The Wedding Pact Box Set - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,103

him.”

Knickers rolled her eyes. “Mother, you can’t stay with Josh at the hotel.”

“He promised to help me with my research on nudist colonies in Belize. He hasn’t done it yet.”

Josh couldn’t help but grin.

“I bet he’d feel less anxious about the wedding if I kept him company. We could have a yoga session. It does wonders for stress.”

Josh was pretty sure he’d be anxious about something else.

“What do you have to feel nervous about, Josh?” Kevin asked with a sneer, leaning his shoulder against the doorjamb to the kitchen and crossing his arms over his chest. “Having second thoughts about marrying my sister?”

Josh’s anger surged, but he tried to control it. This was Megan’s brother, after all; he needed to play nice for as long as possible. “When you get married, Kevin, we’ll talk. Then maybe you’ll have an idea.”

He pulled Megan upstairs to her room so she could get ready and he could pack. She’d settled down some, but he could tell she was still fluttering with nervous energy. “We need to figure out how you’re going to break up with me.”

Wrapping his arms around her, he tugged her to him. “Maybe we can put it off.”

She pulled free. “How can we put it off? The wedding is tomorrow. We have to break up, Josh.”

He hesitated, worried about pushing her, especially since she was already distraught. “What if we don’t?”

She froze, her face a mask. “What does that mean?”

He pulled her to the bed and sat down beside her, holding her hand. “Look, the wedding is paid for whether we get married or not, right?”

She shook her head in confusion. “Well . . . yeah, but . . .”

“Wait,” he said, a little more desperately than he would have liked. “Just hear me out, okay?”

“Okay.” She looked uncertain.

“What if we don’t break up tonight?” His brain scrambled to come up with a plan. He knew he needed one, but he had yet to think of anything that might actually work. “What if I break up with you before the wedding?”

“You’re going to ditch me at the altar?” she asked in dismay. “Do you have any idea how humiliating that would be?”

He hadn’t thought about it that way. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second. “Okay, what if we do go through with the wedding? It’s already paid for. Everyone might as well get their chicken dinners.”

“But then we’ll be married!”

“No,” Josh said, breathless. “Only if the marriage license gets sent to the courthouse. I’ll take it from the minister and make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“But everyone will think we’re married.” She shook her head again. “Scratch that. They’ll think I’m married to Jay.”

“Then tell them you got a divorce. Or an annulment. Or,” he gushed out, trying to figure out a solution, a way to buy himself more time for both of his dilemmas. “You can tell everyone the wedding wasn’t legal because we had a fight and I tore up the marriage license instead of sending it in.”

“Josh.” She stood and turned to face him. “This is crazy.”

He jumped to his feet in front of her. “I know.”

“I don’t understand why we don’t just break up tonight . . .”

He pulled her into his arms. “Do you really want to end this in a few hours?”

“That’s beside the point.”

He cradled her face with both hands, and she covered his with her own. “No. It’s not. It is the point. Do you want to break up? Yes or no?”

She released a heavy breath and looked down. “No.”

He kissed her hard, then pulled back, surprised at his own building excitement. “I don’t want to either. So let’s not.”

She shook her head again. “So you’re suggesting that we go through with the wedding?”

“Meggie, I told you that I left this trip to fate. Maybe this is our fate. Maybe we’re supposed to do this.”

“But . . .” He could tell she wasn’t sold yet, but he’d planted the seed, and she hadn’t outright dismissed the idea. In fact, she’d been more receptive than he’d expected.

“Don’t decide yet. Just think about it.”

“But I don’t have time to think about it.”

“You do. You have at least a couple of hours or so.” He searched her eyes. “I know it doesn’t sound like long, but just go with your gut, okay? You’ll know whether you want to go through with it or not.”

“And if I decide I want you to break up with me tonight?”

He searched her face. “Then we’ll set the wheels