Page 2 of False Confidence

Liam snorted. “Sure. And while I’m at it, I’ll just book myself in for a colonoscopy, do my taxes, and stick needles in my eyes.”

Maggie ignored him, reading over the invitation again. “People usually send wedding invitations months in advance. This is in three and a half weeks.”

“Great. Not only are they trying to rub my face in it, but they’re doing it as an afterthought. That makes me feel much better, thanks.”

“Maybe. Or maybe they’re trying to feel like the bigger person by inviting you. You should go,” Maggie said, and he blinked at her.

“What? Are you kidding?”

“Nope. Show up and show off. Show them exactly what they’re missing.”

“Maggie, I’m a lonely, jobless man in my mid-thirties. They’re missing nothing. I have nothing to show off. You’re basically my only friend and you’re technically my stepmom.”

As expected, she narrowed her brows in a glare. “First of all, fuck you. Second, fake it.” She shrugged. “Take a hot date that’s going to make them crazy jealous.”

“And should I just conjure said date out of thin air?”

Maggie mulled it over, and he was sure she was flicking through a mental list of everyone she knew. “You should take Jazz,” she said, finally, and Liam’s heart dropped into his stomach. “She’s used to faking it at fancy events because of her parents, and she’s never met anyone she couldn’t charm.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he replied quickly. Probably too quickly.

“Why not?”

“Because she’s your best friend. And she works for my dad.” And because he’d been head over heels obsessed with her since the second he’d laid eyes on her.

Jasmine had taken over as his dad’s assistant when Maggie quit, and she’d been permanently on Liam’s mind since the day he’d walked into his dad’s office expecting to see Maggie, and instead seen a smiling redhead with hazel eyes that now had a starring role in his dreams.

“I’m not suggesting you actually date,” Maggie said, rolling her eyes. “Just pretend. A little dancing, maybe a kiss on the cheek for show. You don’t have to make out at the reception or drag her back to your hotel room.”

She wrinkled her nose like she couldn’t imagine anything worse, and Liam was struck with the realization that she didn’t know. Maggie had no idea that they’d done just that after her wedding. A onetime drunken hook up that he’d been certain Jasmine would tell her about. He’d assumed Maggie was choosing to ignore it, just like the two of them were.

“I’ll think about it,” he said, not wanting to make promises. He’d seen Jasmine plenty since the wedding, but they’d never spoken about what happened. When the morning after had dawned, they’d sat next to each other at breakfast like nothing had happened.

That didn’t mean he hadn’t thought about it. He had. Constantly. Jasmine’s energy was electric—bright and sparkly, and really fucking weird—and he couldn’t get enough.

He’d considered asking her out when they’d first met, but after finding out how close she and Maggie were—and taking the fact that she worked for his dad into consideration—he’d let it go. Falling into bed together hadn’t been part of the plan, but the only part Liam regretted was doing it so drunk he could barely remember it. But the flashes he could remember were better than anything his imagination could have dreamed up.

“You okay?”

He started at Maggie’s question, clearing his throat. “Yeah. Just, you know.” He gestured to the wedding invitation; better for Maggie to think he was thinking about that and not her best friend naked.

Sympathy shone in her blue eyes. “It’s been a rough couple of months—years, I guess—but it can only be uphill from here.”

That wasn’t as comforting as she probably intended it to be. “True.”

“I didn’t actually invite you over for this.”

“You mean you didn’t guess that my asshole ex-best friend and girlfriend’s wedding invitation would arrive today and I’d be too chickenshit to open it?”

“I’m good, but not that good,” Maggie replied, tucking the invitation back into the envelope and sliding it across the table toward him. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Shoot.”

“I want to be clear that I’m just floating the idea out there. You’re not obligated to agree, and I’m not suggesting it just because we’re family.”

Liam frowned. What the hell was she talking about? “Noted.”

“Okay, so you know Grace that works on sourcing and staging for me?” Liam nodded; he’d spent a lot of time hanging around Maggie and her team at work since losing his job. Maggie owned a home renovation and interior design company and had a big social media platform. Mostly, he sat around, tearing through romance books on his Kindle and wondering how he’d fallen so far from grace, but she liked to pick his brain about designs, and he liked having an excuse to get out the house. “Well, she and her family are moving back to Taiwan. She found out yesterday. Her husband got a promotion and his company wants them over there next week.”

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