At least, it hadn’t.

“I guess we are lucky,” he’d told her then, ending the conversation. After that, he’d shaken the comments off and enjoyed the rest of the night.

But, in the light of the next morning, Carol “Destroyer of Worlds” Robertson’s words had pulled him from the bed and to his computer. There he’d made quick work of finding The Girl Who Said Nothing and the blog post that had been the catalyst that made Sloane go viral.

And Brady had hated it.

Just as much as he hated that Carol had goaded him into reading it.

She’d poisoned him with the truth, and you couldn’t cure the damn truth.

Brady wasn’t Guy. He’d just been the bartender who had used a woman’s secret to his advantage. Sure, she was naked in his bed right now, but what did that really mean?

They had an attraction, and they were both benefitting from that attraction. But it didn’t change the facts.

Sloane had to still have feelings for Marcus, no matter what she’d promised him earlier. Why else would the last post she made be about him? About loving him? That couldn’t just go away, could it? Plus, she had dreams she loved back in Nashville. Brady had a job he loved in Arbor Bay. She wouldn’t stay, and he wouldn’t leave.

Which meant their future started when Sloane woke up and ended when the pageant’s curtains closed.

It just took Carol and her need to wound to remind him.

He closed the browser with the resolution to put on a smile and make it through the last of the festival. Sloane had come through with helping the bar, and it was only fair he keep up his end of the bargain. He’d be Guy until he wasn’t even a guy in her life anymore.

That’s what she wanted, and that’s what he’d do.

So Brady tried to push his bad mood to the back burner and smiled when Sloane woke up and said good morning. He kept that smile going as they went to her house to meet up with Emma and get ready, and that smile was still there when they went to Main Street and hooked his truck up to their float.

It was only in the lull between everyone getting into place and waiting for the procession to start that Sloane asked if he was okay.