Her Best Friend Fake Fiancé

by Kimberly Krey

  “Yeah,” Link cheered. “Do it.”

  Betzy watched as Sawyer’s face warmed beneath the groups’ collective gaze. He was prying something off the counter top. Then, with the fairly large piece of artwork in both hands, he stepped around the kids and made his way to her.

  “For you, Betzy Boo,” he said with a wink. It was a nickname he’d given her back in grade school; she’d nearly forgotten all about it.

  The trio had shaped candy sticks into a large heart with an arrow through it.

  “Is that because you love her?” Lilly asked through a toothy grin.

  The clatter died down. The mumbling and laughing too. Betzy could have sworn the stereo system tapped down a notch in the quiet beat as well.

  “What was that?” Grandma Lo asked from behind the lens.

  “I asked if he picked a heart because he loves Betzy,” Lilly hollered.

  Betzy’s heart thumped out of rhythm.

  All eyes shot to Sawyer as they awaited his response. Betzy couldn’t imagine what he might say back to that.

  Sawyer glanced from one person to the next before he turned to look at her. His eyes narrowed as he held her gaze, and a rush of heat swelled deep in her chest.

  “Yes,” he said at last.

  A ripple of goosebumps rushed up her arms.

  “Let’s get everyone to say cheese,” Grandma blurted.

  Betzy slipped a wobbly hand beneath one half of the candy-shaped heart and moved in closer to Sawyer, heart pounding in double rhythm. Sure, he’d said it to please Lilly and the crowd. But he’d said it just the same.

  “Uh, oh,” James said through a smile. “Isn’t that mistletoe up there?”

  “Looks like you two have to kiss,” Camila added.

  Betzy scanned nearly the entire kitchen before looking over her other shoulder where Duke stood, dangling a sprig of mistletoe over her head.

  “Yay!” Lilly cheered while jumping up and down. “Now you get to kiss her.”

  Link’s reaction was a little different. The kid groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. “Oh no, just get it over with.”

  “Will you make sure Zander doesn’t try and steal the heart we made?” Sawyer asked Lilly while motioning to the piece on the countertop.

  Anticipation rushed through Betzy in a warm, tingly wave. Heaven help her. Just what kind of new age therapy would she need to get Sawyer out of her head after this?

  Sawyer searched her face for a moment more before locking his eyes on hers. And suddenly, a wide, triumphant-looking grin spread over his face, one that read brace yourself.

  He started by placing a solid hand at the center of Betzy’s back. Then, without further warning, he dipped her back, using his leg for support until he hovered over her. It all happened so quickly she nearly lost her breath.

  Whistles and cheers broke out over the kitchen.

  Sawyer lowered himself then, her heart hammering harder with every inch he neared, until their lips barely touched.

  “Hi,” he said. And then he kissed her. She assumed he’d make it short and sweet, considering their audience, but he didn’t. Instead he kissed her long, slow, and alluring.

  Sawyer was good at this. Too good. She would accuse him of cheating, but she wasn’t sure what he was cheating at. The game of convincing half of their company that they were in love, or the potential game he was playing with her heart?

  The group was still cheering.

  Betzy hadn’t planned to get lured into a moment of passion, but the man was magic and he’d somehow turned her into a pool of swooning delight.

  Suddenly Sawyer grinned against her lips, sprung her right back into place, and tapped a tiny kiss to the tip of her nose.

  When Betzy wobbled back, Sawyer steadied her by cupping her elbow.

  “You’re welcome,” Duke mumbled from behind.

  Once the chatter died down, Betzy reached for another candy vine and began twisting it into a heart of her own. It was in that moment she became aware of Grandma’s scrutinizing gaze.

  She hoped the stubborn woman wasn’t onto them. Grandma could be persistent, and the last thing Betzy needed was for someone in her own family to sabotage her plan.

  It took her a moment to remember the reason for that plan, but soon enough she did—revenge. Yes, for what Daisy had done. That’s why she was doing this.

  But then she recalled Lily’s question—Is that because you love her? Betzy pictured the look in Sawyer’s eye when he answered that question with a fervent yes.

