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I stared at the streetlight through the fluttering leaves of my oak tree. “I’m not really a fan of guys calling women bitches, but in this case, she really is. What did you ever see in her?”

Rex let out a little laugh. “I don’t know. She wasn’t that bad when we were together. We gravitated toward each other because we were both at transition points in our lives, living in town, wondering what we were doing. We were young.”

“Well, you dodged a bullet,” I said, wishing I had been as lucky with my ex. If he’d been honest about wanting to be with other women when we were dating, I wouldn’t have caught him cheating after years of marriage and trying to keep him happy. Maybe it was my fault for not being enough to keep him loyal. Maybe I shouldn’t have wanted him to be someone he wasn’t.

After all, wasn’t that what I’d always wanted? To be anything but the girl who always screws everything up?

“Yes, I dodged a nuke. And just so you know, you’re a way better fake girlfriend than she was a real one.” Rex placed his hand over mine, the warmth of his skin racing up my arm. All of those sexy Rexy thoughts that had been floating in my mind began to solidify. I sucked in a stiff breath and our eyes met. But he was Rex Montgomery. My brother’s best friend. My fake boyfriend. The guy to whom I owed a huge favor.

Not included in that list? Rex Montgomery: appropriate dating prospect, man who would tolerate me for longer than a week, or the guy who was going to save me from myself.

Being attracted to him—and feeling a rush of closeness when he flew to my defense earlier—was just the other side of the same old coin. I had a chance to get out of a sticky situation with jail and my brother, and I was going to mess it all up by falling for him.

The only way I knew how to get out of this mess was to put my walls all the way back up.

“Even though I’m too busy to makemy mandinner?” I joked, taking my hand back and willing my racing heart to slow down.

Rex smiled and looked into my eyes. “I happen to like pizza for dinner. And I can’t cook for shit, either, so I can’t exactly expect my woman to do it.”

“Score one for the hostess with the mostess,” I said, pumping my fist and patently ignoring how thrilling it was for Rex to call me his woman.

Rex leaned back, chuckling, and slung his arm across the back of the swing. I fought the urge to scoot closer,and we listened to the crickets and the squeaking of my swing until I let out a long sigh.

Rex, reading me like a book, glanced over at me. “Ready to go back in?”

“As I’ll ever be,” I said, taking the hand he extended to help me up.

NINE

REX

We re-enteredthe house and found that Blair and Donny had disappeared into their room. I watched Abigail let out a sigh of relief as we stepped into the empty kitchen, then helped her tuck the leftovers into the refrigerator.

When we stepped back into the hallway, we both paused. Rhythmic squeaking sounded faintly from one of the rooms.

“Is that…?” Abigail frowned, creeping forward toward the guest room door where I’d dropped Donny’s and Blair’s things.

I grimaced as a familiar moan floated through the air. “Yep,” I said.

Abigail’s face was horrified, and she tiptoed past the door to shoot up the stairs. I wasn’t too far behind, trying not to think about the fact that my brother and Blair were doing the deed in the next room…and that Abigail and I would be sharing a room all night long.

While I grabbed a toothbrush from my bag, Abigail disappeared down the hall and came back a few minutes later withpillows and blankets she unceremoniously dumped in the middle of her bedroom floor.

She looked at the brush in my hand.. “Um, remember when I told Gabe that my bathroom sink was clogged?”

“Yeah…”

“That wasn’t actually a lie. I’ve been using the bath faucet.”

I arched a brow. “Aren’t you a real estate professional?”

“Does that sound like ‘plumber’ to you?” she sassed, fluffing the pillows on her bed as she shot me a glare over her shoulder.

Ignoring the way her spine curved down to a shapely ass, I huffed and went to do my thing in the bathroom. When I returned, there was a nest of blankets on the floor for me, and Abigail had let the cat out of the room.

While she disappeared to do whatever it was women did in the bathroom before bed, I got into my sleep pants, took off my shirt, and lay down. Not themostuncomfortable place I’d ever rested my head, but it wasn’t a five-star hotel, either. I caught a whiff of something. Ugh. What was that?

Before I could inspect further, Abigail came back into the bedroom. She’d changed out of the loose jeans and tight tee combo she’d had on before. Now she wore tiny silk shorts trimmed in pink lace and a matching silk camisole. I just about choked.