Page 18

I shot a look at Winston, who licked his paws and couldn’t be bothered to say hello. “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?”

She looked up at the aloof cat. “C’mon,Winston. I brought a friend here to meet you.” The tuxedo cat completely ignored her calls for attention. All he cared about was being out of that cage. Come to think of it, if I were him, I’d be cranky too.

“Speaking of meeting friends, Sophie and I wanted to ask you about last night,” Charlie started, and I flicked cautious glances to each of them.

My tongue went dry. “What about last night?”

“Rex Montgomery showing up at your house,” Charlie said.

Now my heart was really racing. Knowing my friends, who knew me better than anyone, they smelled something. And it wasn’t cat pee. I gulped hard. “What about it?”

“Just seemed a little strange is all,” Sophie chimed in. “We get he’s your client, but what was so important that he had to come over unannounced? Couldn’t you do the whole property thing over the phone?”

Oh, you know. Only that his meathead brother forgot to book the hotel for his own destination wedding, and now I had to play hostessandgirlfriend. And if I didn’t, my brother would treat me like a failure forever.

But I didn’t say any of that.

Instead, I just shrugged. “Nothing. I think he just likes to do business in person.”

“Do business or dothebusiness?” Charlie pressed and wiggled her brows.

I scoffed. What she was suggesting was utterly ridiculous. Yes, I’d felt some spark of attraction for Rex recently. But I was probably ovulating, or something. It wasn’t real.

I played it off with a wave of my hand. “What? You’re nuts.”

“I don’t know. I think the firemarshal has a little crush on you. I saw the way he was smiling at you when he came in. It was so obvious.”

Maybe he was smiling at me in an unusual way. But it had to be because of our deal. Nothing else. Right?

“Charlie, I’m potentially about to adopt a cat. I don’t have the bandwidth to even consider what you’re suggesting.” And that was the truth.

Her eyes narrowed as she pointed an accusatory finger in my face. “Okay, now I know you’re lying. Spill it, Abigail Stone!”

I swallowed hard and glanced at sweet Sophie for support, but her crossed arms and pursed mouth told me she was with Charlie on this one. Shit. So much for keeping this quiet.

After peeking over my left and right shoulders, and assuming the cats wouldn’t repeat anything, I leaned forward. “Okay, I’m going to tell you, but you cannot say a word to anyone.” My severe gaze met Charlie’s. “Not even Sebastian. Especially not Sebastian.”

She threw her hands up. “Okay, just because we’re getting married doesn’t mean I’m abandoning the girl code.”

“Okay, good.” I wasn’t sure why that made me feel a lot better about everything. “So, you know how Donny Montgomery’s getting married here this weekend?”

“Yeah…” they drew out.

“Well, apparently Rex dated the bride before she hooked up with Donny.”

“Rex dated Blair Hollins before Donny? How did I not know this?” Sophie said, and we shot her a look. “What? I follow her on social.”

“Anyway,” I continued. “To show his brother he’d moved onfrom the past, Rex lied about having a girlfriend to bring to the wedding. So he asked me to play the part.”

Charlie and Sophie gasped.

“Where is the damn popcorn? This is better than this season ofTheBachelor!” Charlie said.

“A fake date, huh? Are you sure it’s not just his backwards way of asking you out for real?” Sophie asked.

I considered the idea for a moment, and my stomach fluttered. I couldn’t imagine anyone going to such lengths just to ask me out. So I replied with a hard, “No. But now you can see why this cannot leave this room.”

“I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell us,” Charlie said.