Page 51 of Strictly Pretend

“Do people really say that?” I whisper to Brooks.

“Clearly.” He reaches across me, and for one moment I think he might throw me out of the carriage. He seems annoyed about something, and there’s a huge likelihood it’s got everything to do with me. But instead of launching me over the side into the Montana sagebrush, he pulls my phone out of my purse and hands it to me.

“Read your messages,” he mouths.

I widen my eyes at him. All right, already. I still take my time unlocking my screen and opening the message app, mostly because he’s easily riled and I’m kind of liking the way he sighs at my slowness. But when I look at our stream of messages, the ones we’ve been exchanging in the past few weeks of ‘getting to know you boot camp’ I see there are two long new ones from him.

Sam told me that there are cameras and listening devices everywhere. Cassie’s dad is a tech genius and completely paranoid and thinks the wedding might be infiltrated by spies. He’s not taking any chances with security. I asked about the yurts – pretending that we’re intending to have intimate relations – and he said they aren’t monitored, but I’m not sure I believe him. Do not, I repeat DO NOT speak about our arrangement to anybody. – Brooks

I lift an eye at him. His lips are pressed tightly shut. He points at the second message that he sent ten minutes later. I assumeafter stewing on the information he’d received and the fact I hadn’t replied. Another sigh escapes his lips so I read it.

Here’s what we need to do. For the next seventy-two hours we’re a couple. A real one. No breaks from pretending, no talking to each other about it, no getting annoyed or asking for permission to touch each other. In fact, there’s no pretending at all. This is real. You’re mine, I’m yours. If we want other people to believe it, we have to believe it. I need you to reply and say yes, and then it’s on. – Brooks

I blink at his message.It’s on.What does that even mean? I can feel the heat of his scowl as he’s watching me read. The man can’t even smile at me. What chance does he have of making everybody believe he’s in love with me?

I have questions. – Emma

He doesn’t take his own phone out. Just takes mine from me and replies.

Type them all out. I’ll answer them as best I can. But don’t say them out loud.

“Hey, want to see something cool?” Tex asks. I’d completely forgotten he was there. While I’ve been staring at the phone he’s been driving us along a rocky, stony road that makes the ride extremely wobbly.

“Sure, what is it?” Brooks answers smoothly.

“I’m just gonna take us off the track a minute,” Tex says, sounding pleased with himself. “You might want to hold on to the side of the cart…”

And suddenly we’re lurching to the left, and my whole body slides into Brooks, who somehow catches me before I launch us both off the cart and onto the grass we’re currently careening across. Our bodies are bumping up and down, the horse is grunting because it’s hot and he’s annoyed and I can’t blame him.

And Tex, who I’m thinking has some kind of death wish, is whooping and hollering as we roll toward the edge of a cliff.

I open my mouth to scream for him to stop, but no words come out. We hit a rock and one side of the cart lifts. I close my eyes and cling onto Brooks because I’m going to die here, I know I am, and this is not how I planned to go.

His arms wrap tightly around me, and I bury my face in his shirt, not caring that it’ll probably be covered in mascara when they find our bodies piled at the bottom of the cliff. That’s if they find us before the coyotes do.

“Okay, here ya go!” Tex pulls our cart to an abrupt halt, making Brooks slam into the back of the bench, and me slam into him. He lets out a breath, like I’ve winded him.

“You can get out and look. It’s worth it,” Tex tells us.

Slowly, I pull my head away from Brooks’ surprisingly comfortable chest and look at him. There’s no expression on his face at all. How does he do that? Looks so cool while I’m reeling from my second near death experience in the same day?

And yes, I’m totally counting the turbulence we went through as a near death experience.

“I think getting out would be a good idea,” Brooks murmurs in my ear. I nod in agreement, because right now my feet need to feel solid ground. He climbs out first, but I don’t let go of hishand in fear that Tex will suddenly shake the reins and take off with me alone in the cart.

But Tex is way too busy lighting up a cigarette and putting his feet up as he stares past the horse.

It’s only when Brooks practically lifts me down from the cart and we walk to the edge of the cliff that I see what he’s looking at.

The view is absolutely breathtaking.

There are fields and hills as far as the eye can see. The sun is beating down, making the colors of the grass look greener, the rocks redder. And there are cattle scattered across the green, though this far away they look like tiny ants.

“See over there?” Tex calls out to us, pointing to an outcrop of long, yellow grass in the distance. “The boss has reintroduced a herd of bison. Damn amazing beasts.”

I take my phone out, because the camera has some great zoom-in capabilities. And when I point it in the right direction, I can see those beautiful, majestic animals up close. They take my breath away with their shaggy brown coats and curved horns.

“We got us some babies this year.” Tex climbs down. “Hey, can you watch the horse? I just need to go water a tree.”

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