Page 78 of Playing for Keeps

“Because I’m not a girl.”

Scowling at my brother, I poke him in the chest. “You shared a buttload of your feelings when your dream girl blew you off and then when you found her. Why are you suddenly pretending to be cold inside?”

“You’re the cold one. You never mentioned your heart belonged to our rival’s daughter,” West says and shrugs his big shoulders. “Maybe my decapitation attempts were about holding a grudge.”

“Sure, okay. Just leave my head attached and we’ll be good. Now, how do I look?”

“Like a brown-haired version of your godlike older brother.”

I admire myself in front of the mirror while Ike and Otto enter the room. They both seem awkward as if their suits don’t fit right.

West asks our cousins, “Doesn’t my brother look pretty?”

Otto strokes his beard and circles me. He glances at a smirking Ike. “Val ought to star in one of those rom-coms Betty’s mom watches.”

“Thank you,” I say despite them clearly razzing me. “Lola’s definitely hot enough to be a star.”

Ike steps forward and offers me a smile before saying in his characteristic mumbling voice, “I’m glad you won your dream girl.”

I force him into a hug while glaring at West. “Notice how Ike didn’t try to rip my head off? That’s genuine love and support.”

“Now, calm down, boys,” Otto insists. “Let’s just agree you’re all dipshits and move on with our day.”

Taking my cousin’s advice, West and I stop throwing snarly frowns at each other.

Not long afterward, Pa-Emmett shows up to my room. He barely acknowledges me while he fights with his tie.

His gaze finally locks on me, and he smiles warmly. “You look good, boy.”

“Thanks, Pa,” I say and then force him into a hug.

I know I’m being overly affectionate, but I figure I’ll soon be ignoring all these people while I focus solely on Lola for the next year or two.

As I head downstairs, Duke corners me. He’s wearing a simple black suit. His gaze is tense.

“Is Lola okay?” I ask.

Blinking rapidly, Duke acts like I’m speaking a different language. “What?”

“You’re upset.”

“No.”

“You look upset.”

“I just want everything to go well,” he lies without even trying to sell his bullshit. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“Are you fricking kidding me?”

Duke finally offers a little grin. His gaze flashes to my dad, brother, and cousins nearby. He looks back at me and smiles wider.

“Lola looks gorgeous,” he says, sounding like a proud papa. “She can’t stop smiling, either.”

I study the ceiling of the lobby and imagine Lola upstairs. I wish she was already standing in front of me. Until she’s my wife, I feel like shit might go sideways.

“Thank you for suffering from a moment of weakness,” I tell Duke who instantly frowns. “If you hadn’t felt desperate, this deal wouldn’t have happened. I’d still be stalking Lola, and she’d still be reacting like a startled banshee at the sight of me. We might have gotten together eventually, but you saved me a lot of suffering. I owe you one.”

Duke wants to complain about my reasoning. He resents how he felt weak. But I think he needs to understand how fessing up to his fears led Lola to a better life.

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