The Engagement Arrangement

by Jaci Burton

  “Okay.”

  He opened the door and whispered softly, and the dog came running.

  “Hey, buddy. Did you have a good time tonight?”

  She watched as he ruffled the dog’s fur, then let him run off into the dark to do his business.

  He turned to her. “Did I tell you how beautiful you looked tonight?”

  There it was again, that feeling of being blanketed by warmth. Not the oppressive-August-heat kind of warmth, but a fuzzy, low heat that spread within her, as if the stars in the clear sky tonight had sailed right through her and blasted her with their light.

  She laid her head on his shoulder. “Thank you. Oh, and before I forget to tell you, you looked amazing in your suit.”

  “Thanks.”

  He tipped her chin with his fingers and kissed her, a soft, sweet kiss. He started to pull back but she wound her hand around his neck and rose up, pressing her lips to his, diving in for more.

  He obliged, wrapping both arms around her, giving her the kind of kiss that made the hair on the nape of her neck stand up. His tongue slipped between her lips and her heart did a wild dance of Oh, hell yes, we want this! and she wished they weren’t right outside the door of her parents’ house, because she really wanted to be alone with him to explore, to unbutton his shirt and slide her hands all over his naked skin.

  Finn was the one to break the kiss, his breaths coming out hard. His eyes were dark with desire, which only made their situation more frustrating, because she wanted to explore that desire with him—right now.

  But she knew right now wasn’t the right time—and so did he. Murphy had come back and was staring at both of them. He had to get his dog home. And she also knew—

  What? What did she know? That this fantasy had to end?

  She sighed.

  “See you tomorrow?” he asked.

  She gave a quick nod and turned the knob and went inside the house. She closed the door and leaned against it.

  It had been a good night. A really good night that had ended in one outstanding kiss. But why did it have to end? If she hurried, she could meet him on the way to his house.

  She reached behind her and put her hand on the doorknob, seconds away from opening it.

  But something stopped her.

  What was it? Why couldn’t she just go for it, have some fun with Finn and then move on with her life? Why was she always so racked with indecision?

  “Dammit,” she whispered, then let go of the doorknob and walked up the stairs to her room.

  CHAPTER

  • • • • • •

  twelve

  WHEN FINN FIRST saw it, the barn looked nothing like it had the night before. Instead of all the fancy decorations and lots of tables and a deejay platform, today there were only two long wood tables decorated with glass vases filled with wildflowers, along with champagne glasses and plates, giving the room a more rustic look.

  When the hell did people sleep around here? He knew they had caterers to deal with the food, but Brenna, Erin and Honor were buzzing around like a swarm of bees wearing dresses. It made his head spin. He walked up the one wide wood step, into the barn.

  “What can I do?” he asked as he reached Brenna.

  “The table needs straightening,” Brenna said, ignoring him. “It’s crooked.”

  “It’s not crooked,” Honor said. “It’s perfectly straight.”

  “It could go a foot or so to the left.” Erin eyed the table.

  “No, it needs to go to the right,” Brenna argued.

  “I think you’re both wrong.” Honor glared at them. “The table is fine and it’s staying where it is.”

  He thought the table looked fine, but he wasn’t about to say anything. Having been around the three sisters for more than ten years, he knew better than to get in the middle of one of their arguments. Nobody won, least of all him. He’d learned that the first year he was here.

  “What’s the fuss?”

  Maureen had come out and stood there, hands on her hips, giving that look to all three women.

  “The table is crooked,” Brenna said. “Obviously it needs to move to the right by a foot.”

  “The table is fine.” Honor sent a deliberate look to Maureen.

  Erin shook her head. “It needs to go to the left to match the other table.”

  Maureen sighed, then turned a critical eye to the table, walking back and forth and even bent over to give both tables a thorough examination. When she straightened, she said, “The table stays where it is. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

  Finn waited for the angry explosion, but Brenna just blew out a breath and walked away. Erin shrugged. Honor, knowing that whooping in victory would only irritate her sisters and probably her mother, stayed silent.

  Brenna came to him and tilted her head back. “The table was crooked, wasn’t it?”

  Now he was truly fucked. He’d never once lied to her in all the years he’d known her. But he’d never been as close to her as he was now. Would he mess that up by starting now?

  “Not that I could see. It looked straight to me.”

  “Damn. I wanted to be right. Okay. Can you help me with some wine in the storage room?”

  “Sure.”

  That had gone better than expected. He walked with her to the wine cellar. She unlocked the door and they went down the steps, into the room where there were racks of wine. He wasn’t exactly sure what she needed, but it was nice and cool down here.

  She turned and snaked her hand around his neck, pulling his mouth to hers.

  Instinctively, he wrapped his arm around her and drew her close, fusing his lips to hers, sliding his tongue inside to take what she was so fervently offering. He backed her against the cool cement wall and breathed in her citrus scent, sucked on her tongue, absorbed the moans she made as she wrapped a leg around his hip.

