“What’s got you so low?” Noah asked, leaning back in his seat. “You looked like you were having a great night until your fiancée dragged you away. You should be wearing a shit-eating grin right about now.”
Josh glared at his brother and took another long drag of his beer.
“Have you thought of a way to keep from breaking up with her?” Noah asked.
Lowering the bottle, Josh cast a glance toward Libby.
She gave him a sympathetic smile. “He knows I’m helping you.”
He couldn’t contain his look of surprise. What had Noah confessed to?
Noah gave him a conspiratorial grin. “I’m all in, bro. I’ll get you to the altar.”
“What?” Josh asked.
Noah shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a sucker for true love.”
Libby snorted. “Liar. You wouldn’t know true love if it bit you in the ass.”
Josh was relieved that Noah still hadn’t fooled her. Many a woman had claimed to go into a relationship with Noah with eyes wide open only to find herself with a broken heart.
Noah shrugged and held out his hands. “Okay, you caught me. I don’t believe in love. I think what people call love is all about hormones and loneliness.” He leaned his elbow on the table and waved to his brother as he gave his attention to Libby. “Take Joshua here. He’s been so focused on his job that he’s barely dated in the last two years.”
Josh groaned. “I’ve dated. I just don’t share all the details.” He took a drink, then shot his brother a piercing glare. “Unlike someone I know.”
Noah chuckled and turned his attention to the pretty brunette sitting next to him. “Like I said. Josh is lonely and he comes to Kansas City in his self-imposed exile, during which he stumbles upon a pretty girl on a plane. Said pretty girl is desperate for rescue, and he instantly falls for her.”
“Shh!” Josh’s eyes flew open in alarm. “Keep it down.”
Noah’s grin widened as he looked around. “Cool your jets. No one heard.”
Josh’s chest tightened with anger. He was in this situation because of Noah. And now he was treating Megan’s life like it was some sort of game. He was going to fuck her over for his own purposes without thinking twice about it.
No. Josh was fucking her over, and he could only imagine how hurt she was going to be when she found out. He had hoped that he could get out of this without her ever finding out. But it seemed pretty unlikely, especially now that Noah was involved. Noah was good for one thing—destroying everything good in Josh’s life.
Why had he let him come?
Maybe he should break up with Megan tonight after all, put this farce to rest. Give up on the company. Give up on a real chance with her.
Josh finished off the beer and set the bottle on the table. He started to get up. “I need another.”
Noah slapped Josh’s shoulder and pushed him back down. “Cheer up there, young lad,” he said in a fake British accent. “I’ll get you another pint of ale, and all will be well.” He stood and the barking dogs against the fence amped up their racket. The black cat Josh had seen earlier was now calmly stalking across the top of the fence.
“Knickers looks like she’s about to come unglued,” Libby laughed.
Sure enough, Nicole looked furious. She stomped over to her husband, nearly tripping over a cup on the deck, which only infuriated her more. “Bart!” she shouted. “Do something!”
Bart, who had been sitting with his brother on the deck, got to his feet. “What do you want me to do?”
“Make them stop!”
As he passed Bart, Noah pointed to the cat, which was still on the fence, hissing with its back arched. Then Noah grabbed three beers out of the cooler.
Libby watched Noah with more interest than Josh liked. All the more reason to seriously consider changing his tactic. “Megan has insisted I break up with her tonight.”
Libby swung her gaze to him, her eyebrows arched. “You’re not considering it, are you?”
He sighed. “I don’t know, maybe.”
She leaned toward him, desperation in her eyes. “You can’t.”
He rested his palm on the table, the two beers he’d drunk within the past five minutes making him feel melancholy rather than buzzed. “She’s right, Libby. I’m putting her in an awkward situation. The longer I wait to do this, the harder it will be to cancel everything.”
Libby leaned in closer, her face inches from his. “The only person who’s going to be negatively affected by canceling the wedding is Knickers. The money’s gone whether there’s a wedding or not. Don’t let that stop you from going after Megan.”
“But it’s all a lie, Libby.”
Her jaw set and determination filled her eyes. “Do you like her?”
“What?”
“It’s a simple question. Do you like her?”
“You know I do.”
“Then whatever you do, don’t break up with her tonight. Wait.”
“How long do I wait? Until we’re at the altar and the minister says, ‘Do you, Jay’—what’s the fucker’s last name again?” The fuzziness in his head held the bastard’s name out of reach.
“Connors.”
“Jay Connors.” The name rolled off Josh’s tongue with a sneer. “So the minister says, ‘Do you, Jay Connors, take Megan Vandemeer to be your lawfully wedded wife?’ And I say . . . ‘Well, about that . . . did I mention that I’m just her substitute fiancé?’”
She sat back, glancing over at her friend. “It doesn’t have to go that far. Just make her realize how much she likes you. Make her admit that she wants this to work.”
“She likes me, but what if I can’t get her to admit that she does? That I’m worth fighting for?” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “I’m seriously considering giving up everything to try to make this work. What if she doesn’t feel the same? She’s in this situation to keep her mother from blowing her gasket. There’s no way we can tell Knickers the truth and come out unscathed.”
She didn’t respond.
In the end, it didn’t matter how Megan felt, not really. His original goal was honorable—saving his employees—but it wasn’t worth toying with Megan’s life. Maybe he could cash in his barely existent IRA and use it to make a comp package for the employees who’d have the most trouble finding new jobs.
It wasn’t the solution he wanted, but he could live with it. If he had to give it all up, though, he wanted to at least enjoy one more day with Megan—twenty-four hours—before he came clean. “Tomorrow night.” Saying it out loud helped cement the rightness of his decision. “I’m doing this tomorrow night.”
Noah returned and set a bottle of beer in front of him. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”
“Breaking up with Megan.”
Noah looked slightly panicked. “Whoa, slow down there, lover boy. What if we haven’t accomplished our mission?”
Libby turned a skeptical eye on him. “What mission?”
An oh shit look crossed Noah’s face, and Josh groaned. He should have known Noah would screw it up.