Page 32 of The Kiss Keeper
He shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
The door to the main house opened, and her grandparents waved to them from the porch.
“Come on! Come on! You kids must be starving,” her grandma Bev called, waving Lara and Leslie and their husbands inside with a hug and a kiss.
This was it. The moment of truth. She brushed her pinky finger against Jake’s hand, and as if they’d been doing this for five months and six days, he laced his fingers with hers.
Morality check. While this wasn’t the original Jake she’d told everyone she was bringing, it was a Jake. Hopefully, a non-serial killer Jake who could stand-in for a few family events. She wasn’t that full of herself to think that anyone besides her cousins cared all that much about her lackluster life, but she needed this. She needed a good, solid Jake. And by some miracle, the universe seemed to have served him up on a platter.
She gave Jake’s hand a gentle squeeze as they ascended the steps to the porch. His jaw set in a hard line, he seemed nervous—which would be totally normal for anyone in his situation—but he was so at ease putting Leo in his place. Maybe it was the whole meeting the grandparents song and dance that had him on edge. Unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately, there was no time to hem and haw. It was fake relationship go time.
She released a shaky breath. “Grandma and Grandpa, this is Jake.”
Her grandmother pulled a pair of glasses from her pocket, slid them on, and eyed her fake boyfriend. The Woolwich matriarch shared a look with her husband then pursed her lips.
“Jake, have we met before?”
5
Jake
His gaze bounced between Bev and Hal Woolwich. He was really here, and he needed to pull it together—and he needed to do it, lickity-damn-split.
It was as if a winning lottery ticket had landed in his lap, and he could not blow it. Not before he’d even gotten past the front door.
Luckily, he had a plan.
He’d play the part of Natalie’s devoted boyfriend. He’d run defense and make damn sure that the Dix cousins didn’t give her any shit and that the Dix husbands didn’t get anywhere near her feet. He’d be attentive and caring—the type of guy any grandparent would want for their beloved granddaughter. Then, once he was in their good graces, he’d subtly test the waters on the possibility of them parting ways with their land. Without them even knowing it, he’d sell them on the lucrative benefits of cashing out. He’d convinced dozens of sellers that it wasn’t the property that mattered, but how their quality of life improved once they had millions in the bank—and he’d never struck out. He’d never had a deal go south, and he wasn’t about to start now.
Nope, too much was riding on this, and these were the facts: she needed one last Jake, and he needed a way into Camp Woolwich.
It was a transaction.
A trade.
An arrangement.
Just business.
And, when this deal went through, the Woolwich family would come into some serious money.
He was doing them a favor. He was setting them up for life. He’d worked it out like a game of chess, except in his version, nobody should come out feeling like a loser. That was his magic.
He was the closer. The dealmaker.
He should be walking on cloud nine.
But what he didn’t expect was the emotional hurricane that hit him the moment he set foot in Camp Woolwich, and the memories came rushing back.
And then there was Natalie.
What would happen if she found out that he’d been tasked with obtaining the deed to Camp Woolwich even before they’d met? How would she react when she learned that he wasn’t helping her out for the sake of being a good guy but was instead taking advantage of her position in the Woolwich family?
He swallowed hard and stared at the couple in front of him. He needed to say something.
Fifteen years had passed, but he would have recognized the Woolwich’s anywhere. With piercing blue eyes and still sporting a beard, Hal looked thinner than he’d remembered, but Bev looked nearly the same. When he was a camper, she’d worn her hair in a long dark braid that snaked past her shoulder. With only the addition of a silvery streak woven through, she looked nearly identical as to how he’d remembered her.
But she couldn’t have recognized him. He was just a boy back then. He started to tell her she must be mistaken when Natalie piped up.
