I wanted to fight with her, but she wasn’t wrong. Maybe I was a better deceiver than I gave myself credit for. “Fair point.”

“And for the record, you haven’t even asked.” Kayla folder her arms across her chest and waited for me to fall for her baited trap.

“Asked what?” I asked, giving her what she wanted.

“How much money he’s going to pay you for being his fake girlfriend.” Her face looked like she held the greatest secret in all the world.

“Don’t say it like that. It makes me sound like a prostitute.” I stuck my tongue out like I’d eaten something rotten.

“Well, this prostitute is getting two hundred thousand.” Her eyes widened as she waited for my reaction.

I coughed and choked out the word, “Pesos?”

Kayla laughed. “Dollars, you idiot.”

I was in a little over a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of school debt. “All to make his mom go away and leave him alone?”

“No. All of this to make his mom happy,” she clarified. “He’s a good guy, Sutton. You’ll see,” she said.

I really wanted to believe her.

But I didn’t.

FIRST—NO, SECOND IMPRESSIONS

JOSEPH

“She agreed,” Kayla said with a shit-eating grin on her smug face.

Shit. The evil troll had actually said yes. That brought up a whole new set of considerations.

“We need a contract. I want everything in writing,” I blurted out, and Kayla’s grin turned into a grimace.

“I want to argue with you right now because it’s my best friend we’re talking about, but a contract would be the smart thing to do.”

“That’s why I’m the boss,” I said with a smirk of my own.

“She did have one condition.” Kayla pursed her lips together, and I wondered what it might be.

“Spit it out, Sanderson.”

“She needs to see you again. She wants to make sure this can even work, and she won’t sign anything or commit a hundred percent until you do.”

I guess I’m not the only smart one here.

“That makes sense,” I agreed.

“I was hoping you’d say that. You two have a reservation at one in the café downstairs.”

“Thanks, Kayla.”

“Don’t thank me yet. She still hates you.”

That was a reminder I hadn’t needed.

PROMPTLY AT ONE P.M., I strode down into the café and searched for a red-haired raven. I knew she’d be easy to spot, and thankfully, she was. Sutton was already sitting down at a table for two near the back with as much privacy as the café could muster, which wasn’t much. We’d have to talk quietly. I couldn’t risk anyone overhearing what we were attempting to do.

As I neared her, her green eyes shot up and pinned me with just a look. Her mouth refused to twist into a smile of any kind, and I could tell that just seeing me was setting her off. Clearing my throat, I decided to use my best manners.