  It was moments like that that made Betzy wonder if what Grandma implied was true. What if Betzy really was trying to prove something more to herself than anyone else?

  She’d written Sawyer off not long ago, swearing she’d never let herself hope for him again. But what if this was her way of opening up to Sawyer one last time?

  Just then Duke leaned in once more. “Lucky Sawyer,” he said under his breath. “All the benefits of being the fiancé without the commitment.”

  Betzy shot him a look over her shoulder.

  “Fake fiancé—with benefits,” Duke mumbled and grinned.

  She was tempted to hush her older brother, but with as loud as the group was, Betzy knew there wasn’t a need. Perhaps what she really wanted to do is silence the words in her own mind. Duke’s comment touched on Grandma’s warning about men and their intentions, something she hadn’t felt applied to Sawyer.

  It didn’t, she assured herself. Sawyer and Duke’s personalities were miles apart.

  Still, that very concern lingered at the forefront of Betzy’s mind as they finished up in the kitchen. Enough that she was second-guessing their kiss that morning, something she didn’t want to do.

  Betzy forced herself to focus on a bit of inner talk. Sawyer wasn’t like most men. He wouldn’t use her that way. Heck, the guy could have any woman he wanted.

  By the time they moved on to decorating the tree, she’d managed to push Duke and Grandma’s comments out of her head.

  “This is a cute picture of you,” Sawyer said as he lifted a framed ornament for her to see. “I remember this one. What is it, eighth grade?”

  Betzy leaned in to scrutinize the photo in the center of the wreath-shaped ornament. Red hair tucked into a high ponytail, way too much blush, and a wide grin on her face. “Yes,” she said. “Eighth grade. I was really into rouge that year.”

  Sawyer only grinned, eyeing the picture once more before lifting it to a branch. “I was really into you that year,” he admitted.

  Betzy felt herself blush at his words. It probably looked like she’d slipped back into time where she’d covered her cheeks in pink, but she didn’t mind. Hearing Sawyer say things like that was like candy to her soul.

  “Hey, Betzy,” her mom hollered. “Have you got an extra pair of slippers? My feet are freezing.”

  “Sure,” Betzy said. “I’ll grab them. Be right back,” she mumbled to Sawyer before heading away from the group.

  The sounds of laughter and chatter faded as Betzy made her way back through the kitchen and toward her room. A Christmas melody floated from the speakers, the familiar tune bringing a smile to her lips. She was enjoying herself. Enjoying the time with Sawyer and her family. Even if it wasn’t the real thing, playing the role with her lifelong crush was better than she’d imagined it could be.

  The thought was interrupted as she passed Sawyer’s room and heard a chime from his phone, one indicating he’d just received a text.

  She ignored it at first, but as she rounded the corner to go into her room, a thought came to mind. What if Kellianne needed him for something? He’d probably kept it on in case of an emergency. It wouldn’t hurt to at least check.

  With that, she snatched the extra slippers from her dresser and hurried into Sawyer’s room. There, glowing face up on the side table, the device let out another chime.

  Quickly, Betzy hovered over the screen to read the text that had popped up.

  Ryan: I’ll take your silence as confirm
ation. Hopefully you can at least work up to holding hands before then.

  Holding hands?

  She knew that it was a very bad idea to tap on his phone and read the texts leading up to it, but her curiosity had been piqued.

  As quickly as the thought came to her, Betzy swiped the screen, hoping it wouldn’t require a password.

  It didn’t. With that one touch, Betzy had opened the text interactions between Sawyer and his uncle. She set her eyes on the first one she could see at the top of the screen and read from there.

  Ryan: That’s what I’m talking about, you lucky dog. Same room?

  Sawyer: Separate rooms. One thing at a time, my friend.

  Ryan: Yeah, yeah. Sounds thrilling. 2 grand says you don’t even get past 2nd base.

  Sawyer: 10 grand says she agrees to marry me by Christmas.

  Ryan: Sounds like she’s more of a prude than I thought if you have to put a ring on it first.

