Page 10 of Love on Deck

My stomach churned. “Thanks.”

When the door closed behind them, Jack and I remained frozen for a little while, listening to the voices trail down the hall.

“It looked like Sydney couldn’t even wait until they left the lobby to spill the news,” Jack said, his arms still around me.

I stepped out of his hold, his fingers dragging over my waist while I put distance between us. “Didn’t she say she sent them ahead to the club? It looks like she lied about more than just leaving her phone behind.”

“Sounds accurate,” he muttered. He ran a hand through his messy brown hair and dropped on the edge of the bed. A bright green spot marred the tip of his nose, and I suppressed a laugh. “What?” he asked.

I fetched a washcloth and got it damp with warm water, then handed it to him. “You have a little something on your nose.”

“You have a little something all over your face.” He wiped his nose, then handed me the washcloth.

I tossed it on the table. “I’ll get it later. We need to talk about this now.”

“Talk about what?”

“Us! You’ve roped my sister into it now. I don’t lie to her.” As the adult figure in her life, it was a point of pride for me that I straddled the big sister and mom lines for Amelia so well. Honesty was a huge part of what made that successful.

“Don’t think of it as a lie, then. You saw how relieved she was to see us together.”

“Yeah, heaven knows why.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Less contention, clearly.”

Was he joking? This was a nightmare dropped on us by the romcom gods so... what? We could suffer? I didn’t deserve to be punished like this. “You sound like you actually want to pretend to date for the whole week.”

“I do. What’s the worst that can happen? Your sister is happy and I get to keep Sydney off my back. It’s only seven days. Then we can part ways and never see each other again.”

“Except your best friend is about to become my brother-in-law. I’m thinking this isn’t the last time we’ll be forced to interact.”

“You’re already really good at hating me. I don’t think we’ll need to worry about being believable exes.”

He had a point there. But still. There was no reason for me to participate. “I can fix this. I’ll just tell Amelia the truth. When I explain what happened in the hall, she’ll get the whole misunderstanding.”

“Oh, come on. Help a guy out? Sydney is freaking relentless. I broke up with her after a few weeks and she’s never gotten over it. You’d think we were together for years by the way she acts.”

So Sydney wasn’t just into him... she’d dated him. That was different, but he still seemed a little desperate. “Then maybe when she comes onto you, you should tell her no.” I got a fresh washcloth, rinsing it and wiping the green goop from my face. I scrubbed it away using all my pent-up energy until my skin was red and raw. I removed the towel from my head, ran my fingers through my wet hair and flipped my head back. When I looked back at Jack, he was staring.

“Okay, I know I look ridiculous, but you don’t have to stare.”

He swallowed. “I just didn’t expect your hair to be so... much longer.”

Weird. Why had he even been thinking about my hair? It was perfectly mid-length, too. Most people wouldn’t call it long unless they were comparing it to a pixie cut. I shook it out and crossed my arms over my chest. “Why are you still here, anyway?”

“Because I’m trying to convince you to be my girlfriend for a week. I’ll pay you.”

“I don’t want your money.”

A grin spread over his lips. “I’ll pay you in favors.”

I flushed. “I don’t want anything from you.”

“Come on, Lauren. There has to be something I can give you.”

“There’s not. I really can’t do this, Jack. I’m not a good liar. I’d give us away so fast, it’s not even worth trying.”

He stood up and dipped his head, holding my gaze. “Give me a day.”

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