Page 9 of Marrying My Brother's Best Friend

It’s a peaceful afternoon, and the café has barely had any customers all morning. Natalie sits across my table and focuses on her phone while the other employees are reading. I love the quiet afternoons because I can get a lot of reading done.

Trevor hasn’t been here all day, thankfully. His absence also helps me stay calm and in control. I’m a hot mess when he’s around, and it’s worse that he doesn’t even notice anything about me.

A deep sigh vibrates through me as I flip my book’s page over and continue reading. A second later, Natalie draws in a loud gasp that catches everyone’s attention and murmurs, “Holy…” She doesn’t complete her sentence as I lift my head to look at her. She reaches for her cup, but knocks it over in her clumsiness, spilling her coffee all over the table.

Her eyes land on mine, and they hold the frightening hint of her panic as she looks at me. “You’ve got to see this, Gracie! Oh goodness! This is a mess.”

She leaves her seat and hurries towards me without pausing. Natalie hands over her phone to show me the video playing. “This is you and Trevor, isn’t it?” she asks in a chilly tone.

“What’s this?” I snatch her phone and peer closely at the screen to better view the recording. I’m holding Trevor’s hand in the video and he links our fingers before he turns and smiles at me.

The moment is captured perfectly, and I already know the kinds of rumors it will spark even before I read the caption attached to the Instagram post.

Trevor Hawkins spotted cozying up to his girl in the small beach town where he grew up. My heart does a speedy downward spiral as panic sets in, and I jerk out of my chair without thinking, burning from the rush of adrenaline that sprouts through me.

The door opens right then and Trevor waltzes in with a smile.

“Morning, everyone,” he greets when he takes off his sunshades and his baseball cap. All eyes are on him, and the air in the café is dense. Trevor’s smile slowly fades when he scans through everyone’s expressions and then finally looks at me.

“Did something happen?”

“You and I need to talk right now!” I march past Natalie with her phone and head out of the café with my nerves twisting into one tense ball of worry.

Never in a million years would I have imagined being tagged in the media as one of Trevor Hawkins's girls!

He steps outside of the café a second after me, and I don’t even give him the chance to say a thing before shoving Natalie’s phone in his face.

“Have you seen this?” I question, my head throbbing from the slight ache there. “Someone saw us at the hospital together. They think we’re a couple.” I’m wound up tight like a bow on a string, and he is amused as he watches the video.

Trevor’s smile shocks me. “You find this funny?”

“It’s not a big deal, Gracie,” he says, but my glare returns and I cross my arms across my chest.

“Are you kidding me? What am I supposed to do? Play the part? Act like your fake girlfriend while rumors about us keep circulating?”

“Or you could be my girlfriend for real,” he answers. His words make me draw in air quickly. My sharp gasp leaves my insides trembling from the tension that coils through me, ready to snap my insides in two any minute.

“Be my girl, Gracie,” he continues, the corners of his lips tweaking into a smile as he steps closer and reaches out to touch my chin.

I swat his finger away before I feel his touch. “Is this a joke to you?”

“Gracie…”

“You turned me down, remember? Six years ago, I told you I liked you and you said you didn’t feel the same way. You said you didn’t want to hurt me, and you could never fall in love, not just with me, but with anyone. You said that…”

“I know what I said,” he stops me, meeting my eyes fully as the magnetic charge between us erupts again. His nearness makes my head swoon. His scent envelopes me and makes it difficult for me to breathe deeply without traces of him filling my lungs.

“I know what I said, Gracie,” he murmurs, reaching for my hand. His touch makes me whimper. I hate the feelings he stirs in me because it will only end in a disaster. I can’t let them control me.

“Then what do you want now?”

My question goes unanswered as we stare deep into each other’s eyes. I dare to think of the emotions flitting across his eyes as uncertainty. We’re trapped in the cocoon of heat spiraling around us.

My chest heaves with the sheer force of my breathing, and I’m gradually drowning in the heat rising through me when the roar of a car’s engine cuts into the moment.

We both turn at the same moment a troop of other cars pulls up in front of Espresso Books. Camera lights flash across my face as a crowd of local reporters rushes towards us with hungry questions flying around at the same time.

“Are you two really married?”

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