  Betzy brought a hand to her mouth. A mean ache settled over her as she read over it once more. One thing at a time, my friend. That’s what Sawyer had said.

  It was obvious that his uncle didn’t know about the plan. Perhaps this was Sawyer’s way of warming him up to the idea. But why hadn’t Sawyer defended her after Ryan’s ugly comment?

  She glared at the phone. “At least work up to holding hands?” Sure, Marcus was right about what he’d said in the article. Betzy hadn’t wanted to go that far with him. In fact, she didn’t want to go that far with anyone who didn’t truly love her, and she didn’t plan on changing that now.

  Was that really all men worried about—how far they were going to get?

  First the warning from Grandma, then the comment from Duke, and now this? Perhaps Sawyer was more like the rest of them than she thought.

  Fine. She’d consider herself warned.

  If she were smart, Betzy would invalidate every ounce of affection she got from Sawyer. Chalk it all up to men taking what they could get. Then, she’d shift her focus back to her plan instead.

  And though Betzy hated the idea, she could already feel herself doing that very thing. It was time to put her focus back on the plan.

  Chapter 15

  Sawyer tossed and turned in his bed, thoughts of Betzy and that morning kiss heavy on his mind. He was tempted to knock on her door, wake her in the night, and see if she wanted to join him in front of the fireplace once more. Maybe he’d grab a few logs from out back and strike up a wood fire in the double hearth, recreate the moment beside a real crackling fire.

  It started out as a playful musing at first, but just as he began to fully entertain the idea, a knock came to his own door. Soft, almost indecipherable.

  “Sawyer?” Betzy whispered from the doorway. “Are you awake?”

  “Depends on who’s asking,” he said. “Is this the girl who wants to lay in front of the fireplace with me and kiss?”

  She giggled, and he could tell by the gentle sound of footsteps that she’d entered the room. “It’s the girl who wants to talk about what you’re going to say, at the proposal.”

  Oh. If he were honest, Sawyer didn’t like to be reminded of how, well, fake all of this was.

  “Doesn’t the guy usually come up with that?” The last thing he wanted to do was recite some spoon-fed lines while the camera rolled.

  “Mind if I sit?” He could tell, by the sound of her voice, that she was approaching the foot of his bed.

  Sawyer was quick to move his legs. “No, go ahead,” he said, giving it a blind pat in the darkness.

  “Thanks. I think, considering the circumstance, that it might be better to have it scripted. Just to avoid…”

  “Avoid what? Me messing it all up?” A bout of irritation stirred in the pit of his stomach. This was the very thing that kept popping up during their time together. One moment he was confident Betzy was on the same page, feeling the same things, and the next, she’d bring up the plan like it was the only thing on her mind.

  “Trust me,” he said under his breath. “I know all the right things to say.”

  She stayed quiet, seeming to look for some benign approach to getting her way. There wasn’t one.

  Of all the things he’d been asked to do in life, this task was meant for him, and him alone.

  “Betzy Benton,” he said softly. Sawyer reached for her hand, found it resting over her knee, and sandwiched it between his own. A rush of emotion pushed its way to the surface, fusing his words with all the tenderness he’d use if the moment were real.

  “I have loved you since we were eight years old, when I taught you how to wink. To this day, that wink of yours makes my heart skip at least two full beats.”

  He paused there, the raw truth in his words causing his throat to tighten.

  “I wanted my time in New York to be like that wink, fast and fleeting, so that I could come back to you and make you mine.”

  She sniffed, and suddenly her hand was trembling.

  Sawyer cradled her wrist gently, and dared himself to say more. But Betzy beat him to the punch.

  “That’s perfect,” she said with another sniff. Already she was climbing off the bed. “I changed my mind. I guess you do know what to say.” With that, Betzy hurried out of the room, closing his door behind her.

  Her door closed a moment later.

  Sawyer exhaled a breath, heavy with the unspoken words in his heart. He didn’t want to lie back down and swallow his thoughts back into the depths they’d lived in for all these years. Instead, Sawyer wanted to burst into Betzy’s room, drop onto one knee, and confess it all right then and there.

