Page 98 of Fake Dating a Human 101

“Are you saying that because he used bleach to clean Kate’s sofa that one time and left it all patchy?” Dranian asked in a monotone voice. Lily burst out laughing.

“Yes.” Shayne folded his letter.

“You can’t say that!” Mor wiped the smile from his face to scold Shayne, pointing his pen at him. “Say something nice!”

“Fine. If I have to be nice, I’ll write my letter to Kate instead.” Shayne grabbed his pen and spoke aloud as he scribbled, “Dear Kate. If you change your mind about Cress, come find me. I’ll be an excellent husband. I’m totally husband material. Feel free to tell Lily that.”

Lily shook her head as she brought her mug over to the sink to wash it. “Don’t be mad because I refused to get married before Kate. There are some friendship rules that shouldn’t be broken, you know.”

Shayne cast her a doubtful look.

Suddenly, Cress banged out of the kitchen doors, and very quickly, all the fairies and Greyson scrambled to hide their terrible letters of well wishes.

There are three important rules to follow

if you want to get married to a fae:

If possible, don’t ever tell him your real name, but if it’s too late, make sure you at least know how to enchant him with a kiss to even things out.

If you’re an author, try not to let him anywhere near the novels you’re writing, or he’ll offer unsolicited advice until your ears fall off.

Just let him take over the wedding plans. Seriously, trying to get involved isn’t worth it. He’s just going to go with the accent colours he wants regardless of what you say.

36

Kate Kole and the Wedding Day

The thing about Kate Kole was that there was a time she felt like she didn’t exist. She’d been a student who sat at the back of the class under a fake name, a struggling entrepreneur with debts to pay, and a mostly noiseless presence apart from those rare occasions when she saw something unfair happening and felt the need to intervene instead of minding her own business. The days before fairies had been slower, quieter, and frankly, easier in some respects. But she wouldn’t go back to that life if given the choice. She wouldn’t choose to return to the mundane feeling of nonexistence. Not after she’d learned what it felt like to be the centre of someone’s entire universe.

Well… sometimes, anyway. Cress was the centre of his own universe on a normal day, but there were moments where Kate knew he would have abandoned everything in a heartbeat if it would bring a smile to her face. The fae Prince who’d barged into her life ready to kill her in a revenge hunt had come a long way since the day he’d shown up in a stolen police uniform and pinned her back against the café wall with death in his trained assassin eyes.

The mirror in the back room of the church was so big it made Kate look like a giant. Her hair fell in soft, burgundy waves around her shoulders, making her feel like a full-fledged fairy queen. She and Cress had been at odds for the last three months about what colour her hair should be for the wedding. He’d finally won, claiming he would “tangle it into elf-locks the night before the wedding” if she didn’t comply with the ‘burgundy theme’ of hisonce-in-a-lifetimewedding. He hadn’t looked like he’d been joking either.

Frankly, Kate didn’t really care what colour her hair was. It had just been funny to see him argue about it so hard, and sometimes she was just curious about how far she could push him before he would snap out some ridiculous claim that actually had nothing to do with her or the wedding and she’d get to watch him binge-eat cookies for three days straight.

“You look awesome. Seriously, Cress will faint,” Lily said as she entered the back room with a grin. Her long burgundy bridesmaids’ dress fit her so well, Kate was sure she’d turn heads. Kate had chosen the sleeveless style for Lily to wear on purpose so everyone could see her tattoos.

“I hope not. He’ll be so mad if he misses his own wedding after all this planning.” Kate set her bouquet on an end table and swished her dress back and forth in front of the mirror. “This is pretty poofy. Should I change dresses at the last minute and give Cress a heart attack after he shopped for the perfect dress for like four months?”

Lily laughed. “Spare us all the next ten years we’ll have to listen to him complain about it,” she said. A moment later, she leaned and peeked out the door. “They’re ready for us. Greyson is waving us over.”

Kate took in a deep breath. She wasn’t nervous, really, it was more like excitement jitters. Even though her boyfriend was unconventional, Kate had always imagined she would get married one day, unlike Lily, who’d spent her young adult years claiming she’d stay independent—though Lily’s mind seemed to have been changing lately. Kate caught her staring at Shayne’s back all the time when he was turned around. The two were practically magnets that couldn’t stop being pulled together.

“Mom and Dad would have loved Cress, right?” Kate asked as Lily swung the door wide open so she could fit through. “I mean, Grandma Lewis did. Greyson does.”

“Totally,” Lily said. “He’s pretty solid in the ‘capable of protecting his wife’ department. And he works hard, he’s good at selling coffee, and he wants to be a dad. That’s a lot of wins.”

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