Page 41 of Pretend Girlfriend

I couldn’t help it: I busted out laughing.

Austin’s smile held no mirth. “Now, I don’t see what’s so funny about that.”

“They’re getting married, dude. Today. It’s too late for you.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” he replied smoothly. “But I still need you to poke a few holes in her fairytale ending.”

“Or what?” I demanded. “You’ll tell everyone that I’m cheating on Landon with Theo?”

“See? I knew you’re more than just a pretty face and a tight little body.”

His eyes flicked down over my body, then back up to my own gaze. With that accent and strong, sturdy frame, Austin was probably used to women melting over whatever he said. Hell, my body was certainly reacting to it against my will. But the charm was spoiled by what he was asking of me.

“You’re the second person to blackmail me in the past twenty-four hours,” I said. “I’m getting real sick of it.”

“Probably should have kept it in your pants, then.”

It rankled me that someone thought I was a cheater. I wanted to shout at him that he had no idea what he was talking about, that I would never cheat on someone I was dating. It would have soothed my ego to tell him the truth, that Landon wasn’t my boyfriend and we were just pretending for the wedding.

But that would just give Austin a different kind of leverage to use against me. Different flavor, same outcome.

Fuck.

“Look, Joanna,” he drawled as if I were an old friend. “I don’t want you to break them up. I just want you to give their relationship a little stress test. If she and Bradyn are right for each other, if their relationship is strong, then everything’ll be finer than white sand in an hourglass. But if it’s not? You’ll be doing everyone a favor by helping her reach that inevitable conclusion before we get a priest involved.”

I felt like a pinball being bounced between people with different motivations. Landon, Danicka, Theo, and now this Texas Chainsaw Asshole. It was exhausting. All I wanted was a leg up in a fucking job interview!

An idea came to me: I could agree to Austin’s demands, and then simply not do it. I could pretend like I did what he wanted, and then lie about it after. That would help me get through this trainwreck of a day.

“Fine,” I said, sticking out my palm. “We have a deal.”

His fingers were calloused and strong as he shook my hand. “I’m glad we could reach a mutual understanding.” He strummed a chord. “Oh by the way. I’m real good friends with Wanda. We went to school together, too. She’ll tell me if you uphold your end of the deal.” He strummed the same chord again, but it sounded more ominous this time. “And she’ll tell me if you don’t.”

“I hope your performance during the ceremony is better,” I snapped at him. “Right now, you sound off-key.”

He gave a deep, throaty chuckle as I walked away.

17

Joanna

I remembered when my life was simple. I went into the office once or twice a week. I laughed at the junior partners’ progressively more inappropriate jokes. I scrolled Bumble and went on bad dates. I spent my Saturdays by the pool, enjoying the several months when Chicago wasn’t a freezing wasteland.

Now I was at a stranger’s wedding, in the wedding party itself, pretending to be one man’s girlfriend. Meanwhile, another man was pushing me to sabotage said wedding. And the icing on the cake? I was doing it all in front of a third man who I was kind of, sort of, hoping to date when all the dust settled from this dumpster fire of a situation.

“Just get through today,” I told myself. “A few more drinks, a few more lies, and a few more fake kisses, and this will all be over.”

The parlor was a spacious room with dark wood, a stocked bar, and a billiards table. It was the kind of room where only white men had been welcome for most of the country club’s history. Now it was filled with half a dozen women in various states of makeup and hair style, wearing soft cotton robes and sipping mimosas.

“There’s my hero!” Marisa came running over to hug me. “Thank you thank you thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”

“Indeed she is,” Danicka added. The mother of the groom must have gone first, because her hair and makeup was flawless. She looked like a classic Hollywood actress. “If there was any doubt before, there is none now. You’re part of the family.” She handed me a mimosa. “The rest of us are on our third drinks already, so you had better catch up.”

I immediately gulped down half the drink. “Don’t need to tell me twice!”

The girls all let out a celebratory woo.

“I’m sorry to hear about Liz,” I said. “Hopefully everyone else is feeling okay?”

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