  He was hard and pressed urgently against her center, making her moans more pronounced, and all he wanted was to lift her dress and touch her more intimately, to slide down on his knees and taste her, lick her all over until she cried out and came all over his face.

  How much time did they have? Probably enough.

  “Brenna? You down there?”

  She tore her lips from his. “Dammit,” she whispered.

  Finn took a step back, his breathing heavy, his dick rock hard.

  “Yes, I am,” she said in response to Honor.

  “People are starting to arrive.”

  “Be right up.” She looked at him. “I thought we’d have more time.”

  “I wish we had. I was conjuring up plans for you.”

  She arched a brow as she smoothed her hair back. “Save them for later.”

  “Will do. Oh, shit. I should come upstairs with something.” She looked around and settled on a bottle of merlot. “Esther mentioned this being a favorite of hers.”

  He followed her up the stairs, admiring the sway of her hips with every step, then decided that watching her ass wasn’t going to make his boner go away, so he stared at the steps instead.

  When they got back to the barn, Allison and Mitchell were there. Allison looked them both up and down.

  “You look sweaty. What were you two doing?”

  “Are you writing an article?” Brenna asked. “Or just bored with your own life?”

  She circled around Allison and Mitch and took the bottle to Esther, who squealed and threw her arms around Brenna.

  “You’re amazing. Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.” Brenna sported a genuine smile. “I thought you and Brock could crack this open when you get back from your honeymoon.”

  “Oh, we definitely will.”

  Once the families and all the bridesmaids and groomsmen showed up, everyone took their seats. This time, Finn got to sit next to Brenna. There was a
n amazing spread of food—salmon Benedict, omelets, crepes, bacon, fried potatoes and three amazing salads along with all kinds of fruit. Plus champagne. It was all so damn good that Finn could have eaten three times. And okay, he might have overfilled his plate, but he was hungry.

  After he’d made his second trip to the buffet, Brenna looked over at his plate.

  “Didn’t you eat last night?”

  He slid his fork through his omelet. “Of course I did.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know where you put all that food.”

  “In my belly, of course.”

  “And yet look at you. Flat stomach. Lean. It must all turn to muscle.”

  He draped his arm over the back of her chair and leaned close. “Why, Miss Bellini, are you complimenting my body?”

  The intent in her gaze was obvious. “Maybe.”

  He slid his fingers into her hair and teased them along her neck. “Maybe you might want to explore it—later.”

  Her breath caught and held. He knew she wasn’t playing this for Mitch and Allison, because she hadn’t once pulled her attention from him. No, this was all for Finn, and he was enjoying every agonizing second of it.

  “You make it hard for me to breathe, Finn.”

  His lips curved as he whispered in her ear. “You smell like summer and sunshine. And lemons. I want to taste you, lick you all over to see if you taste like lemons, too.”

  Allison cleared her throat so loudly that several people—including Finn—looked across the table. She shot them both a disapproving look.

  Apparently, she was a little jealous of Brenna getting attention from him. Why? Then he noticed Mitch wasn’t sitting next to her. He tracked the room and saw that Mitch was huddled in the corner of the room talking on his phone. Interesting.

  Finn refocused his attention on Brenna, tipped her chin up with his fingers and brushed his lips across hers.

  “What was that for?” she asked.

  “Just a little dagger to the heart of your nemesis. And for me, because I wanted to.”

  Her lips curved and she reached up to run her fingernail gently across his jaw. “It was truly my pleasure.”

  When brunch was over, everyone said their good-byes.

  Brenna went over to Esther and Brock and hugged them.

  “I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon.”

  “Thank you,” Esther said. “Oh, and we’re going to do a big thing after we get back. We’re having a housewarming party at our new house. Please tell me you and Finn will come?”

  “Oh, uh . . .” She looked over at Finn.

  Finn gave Esther and Brock a grin. “We’ll be there.”

  “Great,” Brock said. “Then we’ll see you after we get back. Knowing Esther, there’ll be some fancy e-vite in your inbox, Brenna.”

  Brenna smiled. “I’ll look for it. Now off, you two.”

  They wandered around to say good-bye to everyone. Finn had actually formed a nice friendship with some of the people he’d sat with last night. He exchanged numbers with all of them.

  “We all need to get together sometime for dinner and drinks,” Sabra said.

  Sue nodded. “We definitely should. I make barbecue ribs that would make you cry.”

  “Now you’re just teasing us,” Brenna said.

  “Sabra and I have a house near the lake,” Dave said. “You all should come up next weekend. We can go out on the boat, go fishing or tubing.”

  “Only if Sue makes ribs,” Johan said, then winced when his girlfriend, Hilary, elbowed him.

  Finn laughed. “We’d love to come. I’ll bring my homemade whiskey.”

  He looked over at Brenna, who nodded. “You know I’ll bring the wine.”

  They all started talking over each other about who would bring what foods.

  “It’s a date, then,” Sabra said. “Next Saturday. I’ll text everyone.”

