Cole pushes back in his chair and grins. “Thirty days, huh?” he asks, like he doesn’t believe it for a second and once again my stomach tightens. He doesn’t seem confident that Cason can hold out that long.
“That’s right,” Cason says.
Samantha gives me a sweet smile. I don’t know her very well, but I think I’d like her. She and Zander, aka The Hard Hitter, live in Boston. “I think you two make a cute couple,” she says.
“Technically we’re not a couple,” I correct and smile. “But yeah, we’re cute together.” I nudge Cason playfully.
“Can we count on you guys to keep this a secret, and really act like we’ve suddenly fallen in love and the marriage is legit?” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Wait, I mean, it is legit, but it’s not legit, you know.”
“That’s our Cason. Always as clear as mud,” Cole says.
Cason shoves him and the two get into a pushing match, and I smile, loving the camaraderie between all these hockey players. The wives ignore them for the most part.
“Does this fake marriage come with all the perks?” Jules asks.
I don’t answer. I don’t need to. The heat racing to my cheeks is a dead giveaway.
“You go, girl,” Katee, Luke’s wife says.
I turn to hide my blush, even though it’s too late, and that’s when my gaze lands on Emily. She’d been quiet but now, with her worried gaze on mine, a burst of unease goes down my spine.
She sets her napkin down and stands. “I have to go to the little girl’s room.”
I take the hint. “I’ll join you,” I say.
We hurry to the back of the big, busy restaurant and once inside, she puts her arms on my shoulders.
“My God, Kins, what is going on? For real.”
“It’s okay,” I say. “We really did accidently get married, and I suggested we get an annulment right away, but Cason offered to stay married to me so I could get my trust fund.”
She gives a low, slow whistle. “That’s a big offer.”
“I know. He’s a nice guy.”
I turn to the sink to wash my hands—anything to get away from her probing eyes. But I catch her reflection in the mirror. Christ, I can’t get anything by her.
“Kins…” she begins softly. “You like him.”
“Of course, I like him.” I give a casual shrug, not about to tell her he’s been the star of my fantasies for many months now. “He’s nice and he’s doing me a big favor.”
“No, Kins, you like him, like him. It’s easy to tell from the way you look at him, and it’s also easy to tell you guys have been sleeping together. You both have sex written all over you.”
Well, shit.
“We are married,” I joke, even though my stomach is so tight, the coffee I sipped earlier is threatening to make an appearance.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Yes,” I lie.
“He doesn’t do relationships, you know that,” she says gently. “He never makes it past the two-week mark. It’s a running joke between his friends and the puck bunnies.”
“We talked about that. It’s different this time, though. We’re not trying for a relationship. We both know where we stand.”
“Do you really, Kins? Do you know where you stand? What you’re really getting yourself into with Cason?”
“Perfectly,” I say, that lie spilling easily from my lips. I don’t really know, but I mean how hard can it be to play house and enjoy the benefits that come with marriage for thirty days? “I’ll get my trust fund out of this,” I tell her.