I banged the back of my head against the headboard once he was out of view. I was completely losing it. A text made my phone buzz. I picked it up and saw it was from Steph.

Steph: Did he walk in when you said that? LOL. Busted!

I rolled my eyes and tossed my phone back on the bed. I considered telling Marley the truth about Dean, because at least she wouldn’t revel in my misery like Steph did. But I knew I couldn’t do that. What felt like an innocent little agreement at first had somehow spiraled into a much bigger deal. The Pollard men were all wrapped up in this now. If it ever came out that I’d lied, I was sure my job would be gone. If I brought Marley in on the secret, she’d be at risk, too. On top of that, I had Lizzie to think about. These two weeks were all part of her perfect wedding. Some scandal involving her sister would tarnish her big day, and I couldn’t let that happen.

If everybody learned we were lying to them, I’d maybe lose my job, maybe ruin my sister’s wedding week, and definitely break my parents’ hearts. I had to make sure the secret stayed between us, even if it felt harder and harder to keep it.

I sighed. If nothing else, I needed to come to some kind of truce with Dean. I could tell he was toying with me. It was almost like he was daring me not to fall for him, and the cocky bastard knew how tall of an order that was.

15

DEAN

I’d never given a pedicure a try, but it wasn’t so bad. They’d given me a superbly comfy white robe at the front desk, and now my feet were kicked up. A man and woman were using some curious tools to scrape and hack at my toenails or scrub the dry skin from my heels.

I rolled my head to the side where Pearl was reclined. She didn’t look as relaxed as I felt.

“Lighten up,” I suggested.

She pressed her lips together, then dragged her eyes away from me and studied the ceiling.

I chuckled. “What did I do now?”

“I don’t get why we can’t just stick to the plan. We make…” she shot a glance at the people doing our toes and must have decided there was a minimal risk of what we talked about being repeated. “We make it look real, but why can’t we just lay off all the games behind closed doors? We could keep a respectful distance, only talk to each other when we have to, and maybe even work together to be sure it looks good in front of everyone else.”

“That all sounds very reasonable, yes,” I agreed.

“Okay?” Pearl perked up, scooting back in her chair and earning a glare from the girl at her feet. “So we can stop all the craziness?”

“Reasonable, but boring as hell,” I finished.