Page 19 of Should Have Been Me

But with this calamitous woman pinned to my side, I felt anchored instead of adrift.

Strange.

“You’re—you two—you guys are seeing each other?”

Jolie’s mouth opened and closed over and over. Clearly, she wasn’t going to be any help with this whole ruse.

“It’s new.” I opened my mouth and the lies just kept on coming. “We met the other week, not long after I arrived in town.” I lifted my chin in a defiant gesture like I was silently daring him to object or call me on the bullshit I was spewing.

Proving, once again, he didn’t have much in way of a spine, Bartleby blinked away his surprise and pinned a brittle smile on his face. “Small world, huh?”

Jolie spoke for the first time since our kiss, tilting her head to the side curiously. “How so?”

“I just mean I’m with Leighton, and now you’re dating her brother? Talk about a coincidence.”

I heard a string of muffled curses from the women behind us, but I was too focused on the one still tucked beneath my arm who was now staring at me with what appeared to be murder in her thundercloud gaze.

“Half-brother,” I quickly amended. “And we aren’t that close.” Turning back to the douchebag, I explained, “Jolie and I haven’t had the whole family talk yet. Like I said, it’s new. Did you need something, Baxter?”

He blinked twice. “I-it’s Barrett. And, um, well...” He fidgeted anxiously, finally taking notice of the attention our little trio had drawn and lowered his voice before continuing to speak directly to Jolie. “I saw you through the window and I just... wanted to say I was sorry, you know, for springing the whole engagement thing on you. I mean, I wanted to tell you personally, but you know Leighton.” He let out an uneasy chuckle that made Jolie’s shoulders stiff as a board. “Anyway. I’m sorry you had to see it in the paper instead of hearing it from me.”

Christ, this dickhead wasn’t only spineless. I wouldn’t have been surprised if my sister had his nuts in a jar on her bedside table. Those two deserved each other, that was for damn sure.

“No problem,” Jolie responded. Finally seeming to get with the program, her body began to loosen, and my heart beat heavily against my ribs when she sank deeper into my side. “I’d say it all worked out for the best.” She tilted her head and rested it on my shoulder as she lifted a hand to place on my chest. Just like that, the saliva in my mouth dried up like I’d just sucked on a cotton ball. My Adam’s apple bobbed on a thick swallow as my hold on Jolie tightened. She smelled like what I imagined sunshine might smell like—all citrus and sugar, and I couldn’t help but lower my head to her hair and breath in deeply.

For fuck’s sake. Now I was sniffing her?

His smile dropped a fraction. “Yeah, totally. For sure,” he said, sounding like he didn’t believe it for a second.

I shifted my attention back to the man in front of us, giving him a look that had sent better men than he scurrying out of boardrooms. “Well, it was good to see you again, Baxter. But I’m sure you have other things to do.”

The muscles in his jaw ticked. “It’s Barrett. And you’re right. Leighton wants to do some wedding stuff today,” he added pettily. “I was on my way to meet her.”

I shooed him off with a wave of my hand. “Then by all means, don’t keep her waiting.”

I took immense pleasure at the sight of his cheeks turning a mottled red, but instead of saying anything to me, he looked back at Jolie. “See you around, Jo.”

I watched as he finally made his way out of the café, waiting for the panic that usually accompanied my lack of control to slam into me like a Mack truck. But it didn’t come.

Not even when Jolie turned to look up at me, her expression full of rebuke.

“You don’t have any clue what you’ve just done.”

I didn’t, but even as I dug down deep, I couldn’t find it in me to care.

10

JOLIE

Ilet out a groan of annoyance as my cell started to vibrate across my desk. Even putting the damn thing on silent hadn’t done me a bit of good. For how often it went off, it sounded like a jackhammer bouncing across the wooden surface.

At the sight of my mother’s name popping up on the screen, I collapsed back in my cozy leather swivel chair with a huff. If I didn’t answer, she was going to keep calling and calling. Hell, she’d probably go so far as to make my father call me, or worse, recruit Charlotte, which meant the rumors flying around town over the past eighteen hours would get back to my brother all the way in Hope Valley, and more likely than not, his head would explode.

For everyone’s sake—including my own—it was best for me to answer.

Snatching up the phone, I swiped the screen to answer and brought it to my ear. “Hi, Mom,” I greeted as I went back to my laptop and clicked on the track pad to save the work I had been trying to focus on all morning.

The photographs from the Bridezilla/Robot wedding were turning out better than I’d hoped, but I needed to make sure they were perfect before sending them off to Lexi.

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