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“Why are we here?”
She looked up at him now, meeting his eyes. They were surprisingly soft.
“I don’t know. I had to get out of there. I was feeling claustrophobic.”
He nodded. “Right. And naturally you thought cramming the two of us into a room the size of a hamster cage would be the best way to fix that.” He grinned, his eyes twinkling, but he never took them off hers.
Her heart rate picked up again.
“I need to calm down. Say things to calm me down.”
“Okay . . . Well, let’s see. How about my family are idiots? And my brother is an idiot. In fact, I think the two of us should go elope just to rub it in his idiot face. And also, you’re much better off without him. Because he’s an idiot.”
She gave a little laugh and leaned back against the sink. “He’s not, though.”
Ryder scowled. “Agree to disagree.”
“He is suspicious, which isn’t helping. And overprotective—”
“Which he has no right being.”
“Which is sweet.” He eyed her skeptically, so she added, “In a way.” She sighed. “I just . . . I didn’t anticipate how hard this was going to be. Coming back here, still being part of the family, but you know . . . not.”
“Welcome to my world,” he said ruefully, and she instantly regretted what she’d said. She felt a pang of sadness for him, oddly mixed with a kind of kinship.
“When we agreed to our plan,” she said, “I was thinking about the press, the public. What everyone on the outside would see. I didn’t necessarily think about what that would mean we—I—would have to do in order to pull off that illusion. And I certainly wasn’t prepared to sit around the dinner table making polite conversation about wedding venues.”
“Hey, now. You didn’t know all this wedding stuff was going to happen. Your plan was a perfectly reasonable fake relationship scheme.”
“Why do I feel like you’re mocking me?”
He flashed a guilty smile. “Only just a little.”
And strangely, somehow, this made her feel a tiny bit better. Suddenly she could think straight again.
“Okay. Okay. This is what we’re going to do,” she announced. “We’ll stick with the original plan. Except we’ll need to keep it going just a little longer—wait until a week or two after the engagement party so we don’t become the story and steal the spotlight from the happy couple. Then we’ll break up in as boring a way possible and go back to our regular lives. In the meantime, we’ll make excuses to avoid as many future family gatherings as we possibly can. Work for you?”
He blinked at her a few times. “Works for me.”
“Good. Me too.” She held out her hand to seal the deal.
He eyed her hand, looking for a second like he might make a snide comment. But in the end, he just took it and gave it a firm shake.
Before she could let go, though, the doorknob rattled. And then, because apparently it hadn’t occurred to either of them to lock it, it started to turn.
She panicked.
She tightened her grip, wrapping her fingers around his, and pulled him across the six inches between them so that she was now pressed tight between him and the sink counter. As the door swung open, she latched her lips onto his.
“OhmygodI’msosorry!” Sabrina blurted, immediately slamming the door shut again. But the sound receded into the background as Ryder’s warmth, musky smell, and general overpowering presence muddled her senses.
We can probably stop now, some distant part of her brain thought. Ryder leaned into her, intensifying the kiss, and another, louder part of her brain thought, Wow, he really is a good kisser.
There was a light rap at the door, and it opened again, just a crack. “Hey, though, I just wanted to say—you guys are so cute!” Sabrina whispered on the other side of the door. Then it shut again with a quiet click. Light footsteps retreated in the hall.
She and Ryder pulled apart, just enough to make eye contact. She felt him begin to shake with silent laughter, gently at first, but soon he could hardly contain himself. And neither could she.
He rested his forehead against hers, and they stood there pressed up against the sink in the tiny bathroom, laughing together.
