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“What do you think about hikes?” Miles asked out of nowhere.
I glanced at him over my shoulder. He was back to relaxing against the deck rail. “I go for a hike at least once a week.”
“Want to go on one tomorrow?”
I turned fully to face him. I knew what this was. He was trying to distract me, and I was going to let him.
“With you?”
“Yeah. I invited myself along with Weston and his fiancée, Elise. If you come too, I won’t be the dreaded third wheel and we can practice.”
“Practice what?”
His eyes rounded. “Being boyfriend and girlfriend, obviously. We have to make sure our relationship is convincing.”
“You want to fake it with your brother?”
“I do. Chances are, he’ll be at some of the same events we go to. I can’t have Westie blowing our cover.”
“I suppose I could go for a hike tomorrow. If it’s awkward or obvious they don’t want me there, I’m going to slap you on your gunshot wound.”
A wide grin spread across his too-attractive face. “Wow, you went from concerned to malicious at the drop of a hat. My mercurial little Cupcake.”
I stopped my eyes from rolling, but just barely. “Do you think we could spend some time talking about Grazing? You know, the reason we’re doing this in the first place?”
“Absolutely.” He straightened, going from relaxed to business in an instant. “Tell me what you’ve been working on.”
For the next hour or so, I showed Miles the website I’d been building, along with new branded socials. He had suggestions for elements to add, and created rough drafts of graphics he thought I needed on the fly. We bounced ideas off each other as easily as old coworkers. His enthusiasm bled onto me. My usual pessimism was brightened by his relentless positivity. We might’ve been faking our relationship, but this was real. I didn't think it had truly hit me until that moment. Grazing was actually happening.
I was terrified. If not for Miles, I might have cut and run, but he never would have let me. He would’ve lassoed me by the ankles and done that dangling thing he’d threatened.
We worked for a while longer, then Miles tried to rope me into more renovation, and I packed up my computer as quickly as I could.
It wasn’t until Miles had shown me out, the door clicking behind me, that something else hit me.
Miles never told me what the lie was.
Chapter Fourteen
Miles
Weston was annoyed with me.
Nothing new about that.
“What were you thinking?” Weston shoveled his overgrown flop of hair off his forehead. “You can’t believe either of us want to spend the next four hours with a random woman you met when you hired her for a lap dance or wherever you’re finding them these days.”
The thing about me was I liked to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. I’d sprung Daisy on Weston and Elise when I’d pulled into the parking lot at the base of our hike. I’d been so thoughtful, I’d told Daisy to come fifteen minutes later than the real meeting time so I could get the conversation out of the way before she arrived.
If she’d heard Weston calling her a random stripper, I might not have let it roll off my back so easily.
My brother was almost four years older, and while I’d always looked up to him, he could be a gigantic, stubborn dick. It was his way or the highway. The only person he bent for was his fiancée, Elise, and that was because he’d lose her if he didn’t. He almost had once, and I’d been there to tell him how stupid he was.
“Say whatever you want about me, but Daisy is off-limits. If you’d paused a fucking second, I would have told you I’d met her at work. She’s starting a business I’m helping her with, and we hit it off.” I stepped into his space. “You’ll be nice to her, or I’ll hire some of those strippers for your bachelor party and tell Lisie it was your idea.”
Weston raised his hands and backed up. “All right. I’m prepared to be wrong, but it’s still a dick move not to forewarn us.”
Elise laid a hand on my brother’s arm. “It’s unexpected, but certainly not unwanted.” She flashed a dimple at Weston, and he instantly relaxed.
