Page 110 of Charming Deception

I intend to gush all over the stylists about how much I love it, but when I open the door, there’s a big body in my way.

I stop in my tracks.

My brother stands in the hallway, fist raised like he was about to knock.

“Cole,” I breathe, startled.

He drops his fist, his eyes raking over my new dress. His jaw is weirdly stiff, and there’s a vein popping out in his neck. “Clara said you’re getting a bunch of new clothes,” he growls.

He’s breathing way too hard, like he just sprinted here all the way from California.

I swallow. For some reason, I feel guilty. Maybe it’s the way Cole is looking at me.

Like I’ve done something wrong.

“I am. It was Jameson’s idea. Come in, okay?” I take his arm and draw him back into the room with me. “We should talk?—”

“He’s dressing you up? Why?” He scans the three different bras that I left on the bed with distaste. “I thought you were staying with Nicole.”

I take a breath and plunge. “He asked me to be his fiancée.”

“I know. He told me.”

“I… Shit. Cole… we should’ve told you together. So you didn’t have to worry about me…”

At that word, together, his eyes burn into mine. “I fucking knew it,” he mutters, his voice low and tight. “I knew something was up. He’s been acting strange as fuck. I fucking knew he was into you.” He starts pacing as he talks, like a caged gorilla… and I flush hot with mingled anger and embarrassment as my brother jumps to all the wrong conclusions.

“So… you flew here from Santa Cruz? Right now?” He was supposed to be hanging out with one of his hockey player friends in California. For two weeks.

“Tell me right now,” he demands, jaw rigid and muscles flexing, “if I need to intervene here. I will kick his ass if needed.”

Damn. He meant that.

“He just asked me to be his fiancée,” I repeat. “Very respectfully. And he’s not into me. His brother Graysen wanted him to get engaged.”

“Uh-huh. And since when do you want to get engaged to a guy you just met?”

I hesitate. There’s no easy way to put it. But my brother’s inner caveman is staring me down right now and it’s making me irritable. “Since he made me an offer I can’t refuse.”

He chews on that for a long, dark moment, like he’s trying to swallow broken glass. “When did this happen?”

“Like two weeks ago. I said no,” I add, fiddling with the diamond bracelet I’m wearing, the one the stylist picked to go with this dress. “Then I said yes. Last night.”

Cole stops pacing, absorbing that. He scowls at the dress. “And now you’re, what, dressing up for him?”

“He’s taking me to dinner with his family. And he mentioned some travel. I think he just wants to help me feel comfortable when he takes me out. You know I didn’t bring much?—”

“So this is how you get out of Crooks Creek? Hook up with my best friend so he’ll pay your way?”

Oh, now I’m pissed. “It’s not like that, Cole.”

“It looks exactly like that to me.”

“You don’t need to come charging in here to protect me from myself, or from him, okay?”

He raises an eyebrow at the diamond earring I’m now fiddling with. “So you bought all this yourself?”

“Don’t judge me,” I grit out. “You got out of Crooks Creek because you played hockey. They weren’t exactly handing out hockey scholarships to girls in our hometown, Cole.”

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