I watched him over the rim of my glass, taking another sip of the fruity, delicious wine. I probably should have been slowing down. I wasn’t a heavy drinker, and even the lone glass I’d had was already starting to make me feel a little loose. “What lie have you been telling yourself?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Dean said. The words were simple, but his tone was dripping with some kind of thinly-veiled seduction I couldn’t put my finger on. All I knew was I felt like each syllable was threatening to pull me across the table and into his arms. What the hell was happening?

“I think it would be wise for us both to just… stick to the plan. A fake relationship is simple. Feelings don’t get involved and it doesn’t blow up before it’s supposed to. We both need to get through this wedding, at the very least, and then...” I trailed off, not knowing how I wanted to finish that sentence. Then we could talk about it? Was I really going to say that? Did I really want that?

Maybe.

“Hmm.” He said it again, thoughtfully as if he was in no hurry. I felt like prey being circled by an apex predator–a predator who knew it could have me whenever it wanted, but it was waiting for some unseen moment to pounce.

The anticipation of being in his sights made my body prickle with pinpoints of fire. It also made me want to fight back, if for no other reason than because I was stubborn and something deep within me wanted to prove him wrong–or at the very least, make him work harder for it than he thought he’d have to.

“I never asked,” I said, breaking the silence. “Who’s trying so hard to set you up? They must be pretty persistent if you were willing to do something this extreme to get them off your back.”

“My brothers, actually. Pierce and Damon.”

“Wow. So you have a big family. What’s your little sister’s name? The one you mentioned earlier.” I felt a touch of relief. Moving away from the earlier conversation felt like stepping out of a looming trap that could’ve sprung at any moment. Now we were in safer territory.

“Laney. She’s twenty now and finishing up her degree in Manhattan. She’s really into conservation. Environmental spaces and endangered species. That sort of thing.”

“Oh, that’s awesome. What about your brothers? What do they do?”

“Pierce does high profile legal stuff. Mostly representing celebrity clients. Damon is in real estate.”

“Quite the family,” I said. “Did your parents run some sort of boot camp for budding billionaires, or something?”

Dean smiled. “No, actually. Our mom got sick when we were young and passed when I was twelve. Our dad worked two jobs and could never seem to get ahead, so the three of us were all trying to chip in by the time we were in high school. Working hard was a necessity, so it was natural to keep doing it. I think we all wanted to make sure Laney didn’t have to grow up like we did, too. We wanted to make sure she had everything she’d need.”