“Because…because I’m engaged,” I blurted. And then because that wasn’t humiliating enough to say in front of Josh, I added, “And…and my fiancé is coming with me. For the funeral.”Face, meetpalm.
“You’re engaged?” Simon asked. “As in, you agreed to marry somebloke?”
“That’s right.”Couch, if you loved me as much as you pretended to, you’d swallow me wholenow.
When the couch didn’t cooperate with my simple request, I said to my brother, “Well, now that you’ve told me about Mum and Wilfred, I’m going back to sleep. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s almost three in the freaking morning here.” I didn’t give him a chance to say anything. I ended thecall.
I dropped the phone into my lap, then with a groan, covered my face with my hands. “I’m so fucked,” Imuttered.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Joshasked.
With my hands still covering my face, I said, “Are you referring to anything specific?” Not the best stalling tactic, but it was all I could come up with on shortnotice.
“Oh, I don’t know. How ’bout we begin with the part where your mom is trying to marry you off, and end with the part where you’re going to Australia with yourfiancé?”
“I’d rather not.”Oh, God, could this day get muchworse?
Josh peeled my hands from my face. Oddly enough, he looked more amused than anything. “Would more wine help?” he asked, the corner of his mouth quirked up on oneside.
Yes. “No. That’s what got me in trouble in the firstplace.”
Josh ignored me and poured more wine into our glasses. “You might as well tell me, given I’m flying to Australia with you. Or is your fictitious fiancé going with youinstead?”
I groaned again. But then realizing he wasn’t letting this slide, I took a long sip of my wine. “My mum has been trying to hook me up with one of her friend’s sons for over a year now. Or at least she would have tried if Wilfred the Third had been around while I was there for Christmas lastyear.”
“Wilfred the Third? The guy sounds like a majornerd.”
“He is, but he’s also a rich nerd and my mum thinks aligning our families would be a goodthing.”
Josh laughed and my girlie parts tingled.Damn sexy laugh. “What the hell does that evenmean?”
“His grandfather started a very successful business that has been kept in the family since its inception, and my mum wouldn’t mind being part of it, for strategic purposes. Much like how royalty used to marry off their sons and daughters centuries ago in order to align countries.” I paused, letting him digest what I had said, hoping it made more sense to him than it currently did to me. “So, will you help me? Will you pretend to be my fiancé so she’ll finally abandon this stupid idea of hers?” Yes, because my idea of pretending Josh was my fiancé was the work of agenius.
Josh laughed again. “You’re kidding,right?”
Seduce him, my body cleverly suggested. My brain thought about it for a moment, seeing the merits of the crazyidea.
I shifted to straddle Josh’s hips and lowered my head to his. I brushed my lips against his mouth. “Please,” Imurmured.
But then promptly forgot what I had asked him as I rubbed the achy part of me against the hardening length in his jeans. Instead of the voice of reason that normally hung out in my head, the horny one cheered me on.Yes. Yes. Yes.Just this onetime.
I kissed Josh again. He eagerly returned my kisses and upped the ante. His hands roughly caressed mybody.
Not in a badway.
In an abso-freaking-lutely deliciousway.
I moaned against his lips, and once again rubbed the aching part of me against the quickly hardening part of him. The aching part that hadn’t seen any action in an extremely long time, if you didn’t count myfingers.
I wanted Josh—and I wanted himnow.
Nothing else mattered beyondthat.
My hands crept under his T-shirt and stroked across the ridges and valleys of his abs. Longing to see and not just touch them, I pushed up the soft fabric and was rewarded with the yummiest stomach muscles to everexist.
Eager to see the rest of him, I slid the material up, revealing his chest as if it were a Christmas present.Merry very early Christmas to me. The chest, with a light smattering of blond hair, was as sexy and muscular as those muscles just south ofit.
And his nipples? They just begged me to tastethem.
