“Already ahead of you. I insisted on a restaurant that had a maximum capacity of thirty.”
“Smart.”
“Thanks. We’re a good team.”
That’s exactly how it felt—like we were a team. Aside from my best mates, I’d never had that with anyone. Certainly no one I was dating. Or fake-dating. “Absolutely we are.”
People seemed to surge toward us like a bunch of hungry hyenas who had spotted their prey. Parker looked like she just knew she was about to get eaten.
I muttered under my breath. “Eyes on the prize. Twenty-five million.”
Lauren handed Arthur a microphone and my stomach plummeted into the earth’s core. What the hell was he going to say? He knew Parker and I were faking it. I knew that he knew. I hoped he wasn’t about to embarrass anyone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming out this afternoon to celebrate the engagement of my beloved daughter, Parker, and the man who will soon become my son-in-law, Tristan Dubrow. I’ve known Tristan for around ten years now and during that time, I often considered introducing him to Parker. I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character, and I knew as soon as I met Tristan that he was a man who could be trusted. A man who cared. Loyalty is at the core of who he is and I admire that about him. When I invited him to Parker’s charity gala, I confess I hoped to do a little matchmaking between him and my daughter.”
I wondered if it was Arthur’s plan all along that I be the winner of the bid for a date with Parker. But it couldn’t have been; he hadn’t even mentioned her before the auction started. “But I didn’t need to. Fate took the reins and without Tristan knowing Parker was my daughter, he made a scene-stealing bid to take her to dinner.”
I couldn’t decide whether Arthur’s speech was genuine or whether he was just trying to help add meat to the bones of our super-speedy engagement. Either way, he was convincing.
I could feel Parker’s eyes on me and I turned to meet her gaze, which was full of questions. But about what? Arthur wasn’t saying anything she didn’t already know.
Arthur wrapped up his speech wishing us a lifetime of happiness and moved out of the way so we could cut the cake. At least no one had asked us to make a speech.
Parker took the knife and I clasped my hand over hers as we slid the knife into the cake. In a little under a month, we’d be doing this again with our wedding cake.
Lauren started clinking her fork against her champagne glass and everyone followed suit. I couldn’t do anything but smile at the ridiculousness of the scene. I wrapped my arm around Parker’s waist and pulled her close. “Good thing we practiced.” The kiss back in the room had meant to relax her, or so I told myself, but as our lips touched, I’d stopped kidding myself. There was no doubt about it—not only was Parker beautiful and clever and had an adorable addiction to animal print pajamas and chocolate-covered raisins, she was also sexy as hell and I’d wanted to kiss her. I’d managed to convince myself that it was in her best interests that we have a practice kiss. Who was I kidding? I just wanted an excuse.
As I dropped my mouth to hers, I paused, just for a fraction of a second, breathing in this moment in case it was the last chance I had to kiss her. Then I pressed my lips against hers for a little too long. She tasted sweet like summer and smelled of spice. My favorite combination.
She reached her hands into my hair and moaned quietly, so quietly that no one but me would hear. She was enjoying this just as much as I was.
As if she suddenly realized where she was, she slid her hand onto my chest and gave me a little push. As I stood, I realized we’d not only kissed in front of an audience, but we’d garnered enthusiastic applause.
I slid my hand around Parker’s waist and pulled her toward me. I glanced over at my group of friends, who were smiling like this was really my non-fake engagement party and they were so happy for me. Like I really had just kissed my fiancée and pulled her toward me. Like they were overjoyed at finally seeing me in love.
I’d have to set them all straight.
Fifteen
Parker
So far, so good. We’d gotten through my dad’s speech, cut the cake, and had a very public kiss. Luckily, Tristan’s arm around my waist had compensated for my inability to hold myself upright while he kissed me. Back in my room, I’d been leaning on my dressing table when we kissed, so I had grossly overestimated my limbs’ ability to operate normally when Tristan was so close. My heart might still be hammering, but at least I was upright. It was all I could hope for.