The Wedding Date Disaster (Harbor City 4)

Chapter Four

If Will didn’t love his brother, he’d try to kill him—on purpose this time for forcing him to go to these kind of ridiculous lengths.

The only positive in the current situation being that Country Barbie wasn’t happy about him being there. Good. Misery loves company.

At least he had her away from his brother. The fresh-from-the-country, I-just-want-to-be-friends scam might have fooled his brother, but Will knew better. There was no way Hadley was as innocent as her big brown eyes and freckled cheeks promised. She was after something, and Will knew well and good that it started with a Holt and ended with his family fortune.

No matter how apple-pie-adorable Hadley looked, she was just one more in a long line of dubious advisors, greedy sycophants, and con artists who saw the orphaned Holt brothers as easy pickings. Just like everyone else, she wanted something from them. No doubt, access to the Holt Foundation funds was just the beginning. That’s why she pushed so hard to be considered as an advisory candidate and why she’d made sure her dream home on Instagram always included a nursery. Alimony was one thing, but child support was guaranteed for eighteen years. Never trust anyone outside the family when it came to money, his dad had warned him before he’d died, but Will had been too young and naive to understand. Mia had worked the same sweet and innocent con on him, and it had almost been too late when he’d realized. He sure as hell wasn’t going to let Web suffer the same nut punch of betrayal.

His phone vibrated in the pocket of his stupid-tight jeans. No shock at the name or the text.

Web: Be nice to my friend.

Yeah, he’d be just as nice to her as she was to him.

Will: What, no hello? No how was your flight? No don’t get gored by a rogue bull?

Web: Again. Be nice to my friend or I’ll tell her to lock you in the barn with the…what in the hell lives in a barn? Horses? Could a pissed-off horse hurt anyone?

City people? He and his brother? Oh yeah, most definitely. They were Harbor City born and bred with only the trips to the fully manicured and well-st

affed upstate country compound as “roughing it” experience.

Will: When am I not nice to dear, sweet Hadley?

Web: Any time you two are in the same room.

No lies detected there—not that he’d admit it.

He weaved around another person in the crowded airport while he kept one eye on Hadley’s ass as she marched through the terminal and the other on texting his brother back.

Will: I’ll be so damn charming, her whole family will fall in love with me.

Web: Can you live stream that? No one will believe it otherwise.

Will: Very fucking funny.

Also, probably more than a little true. He wasn’t exactly the Holt twin everyone wanted to hang out with, which was how he liked it. The Prickly Bastard Holt Twin label fit him fine.

Web: Just remember you are a fake boyfriend. Help Hadley maintain her sanity this week WITHOUT getting into her pants. The last thing I need is for my brother and my best friend to be hate fucking.

Web’s words gave him a moment of joy. No jealousy at all implied. As much as Hadley might be after Web, his brother really did seem immune to her wiles. But that didn’t mean he’d remain immune forever.

Will glanced up from his phone. The woman in question had finally slowed her power walk to a still-quick strut. Sure, he noticed that sweet peach of an ass of hers—he’d have to be dead not to—but that didn’t mean he was interested. He wasn’t, no matter how often he’d thought about that kiss. It had been unexpected, that was all. Who’d have thought the devil would have such soft lips?

He grimaced and typed a response.

Will: Not an issue. Trust me.

It wasn’t. It wouldn’t be. Hadley was the enemy.

Web: Have a fun drive out to the ranch.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. He fucking hated car rides, had since he was a kid. The only thing that would make it tolerable was the uninterrupted opportunity to annoy the ever-loving shit out of Hadley—for a good cause, of course.

As if she could read his thoughts, she stopped by the baggage carousel and looked over her shoulder, her lips curled in a scowl that didn’t do a damn thing for him. Really.

Then why do you keep thinking about that kiss?