“Looks like you had a great turnout.” I gesture to our surroundings.
“Yeah, especially since no one on Amy’s side knew what the hell a Stag and Doe is.” Greg laughs, and we all join in.
Lucas puts his free arm around me while Greg goes over how a Stag and Doe works. I sink into his embrace while Amy grins at us.
Then it happens. As much as I tried to prepare myself for it, a boulder lodges in my throat. Elijah walks over to our group practically draped over his fiancée. Everything in my stomach curdles and my grip tightens on my wine glass as I bring it to my lips and take a healthy sip.
“Hey, guys. Looked like you four were having all the fun, so we had to come join you.” He smiles that stupid smug grin I used to love. Right now all I want to do is to punch it off his face.
“Greg is just explaining to us the tradition of a Stag and Doe,” Amy says.
Elijah nods then looks at me. “Cami, I don’t think you’ve met Sarah yet. Sarah, this is Camila.”
Him having the nerve to use my nickname makes me want to throw the rest of my drink in his face, but I press my lips together in what I hope is a semblance of a smile.
“Hi,” I say with a nod.
Sarah gives me the once-over. Amy’s eyes become skittish as she watches the exchange.
“Good to meet you,” Sarah says. I’m not sure whether she even knows who I am until the next words leave her mouth. “I’m Elijah’s fiancée.” She places her hand on his chest in a possessive gesture.
“Congratulations,” I grate out, and Lucas’s hand tightens on my hip.
“Thanks. We’re thinking of tying the knot next summer, so maybe you’ll be at one of these for us before too long.” She grins, the cat with the canary in her mouth.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I say, sharpening my own claws.
“Cami, you haven’t introduced us to your friend,” Elijah says, motioning to Lucas. “Who’s this?”
I don’t know what comes over me—whether it’s jealousy or having this woman trying to one-up me in front of everyone or just pure competitiveness—but before I stop myself or even consider the consequences, the words fly out of my mouth. “This is Lucas. He’s my husband.”
“Your husband?” Amy and Elijah say at the same time, mouths hanging open.
Lucas chokes on his beer.
“Are you okay, honey?” I smack his back a few times, then look at everyone else. “We’ll be right back once I get him some water.”
I rush Lucas off by the arm until we’re in the hall outside the event space. He’s finished coughing, and as soon as we make it out there, he whips around.
“What the fuck, Camila?”
I cringe and down the remainder of my wine. “Um…”
What the hell did I do?
Eighteen
Lucas
“Husband?” I whisper-shout, taking her by the arm and leading her outside onto the sidewalk. “That wasn’t part of the agreement.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
I do. Elijah and his fiancée had zero sensitivity to the fact that he left Camila for Sarah and did nothing but rub it in, so I understand the desire to stick it to them. But saying we’re married?
I push my free hand through my hair. “What the hell are we gonna do now?”
Tears well in Camila’s eyes and my ire softens into something more malleable.
“I don’t know.” She paces the sidewalk in front of me. The sun has gone down and it’s a little cooler out, something that’s made obvious when Camila’s nipples poke through the silky fabric of her dress.
Why am I even noticing that at a time like this?
“I’ll have to go in there and pretend I was just joking, I guess. Or we could tell them the truth about what you’re doing here tonight.” Her hand goes to her stomach and she looks as though she might be physically sick at the prospect.
A shuffling sound comes from behind me and I turn around.
“Got any change?”
A man who’s certainly seen better days stands there, unwashed and rocking side to side on his feet with his hand stretched out at me. His hair is long, fingernails dirty, and for a moment, I’m transported back to all those years ago and panic sets fire to my chest. Then I blink and I’m back in the present.
“Here.” I dig a twenty out of my wallet and pass it to him.
His eyebrows go up to his hairline. “Hey, man, thanks.” He takes the money and stumbles down the street.
When I return my attention to Camila, she has her arms wrapped around her body and is staring at the ground. My heart sputters. She’s obviously in need and near desperate. The idea of sending her back in there and forcing her to come clean fills my veins with lead.
I blow out a breath and push a hand through my hair. “I can’t believe I’m even considering this.”
“You are?” When she raises her head and looks at me with eyes filled with hope, I know I’m a goner.
I won’t leave this woman out on a limb. The idea that she could turn into another regret of someone I failed to help is more than I can handle.
“It’s insane, you know that, right? How do you think we’ll pull it off?” I ask.
She plays with her bottom lip with her teeth for a moment. “We could just say all the other stuff about how we met, just like we planned, then maybe we say we ran off to city hall last weekend and haven’t really told anyone.”
I plant my hands on my hips. “I don’t know.”
Pretending to be someone’s date is one thing, but pretending to be her husband?
“I’ll do anything, Lucas. Please?” She holds her hands up in front of her in a prayer pose.
I’m quiet while I contemplate the repercussions that could come back to bite me in the ass if I agree to this.
“I’ll pay you if you want,” Camila rushes out.
My head rears back. “Like I’m a fucking gigolo?”
