Page 49 of The Wedding Hoax

“You want to hear this. Trust me,” Taylor said. “So, everyone at work already knew about the weird arrangement Harry had with his family, the whole needing to be married by his fortieth birthday thing.”

“And?”

“And we’ve all seen the honeymoon pics on social media. No one in the office can tell if you two got married just to fulfill an obligation to his family or if it’s some kind of Cinderella story.”

“How is that good news?”

“It’s good news because it means that no one can tell if it’s real or fake. Looking from the outside, it seems like it’s real between you two. Which makes me wonder if you’re not the only one starting to feel something real.”

“I just wish I knew if he was feeling it, too.” I groaned. “And I’m starting to feel like an idiot for jumping into this whole thing, anyway. It would be so much easier if we were just dating like normal people.”

“If you were dating like normal people, you wouldn’t be together.” Taylor reminded me. “Besides, it’s possible that you’re just inhaling too many of Harry’s pheromones. You two are around each other too much. Maybe you don’t even like him. You just like the way he smells.”

“Sounds primal.”

“I just don’t want you to forget that you used to think Harry was a total dick.” She laughed. “Seriously. If this doesn’t work out, I don’t want you moping around. It’s not like it was love at first sight or something.”

“You’re right. I’ll make sure to keep my moping to a minimum.” I laughed now, too. “Thanks for the reminder, Taylor.”

“Anytime, babe.” Taylor chuckled again. “Now, get some sleep, okay? Don’t stay up all night being worried over some guy.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m headed off to dreamland now. Night, Taylor.”

“Night, babe!”

I ended the phone call with a smile on my face, even as I tossed and turned throughout the rest of the night. I still couldn’t get to sleep, and worse, I was breaking my promise to Taylor.

Because I was definitely staying up all night worried over some guy.

19

HARRY

I didn’t know why I went to Simone’s room last night.

It was almost like a compulsion, like I knew that was where I was supposed to be. I couldn’t even say that it was about sex, although as soon as I saw her, every part of me wanted her.

But it was more than sex.

What I wanted most of all was to be with her, cuddled up against her, feeling her soft skin and breathing in her scent.

Shit.

Sliding into her bed was starting to feel way too natural to me.

What’s going on with me lately?

The whole thing had been embarrassing, especially since I’d mostly just stood there staring at her like an idiot. The fact that I almost kissed her made things even worse, like I was flip-flopping in real time.

“Good morning!” Simone beamed as she greeted me in the kitchen. “Did you sleep well last night?”

“I slept pretty good, yeah,” I lied. I didn’t feel like explaining to her that I’d struggled to get to sleep last night after my strange visit to her bedroom. “How about you?”

“I slept pretty good, too.” She beamed again. “I’m kind of excited, actually, about Mom’s doctor’s appointment. She’s never had hope like this before, with the potential surgery. I think it could be really good if everything works out.”

“Did you want me to come with you?”

“Nope. I got it.” She nodded. “It’s not my first rodeo with doctors. Oh, you remembered to take me off the schedule for this morning, right?”

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