He clears his throat. “I might have some experience there.”
I raise a brow, and he sighs.
“Total transparency, after my divorce, I made some really dumb decisions.”
I have some questions about all that, but I log them and push them to the back of my brain because I have a problem to solve here.
“Okay, before I send out your statement, you need to talk to her,” I say. “Call her right now. Demand proof that she’s pregnant and that it’s really yours.”
He stares at me for a beat, and then he slides onto the stool next to me. “I’ll demand evidence she’s really knocked up, but I can’t just call her and demand a paternity test.”
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated.” He doesn’t wait for me to reply to that. Instead, he dials her number and puts her on speaker so I can listen in.
“Luke, my darling,” she answers. “I’ve been waiting for your call.”
He rolls his eyes, and I stifle a giggle. “I need proof you’re really pregnant.”
“I had my first doctor’s appointment two days ago,” she says. “I’m seven weeks along. They put my date of conception on April fifth, and that’s the night we slept together. I came by to tell you about the baby but you didn’t seem interested in conversation.”
“So you ran to Savannah?” he sneers.
“I had to do something to get your attention, my dear.”
I want to reach into the phone and rip her head off.
“I want proof you’re really pregnant,” Luke says again.
“I’ll screenshot the paperwork from my doctor over when we hang up. Maybe me smiling with my little stick of pee. Will that be good enough for you?”
“It’ll do for now, but I want proof from your doctor.”
“Yes, sir. God, I miss when you used to get all dominating on me.” Her voice comes out in a moan, and I guess this is her way of coming onto him.
I raise a brow at him. Dominating? Interesting.
My thighs clench at the thought of him demanding things from me while we’re both naked. Thoughts of sex up against a window in a hotel room crash into me.
Again.
I blow out a breath. That night really turned all this into a complicated mess. If I was just living with my brother’s best friend and I had a crush on him, that would be one thing.
But I can remember his body against mine. I remember him sliding in and out of me. I remember kissing him.
Butterflies batter around in my stomach.
This isn’t good.
“Well I’m marrying another woman, so you’ll just have to go on missing it.” He ends the call, and I raise my hand up for a high five.
He twists his lips as he slaps my hand with his, like he doesn’t really want to celebrate the call.
“Good work, my darling Luke,” I say.
He narrows his eyes at me. “You better watch it. I haven’t forgotten that your brother calls you Ellie Belly.”
My cheeks burn and I change the subject. “What’s our story?”
He looks confused, so I clarify.
“What will we tell people when they ask how we met?”
“We met through Josh,” he says as he starts sorting our pretend meet cute. “Maybe you were out here for a weekend when he first moved here and we met and kept in touch. You decided to move here more recently because I proposed.”
I shake my head. “My ex, Todd, the one who I got fired for banging in the office...” I trail off when he winces.
Why did he wince?
Is it because he feels some sympathy over me getting fired?
Or is it because he doesn’t want to think of me having sex with somebody else?
Add the wince to the list of things I’ll overanalyze tonight when I’m trying to fall asleep.
“Yeah?” he says with a tone that urges me to continue.
“I feel like he’s pretty pissed at me over what happened and I wouldn’t put it past him to blow that story up,” I say, trying to think through all the angles. “We need something more airtight.”
“Okay, then we met through Josh about a year ago. Does that part work?” he asks. I nod, and he continues. “We kept in touch. We got to know each other over the distance. We both had feelings but the timing never worked out so we were just good friends. And then you came out here for the wedding, we were both finally single at the same time, and within days, we knew it was right and we got engaged.”
I lift a shoulder. “It could work. Some people won’t believe in the insta-love, though.”
“Insta-love?” His brows crunch together.
“Like we instantly fell in love.”
“We didn’t,” he says, shaking his head. “We’ll say we met a year ago. We kept in touch. We both fell in love over the course of time, and when we finally had the chance to be together, we grabbed it. That’s not instant love.”
“Insta-love,” I correct, and he laughs and holds up both hands.
“Okay, okay. Whatever. Does that story work for you?”
I nod slowly, my lips pressed together. “I think it could work.”
“Good.” He glances at the clock. “I need another hour in my office, but want to do dinner after?”
“Sure. And if you’re looking at endorsement stuff from your agent, be sure to run it by your publicist first.” I smirk at him, and he chuckles before he leaves the room.
Before I even get the chance to let that blinking cursor intimidate me some more, someone starts banging on the front door, clearly forgoing the doorbell.
Luke exhales heavily, turns around from the hallway he started down, and moves toward the door instead. He peeks out, and then he opens it.
“You’re engaged to my sister?” It’s Josh, and he’s pissed.
I chuckle from my spot in the kitchen even as I start to realize how big this story is. I’ve worked with the press before. I know how fast news spreads...I’ve just never been the subject of that news before.
He comes storming into the kitchen.
“Hey Josh,” I say with a wide smile.
He glares at me. “Don’t you hey Josh me,” he says, pointing a finger in my direction.
Luke rolls his eyes. “Will you please tell your brother that it’s all fake?”
My brows dip down. “What’s all fake?”
“Our engagement,” he says, air quoting the words.
I stand and fold my arms across my chest. “What?” I say sharply. “This is all just fake to you?”
His jaw falls open as he sputters with something to say, and Josh is almost gloating for a beat.
I can’t watch Luke sputter any longer. I start laughing. “Yeah, I’m just kidding. It’s fake.” I slide back into my chair.
Josh sighs. “Why are you doing this?”
I’m not sure if he’s asking me or Luke, but Luke fields that one. “It just slipped out when Michelle stopped by. I said we were engaged to get a rise out of her, and your sister very kindly played along. And by the by, Ellie is also handling my PR.”
“Nicki mentioned she saw your thirst trap on Instagram,” Josh mutters.
“Am I the only one who didn’t know what a thirst trap is?” Luke asks.