Chapter Five #2
I froze for a second, breathing in his fresh shower scent mixed with his spicy cologne and indulging for a moment in the way he held me and didn’t let go.
I had no choice but to settle against him and sell this relationship.
But my dang body betrayed me and more than settled.
It just melted right into him and shivered.
You heard me right: I shivered. What was that all about?
In my defense, Jack was a world-class actor and had been voted sexiest man alive by all the major news outlets. My body basically had no choice but to react.
“You two are so cute together,” Mom sang.
“So darling,” my oldest brother Drew mocked.
“Knock it off.” His gorgeous wife Kira swatted his arm. She always reminded me of Julia Roberts with her long red tresses and perfect cheekbones. “They are cute together.”
“So, tell us how this all happened.” Paige, who everyone thought looked like my twin now that we were older, pointed at us while trying to herd her three kids to the kitchen table.
Zach, Tyler, and Emma all belonged to her and her husband, Peter.
Both Paige and Peter were lawyers and scary in a courtroom.
“Are you going to be our real uncle now?” Zach asked. “Can I be in one of your movies?”
Oh, jeez. I was a terrible person, lying to my sweet nephews and nieces.
“Absolutely.” Jack didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Yes!” Zach threw a fist in the air. “I can’t wait to tell my friends when I get home.”
I tilted my head, trying to convey with my eyes that he needed to cool it with those kinds of promises. And especially with making my family think we were on some fast track to making this a permanent situation.
“Honey, we just started dating, and I thought you said you wanted to take things slow.” Like freaking molasses-in-the-winter slow.
Jack’s devious eyes lit up. “You’re right, but every time I’m in your presence, your perfection gets to me.”
The man was a menace to society, or at least to my family.
My mom, sister, and sister-in-law oohed and aahed, while the men looked like they wanted to toss their cookies—even though they’d all been saps when they’d started dating their wives.
“So, tell us your story while I whip up some French toast for breakfast.” Mom threw on her apron.
“Here, let me help.” I launched myself out of Jack’s arms. I was getting way too comfortable in them.
“I’ll help, too.” Jack followed me.
“Great. You two can cut strawberries while you dish.” Mom wasn’t letting our tale go.
“I’ll let Jack tell it. He’s the better storyteller.”
And oh, what a story it was.
Why hadn’t we come up with our fake story yet?
Crap. Now, I was afraid of what Jack was going to say.
I’d just given him carte blanche, and knowing him, he was going to run with it.
But my mind was stressed to the max and living off little sleep, so I knew whatever I said would sound contrived and unbelievable.
It was insane that I was so worried about selling this farce to my family. Freaking tabloids. And Sienna.
Jack sidled right up to me and pulled the bowl of washed strawberries toward us.
“Well, what can I say? Ivy has captivated me from day one. It just took her a little longer to see my appeal, but I’m happy she did.” He nudged me playfully.
It was basically the same thing he’d said to me on the plane. I could live with that. You know, until I had to admit it was all a lie. Or would it be awful if instead I told my parents we decided we were better off as friends?
“That’s very sweet,” Mom commented as she cracked eggs one handed like a pro. “But we need more details.”
“Not too many.” Shane shuddered.
I rolled my eyes. Why my siblings thought Jack and I were some wildly oversharing couple, I had no idea.
Unless, of course, they thought every bed squeak had been, well, you know.
I briefly considered how fast we could get a new bed delivered—only to realize that would probably make it worse.
Then everyone would think we needed more room to, uh .
. . yeah. I was in a no-win situation here.
Mom threw Shane a warning glance. “I just meant like when and how did it happen?”
Jack’s eyes sparked mischievously. He had something cooked up already, and I knew I was about to regret giving him free rein.
“It was a magical night. Wasn’t it, darlin’?”
“Uh, yeah. Magical.” I grabbed a knife. Given how frayed my nerves were, grabbing something sharp was probably not the best decision.
Everyone, including all my nieces and nephews, were giving us their rapt attention. Dad had even entered the kitchen now. And I knew he wasn’t fond of the bedroom-sharing situation, no matter how “with the times” my mom said they were.
“Do you want to tell this part?” Jack gave me an out.
I racked my brain trying to think of what I could say. I wasn’t good under pressure. But this could be my saving grace.
“I was cutting his hair,” I blurted.
Jack’s brows knit together, questioning where that had come from, since it was in no way magical.
“Did you run your fingers through his hair in a soul-stirring way?” Drew laughed.
“Maybe I did.” I owned it, digging myself a bigger hole.
Jack just shook his head.
“Don’t tease your sister. I bet it was so cute.” Mom attempted to save me, but even she didn’t look all that convinced that it was a magical moment.
“It was super cute.” I grabbed a strawberry and hacked it.
Jack placed his hand over mine, all tenderly like a boyfriend would, before I murdered another strawberry.
“Actually, it was a very poignant moment between two best friends who realized they were meant for more. It’s just one of those special moments that’s hard to articulate.”
Oh, bless Jack. Well, curse him. This was all his fault. Or at least mostly his—I’d stupidly agreed to it.
My family seemed to buy it, judging by the doe-eyed looks from all the women.
I let out a breath of relief.
Jack kissed the side of my head, playing his part to a T.
“I think that’s just precious,” Mom sang.
It was precious, all right. I gripped the knife tighter and eyed the strawberries. The poor things were going to get the brunt of my frustrations.
At this rate, I was going to need pints and pints of strawberries just to survive the holidays.