My (Mostly) Fake Wedding - Penelope Bloom Page 0,10

cooked up to save my career.

But I knew the stakes. I knew how much was riding on this working. So I clamped my teeth together and let the acid of the way Belle was watching me sink in and start to burn.

Damon had gone over what I was supposed to do about a hundred times, so I started to psych myself up for it.

“Who’s this?” Mindy asked. She was looking at Belle. Of course, Mindy knew the plan too. My brother made sure of that, but I had to give Mindy credit. Her acting was pretty spot-on, and I almost wondered if Damon had forgotten to tell her what was about to happen.

I took one last look at Belle. If she didn’t completely hate me yet, she was about to, and that thought shouldn’t have stung like it did.

“I know I said the ring might not be finished for a few more weeks, but…” I got out of my chair and sank to one knee.

5

Belle

I could kill him. Chris Rose was currently on his knee with a gaudy diamond ring the size of a malignant tumor. He was holding it up to Miss Influencer and her perfect hair.

No. Stop that, Belle. You’re not petty. You’re not the catty type who is going to tear some innocent girl down just because she has something you want.

The girl was breathtaking, though, and it made me feel beyond embarrassed about what I’d just done with Chris on the plane. What must he have thought when he looked at me if that was the woman he came home to?

Except I shouldn’t care. Because there was a mountain of a difference between someone telling you they’re going to be off the market in a few hours and this. Chris had completely lied. Either he already proposed, was about to, or something in between—I was still trying to figure it out. I wasn’t sure if it was tacky or sweet to have the wedding planner already present at the proposal, but it was certainly a first for me.

All I really knew was he’d let me sleep with him when he was in a relationship, and now I felt like the scum of the Earth.

It felt like my world was spinning. Things had gone nuclear in Texas, and I still hadn’t even stuck my head out of the dirt to get a real sense of the fallout from that. I could imagine my website was already being flooded with nasty reviews from the bride’s friends. I’d probably have dog shit waiting for me on my front porch. And Lance… I had no idea what he was thinking right now, but I knew it was all a disaster I’d be trying to clean up for years.

This job was supposed to be an escape, and now it was turning into an even bigger mess than Texas.

What the hell was wrong with me?

I realized things had been going on while I was lost in thought, and the beautiful girl with the silky brown hair and the adorable little perky nose was wearing his ring now. She was also cuddling Chris’ muscular arm, and I couldn’t help thinking about how those same arms had been all over me just a few hours ago.

Stop that, Belle.

Damon had some papers out, and—oh shit.

“Belle?” Damon said. “Is that going to work?”

“Y-yes,” I stammered, hoping I wasn’t agreeing to anything too crazy. “Could you run the details by me one more time though, just to be sure?”

Clearly annoyed, Damon flipped the page back and started to read through what I realized was a list of things the bride and groom wanted for their wedding.

A venue in Europe. Designer dresses for the bride and all the bridesmaids. Guest list of over one thousand. Enough floral arrangements to clean out the florists within a hundred-mile radius. Famous musicians for the reception.

I nodded while the cash register sound dinged repeatedly in my head. This was going to dwarf the biggest wedding I’d ever put on, and if I pulled it off, it would cement my career. I’d already made a respectable name for myself in the five years I’d been planning weddings, but what happened in Texas was probably already on its way to undoing all that work. Chris’ wedding, if I could stomach being around the lying human turd that was Chris Rose, would change all of that.

Within a few minutes, I was inking my name at the bottom of an agreement to plan the wedding.

Chris was