Her eyes widen. “No, of course not. I mean… we’re not going to…” The color in her face deepens. “I know you’re trying to get that cruise for your grandparents. I just thought maybe that would help and make you more agreeable to do this.”
I run my palm over my cheek. When I spoke to the travel agent this week, she did mention the opportunity to upgrade to a suite, but it was out of our budget.
“How much?” I ask, feeling like a piece of shit for even considering letting her pay me.
But the fact is, it’s not for me. And this is a helluva ask. She’s not asking me to bring an extra case of beer to a party or something.
“How about… a thousand dollars.”
I frown. I’d need more than that. “How about a thousand dollars an event that I have to attend with you?”
“So two thousand then. Tonight and the wedding. Deal. Does that mean you’ll do it?”
I suck in a deep breath and release it. I hope I’m doing the right thing here. But the idea of being able to upgrade my grandparents’ cruise is too much to resist.
“I’ll do it.” I point at her. “But no more surprises.”
“I promise. Thank you so much!” She wraps her arms around my neck.
My hands automatically wrap around her body and I turn my head to get a whiff of her hair. It smells like coconuts.
“There’re the newlyweds. I was just coming to see if Lucas was okay. All good?” Amy stands at the door to the event space, looking at us wrapped in an embrace.
“Everything’s great,” Camila says and backs away.
I take her hand before we head back inside.
Let the show begin.
Nineteen
Camila
Lucas takes my hand the way any loving husband would as we walk back into the Stag and Doe. I’m so lucky he’s agreed to go with this insane plan. I’ve always been awkward making small talk in social settings, but this is the first time I’ve blurted out a falsehood. Might as well go big, I guess.
Elijah and Sarah are
on the other side of the room when we return, but Greg approaches Amy, who’s still with us.
“Everything all right?” Greg asks.
“Yep. Caught these two canoodling out on the sidewalk,” she says with a smile. “I can’t believe you got married and didn’t tell me!”
I cringe. Lord forgive me for what I’m about to do. “It was only last weekend, and it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. It was a whirlwind between getting the marriage license and finding someone to marry us. It was just us, my best friend, and his brothers.”
Amy tilts her head. “You didn’t have your mom there?”
She knows my mom lives in the city. Shit.
“We haven’t told her yet.” Lucas wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into him. “And we’re in no hurry to, given that I haven’t even met her yet.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “She’s not going to be happy about it, so we’re putting it off.”
“Well, I think you two are on to something,” Greg says. “Make it quick, easy, and inexpensive. That’s what I thought our wedding was gonna be like, but it’s snowballed into something else entirely.”
Amy frowns. “It has not. It’s still pretty simple compared to others.”
He looks at her from under his eyebrows. “Last week you had a twenty-minute conversation with the wedding coordinator about whether we should change the table coverings from white to off-white.”
She giggles. “Okay, that’s true, I did.”
Lucas and I laugh with her.
“Your wedding is going to be perfect, I know it,” I say. Amy has confessed to me that the wedding stress is getting to her. “Try not to worry.”
“I hope so.” She crosses her fingers in front of her.
“Our way worked for us and yours will work for you,” I say with a smile. “The other reason I didn’t say anything is because I didn’t want to upstage all your coming events, so feel free to keep this to yourself.”
She scoffs. “It’s fine.” She waves me off then gets up on her tiptoes and whispers in Greg’s ear.
He smiles and nods then says to us, “Be right back.”
I have a brief worry about what he might be doing, but then Amy engages us in conversation and I forget all about it until Greg returns with a tray holding two beers and two wine glasses. He offers it to our small group. Amy and I take a wine glass each while the guys grab a beer.
Greg sets the empty tray on a nearby table. “We need to do a toast to the newlyweds.”
God, they’re being so sweet about this. It makes the guilt wrap around my neck like a noose.
“That’s really unnecessary,” I say.
“Nonsense.”
Then I stare in horror as Greg pulls a cordless microphone from his back pocket. Lucas takes my hand and squeezes while panic steals my breath.
“Everyone, everyone, can I have your attention for a moment?” Greg says into the microphone, then turns to Lucas and me, smiling.
The music that was playing gets quieter and everyone in the room turns in our direction.
I feel my face heat. I probably resemble a tomato right about now.
“First, I want to thank everyone for being here, especially those of you who came from north of the border.” There are a few hoots and hollers. “Tonight is about my wonderful fiancée and myself”—he pulls Amy into his side—“but we’d be remiss if we didn’t wish two of our guests our congratulations as we just found out that they tied the knot last weekend. Camila, Lucas, anything you’d like to say?” He smiles expectantly at us, holding out the microphone.
Lucas must sense my panic and he reaches for the mic. “Thanks so much for your well wishes. It’s really very generous of you, given that tonight is your big night. This whole thing did happen on a bit of a whim, but we figured why put off the inevitable? For my part, I was smart enough to know that if I was lucky enough to get this woman, I needed to do whatever it took to keep her. I’d say I put a ring on it, but we haven’t gotten that far yet. So far we’ve only gotten the marriage certificate.”
The crowd laughs.
