The Fake Engagement

“I’m not playing any game.”

“No? Because I don’t like being lied to, and there are times Eliza has looked like a deer caught in headlights. Trust me, I know what that look is all about.”

“You heard what Melinda said,” Preston said.

“I also know that your company means everything to you. Even more than telling the truth to your own family.”

“Eliza is my fiancée,” he said. “Is it so hard for you to believe?”

“It wasn’t until today.”

Preston pressed his lips together and placed his hands on his hips. He didn’t want his father to know the truth. He didn’t want any of his family to know the truth. They adored Eliza and the truth was he needed to know what Mackenzie talked about when she said about her list of ten. He’d never considered himself a superstitious person, but between Eliza entering his life, the condom breaking, and Melinda messing with his head like that, it was hard not to see everything a little more clearly.

“Tell the truth, son.”

“The truth?” he asked. Preston laughed. “The truth is this. Eliza entered my life as an employee. I pulled her out of a crowd, and from day one, she has done nothing but blow me away. She is amazing, crazy smart, funny, quirky, and above all else, she is loyal. Any man would be crazy to let her go.” He licked his lips and stared at his father. “I love her. I don’t want her to go away, ever.” The doorbell rang. “That is the truth. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get some pizza.”

He turned on his heel and went toward the door.

“Preston,” Marsha said, coming downstairs.

“It’s okay, Mom. I ordered pizza for me and Eliza.”

He opened the door, and two middle-aged people stood on the doorstep.

“You’re not pizza,” he said.

Marsha burst out laughing, moving past him.

“Of course, it’s not pizza, but your father and I, we didn’t want you two love birds to wait, and I knew Eliza would love to see her parents.”

“Mom? Dad?”

Preston turned to see Eliza walking downstairs, a robe covering her naked body.

Her hair was pulled across one shoulder, and she looked so sexy. He wanted her again.

The words he said to his father came back to haunt him as he looked at her. The cold, harsh truth finally dawning on him when he realized that he hadn’t lied to his father. He had fallen in love with Eliza. It hadn’t happened overnight but had been a gradual process. One he hadn’t seen coming. He didn’t know exactly when it started, but he knew long ago he didn’t like her going on dates. It was one of the many reasons he’d sabotage any chance of her having a life outside of work.

With each step she took, she looked a little paler.

“Hey, sweetheart. We had to come and be part of your wedding. Mr. and Mrs. Boone came and told us their plans of organizing you both an amazing wedding that would also correlate with their own anniversary.”

Eliza was pulled away from him and into a hug.

Oh, shit.

Chapter Fifteen

Eliza sat on the edge of the bed, feeling the panic rise.

“Just breathe. It’s going to be okay.” Preston rubbed at her back, and she shook her head.

This was getting to be oh, so real.

With a hand on her chest, she tried to control her breathing. She leaned forward, putting her head between her legs, and started to try to count to ten, or to do anything else that would not panic her.

“My parents are here,” she said.

“I know.”

“They’re going to organize a real wedding.”

“I got that.”

She lifted up and glared at him. “Please stop answering my points. I’m not saying them as a question.”

“I figured if I talked to you, you’d stop freaking out and we could approach this calmly,” he said.

Down her head went.

“There is no calm. There is only panic. Oh, my God, my mom is here. My dad too. They saw me coming downstairs pretty much naked.”

“You were not naked.”

“I totally was and you know it. I didn’t have any clothes on beneath the robe and they would have seen. Oh, God, they know.”

Preston didn’t run away. His palm was on her back, rubbing up and down.

Marsha had come to the room while they were waiting for pizza and asked her if she had a moment because she wanted to talk.

She hadn’t questioned it. There was no way she was going to be rude to Preston’s parents.

Seeing her mom and dad, she felt sick again.

“Oh, God, they are going to know. This is a disaster.”

“They’re not going to know, Eliza. Trust me. We’ve got this. We’re not going to be told when we’re getting married. Don’t worry.”

She lifted up and then started to laugh. “You don’t get parents, do you?”

“What is there to get? This is our life.”