After that, Sloane had all but leaned in to the lie.

And swan dived off the cliff when Rizzie had officially offered to represent her. There was still paperwork to go over and sign, but, with one well-placed lie, Sloane was on the path to a life she’d never thought possible.

All she had to do to keep on that path?

Survive the next three weeks pretending to be in a public romantic relationship with one good-looking bartender.

Audible gulp.

“If we’re really going to do this, I think we need to take an official first picture together,” Sloane decided.

Brady actually nodded.

Then he got really close.

“Let’s turn around, though, so the truck is behind us,” he said. “I don’t want to inflate the Robertson ego any more by having their mansion as our background.”

He reached for her phone, opened the app, and had the front-facing camera going lickity split.

“Do you take selfies often?” she couldn’t help but ask.

Brady snorted. “No, but I’ve seen Santana do it enough that it’s almost like secondhand muscle memory for me.” He outstretched his arm, thumb already hovering over the button to capture their picture. Sloane saw on the display as she made a face.

“You may know how to work it, but you don’t know how to work it.” She swatted at his hand until he moved it and the phone upward. “It’s all about the angle.”

Brady’s brow rose.

“Surely you’ve seen Carol do it at the bar when she’s taking a picture of her and Ruby,” Sloane continued. She put her hand beneath her chin and smiled sweetly at the camera. “Selfies aren’t for looking cute. They’re a war against double chins.”

“That’s a lot of pressure for an angle,” he said. “And it kind of sounds unnecessary.”

It was Sloane’s turn to snort. “Next time you’re lounging on the couch, scrolling through your phone, I want you to turn your front-facing camera on without moving. It doesn’t matter what you look like; some angles make you just cringe. I mean, have you seen the meme of the laughing iguana? That’s how most pictures look when taken at a ninety-degree or lower perspective. One angle can be the difference between you looking as good as Idris Elba on the red carpet and looking like Swamp Thing.”

“Or the Laughing Iguana,” he said, his reflection slipping into a nice little smile.

Sloane nodded, solemn.

“It’s a grisly battle that takes no enemies alive.”

Brady shook his head and took the picture without another word. When he was done, Sloane pulled the image up for both of them to see.

For a moment, no one said anything.

Then Sloane broke the silence with a sigh.