Her Stand-In Fake Fiancé

by Cindy Roland Anderson

  “Either of those sounds like the perfect first date,” she said, hoping he didn’t hear the catch in her voice. “But let’s go with axe throwing, which I’m sure I kicked your butt.”

  A slow smile tugged at his lips before he looked back at the road. “You think so?” he asked with a throaty laugh that made her skin prickle with goosebumps.

  “Yeah, I know so.” She didn’t really know if she was any good or not. It was too expensive, and she didn’t have extra money to waste on axe throwing when she had to save for her own apartment.

  “All right, then I’ll be sure and set something up.”

  Set something up? Like for a first date or for their fake engagement date?

  “There are a few places nearby my stepdad’s cabin,” Kade said before Presley got a word out. “I’ll bet my sisters and brothers-in-law would like to come too.”

  Presley had almost forgotten they were spending Christmas with other people. A crushing feeling pressed down on her chest as anxiety twisted her insides into knots. “How many sisters do you have again?”

  “Three, and they’re technically my half-sisters,” Kade said, changing lanes to pass a particularly slow truck in front of them. “Allison is married to Cody, and they have two kids. Lucas is six, and Brooklyn is four.”

  “Allison, Cody, Lucas and Brooklyn,” Presley said. “Got it.”

  “Next are the twins.”

  “Twins?” Presley interrupted. “Are they identical?”

  “Nope, Jamie has dark hair and brown eyes. Stacie is blonde with blue eyes.” He glanced over at Presley. “She actually looks like she could be your sister and not mine.”

  “Jamie and Stacie,” Presley said. “And they’re both married?”

  “Yep, Jamie is married to Devon, and they have three kids.” He started to rattle off their names, sex, and age, but Presley stopped him before he finished.

  “Wait, I’m never going to keep them straight.” She pulled out her phone and opened her Notes app. “I need to write this down, or I’ll never remember names and who belongs to who.”

  She quickly typed in what she remembered and was ready for the rest. Kade told her about Jamie and Devon’s three kids. A boy and two girls—twins, only they were identical. It was clear he enjoyed his role as an uncle, and Presley looked forward to seeing him in that capacity.

  “So Blake is three, and the twins are five?” she asked, typing in the information. “Jenny and Laura are their names, right?”

  “Yeah,” Kade said with a laugh. “You know you don’t have to remember everyone’s names.”

  “I know, but I’d think as your fiancée I would at least be familiar with their names.” She finished typing and was ready for the last sister.

  “My fiancée,” Kade said, his voice cracking slightly. “That sounds so…”

  So what? Horrible? Great? “Awful?” Presley guessed, feeling like someone had stabbed her heart with a jagged piece of glass.

  “Not awful,” he said, shooting her a questioning look. “I was going to say it sounds strange.”

  Strange? “Gee, thanks so much,” Presley said dryly. “Just what every girl likes to hear about themselves.”

  Kade laughed. “I didn’t mean it that way.” He lifted one shoulder up. “It’s just weird—”

  “Not much better,” Presley said, cutting him off.

  “I’m not used to saying fiancée is all,” Kade said, glancing at her with that crooked sexy smile of his. “Trust me, I do not think you are weird or strange.”

  Presley’s heart sputtered and then took off again. Good heavens, was the entire week going to be like this? She needed to get a hold of her emotions, so they didn’t keep bouncing all over the place like an unruly ping pong ball. She desperately wanted to ask him what he did think about her but decided it was territory she wasn’t prepared to venture into just yet. Instead, she asked him about his other sister.

  “Yeah, so Stacie is married to Greg, and they have a four-year-old daughter named Maddie. Stacie is five-months pregnant with another girl, but I have no idea what they’re naming her.”

  Presley typed in the information, overwhelmed as she read through the text. “Your family is huge,” she said, wondering how she would ever tell them apart. “Do you have any pictures of them?”

  “Good idea.” Kade kept one hand on the steering wheel and dug his phone from his pocket, handing it to Presley. “We had a family pic done at Thanksgiving, so it’s pretty new.”

