Page 18 of Perfectly Wedded

I stare at him. “You mean, I can’t tell my sister everything?”

He shakes his head. “If you tell Jaz, then Brax has to know too. At that point, it’ll be hard to keep it from Leo and Tate, since they live with us.”

I raise my eyebrows and speak slowly, the reality slowly settling in. “So you’re saying... I have to keep it fromeveryone?”

He stops on the sidewalk and faces me. “I don’t see how elsewe can make it work. When one person knows, there’s more risk of them giving away our secret. The only thing we can share is that we’re married.”

I sigh. My sister can read me like a book, and the thought of trying to pull this off around her makes my stomach churn. This could go very badly,veryquickly. “Jaz already knows you’re here with me, and she’s been bugging me nonstop, fishing for details. Then she dropped a hint that she expects me to spill the rest. I’m putting her off by not replying.”

“How did she respond to that?”

“Oh, she’s practically bouncing off the walls. She can’t wait to hear more. Which means...”

“...my brother knows,” Vale finishes for me.

What I don’t tell Vale is that she sent me a GIF of someone getting married, followed by a string of question marks. The pressure to tell her something real is already mounting, and I’m not even home yet.

The thought of keeping the truth away from the people I love makes me sick. Jaz can’t stand when people hide the truth from her, even if I have good reason to keep it from her.

“Hey,” Vale says, sensing my worry, “it’s gonna be all right. You know that, right?” His eyes cut to me, and he squeezes my hand.

“It just doesn’t feel right, lying to everyone.”

“Telling people we got married isn’t a lie, because wearemarried. But if they start asking why, that’s where things get complicated. And if the truth comes out, we risk more than just your insurance—there’s a lot at stake.”

His jaw tightens, and it hits me for the first time just how much Vale is risking. This isn’t just about me. He’s putting his reputation—and maybe even his future—on the line for me. If this news gets out, it could keep him from moving up to the NHL.

“What do we have to do?” I ask.

“Once we tell everyone we’re married, then comes part two of our plan. And that’s convincing everyone we’re in love.”

“Won’t they assume as much after I show them the ring?”

“Yes and no,” Vale says, steering me around a tour group waiting to board their bus. “Since we’re going to blindside everyone with this news, we need to come up with an epic insta-love story. Something believable.” He smirks, then adds, “And we’ll definitely need some ground rules for our relationship.”

“Rules?” I ask.

Vale weaves through a line of people waiting outside one of the live shows. “See those two over there?” He nods toward a couple practically tangled together, looking like they’re seconds away from ripping each other’s clothes off.

I nearly drop my cup. “Wait, are you suggesting we?—?”

“No!” he cuts in quickly. “But there’s no doubt how they feel about each other. That’s the kind of vibe newlyweds have.”

“There’s no way I can pull that off,” I insist.

“Have you ever been in love?”

Two faces float across my mind. “Regretfully, twice. Anthony was one.”

“How did you act together?”

“We were nearly inseparable,” I admit, before it dawns on me what Vale is doing—he’s trying to map out how we should behave in front of others. I quickly add, “Just for the record, I wish I hadn’t spent so much time with him. And I never made a fool of myself.”

“I’m not asking you to take it that far, but we need to be as convincing as possible. Especially around the people we live with. That’s rule one. Be together as much as possible. Which won’t be hard since I’m living in your house.”

“That doesn’t seem impossible. We already spend plenty of time together as friends.” I shrug, trying to keep it light. “Anthony was always holding my hand, really affectionate.”

Vale’s head turns sharply, his eyes flicking to mine like he’s trying to read mythoughts.

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