by Piper Rayne
We check out as the cashiers all ask if they’ll be invited to our wedding. Little do they know that they’re as likely to be there as I am. Because there’s no way this thing between us could ever be real.
Chapter Twelve
Seth
* * *
I stop in the bagel store before meeting Evan at mercantile mart because my dad told me he’s not going to tell my mother—I am. They don’t keep secrets, so I better get my ass down to the shop and tell her this morning.
I’m distracted when I walk into the shop, thinking about the kiss I shared with Evan. I’ve never thought so much about a kiss in my life. I keep replaying it over and over in my mind, wishing I could do it again.
It takes me a second to spot Ethan and Blanca sitting in a booth by the window, both their laptops open, typing away and eating bagels. They’re both workaholics.
“Seth,” Blanca says, glancing up from her computer screen when the bell over the door rings. “Oh, I have some news for you.” She slides out of the booth and walks over to me.
“Let me guess, no alcohol at the bachelor/bachelorette party?”
She hits me in the shoulder, and I rub it. Man, her brothers taught her how to hit. “No, and we’re having a vote in two days about where to go, so I expect you to be there.” She points at me with authority.
“When did you become so bossy?” I ask.
“The moment I came out of my mother. I have three older brothers. I had to learn fast.”
Blanca’s brothers are all professionals who make bank in Manhattan, but they’re cool guys. Not douchey at all.
“Anyway, I was going to call you about something else today.” She steps back and grabs her coffee as though this will be a long conversation.
I instinctively look at the clock over my mom’s head at the cash register. Ethan’s got his headphones in, so we give one another a nod.
“Those pictures you did for us?” Blanca says.
“Yeah?” I can’t help the eagerness in my tone. Their blog doesn’t need a lot of what I like to photograph, but if I can get another gig from them, it’d help me not to have to Uber anymore.
“A woman reached out to me after she saw the pictures and wanted to contact you. Her email signature says she owns a gallery in the city.” She clenches her teeth and widens her eyes like she really wants to squeal.
I raise my eyebrows. “Really?”
“Yep, and I gave her your phone number so…” She does this little dance with only her upper body. Her shoulders move up and down and her hands move in circles. I’m sure Ethan finds it cute as hell, but I’m wondering if she’s having a seizure.
“Great, thanks.” Not what I was expecting when I came in here today, but I’m excited. I’m just more nervous about talking to my mom than anything right now.
“I hope something comes out of it. We’re planning out our next six months today, so I’ll let you know if we need anything.”
“I’m curious, do you two ever fuck anymore?”
The smile strips from her face. “Don’t be vulgar.” She backtracks to the booth.
“I’m just saying five minutes doesn’t really count. Keep that in mind.”
She discreetly flips me off by placing her middle finger along the bridge of her nose as she sits back down—beside Ethan this time. Blanca smacks a kiss on his lips, surprising him. At least the guy grabs her by the back of her head and deepens their kiss.
“Close your eyes,” I whisper to a little girl standing in line before I walk to the head of the line. “Mom.”
She’s talking to a customer, so I head to the back and grab a coffee. I don’t know how Evan takes hers, so I make my best guess, snagging an everything bagel from the bin and shoving it in a bag.
Once everyone is either waiting for their bagels or are sitting down, my mom looks to me to start talking as she takes inventory of what they still need. I’m used to the multitasking my mom does while I try to hold a conversation with her.
“So I ran into Dad at the store last night,” I say.
She rolls her eyes. “I’ve told him a million times, it is what it is. It’s a disease and he doesn’t need to be embarrassed that our son succumbed to it, but he feels as though all the blame rests on our shoulders. Well, I’m not down with that. Look at you.” She steps forward and pinches my cheeks.
“Mom,” I say like I did when I was twelve and we were outside the school.
“But still he insists on going late, usually when I’m asleep.” She shrugs. “What can I do? Nothing. He’ll figure it out on his own.”
“Yeah, so that’s not what I came to tell you.”
She glances up from her pad of paper. “No?” I shake my head and she drops the pen, turning toward me. “What is it?”
“He saw me with Evan Erickson,” I admit, trying like hell not to allow one ounce of nerves into my tone. She can spot me lying without a word leaving my lips.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. We’ve been dating.”
Her eyes peer into me as though she’s scrutinizing the thoughts in my brain. I can practically see the checklist in her head. Eyes, doubtful. Heartbeat, rapid. Limbs, shaky.
“I thought she was with Brock?” She sips the coffee she left off to the side.
“Oh, that was just a front.” I wave as if it’s no big deal. “We made it official. Actually, I asked her to marry me last night.”
Her coffee comes out of her mouth in one sputtering stream. “You what?”
“I proposed and she said yes.”
“Proposed?” Her voice grows louder.
My dad emerges from the back, his hands on his hips, nodding like, “Can you believe it, Deb? Our second son is screwing us over now too.”
“Did you ask her father first?” Mom asks.
My forehead creases. “What?”
She looks at my dad and her shoulders fall. “Seth, you cannot ask a girl to marry you without her father’s permission. Have we not taught you anything?”
That’s what she’s disappointed about? “Well, he would’ve said no.”