  “I thought you had to work Thanksgiving?”

  “My brother-in-law’s a pro at photoshop and added a picture of me after.”

  “Impressive.” Presley tapped on the screen. “You’ll have to unlock it,” she said, offering the phone back to him.

  “The passcode is F-I-R-E or 3-4-7-3,” he said, passing another slow vehicle.

  Presley was too stunned to do anything but stare. She knew it was stupid, but sharing a passcode with someone other than family seemed intimate. But then again, Kade said she was like a little sister so it probably didn’t mean anything.

  “Did you get that?” he asked, cutting her a sidelong look.

  “Um, yeah.” Presley ducked her head and tapped in the numbers. It felt strange navigating his home screen. The icons were familiar to hers but in a different order and not grouped like she had hers. While searching for the photo app, she noticed he had a couple of unread messages. The nosy part of her wanted to see who was messaging him. But snooping around would officially make her strange or weird. “Where should I look?” she asked, still not seeing the photo app.

  “Middle, left side of the screen.”

  Presley spotted it and opened the app. Even though Kade was sitting next to her and had given her permission, it felt like she was invading his privacy. Selecting recent photos, she tapped on the icon and stared at Kade’s family. It was even more overwhelming since her family pics consisted of her and Travis.

  “Your mom is beautiful,” Presley said, focusing on the matriarch smiling brightly with her large family surrounding her along with a distinguished looking man that was Kade’s stepfather. “She doesn’t look old enough to be a grandmother.”

  “Flattery will get you very far with my mother,” Kade said with more fondness than sarcasm. “And you can thank her plastic surgeon for her youthful appearance.”

  “Not sure you’re supposed to reveal that kind of stuff,” Presley said, zooming in on the sister with blonde hair. Kade was right. Stacie could pass as Presley’s sister. Sliding her finger across the screen, she noticed the two sisters with darker hair. They looked more like Kade, only they both had brown eyes. A delicious current of awareness swept over her when her eyes landed on Kade. He was photogenic, something she already knew from the photos of him on the fire department’s Facebook page and Instagram account. Kade and Travis were both a favorite of the ladies. For years, followers had been after the fire department to put out a sexy firefighter calendar. Presley wouldn’t mind an entire calendar featuring Kade. Seeing her brother like that would be wrong, though. “I won’t tell your mom you said that,” Presley added. “No need to get on her bad side.”

  “I’ve been on her bad side for a while now, but thanks,” Kade said dryly but with an added hint of annoyance that drew Presley’s attention.

  “Why are you on her bad side?” she asked, shifting her focus from the family picture to look at his profile. A shadow of dark whiskers covered his firm jawline, and she saw the muscle in his cheek flex as he delayed answering her question for several seconds.

  “She isn’t happy with my career choice,” he finally said.

  “Because it’s dangerous?” Presley asked, even though she suspected there was more to the story than just his job.

  “Not exactly,” Kade said hesitantly. “Let’s just say she thinks I could be making more money selling cars.”

  “That’s probably true,” Presley said.

  Kade cut a quick glance at her with one eyebrow raised. “Mercenary much
?”

  “No, just being honest,” she said with a light laugh. “But making money isn’t everything. Not everyone can do what you and Travis do. I feel like your job is more like a calling than a career.”

  Heat bloomed in Presley’s cheeks when Kade looked at her again for one intense heartbeat. In that brief moment, she saw a look of surprise and gratitude. However, it was the burning admiration that made her breath catch and gave her hope that maybe Kade Hunter saw her as more than just his best friend’s little sister.

  Chapter 6

  Not sure if his voice would give him away, Kade took a minute before giving Presley a response. He was already fighting the undercurrent of chemistry flowing between them and didn’t need another reason to like her, but Presley’s analogy blew him away. Being a firefighter was a calling. He’d just never heard it put quite like that before.

  “You’re very wise for one so young,” he said, not sure why he added the last part about her age. Maybe to remind him she was Travis’s baby sister and off-limits.

