Page 13 of Last Chance Seduction (Montgomery Ink Legacy #9)

“So you kicked her with an imaginary wedding?” he asked, his voice going high-pitched.

I looked around, afraid somebody would hear what had just happened.

“Come on in with me. I don’t want to be overheard.”

“Who the hell is overhearing this? Unless another neighbor has their window open!” He was practically shouting at this point, so I pulled him by his arm, past the hole in the ground, and into my house.

His nose scrunched up as soon as we walked in, but he knelt down, petting Mr. Darcy’s stomach as if the cat hadn’t just bit my hand earlier for daring to do the same thing.

Traitor.

“From the look on your face you do smell the eggs.”

“What the hell did you do?”

“I told you. I forgot they were on the stove. And well, that’s why I had the window open.”

“It’s not helping.”

“I realize that. And me standing at the window for that long to try to get the smell out of my nose clearly wasn’t enough either.”

“Mercy. What the hell did you do?”

“I don’t know. Your family has just been so nice to me over the years, and your mom enveloped me into her fold for that party, and I don’t know what I just did.

I love your family. I love what they do for the community.

And I didn’t want you to lose out on something good for your company because you’re not married.

And frankly, I didn’t like the fact that Gia seemed to be rubbing her marriage as well as Carly’s in your face.

I’m a little testy when it comes to marriage,” I put in, and Lex blinked at me before standing up.

“I’m just as touchy with marriage as you are. Considering the last wedding I was best man in turned out the way it did.”

“I don’t even think about Justin most days. Because him walking away from me wasn’t the worst thing that happened to me that day.”

My heart ached, my fingers going numb just remembering it. So when Lex reached for my hand, squeezing gently, I froze, wondering why that felt like a lifeline when I was the one who had just altered his axis.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.

Because Gia’s probably already told her father about the whole relationship thing, and I can’t show up without a girlfriend.

Let alone any member of my family could find out about this, and either spill the beans, or be very worried that I didn’t tell them. ”

“I know, I know. I didn’t like the look on Gia’s face. There. It makes no sense. I could have done anything else, but no, I had to pull out the fake relationship card.”

“I didn’t even know that was a card at all,” Lex said slowly. “Merce.” He let out a breath. “I can’t even ask you if you know what you’ve done because I don’t know.”

He began to pace, running his hands through his hair.

I swallowed hard, trying not to watch the way that his muscles worked as he moved.

I had always been attracted to Lexington.

And that was the problem. Ever since I had realized that boys were cute and I wanted to date them, Lex had made my heart go pitter-pat.

And then I had realized that teenage boys sucked, and I didn’t want to ruin one of my best friendships.

And even though we hadn’t always been in each other’s lives, Lex had always been a grounding force.

And apparently, I was the one who was changing the game.

“Okay, so I might have ruined everything. How can I fix this?”

“Well you’re going to have to come with me to the damn retreat,” he growled.

“Lex.”

“No. Because Gia’s father is going to wonder where the hell you are if I don’t bring you.

And then it’s going to be the full topic of conversation if you’re not there.

But if you are there, we can just brush by it, and I can talk with all of the developers and estate managers at this thing and work my magic.

Which sounds ridiculous, but there it is.

You’re just going to have to go, pretend you’re my girlfriend, and pretend like I know what the hell I’m doing. ”

“Tell me this, would Gia have made it any easier for you if you were going alone?”

He froze then, before running his hands through his hair one more time.

“No. She was here testing the waters. I don’t know what she was up to, and frankly, I never know what she’s up to these days.

I thought her and I were endgame, turns out we weren’t.

Same with Carly. By the way, if you want to have a real marriage eventually, just date me, and then your next guy will be your number one. ”

“What?” I asked, confused.

“Every woman that I date finds her husband right after we break up. Or, in some cases, while we’re still dating. But I digress. Gia was probably just testing the waters to make sure that I’m just as miserable as always.”

“Lex. You’re not miserable, are you?” I asked, feeling just as miserable.

“No I’m not.” He paused, letting out a breath. “I’m not. I have plenty of time to find the woman of my dreams. But right now I want the job of my dreams. And Gia’s family is standing in the way of that.”

“So I’ll help you get there.”

“Why on earth would you do that?”

“Because I just sort of made everything worse.”

“There’s no sort of about it,” he said dryly.

“Hey. She was being mean, and I wanted you to not look all alone.”

“Because pity always makes me feel better.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m alone too.

” I paused, not feeling great about that sentence.

“It’s fine being alone. I’m good at it. I don’t need a husband or happy ever after or anything like that.

But I didn’t like the way she was acting, and frankly, if you want that job so badly, and you need to look married and happy in order to have it, then I’ll help you.

Because screw conforming to normalcy. We’ll lie our way through it and make plans. ”

He stared at me for a moment, before he threw his head back and laughed.

“What? What did I say that was so funny?”

“Everything. You are ridiculous. But so am I. Because you know what? Why not. I frankly wasn’t in the mood to deal with Gia’s pitying looks, because yes, they were pitying. So now I won’t have to. Now we’ll just have the curious ones.”

“And what about your family?”

“They’re not going to be at the event, so we won’t have to lie to them. But I’ll probably tell them to keep it under wraps. Just in case.”

“So we lie to everyone that’s not a Montgomery. Which oddly sets aside a large group of the population that will know the truth,” I said, trying to make light of a very awkward situation.

“Yes, making fun of the Montgomery monopoly is really where we’re going with this.”

“You’re the one who said the Montgomery monopoly exists.”

“We’re a cult, or a mafia. Not a monopoly.”

“How many times are you going to say that word in a conversation?”

“Okay. We’ll do this thing, it’s only an overnight event because there’s an early morning golf thing, but I don’t even know if I want to do that.”

“Okay then. Just tell me what to do. And we’ll fix this. You’ll get the job of your dreams, we’ll make sure Gia doesn’t get that look on her face again, and this will be my thank you for inviting me to that Christmas party. And well, also sorry for being such a bitch when you first moved in.”

His lips twitched, before he leaned forward and brushed my hair back from my face. My lips parted, and I sucked in a breath at the touch.

“You weren’t a bitch. You aren’t one either. And yes, we’ll get that job. In a way more complicated way than I was planning.”

“That’s me. Your favorite complication.”

He smiled then, and I knew once again I was in trouble.

And it had nothing to do with pretending to be his girlfriend.