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He flashed a smile at me, looking cool and unbothered in his aviators and black tee, with that old scar on his brow arching above his shades. He looked exactly like the kind of guy who loved ruining a girl’s life. And by “a girl,” of course, I meant me.

My stomach tightened. Uh-oh.

TWO

REX

When a womanlike Abigail Stone owed you a favor, the terms couldn’t be that cut and dry. She was feisty, strong-willed, and, at times, defiant. Yeah, she owed me one, and I knew she was desperate to keep her tire-slashing arrest from her brother.

In any case, her cooperation was a huge relief because I hadn’t been totally honest with her about what I told Donny.Thatconversation had been a nightmare of my own making. Turns out, making up a fake girlfriend on the fly makes me break out in a cold sweat and blurt out things I have no business saying out loud.

Abigail wasn’t exactly an ideal choice of pretend girlfriend, seeing as she was my best friend’s younger sister. And when it came to his little sister, Gabe was like a ferocious guard dog who bared his teeth at any guy who got near her. I was surprised when Abigail married Travis. Surprised that Gabe was okay with it. Surprised thatthatwas who Abigail had chosen. But what did I know?

I still had no idea how I was going to tell Gabe about this whole thing. How could I explain it without spilling the beans about her arrest?

I was the guy who kept everyone on the straight and narrow. Setting up some scheme with a fake girlfriend wasn’t in my wheelhouse. But it was definitely in Abigail’s.

As if she could read my mind—and the fact that I was completely out of my depth—Abigail glanced at me from the passenger seat and asked, “So, how’s this going to work exactly?”

“I’m thinking we don’t need to make a big deal out of it. Donny and Blair will be here in a few days. They’re going to be tied up with all of the last-minute wedding preparations. You’ll come with me to the rehearsal dinner on Friday and the wedding on Saturday. We pretend to be a happy couple and by Sunday, they’ll be off to Tahiti for their honeymoon. Simple.” Hopefully.

“Two dates? I thought you said I only needed to come to the wedding,” she hedged, and I sensed a negotiation coming. Now there was the Abigail I knew.

Despite myself, the corners of my lips kicked. “You know how weddings are. It’s not just one day, it’s a whole weekend. And two dates isn’t even an entire weekend, so you’re getting off easy.”

“You’re asking a lot for someone who needs to blackmail a girl into being their date for the weekend.”

“I’m not the one who went on a crime spree during the biggest night of the year in town.”

“A crime spree!”

I bit back a smile at her outrage. Getting a reaction out of Abigailwas too easy. Ticking the items off my fingers, I said, “Pulling a fire alarm without due cause?—”

“I smelled smoke! And who said it was me that pulled the alarm in the first place?”

“—carrying a switchblade?—”

“For my own self-defense, thank you very much.”

“—property damage, including but not limited to slashing of a certain Maserati’s tires.”

“Which he thoroughly deserved for being a lying scumbag.”

“How would that argument hold up in court?”

“So you’re a lawyer now?” she shot back with a razor-sharp edge like I hit a nerve. How could I forget; her ex-husband was an attorney. The last thing I wanted was to remind her of that jerk.

I threw my palms up. “Two dates seems like a fair trade, is all I’m saying.”

“Two dates,” Abigail repeated. Her reluctantly conceding scowl made me want to grin. Why did it make me want to grin? I shouldn’t have been enjoying myself this much. Even being in this truck, talking to Abigail like this, made me feel like I was on thin ice with Gabe.

“Why’s Donny getting married at the botanical gardens, anyway? Doesn’t he have a gazillion dollars? He can afford something nicer.”

I huffed. Donny spent money like it was going out of style. I could see the way he and Blair lived, and it didn’t exactly compute with Donny being injured for most of his NFL career. I was pretty sure my little brother was teetering on the edge of flat broke, with his soon-to-be wife’sinternet career propping them up. But I didn’t want to say that to Abigail, so I replied, “Maybe he’s sentimental.”

She gave me a flat look and said, “Fine.” Abigail folded her arms and gazed out the windshield. That was something I liked about her: as unruly as she could be, she was always herself. Unapologetically. I wished I could be like that sometimes. It felt damn near impossible to show up as anything other than New Elwood’s fire-safety do-gooder.

“So what about after the wedding? This is a small town. Don’t you think folks will talk if we act like a couple?”