Page 12 of The Wedding Hoax

“I’ll see you at dinner, my lovely fiancée!” I offered her a quick wave, then turned my attention to my laptop, already pulling up a contract template.

5

SIMONE

I was wearing a little black dress in the back of a big black SUV.

Harry was sitting right next to me, wearing all black, too. It was almost like we’d coordinated our outfits, like we were the kind of couple who spent time organizing our closets together.

Good.

The more it looked like we were really a couple, the better.

“You wanted to major in philosophy in college?” I asked, scrolling through Harry’s getting-to-know-him cheat sheet. “That’s surprising.”

“Wanted to but didn’t.” He shrugged. “I thought that learning about great thinkers would turn me into one, but I quickly discovered that hearing about Plato just made me desperate for a nap.”

I laughed as I kept scrolling. “You used to live in New York?”

“NYU. It’s where I got my master’s in business.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t go to an Ivy.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just assumed all rich people went to Ivies?”

“Columbia waitlisted me,” he admitted with a grin. “You’re right. I very much wanted to go to an Ivy. But I didn’t want to wait another year to get started with grad school, either.”

“Too much partying in undergrad, huh?”

“Better than always playing it safe, Ms. Goody Two-Shoes.” He playfully quirked an eyebrow in my direction. “What about you? What are some things I need to know before dinner?”

“Nothing much. I already told you about my mom.”

“But what about you, Simone? What do I need to know about you?”

“I really like my job and hope this whole contract thing doesn’t negatively affect it?”

“Why are you doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Keeping me at arm’s length,” he replied. “Keeping me all the way out.”

“Honestly? There’s just not much to know. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. Not the rich part, obviously.” I lightly chuckled. “But it was still nice. I’ve always wanted to get into writing but I didn’t know how. Before I started working for you, I was stuck in office job after office job. Mostly customer service.”

“And then Taylor brought you to me.”

“There you go. You’ve got the whole story.” I sighed. “Stability’s always mattered more to me than following my dreams. So, it’s nice being able to do something that feels like it’s just for me.”

“Finally. Something real.” He smiled. “Something about you.”

I rolled my eyes even though I felt my heart suddenly racing behind my chest. He seemed more handsome than usual tonight, his black dress shirt outlining his muscular arms. It didn’t help that we were in such close proximity that I couldn’t get away from his scent, no matter how much I tried.

I was absolutely surrounded by Harry O’Donnell, in the very best and the very worst way.

“We should get our story straight, about how we met,” he continued. “Do we want to go with the coffee shop story?”

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