Page 75 of Strictly Pretend

I think I’m falling for my fake fiancé. No, not falling. I’m flat on the ground, my body splayed out, my mouth full of dust.

And I don’t know what to do about that.

CHAPTER

TWENTY

BROOKS

I’m so fucking annoyed I jump right back onto the ATV and head up to the ranch house, where the bachelor and bachelorette parties have merged and are still in full swing. Bikini-clad women dance by the pool sipping cocktails. Shorts clad men attempt to capture their eyes.

But I only have eyes – very narrow ones – for one person. And he’s not here.

“Brooks! Come get a drink,” Grant slurs.

“Do you know where Will is?” I ask him, my jaw tight.

“Will? I don’t know.” He looks around. “Jemima is over there,” he says, pointing at a group of women sitting in the hot tub.

And although I dislike this woman as much as I dislike her boyfriend – for hurting Emma – I head over there, anyway.

“I’m looking for Will,” I tell Jemima. Her perfectly drawn-on eyebrows shoot up.

“I don’t know where he is,” she says.

“You said he was playing pool in the house,” her friend slurs out. Jemima shoots her a dirty look.

“Thanks,” I mutter, turning on my heel.

“Wait! Don’t hurt him!” I hear splashing as Jemima attempts to get out of the hot tub. But I’m already walking away, because my blood is hotter than the water in the hot tub right now.

The ranch house is quieter, but there are still enough people inside to give me strange looks as I storm up the stupidly long hallway to the pool room. I remember seeing it as I was taken to the library to talk to my brothers. That seems like a hundred days ago.

But it was yesterday. Which is damn hard to believe because so much has changed since then.

I got engaged, for one thing.

And I’ve found out that being a couple isn’t so bad when the other party is someone like Emma Robbins.

Okay, when the other partyisEmma Robbins. Because there’s something about her.

Will looks up as soon as I barge through the door. He’s holding a pool cue.

“I see Jemima is feeling better,” I say, my voice tight.

“Ah, yeah.” He gives a fake smile. “Miscommunication. She’s fine now.”

“Excellent. In that case, I’d like a word.”

He blows out a mouthful of air like he knows he’s in trouble. And he is, because my body is vibrating with anger.

“I’m in the middle of a game.”

“You either come out now, or I drag you out,” I say, my voice low.

He hesitates for a moment, as though he can’t decide which is the better option. And then he sighs, putting his cue in the rack. “I’ll be back.”

Like before, I don’t wait for him to follow me, I just storm out, to the front of the house this time because it’s the only place where there aren’t people loitering. Sam watches, but says nothing, as I wrench the front door open and hold it for Will.

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