf cart that night.”
“What?” Her father had a history of drinking too much. Even if it hadn’t been all his fault, he still made the decision to get behind the wheel.
“I’m not saying he’s totally free, but I think they’re going to lift the house arrest. Maybe not in time for him to attend the wedding but shouldn’t be long after that.”
The wedding. The whole reason she’d come over was to tell him her good news. “Hey, this probably isn’t a good time, but I just found out Samantha chose us to showcase in the magazine article. Swynton is out and Ido is in.”
“That’s great.” He gave her a smile, a real one this time. “You did it, Lacey.”
“We did it.” She grinned at him.
“You’re right. I should get cleaned up, we need to celebrate.”
“Aw, you don’t have to do that. I can tell you’re not feeling up to it.”
“And that’s exactly why we need to. We’ve only got a few days left before you never have to see me again. People ought to see us out in public. We need to remind them how in love we are, remember?”
She swatted at his chest, a part of her wishing for nothing more than to stay in all night and hold him close instead. “One night won’t matter.”
He let out a sigh, like the weight of the world rested on his broad shoulders. “You’re so close to making it happen. Don’t give up now, okay? Give me ten minutes to shower.”
“Okay.” She waited while he took his time dragging himself off the couch. Then she gathered the empty cans, paper plates, and take-out containers from the coffee table and took them into the kitchen. Shotgun followed, her tummy hanging low to the ground. Lacey bent down to run a hand over the dog’s back. “What’s going on with Bodie, huh?”
Shotgun didn’t answer although life would be much easier if she could talk. Maybe then Lacey would know what Bodie had been going through while he’d been keeping his distance. It had to be killing him to know he was the reason his dad and his pops were arrested. While she waited for him to get cleaned up, she filled the dishwasher and took the trash to the bin in the garage. As she walked back into the kitchen, her phone pinged.
Lacey groaned as she read the message from Adeline:
You’re going to be sorry.
Why couldn’t she leave well enough alone? Adeline had been a thorn in her side for far too long. It was time to put their petty rivalry behind them. Lacey typed out a reply.
Wishing you nothing but the best.
Adeline might have the tastiest cake, the most beautiful flowers, the biggest ring, the most people at her reception, but she’d never have what Lacey had—an entire town supporting her dreams.
Bodie came out of the bedroom, his muscular thighs encased in a pair of clean jeans and a concert T-shirt snug around his shoulders. Lacey grinned. She had one more thing that Adeline never would—one hell of a hot fiancé. Even if she wouldn’t be able to keep him, he was hers for the next week and Lacey planned to enjoy him, even if what they had wasn’t real.
forty-four
“So where are we going?” Lacey asked as she pulled her legs into the cab of the truck.
“What are you in the mood for?” Bodie leaned in the open door of the truck, getting his fill of just looking at her. Busting his dad and his grandfather had dragged him down. Seeing Lacey brightened his mood like he’d just gotten his own personal shot of concentrated sunshine.
She shrugged. “I’m easy. Whatever you want to do is fine with me.” Then her cheeks pinked. “By easy I mean I’m flexible.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen how flexible you can be.” He chuckled as she flushed a shade closer to red.
“You know what I meant.”
“Yeah, I know.” He pushed the door closed behind her then walked around to the driver’s side. He’d miss the adorable way she looked when she thought she’d embarrassed herself. For a moment he didn’t want to spend the evening with Lacey. It would be one more night of showing him what he’d never have.
But then she leaned across the front seat and pushed open his door. “So you coming or are you going to stand there all night?”
He shook off his hesitation. One more night with Lacey was one more night with Lacey. He’d be a damn fool to pass that up. “You want to go into Swynton for dinner? I hear they’ve got a new place on the other side of town.”
“No. Let’s just go to the Burger Bonanza. There are a few things I want to show you on the way.”
“You’re the boss, Mayor Cherish.” He fired up the truck and headed toward downtown.
“Did you see we planted some flowers aroun
d the square?” Lacey asked.
He shook his head. He’d been so busy trying to chase down the dog-fighting ring and worrying about how to handle his family that he hadn’t paid much attention to what had been going on around town. “Sorry, I haven’t noticed.”
