had a knack for putting his foot in his mouth sometimes, and he hardly even recognized when he was doing it. At least, not until it was too late. When they were younger, Katie had been really good at letting him know when he’d crossed a line or gone too far, and they’d had some kind of unspoken understanding about where that line was. But it had been years since they’d spent that kind of time together, and maybe he was a little out of practice.
“I am nice to you.” He reached for her hand again and pulled her closer. “And I will be nice to you, I promise. In fact, I’ll be the best fake fiancé you’ve ever had.”
That made her laugh again.
When Damon’s lawyer had informed him of the stipulation when it came to buying ElkView Ridge, that the buyers had to be a family or have a reasonable intention to have one, Damon’s initial reaction had been one of anger. But he hadn’t reached his level of success by allowing himself to be thwarted by such easily navigated roadblocks. It hadn’t taken him long to come up with a plan. A fake engagement was the easiest route to take, and what better fake fiancée than the woman he’d known his whole life and always had his back?
Of course Katie had agreed. Even when he told her that she couldn’t tell anyone the truth. Not even her mom. He felt bad about that one, but it had to look real. His father had to believe that they were in love and going to be married. It made perfect sense, too. After all, who knew him better than Katie?
No one.
They could pretend to be in love for a few days, a couple of weeks tops. And when the papers were signed, and ElkView was his, they’d stage some sort of public breakup and go back to being best friends. No one had to get hurt, or ever know the truth. And most importantly, no one would have to actually get married to satisfy his father’s stupid requirements.
“So what do we need to do with this whole…” Katie waved her hand. “Engagement thing? Is there anything special, like going to see your dad or anything? I mean, I suppose he’ll probably want to meet his son’s fiancée?”
“He has met you. A million times.”
“But not as your fiancée.” Katie pressed her lips together in an obvious attempt to look serious. “That’s different. Very different.”
“True.” Damon nodded as he mulled that over.
“Maybe we should have a dinner or something? We can show everyone how madly in love we are and how it took us so long to realize it, blah blah blah.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“I know.” She grinned. “I’m very smart.”
He laughed. “You are. That’s why I chose you.” He winked and she smacked him playfully on the arm.
“You chose me, did you? I suppose you had a lineup of women ready to be your fake fiancée?”
“There was never anyone but you.” He narrowed his eyes and attempted to look as seductive as possible, but both of them dissolved into laughter.
Damn, it was good to see Katie again. He’d missed her more than he realized.
“Speaking of being smart,” she said when she managed to swallow back her laughter. “I told my family about us last night.” Damon almost choked on the sip of coffee in his mouth. “I didn’t tell them the truth,” she added quickly. “Don’t worry. But you know how Levi and Hope got married and took off for their honeymoon? They left today, actually.”
He nodded. Katie had filled him in on what was going on with her cousin and Hope Turner. Just like everyone else in Glacier Falls, Damon had the same response to hearing about their marriage: it was about time.
“Well, we were all having dinner last night and talking about Faith taking over the wedding business at Ever After Ranch, and…well, I kind of threw it out there that you might need a date for your impending nuptials to…well, to me.” She smiled so brightly, her eyes sparkled.
Katie always had been a bit of a shit disturber. They’d gotten into their fair share of trouble together, and it could be argued that a lot of it was her idea. Okay, most of it was her idea. “What did they say to that bomb being dropped?” Damon couldn’t even imagine Debbie Langdon’s response to hearing that her daughter was going to be married to her childhood best