Page 5 of Needing Happily Ever After

“Don’t worry about that,” he said in reference to her empty finger. “I’ve got all the bases covered there. And no, we’re not really getting married. Of course not. That’s crazy! As if we’d ever actually be together.”

He laughed so loud and so heartily that Katie couldn’t help but feel offended. Of course, he was right. They were best friends, always had been. Still, was it really so crazy to imagine that they could actually be together? Maybe it was. Maybe that’s how Damon really saw it. After all, he was ridiculously wealthy, insanely gorgeous, and everyone loved him everywhere he went—which was pretty much everywhere. And she, well…she was a small-town girl who’d never left and didn’t have any aspirations to leave. She was a simple girl, and always had been. Sure, she wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t particularly special either. Petite, with long brown hair and brown eyes, she largely thought that she was pretty forgettable altogether and not at all like the tall, slim blondes and redheads that Damon usually had on his arm, according to his social media.

“It’s not that funny,” she muttered under her breath as she yanked her hand from his and took another sip of her coffee.

“Katie cakes.” He used her old nickname and tilted his head to one side. “You know I didn’t mean it any way except that we’re best friends. You’re like my sister. That’s all.”

“The sister who’s pretending to be engaged to you,” she said pointedly. “So you better be nice to me.”

When the smile slipped off Katie’s pretty face, Damon instantly felt bad. He had a knack for putting his foot in his mouth sometimes, and he hardly even recognized when he was doing it. At least, not until it was too late. When they were younger, Katie had been really good at letting him know when he’d crossed a line or gone too far, and they’d had some kind of unspoken understanding about where that line was. But it had been years since they’d spent that kind of time together, and maybe he was a little out of practice.

“I am nice to you.” He reached for her hand again and pulled her closer. “And I will be nice to you, I promise. In fact, I’ll be the best fake fiancé you’ve ever had.”

That made her laugh again.

When Damon’s lawyer had informed him of the stipulation when it came to buying ElkView Ridge, that the buyers had to be a family or have a reasonable intention to have one, Damon’s initial reaction had been one of anger. But he hadn’t reached his level of success by allowing himself to be thwarted by such easily navigated roadblocks. It hadn’t taken him long to come up with a plan. A fake engagement was the easiest route to take, and what better fake fiancée than the woman he’d known his whole life and always had his back?

Of course Katie had agreed. Even when he told her that she couldn’t tell anyone the truth. Not even her mom. He felt bad about that one, but it had to look real. His father had to believe that they were in love and going to be married. It made perfect sense, too. After all, who knew him better than Katie?

No one.

They could pretend to be in love for a few days, a couple of weeks tops. And when the papers were signed, and ElkView was his, they’d stage some sort of public breakup and go back to being best friends. No one had to get hurt, or ever know the truth. And most importantly, no one would have to actually get married to satisfy his father’s stupid requirements.

“So what do we need to do with this whole…” Katie waved her hand. “Engagement thing? Is there anything special, like going to see your dad or anything? I mean, I suppose he’ll probably want to meet his son’s fiancée?”

“He has met you. A million times.”

“But not as your fiancée.” Katie pressed her lips together in an obvious attempt to look serious. “That’s different. Very different.”

“True.” Damon nodded as he mulled that over.

“Maybe we should have a dinner or something? We can show everyone how madly in love we are and how it took us so long to realize it, blah blah blah.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

“I know.” She grinned. “I’m very smart.”

He laughed. “You are. That’s why I chose you.” He winked and she smacked him playfully on the arm.

“You chose me, did you? I suppose you had a lineup of women ready to be your fake fiancée?”

“There was never anyone but you.” He narrowed his eyes and attempted to look as seductive as possible, but both of them dissolved into laughter.

Damn, it was good to see Katie again. He’d missed her more than he realized.

“Speaking of being smart,” she said when she managed to swallow back her laughter. “I told my family about us last night.” Damon almost choked on the sip of coffee in his mouth. “I didn’t tell them the truth,” she added quickly. “Don’t worry. But you know how Levi and Hope got married and took off for their honeymoon? They left today, actually.”

He nodded. Katie had filled him in on what was going on with her cousin and Hope Turner. Just like everyone else in Glacier Falls, Damon had the same response to hearing about their marriage: it was about time.

“Well, we were all having dinner last night and talking about Faith taking over the wedding business at Ever After Ranch, and…well, I kind of threw it out there that you might need a date for your impending nuptials to…well, to me.” She smiled so brightly, her eyes sparkled.

Katie always had been a bit of a shit disturber. They’d gotten into their fair share of trouble together, and it could be argued that a lot of it was her idea. Okay, most of it was her idea. “What did they say to that bomb being dropped?” Damon couldn’t even imagine Debbie Langdon’s response to hearing that her daughter was going to be married to her childhood best friend when they hadn’t actually seen each other in a few years. But the one thing he could imagine was that she might not be completely thrilled.

Katie shrugged. “Lots of questions of course, but I spun it perfectly and told them that we’d always been in love and neither time nor distance could make us change our minds.”

“Wow.” Speechless for a moment, Damon leaned back and took a deep breath. “That’s good.”

“Right?” She took a sip of her coffee. “Incidentally, our wedding date,” she held her fingers up in air quotes, “is July eleventh. It was one of the only dates Faith had available in the coming weeks, and I thought it would give us enough time to do what we need to do and then—”

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