The Wedding Pact Box Set - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,64

on his face. “Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl. Boy does anything he can to impress girl.”

She lifted her face and pressed her lips to his.

He wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her against his chest. Before he even registered what he was doing, his tongue parted her lips and plunged into her mouth as she opened to him, so lush and soft and . . . Her hands lifted to his head and she held him firmly against her mouth, bringing their kiss deeper. Wanting to be even closer, he tangled one hand in her soft thick hair.

It took him a couple of seconds to realize someone was knocking on the door. He dragged his mouth from hers, lifting his head as he tried to gather his senses.

“Megan,” her mother called out as she knocked again. “We need you downstairs.”

She groaned and closed her eyes. “I’ll be right there.”

“Don’t dawdle like you usually do.”

His hand was still in her hair, holding her inches from his face. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, her gaze dreamy. “What is this, Josh?”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “What? You’ve never made out before?”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I thought I was demonstrating the lengths to which I’d go to impress you.”

“Or distract me.”

“Megan.” His hold loosened, but he still held her close, unwilling to let go of her just yet. “My brother is here to check up on me—and probably you, just like how Blair threatened to determine if I’m circumcised or not.” He shot her another grin. When she didn’t stop him, he pushed on. “He’s my big brother. He’s worried.”

“He looks like the type of guy who’s only worried about himself.”

Ordinarily, he’d applaud her accurate character assessment, but not tonight. “He might appear that way, but deep down, Noah cares about me.” Or at least, Josh liked to believe he did.

“We need to break up tonight,” she whispered.

“But I don’t want to break up with you tonight.” His mouth lowered to hers again. “I want to do the exact opposite of breaking up with you tonight.”

She leaned back but stopped short of pulling out of his arms. “We are the bride and groom in a very real wedding that is taking place in two days, Josh. We have to break up . . . and very publicly, at that.”

She was right. He knew it. As much as he hated to admit it. But not tonight. “Let’s just play it by ear.”

“We have to do this tonight, Josh. It’s going to be a nightmare to cancel everything now. If we wait until tomorrow . . .”

“You’re right.” He dropped his arms. “But it has to be natural. And let me take the lead. I’ll act like a jerk, so when we break up, no one will ever question why the wedding got called off. You have to come off smelling like a rose.” He almost felt guilty deceiving her, but he took solace in the fact that even if his spying job was done, he still wouldn’t want to break up with her. “No matter what, do not yell at me. Be the reasonable one.”

She studied his shirt for several seconds before nodding. Then she looked up into his face. “And then what?”

What did she want to hear? That they could go back to Seattle together and date? Was that really possible given that her family knew him as Jay instead of Josh McMillan? They weren’t likely to approve of the pairing if they found out that he’d strung them along, particularly given how much money they were throwing down for this whole wedding. That wasn’t even factoring in the whole patent mess.

“Then we’ll take it one minute at a time.”

Chapter Fifteen

Several hours later, Megan was furious with him, and not without cause. For one thing, Noah had been glued to Libby all night, which frankly had both of them concerned. Noah never hooked up with a girl without a purpose other than sex, but he wasn’t flirting like mad with her either. What could possibly be his goal this time? He wasn’t going to get any information about the patent from Libby. The most he could hope for was to get intel on Megan. And what would he want with information about her?

But the main reason for her mood was because he was being a very attentive boyfriend—getting her food and drinks, joining in conversations, making sure she was comfortable. Megan’s family loved him.