The Billionaire's Pretend Girlf - Leslie North Page 0,41

what are you gonna do during the next business trip?”

Her words landed like a hammer. He could feel the smile fall off his face and shatter on the floor. The sudden pivot to what came after this weekend riled up all the unresolved doubts he’d been struggling to answer—and simultaneously ignore—all day.

And worse yet, he didn’t know what to say. The conversation was too big, too looming. They needed an entire evening to sit down and hash things out. Bare their souls. Reach a consensus on future plans. Not a mere two minutes before they headed to his best friend’s wedding ceremony.

“We need to talk about that another time,” he finally forced out. “We can’t possibly—”

“No, no. I get it.” She pulled away slightly, her expression closing off.

“There’s too much,” he added. “We need to be at the ceremony in five minutes.”

She nodded, her gaze stuck to the floor. “Yeah. Totally.”

It was half-assed at best, but it was the best he could muster for now. He wasn’t prepared to have the conversation now.

He squeezed her hands, leaning down to coax her into another kiss. But she turned away, breezing toward her discarded handbag on the bed. “So are you ready?”

The rejection had been swift. Discreet. And now they were on a moving train that wouldn’t stop until much, much later that night.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Anxiety formed a tight knot in his gut as she brushed past him toward the door. He followed her, wanting to say something but not knowing what. He wasn’t used to talking about his feelings. He wasn’t used to wanting to even give something a go. This was totally uncharted territory for him…and he was drifting through the ocean without a life raft.

They walked down the hallway, roughly an arm’s length apart. When they finally approached the main foyer that led back to where the ceremony would occur, Jackie finally drifted closer to him. Even took his hand once they walked out into the sunny back patio with the acres and acres of vineyards as their backdrop.

Because she was sticking to the bet. Giving him what he’d asked for. The public performance.

Compartmentalization became his friend. With how badly his confusion swirled, he needed to get his head in the game if he was going to enjoy his best friend’s wedding. He kissed Jackie’s knuckles—because he wanted to, not for show—before he told her where to sit among the five rows of folding chairs facing a Tuscany-inspired columned gazebo.

The set-up was stunning. Grayson already waited in the garden alcove that had been set aside as the place for the groomsmen to gather. From their spot, they could see where a long white runner ran between two groups of chairs, all of which looked toward the gazebo. The officiant who would be performing the ceremony was the only one inside the gazebo while a trio of violinists softly played Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

Blake showed up a moment later, and the three of them waited for the rest of the guests and family members to filter into the patio area. Mila’s two bridesmaids, a best friend from college and another bestie named Lainey who Mila had claimed was her equivalent of Daniel or Blake, were probably doing their final bits of primping and preparing from their position, hidden from view, tucked behind a grove of palms.

“This is fucking awesome,” Blake murmured, squinting out into the vineyard.

Daniel clapped his best friend’s back. “Perfect weather. Perfect day. Perfect couple.”

Grayson drew a breath, looking between both of his friends. “Yeah? I’m glad you guys are here. Seriously wouldn’t have done this without you.”

“Aww, I think Grayson’s nervous,” Blake teased.

Grayson grimaced, his gaze stuck on the cluster of trees that blocked him from his bride. Daniel scanned the crowd, seeing plenty of familiar faces as guests settled into their spots. When he finally spotted Jackie, tucked into the second row, he grinned, waiting for her to look his way.

But she didn’t. The knot in his gut yanked harder.

“Not nervous,” Grayson finally said, manically adjusting the lapels of his coat. “Just ready to get her here in front of me and say ‘I do.’”

“I’d call that nervous,” Blake confirmed.

“It’s normal wedding day jitters,” Daniel said, trying to console his friend. If he had wedding day jitters, then what did Daniel have? Barely-dating shivers? “Just try to relax and enjoy it. You’re going to have a wife in, like, twenty minutes.”

Grayson smirked at him. “Sounds like something you pick up at a drive-thru.”

“In Vegas, you