  Adrenaline coursed through him at the mere idea, hot and restless, pushing at him from every inward angle.

  I’m not mad about the contract, sweetie. I think it’s cute. And we love Sawyer too, trust me. But you’re a Benton…

  And there it was, his mighty, title-holding friend—fear. Ready to stop him once again from going after the woman of his dreams. Ready to pull him back to reality and remind him that, while he’d accomplished a lot, it still wasn’t enough.

  Sawyer had been certain, while pouring his heart out to Betzy just then, that she felt the same. He wasn’t so sure of that anymore. In fact, it was possible she’d known how very real it was for him, and that she’d wanted to avoid the awkward moment of turning him down and bringing him back to reality. This is just for pretend, remember? You know that, right?

  Yes. He knew. But Sawyer also knew that Betzy felt something for him. She was simply afraid to admit it. Of course, if she felt the two couldn’t really have a future together, what would be the point?

  But he wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Sawyer had accomplished a lot over the years, and he wanted to still believe that he had a chance at scoring the thing he wanted most—a life with Betzy by his side.

  Betzy lay in the center of her bed, a blanket draped over her head to stifle the tears. Sawyer was so sweet to try and flatter her like he had, to give her a taste of what a meaningful proposal would look like. But she knew, as kind and beautiful as his words were, she’d never hear them in the way she hoped. That text with his uncle said it all; this was no more than a game to him.

  And the more Betzy considered it, the more she realized that everything in that article was true, all the way down to her fanatical need to be in control. She’d wanted to have control over the proposal as well. She’d written it up, thought she’d nailed it, only to discover that it was vanilla bland compared to Sawyer’s.

  A deep, aching sigh passed through her lips. She just had to get through this. Then she could move on. But her plan didn’t seem as easy as it had days ago.

  When it was all said and done, Grandma Lo would be furious, Sawyer would be gone, and Betzy would be left with nothing but her revenge.

  Suddenly, that revenge seemed like a hollow prize.

  Chapter 16

  Sawyer kept his eyes pasted on the big screen before them, but he couldn’t repeat what was happening on that screen for the life o
f him. This wasn’t the first time the family had gathered in the cabin’s theater for a movie night.

  He’d enjoyed the other features just fine. But tonight—though the title was one he’d wanted to see—Sawyer was too distracted to focus.

  Lounging next to him on the double reclining chair was Betzy. Minutes ago, she’d yawned, stretched, and rolled onto her side to face him. It had been enough to get his pulse to rush. But when she rested her head on his chest, trickled her fingers down his bicep, and looped one of her legs over his, Sawyer could only think of her. Of that kiss they’d shared in the front room. It hadn’t been the only kiss they’d shared over the week.

  The candy cane kiss, egged on by Duke dangling the mistletoe, was only the beginning. Throughout the days that followed, Betzy’s siblings had taken turns showing up with the mistletoe at odd times. They’d even passed the sprig on to Lilly and let her wave it over them as they were lounged before the fire one morning.

  Overall, they’d kissed exactly six times since they arrived, but only one of those was shared when the two were alone. Only one had been initiated by them—not Betzy’s family. And before they left the cabin, something they planned to do first thing in the morning, Sawyer wanted very badly to repeat that moment.

  He needed to know what fueled her on that morning. Needed to know if she’d give in to another moment of passion, when the two of them were alone.

  He waited for the movie to end, tuning in to the soft rhythm of her sweet breath. At last the credits rolled. Matthew carried a sleeping Lilly out of the theater while Link held onto his mom’s hand, galloping all the way to the exit, which was right beside his and Betzy’s seat.

  “Tell them goodnight,” his mom Emmy said.

  “Have a good sleep, Sawyer and Betzy,” the kid said.

  “You too,” he said in return.

  “She’s out, huh?” Claudia said as she came up behind the small group.

  “Yeah,” Sawyer answered. “I’ll wait until everyone clears out, then I’ll get her back to her room.”

  “I’m sure you will,” Duke mumbled as he headed toward the exit as well.