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The minute she was out of his sight, she stopped and braced her hands on the back of the couch. What the heck had she just proposed? The idea of being engaged made her whole body go into flight mode. Her heart was racing, and she felt panic clogging her throat.
She'd find another way?—
Her phone rang, and she looked down. It was April again.Shit.She put the phone into voicemail and pressed her palms to her forehead. If April was still at the French Quarter, then she'd just tried to call Piper in front of her friends. It was great to know that April was crowd-sourcing her firing of Piper.
"Piper."
She whirled around to see Declan in the doorway, his shoulder propped against the frame. "What?"
"I'll do it."
She stared at him in surprise. "Really?"
"Yeah. I can't deal with my mom sending women after me. This deal with you gets me freedom without me having to actually date anyone."
Her heart started racing. Fear? Hope? Maybe some of both. "You're serious."
"I am. We both get something out of it. What do you think?"
She took a shaky breath. "Honestly, I have some issues when it comes to getting engaged. Dating. Anything that ties me down. People."
He grinned. "I do, too. Makes us a perfect match."
"I guess." She studied him, his strong jaw, his blue eyes, his muscled shoulders. He was such a compelling man. So attractive. He could have almost any woman he wanted, and yet, he was so unwilling to date that he wanted to get fake engaged to avoid it. "You might be more averse to dating than I am," she mused.
"Maybe," he said. "So, here's the deal. You need to rebuild your reputation, so I'll agree to playing the role of your fiancé in whatever way you need to achieve that. I need to get my mom off my back, so you agree to help me with that. Three weeks, and then we break up, in a way that's mutually beneficial to both of our goals. What do you say?"
"Why three weeks?"
He took a breath. "I'm probably going back to work at that time. I won't have time to go off and do parties."
Three weeks to rehab her reputation? She could handle being fake engaged for a few weeks, and then she'd be free again. "This is insane."
"But brilliant."
She couldn't help but grin. "It kind of is," she admitted. God, what if it worked? The first glimpse of hope she'd had in a long time glimmered in her heart. "It might work," she said softly.
"It will work," he said. "We'll make sure of it." He held out his hand. "Deal?"
Was she really doing this? She wanted to, she realized. She'd fought so hard to get where she was, and if she didn't take this deal, she'd lose everything she'd spent her life working toward, everything she'd done to make her mom's dreams come true. "Dating in name only. No actual emotional attachments. At any time, one of us can pull the plug, and it's over."
He nodded. "Deal. We both have a fast-exit option."
"And a gag order. No telling anyone. Ever."
"Absolutely."
They stared at each other, and then suddenly she let her breath out. "Okay. Let's do it." She stuck out her hand. "Deal."
He shook it, his larger, strong hand wrapping around hers like a great warmth. "Deal."
She let out her breath, excitement dancing inside her. "So, what's the first step?"
Wickedness flickered in his eyes. "We get caught in bed by my mom."
CHAPTER FIVE
Declan almost laughed at the look of alarm on Piper's face.
