Page 17 of Riding the Sugar High

“What, you think I almost got arrested so I could use them for breakfast?” He rolls his eyes. “This is a vegan farm. All the animals here are safe.”

Aveganfarm. That makes more sense.

“There could have been cameras.”

He shakes his head firmly. “No cameras.”

I exhale, propping my legs on the chair and hugging my knees. “What about the cab I took to Derek’s farm? I talked to the cab driver—he’d definitely be able to pick me out of a line-up.”

“I’ll take care of him. He’ll be sleeping with the fish come nighttime,” he says with a dramatically creepy voice.

Pretty sure that he’s joking, I rest my chin on my knees, but I can’t get rid of this weight pressing on my chest. If any of this gets out, I’m screwed, and knowing Derek, he’s probably itching to cry about it online.

“Relax, okay? This is a small town, and people know how Derek and I feel about each other, so they’ll pin last night on me.” He takes a sip of his tea. “And besides, any cab driver would look at you and think you’re more likely to water someone’s flowers than set anything on fire.”

I guess a short, blond, chubby woman isn’t exactly the typical criminal profile people look for. “But Derek! If he finds me here?—”

“Look, Primrose. You know the policewoman from tonight?”

“Josie?” When he nods, I ask, “Is she your ex-wife?”

He scoffs and shakes his head. “Where the hell did you get that from?”

“Yeesh,” I say with wide eyes. “Forget I said anything.”

“She’s my sister-in-law. She won’t let that interfere with her work, but she’s also not exactly out for blood.” He pushes my mug closer as if to invite me to drink. “So it’s in our best interest to do what she says, carry on the way she expects two people madly in love would, and hope this doesn’t reach her bosses.”

“So what, I should stay here indefinitely?” I ask before blowing on the hot tea.

“No, thank you.” He hums, tilting his head. “Maybe a couple of weeks.”

“A couple ofweeks?”

“Well, I wasn’t the one to tell her we were starting a family together, was I?” He narrows his eyes at me. “And I’m not exactly thrilled at the idea of you sticking around either.”

“This isn’t my fault. You had the stupid idea of pretending we were...” I gesture wildly, and his hooded, tired eyes follow the movement of my hand.

“Except it worked.”

“Worked?” I shriek. This guy is unbelievable, isn’t he? “That’swhy she asked if we were together, Logan. What was I supposed to say?”

“Plenty of things. Like that we met at the bar and you came back to mine to have your ass fucked.” He shrugs. “Which, by the way, is much more credible than you being a dominant kicker.”

Heat moving to the tips of my ears, I take my cup into both hands and raise it to cover my face—anything to avoid looking him in the eyes. “God, you’re so vulgar! I don’t...dothat,” I hiss. “And besides, how are we supposed to convince anyone we’re together? Look at us.”

Though he cocks a brow, he doesn’t say a thing, and with a sigh, I drop my head.

“Give it a couple of weeks,” he insists. “That’ll be enough for them to exhaust any lead. And enough for Josie to believe you’re my long-distance girlfriend who came to visit.” He levels me with an unimpressed stare. “Do this for me, and I promise I won’t let anything happen to you. Iswearit.”

I guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I?

“Fine,” I agree, his shoulders relaxing instantly. “But I’ll need to be back home in twenty days—I’m starting a new job.”

“In twenty days, we won’t even remember each other’s names.”

How nice of him. “And we’ll need rules,” I continue.

“Rules? What rules?”