Page 52 of Matched with Her Fake Fiance

The siblings line up at the island, pulling food onto plates before sitting down at the large oak table.

They laugh and chatter about different things, bringing up stories from childhood. The atmosphere in this house is completely different than where I grew up. My dad did the best he could to counteract my mother’s mood swings and work obsessiveness, but there’s something here that makes me feel like I’m home for the very first time.

And once I’ve got a taste of that, it’s going to be hard to leave it. I shake my head, trying to get rid of the pessimistic thoughts. I’ll let the doubts flood in later, after I’ve figured out the key to make my home feel like this.

CHAPTER21

Dani

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I invited Miles over to my family game night. Maybe it was a temporary lack of judgment or that I wanted to spend more time with him.

The fact he remembers something so small from our conversation with Oliver at dinner the other night has my heart beating out of my chest.

And then my siblings have to crush that.

“Do you remember that one time Dani wanted to prank Randall next door and managed to steal all his underwear?” Harper says, trying to be the life of the party.

I frown, knowing I probably should’ve thought this through before bringing Miles into the fray. “It was one pair of underwear, and his brother gave it to us.”

“You hung those on the line for a week to torture him,” Harper says, mischief on her face.

Do I engage her with tales of her own? Instead, I try to bury that competitive edge and focus on eating the food. It’s all so good.

We clean up and pull out the games. Miles looks a little confused and I remember I haven’t explained anything to him.

“So, when we were little, we loved playing games. We could never agree on the same game, so my parents came up with the number game to get us started. My mom comes up with a number and whoever gets the closest, we have to play their game first.”

“Okay,” he says, nodding.

I point to a closet that used to be used for extra blankets. It’s the ultimate game storage now, since we’ve tried so many board games and card games over the past couple decades that the shelves are jam packed.

“Once my sisters are done picking their games, we’ll pick our own.”

Miles chuckles as we stand from our seats and walk over. “Wow, I didn’t realize there were this many games on the market.”

I laugh and say, “When we find a line of games we like, it’s typical to buy all of them.”

“What if I have no idea what they are or how to play?” Miles frowns, his gaze scanning the lines of boxes.

“That’s okay,” I say, touching his arm. I really need to stop making physical contact when not necessary, but the man is like a human magnet, pulling me closer all the time. Not like he knows that, but oh well. “What kinds of games do you like? That will help me narrow it down to a few options.”

He glances at the games again and says, “I’m not sure I even know.” There is a look of uncertainty and then his breathing picks up, a lot like at the party the night before.

I take his hands in mine and say, “Hey, look here.” When he focuses those baby brown eyes on me, I have to use his hands as supports to not let my knees buckle all the way. “Breathe. It’s okay. Even with all the blackmail stories my siblings like to tell, my family is a safe space.”

He takes in a deep breath and nods. “Thank you.”

Instead of bugging him again with something he’s not ready for, I reach into the closet. “This is one of my favorite games right now.”

“Skull King?” he says, his face softening back into a smile. “You have always wanted to be a pirate, huh?”

I give him fake surprise and say, “How did you know? Arrggh! We’ll be together on this one.” I reach out and take his hand, enjoying the fact that we’re supposed to be playing up the nature of fiancés.

Once we settle into the table, our game is chosen to go third. We take turns explaining each game to him, except for the one Rachelle brought back from their honeymoon. None of us have heard of that one.

After the instructions are given for game number one, Miles reaches over and takes my hand under the table, intertwining our fingers. I’m pretty sure my insides start a rave. And is it weird that I never want it to end?

But the line is getting close, the one where if I cross it, I won’t be able to return safely. I can either back off and keep my heart intact or keep going right over Heartbreak Hill. No Boston Marathon needed for that one.

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