She nodded. “Lots of folks are pretty excited about putting Ido on the map. Helmut even ordered a new sign for the Burger Bonanza.”
“Really?” He glanced over at her.
“That’s right. He said if we were going to get an influx of visitors he wanted to have something that would light up at night.”
“Well, it’s about time he upgraded his sign, whether this stunt works or not.”
Her fingers wrapped around his arm. “It’s going to work. We’re going to have so much business people will wonder why we didn’t do this years ago.”
“I hope you’re right.” He looked out the window and caught a glimpse of the sign outside Ortega’s. “‘Congratulations Bodie and Lacey’?”
She bounced on the seat next to him. “Isn’t that sweet? I told you everyone’s excited.”
His heart squeezed in his chest. Like someone had put it in a vise and was slowly tightening the jaws.
“Look. Suzy put up a sign, too.” She pointed to the taxidermy shop. There in the window someone had written PROUD VENDOR OF THE PHILLIPS WEDDING in neon marker.
“Do you think this is getting a little out of control?” He took a hand from the wheel and reached for hers.
“Of course not. I think we finally found a way to bring everyone together. After the warehouse closed most folks around here thought they’d have to move if they wanted to find another job. But now we’re poised to bring a whole bunch of business to town.”
Guilt pressed down on him. “If I’d have known things were that bad with my dad and—”
“Stop.” Lacey squeezed his hand. “What’s done is done. Now it’s up to us to move forward.”
Moving forward. Is that what they were doing? He didn’t feel like he was moving at all, not forward, backward, or even sideways. If anything, he felt stuck. Like he’d been caught up in a web of some sort and had no idea how to cut himself loose. He pulled into an empty spot at the Burger Bonanza. Lacey let him open her door and even tucked her hand into the crook of his arm as they made their way inside.
Jojo met them at the hostess stand. “Ah, it’s the lovebirds. How many more days until the wedding?”
“Next Saturday,” Lacey said. “You’d better have it on the calendar. You’re doing the cake.”
Jojo grabbed two menus. “Don’t worry about that. I already started on it. I’m thinking about opening up a little business of my own and doing cakes on the side. I figure someone’s going to need to help all those brides we’ll be bringing in.”
“I think that’s a great idea.” Lacey shot him an I told you so grin as she slid into the corner booth.
Bodie took a seat on the vinyl bench and waited for Jojo to drop the menus and move away. “People are opening up businesses? This better work.”
“Stop worrying. Now that we’ve secured the article in the Texas Times there’s nothing standing in our way.” She sidled up next to him. “Why don’t you put your arm around me? Callan Hiller’s keeping an eye on us and I want to give him a good show.”
Bodie obliged, snugging his arm around Lacey’s shoulders and pulling her tight against him. She smelled like summer and sun and something citrusy. It was enough to tighten that vise to the point where it felt like his heart was going to be crushed. He wanted to tell her how he felt, to lay it all out there and see how she’d respond.
Before he could say a word, a clinking noise came from the table behind them. Several other diners lifted their flatware and began to tap their utensils against their water glasses. A chorus of clinks surrounded them.
Lacey turned to face him, her mouth a mere inch or so from his. “I’ve only ever seen this done at wedding receptions, but I think they want us to kiss.”
He glanced around the cozy interior of the restaurant. Callan stood. “Kiss, kiss, kiss,” he chanted.
Bodie didn’t need further encouragement. He cradled her head in his hands and lowered his mouth to hers. As their lips touched, the vise loosened.
* * *
* * *
Lacey gasped as Bodie deepened the kiss. She felt herself falling, head over heels, her heart so full it nearly burst out of her chest. A round of enthusiastic applause pulled her back to her senses. She broke the kiss, her lungs burning for air.
Bodie opened his eyes and focused on hers. “That ought to keep them satisfied for a while.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She didn’t want to waste any breath on making words. As she gathered her scattered bearings about her, she reminded herself it was just a show. Even though her pulse rocketed, her cheeks tingled, and her toes curled so tight she felt a foot cramp coming on, it was all pretend.
Bodie cleared his throat. “You want a burger basket or should we go all out and get a dinner platter?”
“Oh, I’m not very hungry. I think I’ll just get a salad tonight.”
