My brother’s friend waits for me and gets down on one knee—What is happening?
Somebody stop it, please!
Oh, those dreamy blue eyes batting at me, and all the words he dares to say.
This is bad.
Like really, really bad.
We’re now planning a wedding day.
But it’s all for a good reason, not love.
Oh, cough, cough, let’s not bust out the L-word.
It’s purely business.
It is a solid plan until it isn’t.
So maybe I love him, but we agreed not to do that . . . whoops!
Let’s Not and Sleigh We Did is a fake marriage of convenience, brother’s best friend, just-kisses-but-all-the-swoons romcom. Oh, yeah, there’s a fluffy cow too!
A ring.
Not just any ring, a rose gold band.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, a little harshly, the ring pulsating in my peripheral vision.
“We talked about this, remember?” Luke’s voice drops, rasping.
“We talked about marriage.” I tilt my head to one side, as if I’m physically dividing this argument in half., “But not this, and not in front of them.”
“You’re being modest.” He laughs, tossing a look back at his parents. “I thought it would be nice to share this moment with them.”
“You did?” my voice squeaks, as I’m totally blindsided and wishing I had at least a heads- up. The arrangement had sounded so much more business casual than what’s going on right now. A proposal on one knee is not business casual. This is my heart in my throat, and I’m about to throw up. “Where did you get a ring?” I hiss.
“I bought it today.”
“Today?” I grapple for my throat, praying something gives before I pass out.
“Yeah, today when I was thinking about you.”
Doing a hard pause on the word, you, he’s still holding the ring awkwardly in his hand. I frantically search his face for signs of a prank, but he doesn’t have an ounce of humor curved into a smile.
He’s one-hundred-percent serious.
Quakes rumble against my rib cage. This is an act. I’m clearly about to blow our cover as I’m acting so confused, but this whole thing is blowing my mind. “This is happening so fast.”
“It’s okay. Better than okay.” He takes my hand in his, holding it in front of him. “Ten years ago, you kissed me on a dare. You didn’t know it at the time, but I was already falling in love with you. You were my first kiss, but I knew in that moment, I wanted you to be my last.”
I blink. Everything about his proposal sounds genuine.
My gaze floats to his mom; her hands clasp together in front of her, but her gaze is piercing in my direction. Luke’s dad has a that’s-my-boy grin laced on his lips.
And Luke!
Luke’s winning an Oscar for his acting. His gaze dials right into mine, like it’s boring a trail through my eyes right to my heart. I can’t even tell it’s a fake proposal, and I one-thousand- percent know it’s fake.
It is fake . . . right?
The plan was simple.
Work hard and reduce expenses, until I paid off all my debt.
So easy.
Until I crashed into my neighbor’s car.
Yes, the hot guy I referred to as Mr. December.
Oddly, he was super sweet and even offered to fix my car.
Then I learned he had a small favor to ask of me.
All I had to do was pretend to be his fake date to one-up his nemesis cousin.
That should be easy, right?
Evan Gabbert
Sure, I was way too old to be living at my parents’ home, but I had my reasons.
It’s not like I had to explain it to anyone.
Until I was forced to have Christmas dinner with my not-so-nice cousin who recently got engaged.
There was no way I was going to show up to dinner without a date.
Problem: I didn’t know any available females.
I got so lucky when one crashed into my car.
Solution: She instantly became part of my plan.
It was perfect, until my heart started to race at Mach 200 speeds whenever she was near me.
Was fake dating supposed to have this much . . . chemistry?
Mingle All the Way is a fake date, sweet romantic comedy with a HEA
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What a wonderful holiday book! Great excerpt. I'd love to read more.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a cute holiday read!
ReplyDelete