My parents exchange looks.
“Hey, Mrs. Andrews.” Blanca comes up to the counter, oblivious to the fact that we’re having a private conversation.
“Yes, he probably would have, but that doesn’t mean you don’t ask.” She turns to Blanca. “Did Ethan ask your dad before he proposed to you?”
Blanca nods with a big smile. She’s so far gone, she practically has hearts in her eyes.
Mom points at Blanca. “See!”
“Wait, what? Who’s engaged?” Blanca asks, a line forming at the bridge of her nose.
“You haven’t even told your friends yet?” My mom’s head cocks back. She’s searching for the truth now. Slowly, millimeter by millimeter, her head straightens but her eyes never leave mine. “Seth?”
It’s all in her tone. The one that says what are you hiding?
“Well, we were going to tell our parents first,” I lie and my voice hitches. Damn it.
“Blanca, have you seen a girl around Seth’s apartment at all?”
“Which one?” she says.
I narrow my eyes. I’m not a manwhore and she knows it.
Blanca laughs and says, “Just kidding. Not really, but we usually hang at Rian and Dylan’s place.”
My mom nods, but I can tell she’s not convinced.
“See, it’s crazy, right, Deb? I mean, this all comes out and you haven’t heard anything around town. How do they keep it such a secret for this long and now they’re engaged?” my dad says.
“Wait, Seth’s engaged?” Blanca points at me. “You?”
“Do you know another Seth?” I deadpan.
She turns to Ethan, and he looks up as though he can sense when she needs something. Fucking happy couples.
She waves him over and he abandons their little workaholic nest. “Seth’s engaged.”
“Really?” Ethan says. “Congratulations, man.”
“What? How are you not surprised?�
� Blanca asks Ethan, whose answer is a shrug.
“Seth Andrews, if you are keeping something from me…” my mom says.
I hate this, but I have to remember this is what’s best for everyone. “We’re engaged.”
“Then you march your ass over to Vic Erickson and ask for her hand in marriage.” Mom points at the door.
“There’s more to it than that,” my dad says.
“I’m fully aware, but he’ll show respect to her father no matter how much I hate the man.”
Ethan tugs Blanca away from eavesdropping. I’m thankful, because she’s only going to add to my mom’s suspicion.
“Fine.” I raise my hands. “I’m going.”
“And while you’re there, please set up a dinner date with all of us.”
“Hell no,” my dad says.
My mom doesn’t respond—she only conveys with her eyes that I’m to do what she said.
So as if I’m back to being nine, I walk out of my parents’ bagel shop without the bravado I walked in with.
“So I have to go to your dad,” I tell Evan when we meet inside the mercantile mart to have our meeting with Nick Klein and the bigwigs.
Panic coats all her features. “What? No, you don’t.”
“My mom is demanding that I ask for your hand in marriage. I’ve been searching for a coat of armor all afternoon.”
She smiles at my joke because I am joking. Kind of. Her dad could very well kill me.
“If your parents know, then I have to tell mine. If the news travels to them…” She sits down in the waiting room and I find her left hand bare of the ring I gave her last night.
“Hey, wifey, where’s the bling?”
“I couldn’t wear it and have my mom ask questions. You didn’t think I’d keep it on all the time, did you?”
I’m not even sure what I expected. I certainly didn’t expect it to feel like a blow to my ego that she isn’t wearing it, but there you go. “Once we talk to your parents, you better make sure you wear it and keep it sparkly.”
“Sparkly? Why?”
“Because it’s a symbol of our love, and the shinier it is, the purer our love,” I say with sarcasm.
She steadies her gaze on me. “You’re insane. You do know that, right?”
I shrug. “I believe your mom always told you to do a job is to do a job right.”
She shakes her head with a smirk. I love when she doesn’t want to smile or laugh at something I said but she can’t stop herself. Her hair is half down today. For a moment, I imagine her curly hair sprawled out on my pillow while she’s under me.
Fuck, that kiss messed me up last night. I actually beat off to Evan afterward, which shouldn’t be a problem because she’s technically my fiancée, but it’s messing with my mind this morning. A half chub starts in my pants and I shift to get rid of it.
“Anyway, so after this little powwow, I’m going to gird my balls and head over to your parents’. Be prepared for the fallout.”
She sighs. “I’m not sure we should go through with this. I mean, all of this just so our businesses can be spotlighted?”
I turn toward her. She’s the one who convinced me. “No. All of this so we can be free. If we’re spotlighted and business soars, you can move on and your parents can hire an actual manager. Same with mine. If they can hire employees or franchise or hell maybe a food company wants their recipe? We’re doing this for our future.”
She nods. “Okay, yeah. For us, not just the companies.”
“And our parents. We’re going to mend those relationships too while we’re at it. It killed me seeing how much my mom misses your mom.”
She frowns. “You really think that’s possible?”
“Yep.” I pop the p.
Thankfully, Nick Klein comes into the room and beelines it over to Evan. He holds out his hand to her. Jeans, Converse, and a V-neck T-shirt. He pulls off that “I purposely have this scruff although I look like I rolled out of bed” look. A man after my own heart.