  “I’m not that young,” Presley said, sounding completely offended.

  Kade knew she was right, but her age was one of the barriers he’d put up the first time he’d noticed Presley wasn’t a little girl anymore. “How old are you anyway?” he asked, even though he knew exactly how old she was. It seemed like a good way to move onto a new subject. He didn’t want to delve any deeper into his mother’s reasons why making money was so important. Reasons like snagging the kind of affluent wife his mom had in mind for him. “And when’s your birthday. I should probably know that kind of stuff if we’re engaged.”

  “I’m twenty-three, and if you don’t remember my birthday, then maybe we should call off the engagement.”

  The snark was back in her voice, making Kade smile. Of course he knew when her birthday was. It was the day before his. “March twenty-fourth,” he said, glancing over at her as he checked to see if the lane was clear. He needed to take the next exit to get gas and take a bathroom break. “It will be your golden birthday.”

  “Oh, wow, it will be my golden birthday,” she said with a smile in her voice. “I guess you’re not such a bad boyfriend, after all.”

  “Thanks,” he said, veering off to the right and slowed down for the exit. He didn’t have much experience in the boyfriend department. Other than Jillian, he’d never allowed himself to date a girl long enough to earn the title. “I’m stopping for gas, but we can get something to eat if you’re hungry.”

  “I’m not very hungry, but feel free to grab something if you want.” She still had his phone and startled when it pinged an incoming text. “Um, you have a new message on top of your other messages.”

  “Is it from my mother again?” he asked, making a right turn toward a gas station. His mom had sent him two messages this morning. Without opening them, Kade saw enough of the texts to know his mom wanted him to pack a suit and tie to wear in case they ate dinner at the lodge. Their family had never eaten at the lodge. Not with all of the little kids. He was sure his mom was plotting something but had no idea what it was.

  “No, it’s from Stacie.” Presley held up his phone. “She says you need to call her right away.”

  “Aw man,” Kade said as he waited behind a line of cars turning into the crowded gas station. “I really hope it’s not the baby.” Stacie had miscarried at ten weeks before this pregnancy. None of them had worried because she was so far along this time. It would be so devastating to lose the baby now.

  “I hope not either,” Presley said, worrying her bottom lip.

  Once Kade was in line for one of the gas pumps, he took his phone back from Presley and opened the message so he could read the full text. Relief flooded through him when Stacie added at the end that it wasn’t an emergency and the baby was fine. “It’s not the baby,” Kade said, glancing over at his passenger. “She probably wants to know why I haven’t returned my mom’s texts.”

  “Is there a reason why you haven’t responded?” Presley asked. “Not that it’s any of my business,” she said when Kade glanced up and met her pretty eyes.

  “No reason other than I read enough of her text to know answering her would lead to more and more demands that didn’t involve just my wardrobe.”

  A wrinkle of worry creased Presley’s smooth forehead. “What about your wardrobe?”

  It occurred to him that if they were attending a formal dinner, then his date would need to know about that. What if Presley hadn’t packed a dress? They’d both decided the proposal wasn’t going to be formal. Before he had a chance to ask her, his cell started ringing. “It’s Stacie, so I better answer.”

  Presley unclicked her seatbelt. “I think I’ll run to the bathroom and give you some privacy.” She didn’t need to leave but he let her go in case she was in dire need of the restroom.

  Kade tapped on the screen and then hit the speaker icon. “Hey, I just stopped for gas and was about to call.”

  “Oh good,” Stacie said in a stage-whisper. “I was going to tell you to pull over so you don’t wreck when I tell you what Mom’s done.”

  Kade’s stomach bottomed out like he’d just jumped out of an airplane. His gut feeling that his mom was up to something had been correct. “What has she done?” he asked, letting off the gas to move ahead a space.

  “She invited Jillian to spend Christmas with our family.”

  A curse word slipped out of Kade’s mouth that he quickly apologized to his sister for. “Are you kidding me?” he asked, glancing out the window to make sure Presley wasn’t coming back. “I thought she and her boyfriend were going to Belgium with her parents?”

