Page 25 of The Fake Out

“If it makes you feel any better, I told him not to do this. And I’m making him sleep on the couch,” my brother-in-law revealed.

I shoved my hands through my hair and brought it up into a ponytail. I didn’t want my issues to cause my brother and his husband to have marital problems. “Don’t do that on my account.”

“It’s not right,” Eddie argued.

“He’s a good artist. I get why he did it. I would’ve liked a warning.”

Eddie gave me a small smile that crooked into a wicked grin. “But, you and Blaise Holmstrom, huh? I thought you didn’t do relationships anymore?”

“He’s different,” I admitted.

Which wasn’t exactly a lie. Blaise was the hottest man I’d ever slept with, and that night with him last summer was the best sex I’d ever had. So good I hadn’t been interested in fucking anyone else since. Which was annoying.

Eddie gave me a calculating look. “He’s a smoke show. Good for you.”

I laughed. “Eds, I love you, but don’t hit on my boyfriend.”

He held up his hands. “Hey, you know your brother’s my one and only.”

“Don’t make him sleep on the couch, okay? I’ll deal.”

Eddie gave me a sad smile, and he went to open his mouth to say something else, but his face turned into a scowl at something behind me. I turned around and glared when I saw Seth standing in front of me.

“What do you want?” I seethed.

He wrung his hands. “Look, Lily thought this was inappropriate, but since you moved on and look happy, I wanted to give you this.”

Who is Lily?

I narrowed my eyes further when I watched him take something out of the pocket of his jeans and stretch his hand toward me. Against my better judgment, I took his offered card-stock postcard.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Seth O’Connell and Lily Mathews on Friday, November 6th

I stared at the piece of paper in my hands and then back at my ex-fiancé. He had to be joking. I didn’t know who this Lily person was, but she was right to say it was inappropriate to invite your ex-fiancée to your new wedding. Which was in a couple of weeks.

What the fuck!

“I understand if Blaise can’t come, but…”

I stopped listening to him. Oh, now I got it. He was only inviting me because he wanted a hockey player at his wedding. I continued to stare at the piece of shit I thought I loved and didn’t know how to respond. For the sake of the shop, I couldn’t punch him in the dick and walk out with my middle fingers in the air. No matter how much I wanted to do that.

“Sweets, you ready to go?” a deep voice asked, startling me.

I jerked my head up and saw Blaise standing in front of us. He stared into my eyes as if mentally asking me if I was okay. He must have seen the shocked look on my face because he plucked the invitation out of my hand and scanned it.

“I have to check my schedule,” he said.

Then he pocketed the invitation and leaned down to kiss me, not caring who saw. He was good at this fake dating thing. A little too good.

When he pulled away, his eyes sparkled, but they were also dark with desire. If we were really doing this thing, I had to lay down the ground rules. We couldn’t end up in bed again. It would make everything so much more complicated. But why did he have to be such a good kisser?

He pulled away and brushed a stray piece of hair from my face. “You good?” he asked.

I nodded and tried to catch my breath. “I need to wipe down my station first.”

“V, I’ll do it. Go be with your man,” Eddie said.

I gave him a small smile while Blaise helped me into my leather jacket and untucked my hair from underneath the collar. It was nice but unexpected. He threaded his hand through mine, and we walked out the door. Blaise didn’t let go of my hand when we walked past the shop, so I was the one to yank away.