Page 13 of Wedding Bet

“I wouldn’t do it again.”

Just then Landry glanced out toward the arched entrance of the bar, and his entire expression changed, all at once. He went from looking like a cool, calm Casanova one moment to looking like he’d just seen a ghost.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking over where his gaze was.

A guy who looked just as wealthy as Landry had just walked in, and he had another guy on his arm.

Landry’s lips pressed into a thin, tight line. “That would be Parker. My ex.”

“Your ex?” I asked. “I thought you said you only do casual hookups.”

He pulled in a breath. “For a long time, it was the opposite. I was a bit of a serial-relationships kind of guy.” Landry’s eyes flickered over to look at me, and he cleared his throat. “I proposed to Parker a year ago and he rejected me, flat out. Nobody had even known we were dating, because he’d wanted to keep it all secret, and… yeah. It sucked.”

Holy shit.

So Landry hadn’t just been a lifelong playboy. He’d actually wanted to marry someone, for God’s sake.

When I looked over at Parker now, it was very obvious that things had changed. Parker was leaning over to kiss the young blond dude that was hanging on his arm.

“Is this the lounge? This can’tpossiblybe the lounge,” Parker said afterward as he glided through the bar, looking around like he was inspecting an insect. As he walked his eyes finally landed on Landry, and a smirk appeared on his face as he walked over.

“Parker,” Landry said, his face still like stone.

“Lando,” Parker said. “You’re in this little bar?Pleasetell me this resort has a better bar?”

“The larger lounge is past the front desk. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding it.”

Parker’s partner was still shivering and had snowflakes all over the shoulders of his coat. “Parks, this answers it for me,” the guy said. “It’s a definitenoon the winter wedding idea. We’re doing full summer, no matter what.”

I saw what Landry must have been seeing at the same time: Parker and his partner each had thin silvery bands around their ring fingers.

My heart ached in my chest as I looked over at Landry. This guy who had rejected his proposal, less than a year ago, was now engaged to another man. Landry had radiated confidence since the moment I met him, but now he looked like he was being crushed.

I had to do something.

Somethingfast.

Because seeing Landry look so unhappy was starting to crush me, now, too.

A surge of adrenaline coursed through my veins, and as I reached over the table and grabbed Landry’s hand in my own, I realized I was about to do something crazy.

“Baby, are you going to introduce me to your friends?” I asked Landry.

His eyes flitted to mine, a moment of confusion on his face. I winked at him, hoping he would catch onto my idea.

“This… this is Parker,” Landry said.

“Hi, Parker,” I said, reaching out to shake his hand, beaming the best smile I could muster. “I’m Landry’s boyfriend, Jamie.”

Parker looked just as surprised as Landry did. “Nice to meet you,” he said coldly.

“Honey, you didn’t tell me you’d have so many friends here this week,” I said, scrambling to think of things boyfriends would say to one another.

“I was… too busy thinking about all of the fun we were going to have, of course,” Landry told me, clearly catching onto my idea.

Maybe it was just the gin in my blood, but I was pretty sure I’d just had a genius idea.

Pretending to be Landry’s boyfriend was a risk, but I was already having fun with it.

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