“Evan, I’m so happy you agreed to the terms.” He shakes her hand and moves over to me. “Seth Andrews, right? So glad to have you on board. This is going to be great for both of you.”
He leads us across the room and through a door.
There’s no turning back now. Come what may, we’re committed—in more ways than one.
Chapter Thirteen
Evan
* * *
I thankfully convinced Seth to wait a couple days before asking my dad for my hand in marriage. But he trumped me by asking me to come to his apartment for a get-to-know-each-other session—in the name of being able to convince everyone that this engagement is legit.
I’m a little on edge as I walk up to his building. Will he want to have a repeat of that kiss we shared? I already know I want to. It left me wanting more in the moment, and still, I feel as though there’s so much more we could explore if we had time and some privacy.
I press the buzzer and he allows me in. I take the elevator up and realize how weird it is not to know where your fiancé lives. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out for something to do.
Brock: I’m sorry. We need to talk.
I click the screen to make it go black. The fact that he waited until right now to text me means he doesn’t care about me. Which is fine because I don’t think I was ever really that into him. He hasn’t crossed my mind since we split. Then again, my life’s been crazy recently, what with me agreeing to a fake engagement and landing a spot on a TV show.
I knock on the apartment door and it opens a crack.
“Come in,” says a guy with a much deeper voice than Seth.
The door inches open as I push on it and in front of me stands a huge guy. Wide shoulders, bulging biceps, and although he’s wearing a T-shirt, I’m sure there’s a set of abs underneath.
“Evan, right?” He puts out his hand. “I’m Knox.”
“Hey, Knox.” Now that I’m closer, I see the shirt is a plain gray one and his pants are police uniform pants.
He’s barefoot and heads over to a chair, where he picks up a gaming controller. “Do you play?”
I look at the screen and see characters running around with weapons. Fake splatters of blood hit the screen. “Not that game.”
“She’s more a Zelda fan, right, honey?” Seth comes out of the door to my right with a towel wrapped around his waist. His hair is damp, and a few drops of water cascade down his chest.
Jeez, my husband-to-be has a hot body. I didn’t even know he worked out. He’s not the size of Knox, but he’s cut, and the towel is so low that my mouth waters when I see the two indents in his hipbones.
“I know. You’re marrying one hot guy, am I right?” Seth winks and heads across the room. “Let me just change really quick.” He stops and turns around at the door that must be his bedroom. “Unless you want to practice your wifely duties. I mean, if I must, I’ll take one for the team.”
Knox’s lips tip up and he glances at me. Good thing his friend finds him funny because I don’t.
“Babe, I know your mom must have taught you that the woman always gets hers first, otherwise it’s not worth doing.” I take a seat on the couch and lean back, crossing my legs.
Knox actually stifles a laugh and coughs out, “Damn.”
Seth opens his door. “I’m all about equal partnerships, so we could call it even and sixty-nine?” He waggles his eyebrows and walks into his room, shutting his door.
“So I heard you’ve agreed to marry my boy,” Knox says, his thumbs moving across the controller. “What are your intentions with him?”
“I can tell you he probably has a lot more intentions than I do. None of mine are sexual.”
He laughs. “No shit.” He drops the controller and turns his chair to face me. “You seem like a sane person. Explain this to me. I mean, this has Seth written all over it.”
I shrug. Truth is, I was the one who brought it up. Seth just upped the game by making it an engagement.
Seth walks out of his room in a pair of low-slung jeans, still pulling a T-shirt over his head. I stifle the urge to press my thighs together. Just like Knox, Seth’s feet are bare, and he heads to their kitchen and grabs three beers before joining us.
He hands Knox his beer then opens mine before passing it to me. Falling onto the seat cushion next to me, Seth downs a big gulp of his beer. “What are we talking about?”
“The fact that you’re insane,” Knox says.
Seth doesn’t refute him. In fact, he nods.
“So how long is the engagement?” Knox asks before sipping his beer.
“We signed the paperwork for the show two days ago. Technically, my baby over here forged her mom’s signature.”
“Rebel,” Knox says and stares at me while he sips his beer.
I wonder if he feels protective over Seth. I mean, the only ones from this group who used to come to The Bagel Place are Blanca—because she didn’t know better—and Adrian—worked for me briefly before it all came out that he was a prince.
“In one month, the marketing is going to hit, and we film in two months. So we have to get our parents to agree to it before marketing starts.”
“You have one month to get your parents behind this idea, and you thought acting like you were engaged was the best way to make that happen?” Knox asks.
“Save the interrogation for work, Whelan. We already made our decision.” Seth shifts in his seat.
“Do you even know anything about each other?” Knox asks.
“Yeah. I just told you she played Zelda when we were younger. I know plenty about my girl.” Seth puts his arm around my shoulders and the scent of whatever he uses in the shower washes over me. God, he smells good. “And she knows everything about me.”
I cringe. I didn’t know he had ripped abs or a treasure trail that would show me exactly how to get to the pot of gold. “We could probably learn more. I mean, we haven’t really talked in almost twenty years.”
Seth studies me and I shift uncomfortably. He looks as if he took it as an insult that he doesn’t know me anymore. “Okay. I still think I know you.”
