Page 24 of Accidental Fiancé

“Yes, and pretend to be my fiancée. Again. Like we did last night.” He paused. “Stop thinking about it and say no.”

I laughed. “Why do you want me to say no?”

“Because doing it for one night is one thing and doing it for a whole week is another.”

“Her birthday party lasts a week?”

He nodded. “Which is why it’s a terrible idea and I shouldn’t have mentioned it at all.”

“No, I?—"

“Thank you for saying no because that takes the pressure off of you.” He thought for a moment. “It adds pressure to me and the birthday party, but that’s fine. I’ll just tell them to shut up or I’ll leave. That should give me at least five minutes of relief before they start up again.”

“I wasn’t saying no, Jules. It’s not a terrible idea. I mean, last night we were convincing enough that the rumor mill was sostrong my best friend thought I was secretly engaged. Clearly, we can pull off being a fake couple.”

“Sure, but again, that was one night. This isn’t being in a hotel where we can hide from everyone else. Yaya’s birthday party is a week of staying in the mansion with the rest of my family, and that’s why it’s a bad idea and I never should have brought it up.”

I sighed, scraping my fork on my plate. “Show me your daughter again.”

He grinned instantly and I felt it in my bones. He was so proud of her. “See there? That’s one of her art pieces.”

It was a crayon scribble that might have been a duck.

“Oh. That’s a…?”

He looked at me like I was dumb. “That’s a palm tree.”

“Of course it is.”

He scrolled through some more pictures, bragging about each featured achievement. The man glowed when he talked about her, and it was so endearing I could have died on the spot. There was also video. “…this is actually her second cartwheel. When she did the first one I didn’t get it on camera.”

The girl’s legs barely got off the ground. But when she stood up, she shouted, “Daddy, did you see?” and ran to him. She had olive skin like her father, long, straight black hair, and giant blue eyes that shone with adoration upon seeking his approval.

He picked her up. “I did, Pip. That was the best cartwheel ever.” The video turned off.

“You two are precious together.”

“She’s my everything.” He sighed. “I’m sorry I even asked about the party?—"

“I’ll do it.”

“What? No. You agreed you wouldn’t say that.”

I shrugged. “I lied.”

“Maggie—"

“You need help. You helped me out last night so it’s the least I can do. We’ll call it even.”

“This isn’t some tit-for-tat thing.”

“I know that. But it obviously bothers you and I want to help. Besides, it’s not like I have anything else going on. I’m happy to do it.”

He steepled his fingers together while he thought about it. “This has the potential to blow up in our faces.”

“It does. But that’s why we’ll be careful, right?”

He drummed his fingertips. “I have another bad idea.”

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