Page 19 of The Cupcake Cottage

“He’s trying to convince me of his worthiness,” Daisy-Mae said casually, loving the way Maverick played up her teasing with a loud groan.

“Well, when he fails the test, you let me know and I’ll introduce you to a real man.” Dylan winked.

Maverick’s hands turned to fists, and he glowered at Dylan, stony-faced.

Daisy-Mae laughed as Dylan hurried away to sit with the couple he’d come in with.

“You’re going to need to date me,” Maverick said simply, retaking his seat.

“What?” Daisy-Mae asked, amused. It was fun having two men pretend to fight over her.

“First of all, if we’re dating, then we’d no longer be lying to the world. Second, it will keep those no-good scallywags from pestering you.” He nodded toward Dylan.

“Oh, so you’d be offering protection? Because it seems like you’re being a date-blocker.”

“I don’t know what that is, but sure. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. They’re all worthless thugs, and if I stop running interference, you’ll need a big ol’ hockey stick to beat them off.”

“Sounds fun.” She gave him a perky smile, aware she was killing him. There was no pretending: he was flirting back. And it was fun. So much fun she found herself wishing away her years with Myles so she could have gotten to this place in her life sooner.

Then again, without the efforts of trying to make love bloom with Myles, she might not fully appreciate that the way Maverick made her feel was rare and wonderful.

“You and this makeover of yours,” Maverick said, his eyes running over her up-do, subtle makeup, and cocktail gown. “You’re nothing but sexy trouble.”

She toyed with her necklace, giving him a slow blink. “I’m a bit insulted that you feel I can’t handle the attention.”

“You really want a hockey player?” he asked. His elbow was on the table, and he was suddenly serious. “We’re always away for games from October to Spring. Always on the ice.”

“Handy.”

“Handy how?” That dark look returned.

“That’ll make it even easier for you to fake being a family man when you finally give in and settle down in one of these PR masquerades.” She winked at him.

“So, is that a yes?”

“To faking it with you?”

He gave a brief nod.

She thought about lying to her family and friends. Her father, a trucker, would be happy she’d found someone, although maybe worried about the amount of time she and Maverick would spend apart. Her mom would brag to anyone who listened and then give her a giant I-told-you-so once they did the fake breaking up part. Her friends…her friends had done a good job of pretending not to notice she was crushing on Mr. Unattainable for the past year or two. Although Violet was no longer pretending now that she’d gotten to know Maverick a bit better. She was fully on board with Daisy-Mae’s crush status, which meant she might explode with happiness for her. That could be a bit awkward.

On the flip side, it might be nice to experience having life go well for a little bit. A good job, a nice boyfriend. Not that she hadn’t had that before. It just hadn’t been quite on this level. This easy.

“It’ll be complicated,” she said at last.

“By the sounds of things, you’d really be helping out, but I understand if you don’t want to.”

“I’m not good at lying. I hate it, in fact.”

“Me, too.”

An idea came to her in a flash, and she could feel the heat hit her cheeks as she tried to summon the courage to speak it out loud.

She adjusted her cutlery, realigned her wineglass. “Maybe we could momentarily set the fake part aside and just date.”

She dared to peek at Maverick. His eyes had grown rounder.

“I mean, you know… Go on dates and stuff and I’d call you my…” She sucked in a deep breath, and said, “My boyfriend. And we’d, um, maybe kiss in public sometimes?” She scrunched her nose. “You know. For publicity. But it would be dating. For real. But we couldn’t break up. Not right away. We’d have to keep things up for a bit. Until everything was stable.”

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