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Mindy

“Mindy, you need to tell me all about him right now.” Mom stands next to me as the seamstress pins me into this dress.

And here comes the third degree. “What do you want to know?”

“How much is he worth?”

“Mom.”

“This is an important question. I need to know that he’ll be able to take care of you.”

Or you after your next divorce. “Mom, I can take care of myself.”

“With those silly little jobs of yours? Hardly. Now, how much is he worth?”

“I don’t know, at least a couple of million.” I shrug.

“Don’t move.” The seamstress pokes a pin into me.

I don’t make a sound.

“Can you make her waist a little smaller?”

“Mom.” My ribs are barely tolerating the corset as it is.

“You’re right. Take it in a full inch, and make sure to show some of her back.”

That won’t work. I can’t apply enough concealer to cover my whole back. You need a lie. A good lie. “Maddox doesn’t like it when I show too much skin. He gets jealous.”

Mom frowns. “Fine. Make sure she’s covered. You don’t want to make a man like that upset. Are you sleeping with him? What a silly question. Of course you are. No man would come to a family wedding otherwise.”

“Mom.”

“Don’t act like such a prude. You two didn’t act all lovey-dovey though. Was he upset about having to come here, because I can tell you—”

No. No. No. “Maddox and I are just fine. We don’t need any sex tips or tricks from you.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want your relationship to suffer. You should have a ring on your finger in the next few weeks. If you two start losing ground, I’ll have to step in. When we’re done here, we’ll meet with the wedding coordinator. She’s a lovely woman who doesn’t know how to say the word no. Percival wants me to have everything I desire.”

You mean, he wants you to have a wedding just as showy as this house. “That’s because he loves you.”

“He really does. Oh, that reminds me, you need to work on the prenup as soon as he pops the question. Make sure he provides a decent divorce settlement, including a bonus if he cheats.”

“Mom.”

“You know these things rarely last. They always cheat.”

Maddox would never cheat. He’s too honorable of a man to do that to a woman he said vows too.

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking you're any different. Men never last, but money does. You always ask for jewelry whenever he wants to give you a present. The bigger the better, but gold is always easy to sell. Remember that.”

“I haven’t forgotten.” If Maddox and I were really dating, I don’t think I’d ever let him buy me jewelry.

“She’s done.” The seamstress stands up.

“Good. Go get out of that dress quickly. We have to meet with the florist after the coordinator.”

The seamstress follows me back into the closet that we’re using as a changing room. She doesn’t make a face or a sound when she sees all the bruises or stitches on my body.

Most people cringe or at least react.

Nothing. She’s completely emotionless.

For some reason, I don’t find that at all comforting.

***

Mom stops outside of my door. “You get ready for dinner. It’s formal tonight. We’ll have the rehearsal right after that.”

I’m probably going to get lost trying to find my way to dinner. They need to have maps around this place. “I brought a formal dress.”

“Good. Tomorrow is going to be so much fun. I’m going to aim the bouquet at you.”

Yippee. “I’ll see you at dinner.” If I lie down immediately, I’ll have enough time for a short nap. Barb would be telling me about overexerting myself right about now. Actually, probably a few hours ago.

“Get that ring.”

I can’t even. Without another word, I open the door to my room and step inside.

The giant bed calls to my bruised and battered body, which has a few more holes in it than it did this morning.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Naked man. Why is Maddox running around naked?

“Huh?” He grabs for the towel that almost falls off.

“You’re naked!”

“That generally happens when one takes a shower.” He tightens the towel.

“You’re naked.”

“I think that fact has already been established, but feel free to look away.”

What? No. I spin around and face the door. “Why are you naked?”

“We already established that.”

Argh! That man is so frustrating. And so naked. All those bare muscles… Don’t even think about it. “Just put some clothing on.”

“Why don’t you leave first, if this is making you uncomfortable?”

“Because this is my room, too. Didn’t you see that the maid hung up both our clothes in the closet?” I didn’t even have to look to know it was done.

“What?”

“We’re a couple. In my mom’s mind, that means we’re sleeping together. A lot. And couples share the same room.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly.”

“She thinks we’re…”

“Oh yes. And she was going to give me a few pointers because we weren’t all over each other.”

He moves around the space silently for a second. “You can turn around now.”

Good, Maddox put clothing o—Not enough clothing on. A pair of basketball shorts doesn’t count as being dressed. How am I supposed to think?

“So, what were the pointers?”

“You—Mom—Sex—”

He laughs. “You know you’re even more beautiful when you blush.”

“Now isn’t the time for you to pander to my fragile ego. This is serious.”

“Seriously funny.” He takes a step forward, bringing his partially clothed body even closer.

What’s funny? Pay attention. I am, to all that sk—Your mother. “This is serious. Mom is going to finagle the schedule tonight to ensure that she sees us kiss. Then she’s going to know this is all fake.”

He takes another step forward. “What exactly is fake?”

“Us. This. Everything.”

“Really? Because none of it feels fake to me.”

What did he say? No, I’ve gone insane and am hearing things. “Don’t you get it? She’s going to make us kiss in front of everyone.”

“So?”

“So! All you’ve got to say is so!”

He shrugs and steps closer.

I can feel the warmth radiating off of his skin. His sexy — “What were we talking about?”

“Kissing.”

His lips were made to kiss. A woman could die happy just from kissing him. I could die happy kissing him.

Kiss!

Mom! “We can’t have our first kiss in front of my mother.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

What?

He leans down. “We definitely shouldn’t have our first kiss in front of an audience.”

Kiss him. “How can we avoid that?”

“Do you have any ideas?”

His minty breath tickles my nose.

Ideas? All of my thoughts are centered on those lips.

“Maybe we’ll just have to have our first kiss in public.”

“Our first kiss? We can’t kiss.” No matter how much I want to. “This is fake.”

“You’re trying awfully hard to convince yourself of that fact. But it sounds a lot like a lie to me.”

“But we agreed.”

“I agreed to be your date anytime, anywhere.”

My date.

Kiss.

Fake.

Kiss.

Real.

Kiss. I can’t bear this torment anymore. It’s just too much. I reach up and shove my hands into his thick hair and pull down until our lips meet.

It’s not a soft brush of lips. I hit him with all the emotions that have been plaguing me for weeks, and I don’t let go until my body needs to breathe.

He recovers faster than I do. “See now, that was an okay first kiss.”

Okay? He just said the kiss was okay!

If I could breathe, I’d kill him.

“Let me show you how to kiss for the first time.” His lips land on mine, and the world flickers. I was right, Maddox's kisses could lead to the steamiest affair.

The world flickers again.

He leans back, holding me so I don’t fall over from lack of oxygen or shock… maybe both.

“Did that feel fake?”

Huh?

“Mindy, I’m going to need a verbal response to that question. Did anything about that kiss feel fake?”

“No.” My breathless voice would be embarrassing if I could think about anything but the next time I’m going to kiss him.

“Good. Now that we’ve got that settled—”

“Settled?”

“We aren’t fake dating. Everything about us is real. And I want you to recognize that, regardless of what your mother thinks.”

“Real.”

“Very.” He leans down and kisses the top of my lips briefly.

“Very real? If this is real, that means—” Who needs to breathe? I pull his lips down to mine again.