“Of course not. Mom and Dad are light sleepers. I would never—”
Honor pointed a finger at her. “Aha. Which means you did have sex with Finn. Obviously at his place. I knew it.”
“Good sleuthing, Honor,” Erin said, high-fiving her sister.
Brenna rolled her eyes. “This is juvenile.”
Erin laughed. “You’re just mad that you couldn’t keep it a secret.”
“Oh, right, like what’s going on with the two of them is any secret,” Honor said. “She practically drools anytime Finn gets within ten feet of her.”
Now they were being asinine. “I do not. And we’re not in a relationship. We’re still faking.”
“Did you fake it last night?” Honor asked. “Judging from how hot Finn is, my guess is no.”
“I’m not dignifying that with an answer.”
“Because we know the answer.” Erin held out her hands toward Brenna. “Hence, the glow.”
“Could we please talk about something other than my sex life now that you two have had your fun?”
“Okay, fine,” Honor said with an exaggerated sigh. “But you know we both approve of you and Finn. And you should consider making this relationship not fake. He’s good for you, Bren. And he’s always liked you.”
Erin nodded. “He has. And I like how you are with him.”
Brenna frowned. “How exactly am I with him?”
“I don’t know. More relaxed. More like your old self, like you were before Mitchell.”
Huh. That was interesting. She hadn’t noticed that she’d changed since Mitchell. But maybe she had.
As Erin talked on about wedding budgets, Brenna thought about who she was then versus who she’d become post-Mitchell. Sure, she’d had her heart broken. She’d gone into her marriage bright-eyed and with hopes of an incredible future, only to have her hopes dashed. And sure, she’d withdrawn for a while, but she’d eventually dragged herself back up to the surface and moved on with her life, taking up all the activities she loved, like her books and her gardening and her genealogy work.
Maybe love and romance had taken a spot on the back burner. Way on the back burner. It wasn’t her fault that men were continually disappointing. She’d learned a valuable lesson from her marriage, and that was to have high standards. There was no sense in wasting time with a man who couldn’t meet them.
And then this whole fake fiancé thing with Finn had come about. Her idea, of course, and she had only meant it to be for four days. Now, that contract had been extended. And sex had been added to the equation, which was beneficial for both of them, right?
It was fun. No one would get hurt.
Since she had no intention of marrying Finn—and he had to know that—why not have some fun? It was pretty phenomenal sex, too.
She was long overdue for some fun and phenomenal sex.
“This Saturday night we have the garden wedding,” Honor said. “Small wedding party, only thirty guests.”
Brenna looked up. “That reminds me. Okay if I take Saturday off?”
Erin’s lips curved. “Got a date?”
“Sort of. Finn and I have been invited to a lake barbecue.”
Honor smiled. “This wedding will be easy, and we can handle the wine order. Go have some fun, Brenna.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. We’ve got this.”
“Okay, thanks. You know I’ll pick up the slack anytime either of you need me to.”
“We know,” Honor said.
“It’s about damn time, too,” Erin said. “You can’t work all the time.”
“Oh. Look who’s talking.”
Erin lifted her chin. “Hey. I’ve got a guy. And a place to live. And a dog.”
Brenna snorted. “Of course you do, Miss Perfect.”
Honor waved her hands at them. “Okay, okay. Before this ends up in an all-out brawl over nothing and I have to make the two of you apologize, how about we get back to the meeting?”
Honor was right. Brenna didn’t even know what they were fighting about. Of course, being sisters meant they could always find something to argue over, no matter how trivial or petty. Erin had been encouraging her date with Finn and Brenna had turned it into an argument, likely because she was still a bit unsure of herself where Finn was concerned. Which didn’t mean she could take it out on her sister.
“Sorry, Erin,” Brenna said.
“Me, too.”
Honor nodded. “That’s better. Now on to the business at hand.”
They dove into the rest of the meeting, and Brenna pushed thoughts of the upcoming weekend aside.
For now.
CHAPTER
• • • • • •
sixteen
FINN HAD SPENT most of the week prepping and bottling some whiskey for the weekend. It wasn’t aged as much as he would have liked, but it was good and tasty and he looked forward to sharing it with his new friends.
Along with his normal daily work, he hadn’t had much of a chance to spend time with Brenna. He passed her a few times during the day and they stopped and talked, but she’d said she was busy. He wasn’t offended. She was often busy. And when he’d asked her if they were still on for Saturday, she smiled at him and told him she couldn’t wait.
Her smile had held him the whole week.
Now he was packing up his truck with whiskey and chairs and fishing gear and whatever else Brenna kept dragging out for him to include. Which was a lot. Bags and boxes of wine and coolers and even more bags.
He tossed the current bag into the bed of the truck.
“No, that one goes in the front.”
Resisting rolling his eyes, he smiled and tucked the bag into the back seat. “Sure. Anything else?”
“I don’t know. Let me check.”
“You do realize we’re just going for the day. Not the week.”
She waved one hand at him while she disappeared into the house.
At this rate, the entire day would be over before they even got there.
He leaned against the truck, arms folded, watching across the way as they set up for the day’s wedding. He was actually surprised that Brenna had so quickly agreed to this, considering she always worked the weddings during the weekends.
But he couldn’t deny he was happy she was coming along with him today.