Page 81 of The Re-Proposal

“You hurt her!” Maggie shrieks. “You hurt my friend.”

Pushing myself to my feet, I ignore the pain that makes my head swim and slam my umbrella against the back of her ex-boyfriend’s head.

The umbrella snaps.

Pieces rain to the ground.

The monster stumbles to the left, his eyes enraged.

“Maggie, run!” I scream.

I grab her hand and we both sprint into the darkness of the night.

10

FAKE IT

CODY

I rememberwhat it was like being a teenaged boy, but I can’t recall being this obnoxious.

Joel is in the backseat of my town car, a smirk on his lips that’s practically begging for a fist to the face.

“What do you want?” I ask my pain-in-the-butt foster son.

“A date with Clarissa.”

“Never going to happen.” My words hold a dangerous chill.

“Why not?” He pouts. “You want me to go in there,” he points to Clay’s house, “and make nice with all my fake relatives? You need to pay up.”

“The offer on the table is cash. Take it or leave it.”

“It’s Clarissa or bust.”

I remind myself that Joel is sickly and frail and also underage. A duel to the death for Clarissa’s heart is out of the picture.

“Why are you so obsessed with Clarissa? You barely know her.”

“Do we really know anyone? Even couples who’ve been married for decades say they’re still learning things about their spouses.”

The kid’s a philosopher now?

If I could tell my driver to take us away, I would. But Clay’s already travelled all the way to my penthouse to scold me. And it won’t take him long to find out the truth behind my fostering Joel if he decides to dig into it.

My brother’s a stickler for the rules and, since I’m currently toeing past a ton of his rigid, moral lines, I don’t want the headache.

“Besides,” Joel turns his head and studies the way the lampposts shed silver on the sidewalk, “I don’t need to know everything about her to like her. I just do. That’s how it works.” He eyes me. “Why doyoulike her?”

Me?

That’s easy.

Because my breath catches in my throat every time I see her.

Because she’s gorgeous even when she’s wearing a simple T-shirt and cut-off shorts.

Because the way she moans when she eats tacos sends my blood rushing south.

---