Page 35 of Tangled Vows

“This looks amazing,” Easton said as I scooped a healthy serving onto his plate.

“Eat up. You’ll need the fuel for tomorrow’s game,” I instructed. They had one home game between now and when we left for Vegas. My stomach knotted in anticipation. Things would be so different when we returned from that trip. My mom would be blindsided, yet I suspected she’d still be happy for me.I wouldn’t deserve it, though. I was a fraud. I just needed to remind myself why I was doing this.

“So, Easton, tell me how you and my sweet girl got together. She’s been very tight lipped about you.”

Translation, I didn’t know you existed until yesterday.

His gaze flicked to me briefly, and I gave him a subtle nod. We rehearsed this. Both of us knew exactly what to say when questioned about our whirlwind relationship.

“We met shortly before the season started,” he began, and my mom rested her chin on her clasped hands, giving him her undivided attention. “She caught my eye from across the bar. I was instantly smitten.” He settled an adoring look on me as a soft smile curved his lips. What the…? That wasn’t part of our script. Shit, was he going rogue?

He explained to her how we shared a magical kiss—leaving out the part where I went back to the hotel with him and he kicked me out—and parted ways without exchanging numbers. Then voila, there I was on his first day with the Wraiths. He recited the story we concocted about how we tried to resist each other but couldn’t contain our feelings. I fought the urge to fake gag. He never had one single feeling for me besides disgust, and even though I was attracted to him, I wanted to kick him in the balls most of the time. But to hear him tell it, we were head over heels in love. By the time he was finished, a dreamy look fell over my mother’s face, and she sighed.

“I’m so happy you two found each other again. Will this cause any trouble for you at work?” A line of worry creased her brow as her gaze bounced between us.

“There aren’t any written rules stating we can’t date,” Easton explained. “It’s not exactly encouraged, but it’s not explicitly forbidden either,” he continued as I brought my glass to my lips. “However, there are added benefits if you get married.”

The sip of wine I tried to swallow caught in my throat, and I sputtered out an unflattering cough. Merlot dribbled down my chin, and I dabbed at it with my napkin. What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t tell my mother about our plans. I kicked him under the table and shot him a warning glare. He smirked, the only sign that he felt the shot straight to his shin.

He leaned back in his seat, a relaxed expression settling on his face. He was such a menace.

A hopeful gleam lit my mother’s gray eyes.

“Is that so?” she asked with growing interest.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, his eyes never leaving mine. “And I intend to take full advantage of them some day.”

27

SHAYLA

Easton sauntered into my office, his hair still damp from his post-practice shower. At this point, he was like a bad penny. He kept turning up. I was busy, trying to prepare for being gone for the weekend. We were flying out the next evening for the Vegas game the following day. Our plan was to head to the strip afterward and stop at the first wedding venue we saw. By the time we flew back home, we’d be man and wife.

At least on paper.

“What can I do for you, Walker?” I asked as I scrambled to organize the files on my desk so I could put them away. He frowned, his brows dipping at my clipped tone. I didn’t have time to entertain whatever nonsense he had in store for me today. We had a plan. We’d been over all the details. Our story was rock solid. There couldn’t possibly be anything else to discuss, and that only meant one thing. He was here to pester me.

“We need to practice our wedding kiss.” I froze, my eyes widening in surprise. Was he serious?

“Why would we do that?” I croaked out. He suddenly looked nervous, his gaze darting from my face to the floor.

“Well, there will be witnesses. It needs to look convincing.”

“Don’t they have people for that? People who won’t know us from Adam? It doesn’t have to be believable since we’ll never see them again.” Hell, we really didn’t even need to kiss to seal the deal. All they needed were our signatures.

“They do, but,” he began, then scrubbed a hand over his face, “I thought it would be wise to bring one or two of our own. You know, just to make it more legitimate,” he added with a shrug.

My mouth fell open, and I stared at him in shock. Had he told someone what we planned to do?

“I haven’t asked anyone yet,” he said, answering my silent question, “but I was thinking of bringing Kent. And maybe you could ask Claire. I thought you might want someone to be there for you too. Since it is a wedding and all.” That was … thoughtful. Before I could read too much into it, he continued. “They both already suspect something, so it won’t take much convincing. But I don’t think they need to know the real reason we’re getting married. That has to stay between us.”

“I agree.” The fewer people who knew, the better. If someone slipped up and told the wrong person, it could spell disaster for us and our carefully laid plan.

“And since they won’t know this is fake, our kiss needs to be believable.” I gulped. He had a point.

My fingers reflexively went to my lips, gently brushing across them as they tingled with the memory of his kiss. Easton’s gaze zeroed in on the motion, and I dropped my hands. I curled them into fists to avoid making that mistake again and cleared my throat.

“Okay,” I agreed, stepping out from behind my desk. “Do you want to do this now?” I asked hesitantly. Might as well get it over with.

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