Page 10 of The Very Naughty List

After a few more minutes of chatter, the ladies around me seem to realize that Nick has no plans to move from his spot, so they move on and go hit up some of the guys at the end of the bar. Once they leave, my brain finally fully catches up with what has just happened. My breath whooshes out of me in a rush, and suddenly, I can’t hold in a laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

I turn at the sound of Reid’s voice and see him standing nearby with Sebastian right beside him. All three of the Cooper men apparently decided to come out tonight, and being surrounded by all of them somehow makes me feel even more giddy and off-balance.

Nick shrugs in response to his brother’s question. He jerks his chin toward Casey and her posse of pink rosé drinking friends down at the end of the bar.

“I don’t know. I just told those ladies that Hailey and I were dating to get them to leave her alone.”

“Wait, youwhat?”

Reid looks shocked, and then he too bursts into laughter.

“Am I missing something here?” Sebastian exchanges a look of mutual confusion with Nick while Reid tries to get his laughter under control.

“I told the exact same lie to Dylan Montgomery earlier today,” Reid informs them, still chuckling.

Nick blinks at him in silence for a second. “Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Dylan was harassing her outside the general store, so I told him that Hailey and I were dating so he’d back the hell off.”

“You failed to mention that earlier.” Nick looks slightly annoyed at Reid’s omission.

The middle Cooper brother shrugs. “It didn’t seem relevant until just now.”

Sebastian takes advantage of the space that opened up when the other women left and sidles up on my other side. When I turn my face to look at him, he grins, and I can feel myself instantly flush in response as his blue-green eyes pierce through me. He still has that “always messy” hair that I want to tousle between my fingers so badly, and the crooked smile that curves his lips is downright mouthwatering.

“I guess this is the perfect way to get people to stop talking about how you got cheated on by Dylan,” he says. “Calling offa wedding isn’t nearly as dramatically juicy as showing your ex that you’ve got plenty of prospects still here in town.”

Sebastian has a solid point. It’s kind of the perfect way to get everyone in Chestnut Hill to stop gossiping about the failed wedding and my attempt to run away from it all.

“But you know…” He drags the words out, a thoughtful expression crossing his handsome features. “Why stop there? I think you could take it even further. Really give people something to talk about.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, my stomach flipping over. The look in Sebastian’s eye is a deviously mischievous one.

I haven’t forgotten how much he always liked pushing the envelope with things. Sometimes he went too far and would get his brothers into trouble, and then he’d rely on Reid’s smooth talking and charm to get them all out of it. But there’s always been something so alluring and fun about him that it’s hard not to want to be caught up in whatever scheme he’s getting into.

“I mean, if you really want to make Dylan leave you alone and snuff out all the gossiping busybodies in this town, then what better way to do it than shutting down all their questions by taking this really over the top?”

Reid nods in agreement as if he’s already following along with Sebastian’s train of thought, but I shake my head, confused about where this is heading. “Over the top, how?”

Sebastian grins. “Instead of just one of us, you could have a trifecta of suitors.”

“You mean allthreeof you would pretend to date me?” My eyebrows shoot up toward my hairline.

I can’t even believe I’m asking that question. It sounds like something I might have fantasized about after the lights were out during my teen years when I knew the three guys were just down the hall sleeping over in my brother’s room.

“Yeah.” He gestures to his two brothers. “We can pretend to fight over you, act jealous when we see you with one another, and make sure that people around town see you out on one-on-one dates with each of us.”

I chew my bottom lip, trying to process what he’s saying. Sebastian’s idea definitely has the potential to stir up a lot of drama and trouble.Butit also has the potential to shut down all of the comments about my almost-wedding and the pitying looks I keep getting.

“It would definitely show everyone that you’re totally over all that shit with Dylan,” Reid adds, clearly already on board with this scheme.

I glance over at Nick, whose expression I can’t read. It’s hard to tell if he’s for the idea or against it.

“What do you think?” I ask.

Nick takes a moment before answering, and I worry for a second that he’s going to shut down this totally insane proposal of Sebastian’s. Maybe that would be for the best, but for some reason, I really don’t want him to say no.

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