Page 13 of Fake Engaged to the Enemy

The smirk on his face makes my heart beat faster. It’s the same reaction I had to him before that disastrous first kiss.

“What do you say, Cat? Want to pretend like we’re getting married?”

“No,” I say automatically.

Because of course, I don’t want to do that!

Of course, I don’t want to parade around on George Callahan’s arm.

It won’t solve anything.

People will still think I’m having an affair with Crimson, only it will be worse now because they’ll say I’m cheating on my fiancé.

So no.

I won’t play this game with him.

And I say, “No” very, very firmly.

Only… I don’t.

I hear my own voice before my brain catches up with what I’m doing. “Yes. Let’s pretend to be engaged.”

Ummmm, what?

Excuse me?

Who gave me permission to speak?

But George’s smile grows even bigger. His eyes sparkle in a mischievous, sexy way that leaves me unable to take back what I just said.

I hold up a finger to stop him before he can speak. “First things first. We need to tell Grandma about this scheme. She’ll figure us out anyway.”

“Agreed,” Geroge says, grimacing. He lets out a single laugh. “Oh, I can only imagine how she’s going to react.”

Oh, that’s right! I sigh in relief as I take my leave. If anyone will put an end to this insanity without me having to admit that I’m insane for accepting it in the first place, it’s Grandma.

As soon as she tells us that we can’t do it, I’ll be home free.

***

“That’s quite the stupid idea you’ve come up with there, George,” Grandma says.

She swings gently back and forth on the front porch, a glass of lemonade in her hand. Her eyes twinkle as she smirks.

Good. Now’s when she’ll say she’ll have no part of it and—

“But I’ll play along.” She waves her hand. “Sandburrow has fallen into a rather large rut lately. The drama of a fake engagement will be just the thing to bring us out of it.”

George laughs and kisses her cheek. “I knew I could count on you.”

I don’t know what’s more insane, the fact that Grandma is going along with this… or the fact that I’m not actually disappointed?

A surge of affection sweeps through me. Even though she recognizes that it’s a stupid idea, she’s doing this for us.

If nothing else, it gives me something other than Crimson to think about.

“If you’re going to pull this off, you need to know what you’re going to tell everyone,” Grandma says. She gets a faraway look. “You’ll have to tell everyone how you reconnected, how long you’ve been dating, and all that.”

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