Page 24 of Revenge Brunch and Other Disasters

Except Rhys had just looked at her like she’d hung the stars.

Liv leaned across the table. “You know what’s wild? You’re the first one he’s introduced to us.”

Linda froze.

Rhys froze.

Rhys cleared his throat. “Well. First off—I didn’t introduce you by choice. You crashed my date.” Then with a quick aside at Linda, “Which was supposed to be a client dinner. You could have gotten me fired. Second off—Linda’s…” He hesitated. Then looked at her like she was the only real thing in the room. “Special.”

Linda short-circuited.

Rhys’s voice had gone all soft and low and sincere and it was not fair.

Nobody should be able to fake-say ‘special’ and mean it like that. He looked like he wanted to say more. Like something was pressing against the inside of his teeth, waiting to be let out.

Liv grinned. “Oh my god. You’re actually in love.”

Darcy looked from one to the other. “Oh yeah. He’s so gone.”

Linda laughed nervously. “I think we’re skipping steps here. It’s still very new.”

Rhys stared at his napkin like it had personally betrayed him.

Was she pretending well enough to protect him?

Rhys hadn’t stopped looking at her, kept touching the edge of the table, inching his hand closer to hers and then pulling it back, like he didn’t trust himself to reach for it.

Rhys looked at her then, really looked, like he was memorizing the shape of her smile for later. “I don’t want this to end badly,” he said, low. “I just… want it to go somewhere good.”

Linda’s brain wentFake boyfriend. FAKE. BOYFRIEND.

Her heart argued back—but don’t you wish?She smiled, but her pulse betrayed her—fast, chaotic, not fake at all.

Darcy raised her glass. “To the happy couple. I hope you’ll join us for famiHis parents, from what she'd overheard on the phone, practically dripped unconditional love.ly dinner soon.”

Linda clinked it with hers. Smiled like she meant it.

And tried not to wonder what the hell was happening.

Chapter Twelve: Picnicking, Panicking and Double Dates

Linda

IT HAD BEEN four months since the dinner-that-might-not-have-been-a-client-dinner, and Linda was definitely not overthinking it.

They had a rhythm now. A structure. A system.

She was Rhys’s fake girlfriend. His beard. His emotional decoy. She wasn't sure why he needed one—he certainly passed as straight. His sisters were aggressively supportive.

But it wasn’t her place to decide when someone else was safe. If Rhys felt he needed cover, she was happy to help.

Even if she… liked it a little too much.

Not dangerously much.

That would be ridiculous.

Sara disagreed. Sara always disagreed.

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