Page 9 of Kiss Me, Darling

Lucy watched me closely. I shrugged. “Kids. Wine?”

Everyone went along with my plan to deflect.

“Wine sounds amazing!” London said, darting between us all and heading straight for the counter where a selection was set out for dinner.

“I love wine,” Ben agreed, following her.

Lucy smiled just a little and joined them. “Oh, this one is my favorite!” Then she glanced back at me. “Do I have you to thank for that?”

I shrugged, feeling that pull. You know the one. The instinct to proudly declare no one knows your woman better than you, but knowing this was most definitely not the time or place to do so. “Just wanted to make sure you were comfortable.” Especially since these weren’t exactly the best circumstances. So far she’d been great about the constant presence of bodyguards and surveillance cameras. Even though everything was different, standing here with my family crowded around the kitchen counter, everything felt familiar. The last time my brothers saw Lucy there was no London in Ben’s life, no Olivia or Linc. Our family almost doubled in size. Lucy went from being the only woman in our lives, to the only one Olivia and London hadn’t met.

London piled shrimp and cocktail sauce onto a small plate. “These guys missed you. I made the silly mistake of declaring myself their first sister and oh boy did they correct me. So I’m really glad you’re here. How many times have you been the victim of sunflower seeds?”

Ben shook his foot and winced. I had to press my lips together to keep from laughing out loud. While my brothers were engaged in more elaborate pranks with the aforementioned sunflower seeds, I decided to change things up. For the last four days I’d been sneaking a single, annoying, sunflower seed into some part of their clothing. So far no one seemed to have figured out exactly why their shoes were suddenly uncomfortable or how one got into their pocket. Ben shucked off his loafers and moved them to the foyer.

Meanwhile Lucy was busy explaining that she’d never been a direct victim. “The closest I got was a year ago, maybe? Scott came home with a carry-on loaded with them. I found them around the bedroom for weeks. Why?”

London popped a shrimp into her mouth and shrugged, attempting to look far more innocent than she was. “Oh, because I decided to prank them myself.”

“Me too!” Linc called from the end of the counter, raising his hand in the air. “Well, mostly I help Chris.”

“He’s like a secret agent,” I grumbled.

“More like a secretweapon,” Chris winked.

Linc grinned with pride.

“So… how did you two kids meet?” London’s eyes darted from Lucy to me.

I wish I’d realized what a trouble maker she could be before I agreed to family dinner.

Lucy looked to me, asking with her eyes how much I’ve shared. Which was basically nothing.

“Lucy was my agent and I had a mad crush on her for about a year before I couldn’t take it anymore,” I confessed.

“Is this before or after you dated Madeline Faints? Because I don’t think I saw any headlines about who you were dating after that.”

My future sisters-in-law normally gave me a wide berth. They rarely asked questions about the things they saw in the gossip column unless I brought it up first. “Funny story.” I couldn’t help but lock eyes with Lucy. She arranged that pretend affair. All I’d wanted while sitting at that conference table that day was to ask Lucy out. Instead I wound up fake dating a famous rock star. “That was all pretend.”

Olivia gasped, her mouth hanging open, hand to her chest. “No! I shipped you two!”

London’s mouth was also open as she shook her head. “I knew it!” Then she hit Ben in the shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He winced and shrunk away. “Ouch! You didn’t ask!”

“Ugh! That’s the kind of gossip I enjoy!”

“Gossip is just that. Speculation and making up stories about other people,” Lucy said quietly, her eyes locked on her wine.

“Oh I know!” London reached across the counter and touched Lucy’s wrist. “I enjoy it because it’s ridiculous and I know none of it is real.”

Whenever anyone—even my brothers—brought up the rumors and stories the paparazzi told about me, I felt like I was shrinking. Getting shorter and thinner, being swallowed up by the air around me.

But I didn’t feel that way now. It all washed over me instead. “I’m very real.”

London frowned. “I’m sorry, Scott. I really am. I’ll stop reading those websites.”

I shrugged. What was one drop in an ocean? I couldn’t change people’s desire to know about private lives or their delight in making up scandalous stories. All I could do now was live my life my way.

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