Page 49 of The Backup Bride Proposal

“That’s good, right? Having fun with someone while you’re here filming?”

“Sure. I mean, we’re both on the same wavelength. Neither of us wants a relationship, so it’s all good, right?”

Clay cracked a smile as he lifted his glass to his lips. “Right. That’s how it always goes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing, man. Other than sometimes the longer it goes on, the harder it gets to make it just about the fun. Then feelings get involved and then you’re in too deep to just walk away.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. Mae seems pretty adamant about keeping things between us free from any emotion. She told me about her ex-fiancé.”

“Yeah, that was rough on her. We all rallied around her after that. But she’s tough and she recovered and now she’s living life on her terms. Which doesn’t mean we don’t still protect her.”

“Understood. I don’t intend to hurt her.”

Clay nodded, and then they resumed drinking. But Kane took out his phone and sent a quick text to Mae.

Saw the pic. Hope you’re having fun.

A half hour later she replied:We drinkin and dancin. You with the guyses huh?

He typed back:Yeah. They’re good guys. Be careful and have a good time.

She sent back all emojis of kissy face, laughing, champagne and lips.

He grinned and slid his phone back in his pocket. Looked like they were both having fun tonight.

But he was still looking forward to seeing her again.

Chapter

fifteen

This week hadbeen a flurry of work and prep for Brenna’s wedding. Along with that, Mae had some stand-in duties to perform with Kane, which was about all she had time for as far as seeing him.

They’d filmed two scenes together, one where they were in conversation in the garden, and the other where all she had to do was stand in a field a ways away while he filmed with another actor. Of course they filmed her from behind while he and the other actor spoke their dialogue, but whatever. She positioned herself wherever they told her and she no idea how they put the film together.

They did manage to eat lunch together one day in his trailer, catching up on each other’s activities, but it was brief because he had a scene to film and she had a to-do list ten miles long, so there hadn’t been enough time to do much other than chat, shove food in their mouths and say a quick goodbye.

And then he’d had to leave for a couple of days to do some location shoots outside the vineyard. Mae wouldn’t be neededfor those, thankfully. The other good news was, the entire crew had disappeared as well.

“It’s so blissfully quiet here with the film crew away,” Brenna said as they sat at the table during their morning meeting.

“Isn’t it?” Erin held JJ on her lap, and he happily played with a toy while simultaneously sucking his fingers.

“Now that they’re gone for a couple of days I’ve rearranged several appointments for tours for prospective clients,” Honor said. “I hope we can get quite a few through before filming restarts.”

“They weren’t exactly in the way of that, though, were they?” Mae asked, tapping her pen on her notebook.

“Well, not exactly. But they were here, and then there’s the curiosity factor and having to explain the whole thing to prospective brides and grooms.”

“That’s true. If there’s anything I can do to facilitate tours, let me know.”

“I think I have it covered, Mae, but someone needs to handle Brenna.”

Brenna’s brows rose. “Excuse me? What about me needs to be handled?”

“You are getting married this weekend,” Erin said. “There are still a million things that need to be done.”

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