The Wedding Pact Box Set - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,102

his neck, pressing her lips to his. “You’re pretty cute when you get all indignant like that.”

He laughed, pulling her to his chest. “Cute, huh?”

A playful grin spread across her face as she looked up at him and said in a mock serious tone, “Okay, you looked so sexy wrestling that paper from my fifty-eight-year-old mother.”

He leaned his head back and laughed. “It wasn’t easy. She has an iron grip.”

“Well, I’m glad you hung in there and won. I almost died when she tried to take it. That would have been a disaster.”

His smile fell, and he searched her eyes. “What if she had gotten it?”

She turned serious. “But she didn’t.”

“What if she found out I wasn’t Jay?” He held his breath as he watched her inner battle play out on her face. He wasn’t sure why he was asking, except he still held out a cockeyed optimistic hope that they’d figure out a way to make this work when it was all said and done.

She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his shoulder. “Josh.”

His hand slid up her back, rubbing in slow circles. “It’s okay. Don’t answer that. I just . . .” His voice trailed off.

“I know.”

He leaned back and offered her a smile. “Let’s go get ready for our wedding rehearsal.”

“You mean our breakup.”

He didn’t answer. He’d lied to her enough. He didn’t feel like lying anymore.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hours later, Josh was frustrated for so many reasons. He and Megan hadn’t counted on how badly Friday rush hour traffic would delay their drive to her parents’ home. Knickers had shown up only minutes behind them, along with everyone else, to get ready for the evening. Everyone congregated in the living room as Knickers barked out last-minute orders, as if she were in the marines with Kevin. Megan was already on edge, thinking dinner would be ground zero for their breakup, so when Knickers announced that he needed to pack his belongings because he wouldn’t be spending the night at the Vandemeer home, Megan flipped her shit.

“What?”

“Megan,” Knickers had said in her snooty, condescending tone. “It’s the night before your wedding. You can’t spend the night together.”

Megan stood at the base of the stairs. “I’m a grown woman! I can make my own decisions!”

Her mother pursed her lips with determination. “It’s already been decided. Your father and I have booked a hotel room for Josh.”

“You can’t just decide on something like that without asking us first!” Megan shouted.

Josh was proud of her for finally taking a stand, even if it was for a cause she had to see as pointless. She thought he was breaking up with her tonight, in which case he wouldn’t have stayed at the house anyway. But he worried that she was going to spill everything. That couldn’t happen yet . . . not when he and Noah were so close to getting the answers they needed.

Josh put a hand on Megan’s arm. “Megan, it’s okay.”

She turned to look up at him, tears in her eyes. “No, it’s not, Josh.”

Then it hit him. She was upset that he was leaving. Period. Relief seeped through him before the aftertaste of guilt bit in. While he was grateful for the confirmation that she wanted more with him, he hated to see her this upset.

He pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay, Meggie,” he whispered in her ear as he stroked the back of her head. “We’ll work everything out. I promise.”

She clung to him, and in that moment he wanted nothing more than to run away with her. But he couldn’t, as much as it killed him. His employees were in trouble because of someone else’s wrongdoing, and they needed his help. “Nicole,” he said over the top of Megan’s head. “It’s fine. I’ll pack up before we leave, and I’ll have Noah take me to the hotel later.”

“Noah’s welcome to stay here tonight, or he can stay with you if you’d like,” Knickers said.

Noah stood next to the sofa, watching the scene unfold. Josh cast a glance toward his brother, who gave him a short shake of his head. They hadn’t found the original plans, so Noah probably wanted to search the basement. Finding the documents would spell game over for PMV Engineering; it would be proof enough to convince their investor to hang tight. “That’s okay. I’m going to be anxious and nervous. Noah won’t get any sleep if he stays with me.”

Gram had been standing to the side watching. “I’ll go with