As she helped herself to another rope, she turned toward me again, giving me a look like I was dumb as dirt. “The way I see it,” she said between bites, “we have three options. One, we break up in the next week. Call off the engagement. Two, we run away to Europe and live our separate, un-engaged lives and no one knows the difference. Three”—she scoffed—“we try to find a way to convince people we’re really engaged for the next few months and deal with the breakup later.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed at the Europe option. “They do have good beer in Europe, but that commute would be a killer. We’re not backing down now. That would defeat the purpose. So I guess we’re planning a wedding.”

I acted nonchalant, but there was an uneasiness in my gut at the thought of anything to do with weddings and marriage. Until those words had popped out of my mouth earlier tonight, none of it was on my radar. Not for me, not any time soon. I hadn’t had a girlfriend for… I didn’t even know how long it’d been. A couple of years at least.

Now I was engaged. Sort of.

But not going back on my word, my scheme, or one of my longest friendships.

Okay. We could pull this off. Like she’d said, for a few months. I liked spending time with Chloe, so we’d just spend a lot more time together. And based on that test in the car tonight, kissing her sure as hell didn’t suck. She was turned back toward the counter, still shoving candy in her mouth like Bugs Bunny chomping on carrots, and I looked at her in a new light, letting my eyes roam over her body like I hadn’t before.

She was slender, tall, and though she dressed more business-badass than sexy, she had a body underneath that I suspected might be surprising in a good way, particularly if you found yourself suddenly engaged to her. I’d already felt the way her waist dipped in and her hips curved out, and I couldn’t lie—now that I was thinking about her that way, I was curious. I wouldn’t mind knowing more of her body.

I know. Typical horndog man. It had been a while since I’d gotten laid.

I shook myself out of that line of thought, back to the problem at hand. Because so far, sex was not on the table…

“It’s going to be okay, Chloe.”

“It’s not going to be okay.”

I shrugged. “We’ll be convincing.”