Page 88 of Pretend To Be My Cowboy
She didn’t say it, but he heard it all the same. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but hehad.
She nodded toward the rehearsal dinner. “You should get back. Casey will be disappointed if you’re not there.”
His heart twisted in his chest. Always thinking about others. That was just one of the reasons he loved her.
His heart stopped. His lungs froze.
He loved her?
Oh heck, what was the point of trying to deny it. He was falling head over heels for his fake girlfriend.
“Well?” She nodded toward the restaurant again, impatience in her tone. “You don’t have to stay out here with me. I’m fine.”
She was such a terrible liar. She wasn’t fine, and the fact that her pain was his fault made it that much more unbearable.
“Come with me.” He stood and held out a hand to help her to her feet.
“What? Why?”
“Because I want you there… beside me.” His heart was racing wildly. Would she trust him this much? Would she believe that they were friends, at the very least?
He couldn’t expect her to accept that this was real for him. Ithadbeen real since...since he didn’t know when. Maybe from the very beginning.
But that didn’t change much.
What am I even doing here?Her words from earlier in the evening came back to him with a jolt. She’d been talking to her sister on the phone and she’d said it loud and clear.I shouldn’t have come in the first place.
His feelings for her changed nothing in the long run. She was still planning on leaving—couldn’t wait to get back to her life in Chicago by the sounds of it. And he’d be left here. Miserable and sad, and aching for this beautiful woman.
But she wasn’t gone yet.
She stared at his outstretched hand like it might bite. He just barely held back a sigh. “Emma, please. My father can be pushy, but he’s not a bad man. My family and friends adore you. And I’m pretty sure you like them too.”
Her lips pouted like she wanted to deny it but couldn’t.
“I’m so sorry I let my father believe the worst. It wasn’t fair to you. But I’ve been loving our time together, and I don’t want you leaving here thinking that all of this was phony.”
For him, none of it was fake. But he held his tongue. She didn’t want declarations of love. But he could make sure they parted as friends.
She gazed up at him—a deer in headlights, still not sure what to believe.
He forced a smile, trying to make his voice a little lighter. “I think we get on pretty great you and me. Let’s make the most of our last few days, huh?”
If nothing else, he needed her in his life as a friend.
Because somehow this woman had made her way into his heart...and she was fast becoming the closest friend he’d ever had.
28
She was only doing this for Casey.
That was what Emma told herself the next day as she applied concealer to cover the dark shadows left behind by a sleepless night.
That was also the only reason she’d returned to the rehearsal dinner and sat through the sappy, sentimental toasts. That was definitely the only reason she’d cried when Nash stood up to say a few words about the happy couple.
Yup. She was only in this for Casey now, because despite what Patrick Donahue might think or what Nash had led her to believe, she honestly did value Casey’s friendship. And his mother’s.
And every single one of Nash’s family and friends, for that matter.