“Let’s all raise our glasses to love. When you find it, fight like hell to keep it. Cheers.” Lucas looks at me and our gazes lock. Something passes between us that makes me tingle.
He holds up his beer and takes a swig while I drink from my wine and the crowd does the same. Then the chanting starts. People bang on the tables—I assume because they have plastic glasses—and tap their rings on their beer bottles shouting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss.”
My eyes widen on Lucas.
He shrugs. “Should we give them a show?” he says with a grin, then passes the mic back to Greg.
I’m still as a statue even though we need to sell this. I draw in a deep breath and allow myself to imagine Lucas is doing this of his own free will.
He places his free hand on my cheek and bends closer and closer until I feel his breath on my face. It all happens in slow motion. My eyes drift closed when his lips meet mine, and a fire sparks to life inside me.
I’m aware of the crowd cheering for a moment, then he presses his lips harder against mine and deepens the kiss. I’m consumed by him. It’s only the two of us and the taste, the feel, the scent of him overtake any outside noise. Lust roars to life and my free hand tangles through his hair at the back of his head. He groans when my nails scrape his scalp, and he takes ownership of my mouth, tilting my head and setting the pace.
“Wow. Someone get the fire extinguisher,” Greg says into the mic.
His voice is enough to remind us that we’re in a crowd of people, and we both pull away. My cheeks feel as if they’re on fire and even Lucas’s cheeks have the deep pink of a blush.
I’ve never been kissed like that. Ever. And the knowledge that I may never be kissed again like that takes the shine off of what just happened for me.
“Let’s keep this party going!” Greg shouts and the music turns back up.
“Congratulations, you guys. I can totally see why you weren’t able to stop yourselves from running off to city hall.” Amy hugs me and shakes Lucas’s hand. “We have to go make the rounds. Have fun tonight!”
They leave Lucas and me standing together. I force myself to look at him and decipher his reaction to the kiss. When I do, I find him staring intently at me.
“You good?” he asks.
“Yep, sure am.” I nod awkwardly.
He chuckles as though he can tell that I am, in fact, in no way good. That kiss shook me. That wasn’t the kind of kiss two people pretending to like each other have. It felt more real than any kiss I’ve ever had.
Is it possible Lucas might like me?
I shake off the thought almost as soon as it’s in my head. That’s ridiculous, and I’m treating this like some middle school crush.
“Should we check out the prizes and buy some tickets?” I ask, looking for any excuse to stop standing here, staring at each other.
“You feeling lucky tonight?” He winks.
I feel like getting lucky, I think but don’t say. “I think I saw a tool set. Maybe if I win, you can tell me what each one of them does.”
He laughs and takes my hand as we head over to the table. I think we’re both eager to try to put that kiss behind us for now, but I’ll remember it forever.
Twenty
Lucas
The night flies by, and before I know it, it’s time to leave. The only issue is that I’ve had more to drink than I intended and there’s no way I should drive.
I don’t have an excuse other than the fact that the kiss I shared with Camila rocked me to my core. I knew kissing her would be good, but I didn’t know it would be that good. Every time I wanted to pull her into me and put my lips on hers, I took another drink from my beer. And that was a lot, so here we are. I’m not hammered, but it wouldn’t be responsible to get behind the wheel.
Now I just have to break the news to Camila, and I feel like a complete ass.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” I pu
ll her away from the coworker she’s talking to.
“Thanks for saving me. I couldn’t listen to him go on about birdwatching any longer.” She rolls her eyes in an exaggerated fashion. Yeah, she’s feeling buzzed too.
“We have a problem.”
Her face turns serious. “What’s our problem?”
“I can’t drive home. I’ve had too much to drink.”
She frowns.
“I’m sorry, I really am. I didn’t plan on overindulging tonight, it’s just…” Our gazes lock, and though I’m sure she has no idea, for some reason, it feels as though maybe she understands without me having to come right out and say it.
“No, I get it. This whole thing is a lot to pull off, especially sober.”
“I think we’re gonna have to get a hotel for the night. I mean, we could Uber home, but then we’d have to come back into the city tomorrow to get my car.”
She nods. “Right, that makes sense.”
I place my hands on her bare shoulders. The heat from her body sinks into my palms. “Are you okay with that? I don’t want you thinking this was some ploy to get you to stay the night with me.”
“Pfft. Trust me, I know that’s not the case.”
I frown at the way she says it, as if there’s no way I could ever be attracted to her. “Do you know of anywhere nearby? We can get separate rooms.”
“Amy said she and Greg are staying somewhere near here. It’s the same place all his family is staying. Let me ask her.”
She slips away before I can respond. A few minutes later she returns with a smile. “Good news, the place they’re staying at is right around the corner. We can walk there and then walk back to the parking garage to get your truck in the morning.”
“Awesome. You ready to head out?”
“There’s just one tiny thing about that…”
I raise an eyebrow.
“We’ll have to get one room. Otherwise, you know…” She gets up on her tiptoes to whisper in my ear, but all I can focus on is the way her tits are pressing into my chest. “They’ll know this whole thing is a farce.”
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