Page 22 of Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Mind torn in a hundred different directions, she went with the easiest answer.

“Yes.”

A smile curved Del’s handsome lips. He stood, pulling her with him. In the next heartbeat, his arm settled around her waist and he tugged her close, brushing his lips against hers in a soft kiss too tempting and too short for her liking.

“She said yes!” He pumped a fist in the air and shouted to the people watching.

Sighs, applause, and well wishes rang out. Cassie found herself blushing in spite of the falsities. As the small crowd dispersed, she and Del walked down to the edge of the creek, away from any curious ears.

“How’d I do? Come on.” Del grinned like a puppy waiting for a treat. “That was pretty good, right?”

Good? It had been wonderful, romantic, dream-worthy.

She only wished it had been real.

No. No, she didn’t. At least, not with Del…did she? No. She didn’t.

She needed more ice cream.

“It was perfect. But even with the grand proposal, how do you suggest we pull this off?”

At his questioning glance, she let out a sigh of frustration. “I need the marriage to look real or my cousin will call foul and take the house. We have to look like an actual couple, Del. How do we do that when for the past…forever, we’ve hated each other?”

Leaning against a large pine, he crossed his arms casually over his chest. “Okay, first, we don’t hate each other. At least I don’t hate you,” he added when she arched her brow. “We annoy each other. Which is great.”

“Why is that great?”

“Because it lends credence to the rumor that we’ve been having a secret relationship for months.”

“We have?”

“Yes.” Pushing off the tree, he stepped closer. “For years we’ve been sniping at each other in order to deny the heat between us.”

She shifted on the uneven dirt banks of the river, uncomfortable with his too accurate story.

“About a year back, we gave in to our desires—”

“Had sex you mean.”

One blue eye winked. “What other kind of desire is there?”

How like a man to reduce every feeling in the world to his penis.

“Continue.”

“We started a relationship, but we were afraid of how my sister would take it, what with you being her best friend and all.”

Cassie chewed on her lip, nerves racing around her stomach like the hundred-foot drop of a rollercoaster. “I wouldn’t want Charlie to choose between us if we ever broke up.”

“Exactly.” He smiled as she picked up the story.

Little did he know she spoke the truth. In the dark of night, she’d admit to a fantasy or two about Del. The guy was walking sex; what straight woman wouldn’t? But her friendship with Charlie always held her back. She knew Del’s style. Love ’em and leave ’em. Cassie wasn’t wired that way. If she and Del started something and then broke up? She’d be the one hurt, and she didn’t want to force her friend to choose sides, because she was afraid she’d be left out in the cold. She may have been an only child, but even she knew you never pick a friend over blood.

“How do you explain me going out on all those dates? Wouldn’t my secret boyfriend get pissed if I started dating other guys and did it right in his place of work?”

Del smiled, grabbing her hand and stroking her knuckles with his thumb. The touch sent a rush of warmth through her.

“The thing is, when your grandmother died and you learned about the stipulation in her will, I freaked.” His face turned somber, voice softening. “I didn’t want to be pushed into marriage, so I ran. Broke up with you. But it was the biggest mistake of my life, Cassie. Seeing you with those other guys?” He tugged on her hand, and she went willingly. One strong arm wrapped around her as he pressed her close, lips a breath away. “It killed me. I’m so sorry I hurt you, baby. I thought I wasn’t ready to settle down, but the thought of living without you kills me.”

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