His brow furrowed. “You sure?”
“Yeah.” Her stomach was so tied in knots she couldn’t imagine forcing food into it.
Dinner passed without any other strange requests. Bodie downed his entire burger platter and still managed to finish off her salad. Jojo came by to check on them one more time.
As she approached the table, she pulled her phone out of her apron. “Y’all don’t mind if I snap a picture real quick, do you? Helmut wants me to put it up on our social media. He thinks people will want to eat at the same place BoLa had their last date night before the big day.”
“BoLa?” Bodie asked.
“It’s a mash-up of your names. Bodie plus Lacey equals BoLa, get it? All the celeb couples do it.”
“But we’re not famous,” Lacey protested.
“After that article comes out you will be.” Jojo snapped a few photos. “Thanks. And Helmut says dinner’s on him.”
“You sure about that?” Lacey asked. “I’ve worked here off and on for years and I’ve never heard of him comping someone a meal.”
Jojo shrugged. “I guess there’s a first time for everything.”
Bodie slid a ten under his plate for a tip. “Ready to get going?”
“I sure am.” Maybe Bodie was right. Things might be getting a little out of control. But with the wedding only a week away, their time in the spotlight was almost up. Which reminded her, they still had one big detail to work out. As they neared his truck, she pulled on his hand. “You know, we still haven’t figured out how we’re going to break up.”
“We haven’t even gotten married yet and you already want to leave me?” he joked.
“I’m serious. The wedding won’t be real but people will think it is. We’ll need a good reason to separate after. Something believable.”
“Irreconcilable differences?” he suggested.
She shook her head. “That sounds complicated. Maybe you could cheat on me.”
“No.” Bodie stopped in his tracks, letting her hand drop.
She’d continued moving forward so she turned to face him. “Why not? It’s just pretend.”
“I’m not going to be the cheater. If you want out, you cheat on me.” His jaw set, a hint of anger or hurt flickered in his eyes.
“I can’t cheat on you. I’m the mayor.” What kind of mayor would she be if she cheated on her brand-new husband?
“Well, I’m a deputy sheriff. Cheating’s off the table. Pick something else.”
“Fine. Um, how about we just say that we moved too fast? That we need a little space to catch our breath? Everyone will be so busy keeping up with all of the new business in town they won’t even think about us.”
“Fine. We’ll say we moved too fast.”
“That it was a rash decision to get married.” She nodded. “If I come up with something better between now and then I’ll let you know. Does that sound okay?”
“Whatever you think.”
Lacey cast a nervous glance his way. She’d been concerned only about getting the media coverage, hadn’t really thought about what might come next. They rode back to his apartment in silence, the only sound coming from the stereo speakers playing the local country station.
He pulled into the spot next to her truck and cut the engine. “You want to come in?”
Oh, she wanted to come in, all right. She wanted to come in and stay a good long while. All of this pretending had made her realize just how empty her shell of a life had become. On the outside it seemed like she had it all together: the adoring fiancé, the high-profile job, the big plans to save her hometown. But she’d been empty on the inside for a long time. Until her forced time with Bodie had lit her up like the fireworks finale on the Fourth of July.
Her fake engagement had been the best thing to happen to her since . . . she tried but she couldn’t think of anything better. As much as she wanted to continue the facade, to keep up pretending that she and Bodie were going to tie the knot for real, time was running out and she needed to untangle her heart from his before she was too far gone.
“I’d better not. I still have so much to do.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I figured.”
She took her time getting out of his truck and switching over to hers, all the while what-ifs and why-nots swirled around in her head, almost making her see stars. Better to leave things like this. If she went inside there was a good chance she’d give in to the feelings all of this pretending with Bodie had stirred up inside. That would only make things harder in the long run.
“So I’ll see you on Saturday?” she asked.
“I’ll be the one in the penguin suit.” He smiled, the kind of smile that made her want to throw her arms around his neck and kiss that smirk right off his lips.
Instead, she responded with a grin of her own. Then she threw the truck in gear and gunned it out of the parking lot before she did something she’d regret. Like fall a little more in love with the man of her dreams. The man she’d convinced to pose as her fake fiancé.