  “I guess she broke up with her boyfriend and didn’t want to be the third wheel,” Stacie said. “Mom is all giddy about Jillian being free and is determined to make you fall in love with her. Allison and Jamie told me not to call you, but I didn’t want to blindside you.”

  Air hissed through Kade’s clenched teeth as he bit back another swearword. He had no idea what would happen when he came home with a girlfriend. No, a fiancée. His mother would totally lose it. How could he subject Presley to that kind of thing? “Thanks for the heads up,” Kade said, truly appreciating his youngest sister.

  “Don’t you dare tell me you’re not coming now,” Stacie said as if she could read Kade’s thoughts. “That’s why Jamie and Allie didn’t want me to say anything. We missed you at Thanksgiving, and the kids are dying to see their favorite uncle.”

  “This really sucks,” Kade said with a humorless laugh. “The you-know-what is gonna hit the fan when I introduce you all to my fiancée.”

  It was his sister’s turn to swear. Hearing it made Kade start to laugh. “Does your husband know you use that kind of language?”

  “Where do you think I learned it from?” Stacie asked irritably. “Now be quiet and please explain yourself.”

  “Well, I’m engaged.” The car in front finished with the pump, so Kade pulled forward and cut the engine. “What else is there to explain?”

  “Um, maybe like who she is and where you met her and when this happened?” There were a few colorful words interjected in between, which made him question how safe it was to proceed with his journey. His sister wasn’t typically so rude or demanding. Kade cut her some slack since it was probably pregnancy hormones messing with her usually sweet personality.

  “I was planning on it being a surprise.”

  “Yeah, mission accomplished.” She let out a big breath. “Sorry about all the cussing. I’m not usually a total witch.”

  “It’s okay, Stacie.” Kade switched the phone from speaker and climbed out of the car to open the fuel door. “Do you need me to bring chocolate to tame the beast?”

  “Ha ha,” she said with a small laugh. “But yeah, chocolate will help. I’m craving chocolate covered cinnamon bears, and Greg forgot to look for some when he went out earlier.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Kade said, swiping his credit card. Since he couldn’t explain the real s
tory about his engagement, he did what Presley suggested and stuck as close to the truth as possible.

  “Shut up,” Stacie said with a breathy laugh. “Are you telling me you’re the Princess Warrior’s mystery Prince Charming?”

  Crap. Kade hadn’t counted on his family knowing about any of that. He wasn’t sure why since they were always on social media. Plus, they were fans of Presley. “I guess you could say that.”

  “Oh my heck, Kade. Mother is going to have a coronary.”

  “I know CPR,” he said dryly.

  “And Jillian is…I don’t know what she’s going to do.”

  “I’m sure Jillian will be happy for me once I announce I’m engaged.”

  Stacie snorted a loud guffaw. “Kade, she and Mom have been plotting how to get you two back together. I think they’ve even planned the wedding, so a little thing like you being engaged isn’t going to get in their way.”

  “You’re not helping, sis,” Kade said, looking through the tinted glass to see if Presley was coming yet. The coast was still clear, giving him a little more time to figure out what to do.

  “Jillian and I tried dating, and it didn’t work out,” Kade said. “Why does she think I’ve changed my mind?”

  “Because Mother is convinced you two belong together. She’s got Jillian all excited again.”

  “I don’t understand why Jillian is going along with her,” Kade muttered under his breath.

  “Well, you did reject her,” Stacie said. “Plus, you’re kind of hot. At least all my girlfriends tell me that all the time.”

  “Thanks. I think.” Kade finished filling the gas tank and waited for his receipt before getting back inside the car. “I still don’t get why she didn’t go to Belgium with Mr. and Mrs. Hastings.” Seriously, everything just got really complicated. He didn’t want to hurt Jillian’s feelings, but he couldn’t let Presley down.

  “I don’t understand it either,” Stacie said. “Belgium makes incredible chocolate.”

  Kade laughed. “I promise to bring you chocolate.”