“Hey, I told you if you didn’t start at least pretending to date, Mom was going to take matters into her own hands. She just wants you to be happy.”
Luke shook his head and stared out the window.
“Harper, help me out here,” Sophie pleaded. “My idiot brother may not see the sense here, but you do, don’t you?”
“Are you talking about me pretending to be Luke’s girlfriend?”
“In exchange for a temporary job and a place to live.”
“How temporary?” Harper mused.
Luke was watching her with an eyebrow raised. “Don’t tell me you’re even considering this.”
“I’m starting to get offended by your reaction to me as a fake girlfriend.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s not you, Harper. It’s the idea of this act just becausemy familycan’t deal with the way I live my life.”
“News for you, big brother, last week I had to stop Aunt Syl from posting an online dating profile for you. Your profile name was Handysome.”
“Shit.”
Harper tried to smother a laugh but only succeeded in coughing.
Sophie held up her hands. “Luke, I’ve held them off as long as I can. It’s up to you now.”
“How long exactly has it been since you dated, Luke?” Harper interjected.
Luke gave Sophie a long look. “A while,” he said.
Harper kept quiet. There was something in that look that made her think this was more than just a meddling mom trying to marry off a holdout bachelor.
“I just thought that this situation might work out for both of you.” Sophie walked to him. “What could it hurt, right? And it would just be for a month.”
“What happens in a month?” Harper asked.
“Luke’s unit ships out. They have a six-month deployment to Afghanistan.”
Harper felt her stomach flip flop. He was deploying?
“So what would Harper do at the end of the month?”
Sophie shrugged. “I don’t know. You guys could stage an epic breakup fight or something.” She turned back to Harper. “If you had a month to make plans, you’d be a lot better off than sleeping on your friend’s couch, right?”
Harper shrugged noncommittally. “I suppose more time would mean a better plan.” And more time with Luke. Pretending to be his girlfriend. Would that mean she would have the opportunity to kiss him? She bit her lip. A place to stay, a job, and an incredibly hot fake boyfriend for a month? What could go wrong?
Luke swiped a hand over his face and then his short hair. “Have any office management experience, Harper?”
CHAPTER SIX
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Four weeks...
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“You don’t have to do this, you know.” Luke gripped the steering wheel of his truck like it was someone’s neck. Five minutes ago they had pulled into his parents’ driveway, a winding ribbon of asphalt that led to a charming two-story farmhouse with a porch that wrapped around both sides.
Harper bit her lip to keep from smiling. “Luke, they’re your family. How bad could they be?”
