Page 247 of One Bossy Disaster

His grip on my fingers tighten.

Bad, then.

“We’ll live,” he says casually. “It’s a decent improvement over surviving a near drowning and convincing your dad I have a right to breathe in your presence.”

Liar.Now he’s just being sweet.

“Whatever happens, I’m here, Shepherd,” I whisper.

I’m not nervous.

We haven’t been hiding our relationship from the cameras or anyone, really.

I’ve deliberately put him in a ton of my stuff on Insta and TikTok.

Whenever anyone asks, we admit the truth, and we’ve been seen in public by people who like to talk plenty of times.

For Shepherd, he’s actually been out a lot. Another big change. His life doesn’t revolve around the office anymore.

So, why are my palms so sweaty I can barely cling to him?

“Sorry.” I look up at him and grimace.

“We don’t need to do this, Dess,” he whispers. “We can still back out.”

“No way! Hannah assured me it was the best way to put this to bed. So, yeah. Let’s get it done.”

The harassed guy holds up five fingers and gestures at us.

Five minutes until showtime.

A muscle tics in his jaw.

The reason we’re here isn’t to rub salt in the wound that is Vanessa Dumas’ failed attempts to get with Shepherd. Or even to trumpet our relationship to the entire world—though that’sexactlywhat we’ll be doing in practice.

No, the real reason we’re here is to prove her wrong.

To clear Shepherd’s name and make people understand what a decent human being he really is.

No freaking way I’d ever back away from that.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like the luckiest man on Earth.” He’s totally deadpan, looking at me with nothing except the barest flicker of amusement he tries to hide.

“Dick.”

“We’ll have to hope they don’t get that on camera.”

I pinch his arm, but his teasing helps settle my jitters.

It’s certainly not my first time being in front of an audience. But given everything that’s happened, I know the stakes, and I want to get this right.

So we wait quietly, still holding hands, until we’re given the signal to move to the staging area where the red couches are waiting.

Vanessa already had her chance to deliver her side of the story—pretty much the same version she spat out months ago.

Shepherd used her for sex, promised her marriage, and dumped her.

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