beside herself with joy. It amuses me to know there is at least one woman out there she does not approve of.”
“Oh, yeah. What a laugh.”
“If you could see how my mother is with other women, you would laugh, too.”
Oh, Mackenzie could see how his mother was with other women. It wouldn’t surprise her if Christine reserved a church whenever her son brought home a woman. Just in case.
Ethan said, “But you don’t care that my mother hates you, right?”
She laid her head back down. “Of course I don’t care.”
“Because if you did, I could keep her away from you for the next couple of weeks.”
“No weekly dinners?”
She felt him shake his head, felt his chest rumble under her ear as he said, “You just have to admit you care.”
Mackenzie listened to his heart beat, slow and steady and evil. “You know, now I’m starting to hate you.”
He chuckled. “She’d like you if she really knew you.”
“I think that makes it worse.”
“I like you.”
“That’s because I’m in your bed.”
Ethan made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. “And now I’m picturing you in bed with my mother. Thanks for killing the mood.”
She snickered and he adjusted his arm, pulling her in tighter.
He said, “I’m sure I can get the mood back tomorrow. After I scrub my brain with bleach.”
“That’s probably what your mother is doing right now. She looked like she wanted to douse me with her wine and light a match.”
He laughed. “I would say she wouldn’t even know to think something like that but. . . Since she’s met you, I’ve seen a different side of her.” He paused. “And my grandma.”
“You think I’ve made both of them lose their mind?”
“My grandma was calling around, trying to reserve a church, when we left.”
Mackenzie shuddered. “And I thought I was really going to like her.” She popped up again to glare at him. “Tell me you have it under control.”
“It’s coming back.”
She gave him a light shove. “Not that. Them. Tell me I’m not going to find a horse head in my bed. Or be forced down the aisle by shotgun.”
He cocked his head, thinking about it. “Maybe you should skip dinner next week.”
“Works for me.”
He pulled her on top of him. “But I’ll need something in return.”
She shook her head. “Your crazy family was not part of the deal.”
He grinned. “My family only goes crazy around you. There’s just something about you that throws us all off-kilter.”
“Maybe I’m the anti-O’Connor.”
“My mother certainly thinks so.”
She leaned closer to him and said softly, “You just think that if you bring up your mother I’ll get upset enough to let you do all sorts of depraved things to me.”
“It’s worked in the past.”
“I think she might be the anti-Wyatt.”
He chuckled. “So are you going to let me do all sorts of depraved things to you?”
“No.” She put her lips to his ear. “I’m going to do them to you.”
“I don’t want to ruin the mood, but God bless my mother.”
“Shut up, O’Connor.”
“Shutting up, Wyatt.”
Another week gone, another family dinner they’d all survived. Barely. With copious amounts of liquor all around.
Mackenzie had persuaded Ethan that she needed a day to recover, so she was still in her pajamas when he came home.
He saw her on the couch in her lounge pants and held up a takeout bag. “Lunch. Put something decent on and I’ll share.”
She looked down. “What’s wrong with this?”
“It’s pajamas. It’s boring. And it’s on.”
She got up, snagged his magazine, and headed back to the couch. “This is what I wanted anyway.”
“You know it’s not the Enquirer, right?”
She laughed at him. “You’re the one who reads that. I prefer heavier tomes.”
He looked at the magazine in her hands and raised an eyebrow. She said, “Alright, I just prefer my fluff pieces to be about stocks.”
“And have you picked something to invest your million in yet?”
“Part of it. I’m looking at WestCon.”
He blinked, then laughed. “We’re in negotiations to buy them out.”
She sat up, thinking WestCon was suddenly looking a real winner. “Oh, really?”
He wagged his finger at her. “Which means no buying or selling for you, Ms. Wyatt. That would be insider trading.”
She put her hands over her ears. “Don’t tell me anything else!”
He shook his head, grinning. “I’d better tell you everything we’re looking at. The SEC wouldn’t care about you being my fake fiancé.”
She slouched on the couch, pulling her feet under her and glaring at him. “First you take away my job, now you take