  After everyone left, Brenna looked at Finn, the expression on her face surprising him.

  She looked miserable and unhappy.

  “Sorry about that,” she said.

  “About what?”

  “All of it. The barbecue next weekend, and the invite to Esther and Brock’s house when they get back. I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”

  He frowned. “Why would you think that’s a problem? I like all those people.”

  “And all of those people think we’re engaged.”

  “Which means, what? You don’t want me to go with you? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I just . . . I don’t know what I’m saying. This was only supposed to be for four days, Finn.”

  What the hell? First, she acted like she couldn’t wait to be with him, and now she wanted to back away? He was confused as hell by these mixed signals Brenna was throwing at him. And a little bit pissed off.

  “Tell me what you want, Brenna.”

  She threw her hands in the air. “I don’t know. I didn’t want this to be complicated. And now it is. I guess I don’t know what I want. I want it to be not complicated.”

  “It doesn’t seem complicated to me at all.”

  “Oh, really. We have two events at least where we still have to pretend to be engaged.”

  “And that’s a problem in what way?”

  She blew out a sigh. “I don’t know. I just, it just is.”

  “You’re creating problems when there aren’t any.”

  “I am not. And I can’t believe you don’t see the issue here.”

  Which he didn’t. Other than Brenna creating this argument getting them nowhere.

  “I’ll tell you what. When you figure out what you want—or don’t want—you let me know.”

  He turned and walked away before he said anything else. Like how much he wanted to be with her next weekend. And the weekend after that. Hell, he wanted to spend even more time with her.

  Yeah, time for a break, because leading with his heart was only getting him into trouble.

  CHAPTER

  • • • • • •

  thirteen

  BRENNA SAT SILENTLY next to her sisters as they finished dinner.

  “Why isn’t Finn here?” her mother asked.

  No one answered. Brenna cut into her steak and lifted her fork to her mouth, pausing as she realized everyone was staring at her.

  “What?”

  “Where’s Finn, Brenna?” Honor asked.

  “How should I know?”

  “Considering how close you two were at brunch, I thought maybe—”

  She cut off her sister with an “I don’t.”

  Her mother gave her a concerned look.

  She finished off her steak, took her plate and glass into the kitchen and laid them in the sink, then hid out in the library where she could be alone with her thoughts and away from the expectant looks of her family.

  She sat in her favorite chair in the corner and pulled her knees up to her chest, staring out the window at the bright sunlight outside.

  This was why you don’t date within the scope of the family business. Not that she and Finn had been dating. They hadn’t even started up anything.

  Okay, they’d been getting ready to start up something, and then . . .

  She had no idea what had happened. They’d gotten hit up with all these invitations, and suddenly this fun, oh-so-temporary engagement had turned into the two of them doing all these things together. Things a couple would do together.

  What was she supposed to do about that? They weren’t a couple. They weren’t anything. This whole thing had just been playacting.

  She heard a soft knock at the door, and then it opened. Honor peeked her head around it. “Is it okay if I come in?”

  “Yes.”

  Honor shut the door behind
her and took a seat in the chair across from Brenna’s.

  “I’m sorry about earlier,” Honor said.

  “Me, too. I didn’t mean to bite your head off.”

  “I assumed, and I shouldn’t have. But you and Finn have seemed so close the past few days, and I assumed—well, there I go again. Sorry.”

  Brenna sighed. “You’re not wrong. We were getting close, and then . . . things happened.”

  “What things? Did he do something to piss you off?”

  “No. Nothing like that. Esther invited us to a housewarming after they get back from their honeymoon, and then Finn made friends with some people in the wedding party who invited us to the lake next weekend for a barbecue.”

  Honor smiled. “That all sounds fun.”

  “Except that all those people think we’re engaged.”

  “Oh.” Honor leaned back in her chair. “And you wanted it to be a temporary thing.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So you don’t want to hang out with Finn?”

  “That’s not it. I mean, we got along great. Maybe too great. And that’s the problem.”

  “You like him.”

  “Yes.”

  “And that’s a problem.”

  “You repeating what I say isn’t helping, Honor.”

  “Sorry. I’m just trying to understand where the dilemma is here. You and Finn hung out together for four days. Based on all the flirting and closeness I saw between the two of you, I’d say you really liked him.” She shrugged. “I guess I don’t see the problem.”

  Brenna leaned forward to emphasize her point. “The problem is . . .” And then nothing came out of her mouth.

  Honor offered up a tilted smile. “Yes?”

  She opened up her mouth to speak again. And, again . . . nothing.

  “Dammit.” There was a definite problem with her and Finn, she just couldn’t articulate what a serious issue it was at the moment.

  “You want to know what I think?” Honor asked.

  “Not particularly, but I doubt that’ll stop you.”

  “I think you not only like Finn, you desperately like him. Like the so-much-smoking-hot-chemistry-that-you-wish-you-were-over-at-his-place-right-now, naked-and-having-sex kind of like him.”