Page 103 of The Fiance Dilemma

His palm fell on my thigh. Nothing but a reflex. Only this time, it felt like he was the one hanging on to me.

His eyebrows dipped in thought. “I guess they wouldn’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

“My parents… They never cared too much for my job. It’s not like I worked at some newspaper with a big name. And that’s fine. I never minded. It’s okay that they don’t care for gossip. Entertainment. The internet. Smartphones.” He snorted. “They are proud of me. But they are simple, hardworking people, and I say that with all my respect and love. I’d do anything for them. They raised me to work hard, and once I was on my two feet… it gave them just enough peace. So why would I disrupt that? They’re already struggling with Tay’s choice to leave and follow a dream they’re scared is too big for her. That’s why I never told them the truth about what we were doing, Josie. Because I was already keeping things from them.”

The truth about what we were doing. That this was fake. A PR device. “So they haven’t seen anything about us, me or Andrew. Online or otherwise.”

Matthew gave a curt shake. “Not in detail, no. They know there’s some stuff being said. But they already knew Adalyn and who her—your—father is. They love Adalyn, so they were not surprised to hear I fell in love with her sister and didn’t want to wait. A supersonic engagement? Just Matthew, doing Matthew things.”

I fell in love with her sister.

My chest drummed in my chest. “Is going down on one knee and getting married in a little under two months a Matthew thing to do?”

“It can be.” His grip tightened, and I could feel the gentleimprint of the flowers on my skin. “It could be. That’s why they didn’t make a big fuss. Why they’re on their way here for the wedding, no questions asked. And why my sisters have been giving me so much shit. Tay is devastated she won’t make it. Eve wanted to come earlier but didn’t manage to on such short notice. My mom… She keeps asking me if you’re sure.” Matthew’s head shook. “They might really think I kidnapped you, Baby Blue.”

I smiled at him. I couldn’t not smile. Meeting his family… made me happy. The fact that they didn’t think I was a liar or a deceiver was a relief. But it felt strange, as if we were still under a pretense.

“So that’s why you came to Green Oak?” I asked, trying not to think of that.

“Remember what I said about retirement and an RV?” I gave him a nod. “They deserved to get to enjoy that, free of burdens. Financial or otherwise. I’m their eldest, out of the three of us, I should have my shit together. I shouldn’t be unemployed, or breaking the lease on an apartment I can no longer afford. I am also helping with Tay’s expenses in England. If they’d known, they would have taken that off my plate and had me move back home.”

They wouldn’t have realized their dream.

He didn’t need to say that. I read it on his face. In the way that same cloud that had hovered over my head yesterday was moving around his now. He was so selfless. So incredibly kind. He didn’t deserve to look so forlorn.

“Can I sit on your lap?”

His brows shot up, and when he didn’t answer, I scrambled onto him and threw my arms around his neck. He hissed out a breath, sounding like a balloon deflating. A happy balloon, though.

“You’re an incredible son,” I told him, feeling his arm sliding around me. He pulled me to him with one hand. “And an incredible man.”

He breathed me in, nose in the nook of my neck. A hum left him.

It made my toes curl. “Now, don’t get ideas,” I said, more for me than him. “This is a very PG utilization of your lap. Purely for distraction purposes. We’re running late as it is. If we don’t get there, everyone’s going to think we were reallyfrolickinglike your sisters said.”

We both laughed at that, and when I pushed back, he let me go. Even if with a little resistance. I could be strong for him, just this once.

I stood up, grabbing his hands and pulling him to his feet. The sight of him standing in the middle of my room, smiling, was like a punch to the heart. He looked so right. So very mine.

“You have a sun on your wall,” he said.

“I painted it years ago.” My lips tipped higher. “It always makes me smile.”

His eyes darkened in a way that told me his mind had drifted away. To a place that made my belly tight and my chest short of breath. A place that had me itching for that kiss he wasn’t giving me.

When Matthew spoke it was quiet, just for us. “Those are the best things.”

Those are the best things.

Once again, I recognized his words as mine. I’d told him that, when this whole thing had started. Only it hadn’t been about smiles, but about something far bigger than that.

Something as big as the sun painted on the wall behind me.

Rehearsal dinners often went one of two ways.

They either went by in a flash, or they stretched on for so long that you had time to think of stuff like time and space being aconstruct of society or whether your butt was now shaped like a chair. A folding chair in this case. Thanks to Andrew’s generously opening the invitation to all of Green Oak, we’d resorted to using them for all of the seating. And I would be throwing them into a pyre first thing Monday, the momentR.W.was over, if not because we’d need them for next Saturday.

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