Page 16 of Accidental Mile High Daddy

The answering silence was deafening.

She looked down, then away, her breathing shaky and her fingers twitching like she needed to either throw something or tear it in two. Even frustrated, she looked striking enough to make a grown man drop to his knees.

“I get it,” I said carefully, sitting back again in my chair. “You feel played. But I wasn’t playing.”

Her eyes flicked to mine again, but there was something unreadable in them. Not softness, but somethingconfused. Somethingconflicted.

I could work with that.

But she started to shut it down before I could even mention it.

“I’m not doing this again,” she said, her voice breathy as she took a single step back. And then another. “Whatever this is. I’ve seen this movie, the ending fucking sucks.”

I didn’t move.

I didn’t reach for her.

Just held her gaze steady as she took one more step back, and then opened my mouth.

“Ryan’s marrying her,” I said.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

“I’m sorry,” I said. I meant it. “I assume you didn’t know.”

Her mouth pressed into a thin line as she stared at me, the heaviness sinking in. “He’s marrying Lauren?” she asked. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“I wish I were.”

“Wow,” she said, almost nodding to herself. “Well, I hope they get gifted matching toasters and trip into a full bathtub holding hands.”

I let out a quiet breath of laughter. “That’s disturbingly specific.”

She looked off into the distance, those gears whirring again, her mouth locked tight. Then took a step toward me. “Why would you tell me that, Matt?”

I blinked. “Because you deserve to know.”

“No,” she snapped. “No, you don’t get to sit there like some noble, morally grey antihero who drops information like that because hecares. That doesn’t make sense. You don’t know me, you don’t owe me anything.”

“You’re right. I don’t.”

“Thenwhy?”

“Because I have a proposition,” I said, my lips twitching up at the corner. “One that benefits us both.”

“If you’re about to offer anotherdistraction?—”

“I’m not,” I said casually, motioning for the seat across from me again. She still didn’t take it, but she took another step forward. “I want you to come with me to the wedding.”

That step she’d taken was immediately reversed as she recoiled. “What?”

“Be my date. Officially, publicly, whatever the hell you want to call it. You and me, front, and center, on their day.”

She stared at me like I’d started speaking another language that didn’t exist. “You’re joking.”

“I’m not,” I smirked.

“You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend in front ofRyan.”