Page 346 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
“A guy whoISa movie star.”
“Just think of me as the guy who flirted with you at the Feed ’n Seed. The guy you metbeforeyou knew he was anyone famous.”
She taps her chin. “Trouble is, that guy also had me hauled across the mountain by his Incredible Hulk bodyguard, placed in handcuffs, and interrogated by police.” Her eyes sparkle with humor, pulling an automatic smile out of me.
“That’s better than an actual rap sheet, right?” I ask. “And Nate’s not as scary as he looks.”
“When he’s looming over you in the middle of the forest, he’sterrifying.” Audrey holds my gaze for a long moment, her clear blue eyes bright even in the fading evening light. “But you’re right. He’s definitely a big softie. Especially when Joni is around.”
“I’ll take credit for that,” I say. “I set them up on their first date.”
“Speaking of dates,” Audrey says. “When is all of this supposed to happen?”
“The premiere is four weeks from Saturday. But we’d probably need to post a picture much sooner than that. As soon as possible.”
“Four weeks.” She licks her lips. “That’s just before classes start for me. What happens after?”
“After, you’re under zero obligation to do or say anything at all. We’ll probably both deal with people around here—especially people who know us—asking questions. You can be honest with the people closest to you—all my family will know the truth because I don’t lie to my family—but for everyone else, it will probably be easiest to just let them assume we dated and parted ways amicably when we realized you would never be happy dealing with all the crazy my life brings.”
My words ring with truth—at least in my own head—but then Audrey nods, confirming them even further. “I definitely don’t think I’m cut out for celebrity life.”
Well. Glad we’ve got that cleared up.
This will be fake dating andonlyfake dating.
Hooray for me.
“So you’ll do it?” I ask, and Audrey nods.
“I’ll do it.”
“For the squirrels?” I echo the qualifier she used when we first negotiated the terms of her research.
“For the squirrels,” she says. “But also…” She bites her lip, blue eyes blazing, and my heart climbs into my throat. “Also for you,” she finishes.
And those words carry me home.
Chapter Eleven
Audrey
I mean, it’s notlike I’ve never worn a swimsuit. But these very tiny scraps of fabric my sisters keep foisting on me are far,faroutside of my comfort zone.
I toss a magenta string bikini onto my bed. I’m not even willing to try that one on.
“What if I’m just hanging outbesidethe pool in a T-shirt?” I ask. “Or I’ll just wear this one.” I grab the very practical speedo I wore when I was in grad school and swam laps three times a week.
“That one gives you the worst uni-boob,” Summer says, yanking the suit out of my hands. “Please just try this one on. Once you see how good it looks, you won’t be protesting nearly as much.” She thrusts out her hands, the least offensive of the bikinis dangling from her fingers.
“Ohhh, yes. That one,” Lucy agrees. “The halter will look great with your shoulders.”
“And look at the butt.” Summer drops the top and holds up the bottoms. “There’s plenty of coverage.”
I sigh. We’ve been at this for half an hour already, and I’m supposed to leave to go to Flint’s in half that time. I took an entire afternoon off from work for this. I don’t have time to waste. “Fine,” I finally say. “I’ll try it on, but if it doesn’t look good, I’m wearing the Speedo, and there’s nothing either of you can do about it.”
“So help me, if you try and pose for a photo inthatold thing—”
I slam my bathroom door, cutting off the rest of Lucy’s sentence, and wiggle my way into the swimsuit. It’s been three days since I agreed to pose as Flint Hawthorne’s girlfriend. Three days since my sisters had the freakout of the century when I told them the reason Flint showed up at my door and offered me unfettered access to his property.
