Page 82 of Faking I Do
“Of course not. It’s just, it wouldn’t be fair to her to have her sit around the house all day waiting for me. I’m gone so much.”
“What if she came to work with me?”
“What do you mean?”
“She could be an ambassador for For Pitties’ Sake. Maybe when people come to the house for an event, she could greet them. If she makes a good impression, then maybe we can find homes for some of the other dogs.”
“You know, you might be onto something.” I knelt down next to the pup. “You want to go to work with Lacey every day?”
Shotgun nudged her nose under my hand.
“I could keep her during the day and you could take her home at night,” Lacey suggested. “Just like?—”
“Shared custody,” I said.
“I suppose so.”
Weird. I had gone from being single to engaged and sharing custody with Lacey in less than two months. I waited for the panic to seize me, for my gut to clench or my throat to close. It didn’t happen. Maybe it was because the gig was almost up. In just a few weeks I’d be faking I do with my best friend’s little sister. That thought put me on the edge of a panic attack. But not—I realized—because I’d be fake-marrying Lacey. Because after that I wouldn’t have a reason to see her on a regular basis. I’d have to pull that thought out later and mull it over. Now I needed to turn on the charm for the chat with the reporter.
“Want to finish showing me around?” I stood, Shotgun’s leash back in my hand.
“Sure. Follow me.” Lacey led me up the stairs to the bedrooms. They’d turned one into a bride’s dressing room, made another into a small conference room, and kept two of the rooms as bedrooms.
“So you’re going to rent rooms out overnight?” I asked.
“I’m not sure yet. There’s been talk of running some kind of bed-and-breakfast when there isn’t a wedding scheduled. This lets us keep our options open.”
I noted the little touches of Lacey that appeared everywhere. Fancy soaps by the sinks, flowers on all the tables, and the light scent of fresh-baked cookies that seemed to linger everywhere we went.
“How did you do it?” I asked as I climbed the stairs to the third floor, coming up behind her.
“I told you, everyone pitched in.” She turned to face me as she neared the top. “You’d be surprised at how everyone’s coming together. I think I finally got to them.”
I stopped on the narrow staircase, two steps below her. My eyes lined up with her chest.
“Bodie?”
“Yeah?” Reluctantly, I pulled my gaze away from the V neck shirt she had on. My hands itched to feel her soft skin under my fingers.
“You okay?”
What a loaded question. No, I wasn’t okay. I had just a few days left to get the cash to Buck before everything I’d been working so hard to save came crashing down around me. Not to mention the upcoming wedding. I had gone a week without seeing her and I felt like my heart had been ripped out and stepped on. What was going to happen when I had to stand in front of the entire town and pledge to love her till death do us part, knowing I’d never get to kiss her again?
“Yeah. Just have a lot going on.” I wiped a hand over my chin. A few more weeks. I could handle that.
“How’s the investigation going? Find out anything new?” Concern creased her forehead. The kindness in her eyes slayed me.
“Um, getting close.”
“But no cigar, eh?” She giggled. “Sorry, that wasn’t funny but I couldn’t resist.”
I shook my head, grateful for the poor attempt at humor for lightening the situation. “So what’s up here?”
She climbed the rest of the steps with me behind her. It took everything I had to not plant my palm on the curve of her gorgeous ass as I followed her.
“Potential living quarters. We might need a groundskeeper or event manager to move in if things get really busy.” The hope in her eyes made me wish I could come clean with her, warn her about the threat of Buck exposing her arrest. No. I’d have to eliminate that threat on my own. Tonight. I’d sneak back after dark and see if I could find my granddad’s stash. Anything to keep Lacey’s world from falling apart.
“You’ve done an amazing job.” I reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.
