Page 133 of Pretend Girlfriend

Danicka had known the entire time.

She’d even orchestrated some of the events of the week.

And she wasn’t even mad. Despite everything, she still wanted me to hook up with her son.

I laughed to myself. I’d picked one hell of a time to finally win over a boyfriend’s mother.

“Are you laughing about how insane all of this is?” Danicka asked.

“I… actually, yes.”

“As a bystander, it has been an amusing week,” she said. “Cheers to you and Landon for putting on such a convincing show. Until tonight, that is.”

“What are we going to tell the others?” I asked.

“How should I know?”

I frowned over at her. “You don’t have some big plan?”

“I’ve done plenty of meddling. This mess is for you and Landon to fix. And speaking of…”

She trailed off as we approached the resort. The beach was empty now except for one man: Landon, who was sitting in the sand down by the water. The surf was rushing up to his toes before receding again.

“Good luck, dear,” Danicka said, then walked away.

Landon was holding an icepack to his face. He looked up, then did a double-take. “Joanna. Were you with my mom?”

“Yes,” I said, sitting next to him in the sand. “We have a lot to discuss.”

“I’ll say,” Landon muttered. “Theo, huh?”

I chuckled. “I was telling the truth earlier. I hooked up with him before knowing about the wedding. We actually had a date the night I agreed to this whole plan, the night before the first dinner with your family.”

Landon shook his head. “Crazy timing. Do you like him?”

“Everyone likes Theo, it seems.”

He twisted to look at me. “You know what I’m really asking.”

“I do kind of like him,” I admitted. “We hardly know each other, honestly. We’ve only been on one date together. But… yeah. I like him enough to keep seeing him.”

“Enough to hook up with him while in Jamaica.”

“I’ve been under a lot of stress!” I argued. “Pretending to be your girlfriend was only supposed to be a one-night thing. Then I was going to the rehearsal dinner, and the wedding, and the honeymoon… and Theo and I kept seeing each other, and then everything with you…”

Landon stared back at me. Waiting for me to say more.

“I’m sorry about what happened in bed this morning,” I said. “I didn’t realize I was crossing a line. I thought you wanted to do that.”

He turned to gaze back out at the ocean. “I should be the one apologizing. I’m the one who suddenly stopped in the middle of it.”

“Yeah, what exactly happened there?” I asked. “I’ve been kind of confused about it all day.”

The beach breeze blew a lock of hair across his face. Landon ran a hand through his hair to brush it back. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been confused about it, too. I wanted to kiss you. I wanted to… do more than just kiss you.”

“Then what happened?”

“It was what you said. About how we could have sex and it didn’t have to mean anything. It was at that moment I realized I don’t just want meaningless sex. I want more than that with you, Joanna.” He turned to look at me again, eyes shining in the beach twilight. “It’s only been a few weeks, but pretending to be your boyfriend has been the thrill of a lifetime.”

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