Page 43 of Beautiful Thing

ARCHER

Istumble into the shower. I grab the bar of soap. I lather up my hands and reach for my rockhard cock.

Yes. Let’s pretend to be dating.

Let’s pretend to be dating.

Let’s pretend to be dating.

I replay those words in my head. The casual way they fell from Layla’s plump, rose-stained lips in the front seat of my truck just a few moments ago.

Shit-goddamn-fucking-hell. She has no fucking clue.

Fire races through my veins. Four hard pumps into my fist is all it takes tonight.

The idea of Layla being mine—even though it’s just pretend—has me exploding like a fire hydrant all over the bathroom tile.

I slap a palm against the wall to keep upright as my knees wobble beneath me.

Yup. I’m fucked.

Truly.

17

LAYLA

Daphne dips her face into a lavish bouquet of peach flowers and sighs. “Maybe something like this?” She passes the floral arrangement around, hopefulness glimmering in her eyes.

Today, she’s finalizing the flower selection for her wedding. Her aunt Rainbow was supposed to be here with her, but she wasn’t able to close down her farmer’s market booth. When we found out that she was planning to come alone with just her big sister, Ziggy, we all crashed the party.

Karli, Nicky, Inez, me. Even her future mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law. Now, we’re at the Iris in Bloom flower shop in Sin Valley.

Archer was kind enough to give me the afternoon off from the hardware store just so I could come support his sister-in-law-to-be. Or maybe so he could get away from me. Who knows?

Daphne stands in the middle of the floral shop, admiring the gorgeous bouquet in a narrow full-length mirror. Mrs. Brighton approaches from behind, hands half-covering her mouth as she gushes over Daphne.

“Oh my. Daphne. I just can’t…” Mrs. Brighton blubbers. “You’ll look so beautiful in your wedding gown, especially with this bouquet. Felix is going to faint when he sees you walking down the aisle. My son is a lucky man.”

I can’t help but tear up a little bit when I see the wet drops tracking down the older woman’s cheeks.

Mrs. Brighton was overseas during Daphne’s dress fitting and a lot of the other wedding preparations. So now that she’s back in town, she refuses to miss out on the remaining arrangements for the big event.

I love seeing the bond between the two of them. Must be nice having Mrs. Brighton as a mother-in-law.

Daphne and Ziggy aren’t very close with their own mother, because well, she’s basically a rich, evil woman. I think that’s why the Brighton family have really taken the Beaumont sisters into the fold.

Although my situation is far different, I know a little about how Daphne and Ziggy must feel. I sometimes wish the Brightons were my parents, too.

But then that might make this whole fake-dating their son thing a little weird.

Or rather,a lotweird.

Oh god—I’m fake-dating Archer Brighton.

I’m still trying to figure out how that happened. One minute, I was a fish out of water at the Brighton family dinner, silently questioning whether I even belonged there and whether Archer was actually flirting with me. The next minute, I was announcing to the entire family that I’d be the woman on his arm at Felix and Daphne’s wedding. I still don’t understand how things escalatedthatquickly.

Last night was a sleepless night. I tossed and turned in the dark as my friends blew up my phone with text messages,demanding an explanation for what’s going on between Archer and me. I had no idea how to answer them, so I didn’t.

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