Page 52 of Rule 3: Never Fake Marry the Coach's Son

My eyebrows raise. “I was only going to ask Oskar to marry me. Not one of you.”

Troy’s lips twitch. “That’s good to hear. I meant conduct the ceremony.”

I blink.

“If you’d waited a few days for the license, you could have gotten married on your lunch break.”

“Oskar deserved real wedding.”

The guys exchange glances again.

“That’s adorable,” Troy says finally. “If we’d known in advance we could have thrown a bachelor party.”

I grimace, imagining dancing men around Oskar. “Is not good wedding tradition. Inappropriate.”

“We totally agree,” Finn says, elbowing Noah. “That’s why we didn’t have one.”

“You keep things appropriate, babe,” Noah says, and Finn ruffles his hair and beams.

The door slams open and coach marches into the room. He shoots me one of those ferocious glances that Vikings probably used centuries ago to make their enemies crumble and hand over gold.

He points at me. “Family dinner on Thursday. Be there.”

“Yes, daddy.”

His glower deepens. “Seven pm. Don’t be late. Ingrid does not like serving cold food.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Oskar

I try to focus on my work, but Daniela’s gaze keeps pulling me from the spreadsheet on my screen. Finally, she flashes me a smile that hovers somewhere between conspiratorial and predatory. “I’ve just arranged an interview for you for tomorrow.”

“Seriously?”

“We need to get ahead of this story, Oskar. We need to control the narrative, not whatever assumptions they have.”

“Yeah.”

“People are already saying that you and Dmitri have a green card marriage, Oskar.”

“They are?”

“People can put two and two together. Everyone knew about his visa issues. His agent made national news, and Dmitri is sort of the poster boy for his former agent’s incompetence.”

I blink rapidly. “Right.”

“He’s worth ruining your professional and personal reputation for?” She leans forward, her eyes sharp. “I recommend you and Dmitri practice explaining your love story. And make it realistic.”

“Sure. No problem.”

“Because it really happened.”

“Totally.” I blink multiple times and scratch my nose.

Daniela shakes her head. “You’re a bad liar, Oskar.”

“Not something I ever thought my boss would bring up as a negative quality at work.”