I followed Lachlan to the door, and he opened it and my jaw went slack.
It was my parents.
“Logan! Hey, baby, how are you!” My mom barged into the house, my father, all smiles, walking in behind her. Lachlan eyed me, but he gave a polite smile as my mom wrapped me in a hug.
“Sorry for the short notice”—you mean no notice—“but there were a couple cops that showed up at our house and told us about Doug. Gosh, what a mess that is. Anyways, they told us you had a boyfriend, and we went along with it because what kind of mother would I be if I didn’t know who my only daughter was dating!? So then I did some digging after we talked to them, and I noticed the event you guys are going to be having at the Christmas tree farm together next week, so we decided to fly in and surprise you as an early Christmas gift! And oh my gosh, this must be Lachlan. Hi, I’m Deloris, but you can call me Lori—or Mom!”
“Mom!”
“What!? I can already tell you guys have the chemistry! Look at’cha, you’re still flustered! We must have interrupted.” She muttered the latter to my dad, who just chortled under his breath.
“Oh my god, please stop talking.” I pinched my nose. This couldn’t be happening right now.
Lachlan lightly chuckled then, and I glared daggers at him. My dad stepped forward.
“Sorry, my wife means well. I’m David, Logan’s dad. You must be Lachlan.”
Lachlan shook his hand with a charm I’d never seen him use before. He even used his full smile—God help me. Where did my grumpy, murdery, lumbersnack go? This was not what I’d seen coming. I’d just told this man I wanted no-strings-attached sex, and now he was shaking hands with my parents like we were newly engaged. It wasn’t even nine in the morning and I needed a drink.
“And look at this place! Cozy! Are those your boxes? When did you move in, Logan?” my mom asked with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
“Uh—” I started, but Lachlan, the bastard, smiled like this was the best day ever.
“They are. I insisted. I just couldn’t spend a day away from her,” he said, cool as a cucumber, with a soft glance toward me like we were sharing some tender, secret moment. I nearly choked on my own spit. It had been my idea. He was stealing all the thunder from my plan.
“Oh, how romantic.” My mom beamed at me like I’d just won an award for finally finding a decent man, and to her defense, she wasn’t wrong, I had terrible taste in men. But was Lachlan any better? The man was a serial killer. “Well, good! It’s about time you settled down with someone who looks like they eat protein and use conditioner.”
“Do you just let all of your impulsive thoughts slip out?” I muttered.
“What!? It’s true. Doug the douche didn’t deserve you, that string bean of a man. Part of me is glad he’s missing after some of the things I heard him say about you. Maybe someone taught him a lesson.”
“She’s not wrong,” Lachlan said, still smiling, clearly enjoying every second of this psychological torture.
“Oh, I like him,” my mom announced, setting her purse and bags down like she was planning to move in.
I turned to Lachlan, eyes wide with panic. He just raised his eyebrows at me as if to say,You wanted fake dating—this is fake dating.
I mouthed,I will kill you.
He winked.
My dad took a slow walk around the living room like he was evaluating our space for how many babies could hypothetically crawl across the floor. “So, how serious is this?” he asked, folding his arms.
And just like that, my soul left my body.
“It must be serious if she kept it from us. There are no secrets between us. We’re three peas in a pod,” my mother chimed in.
Lachlan didn’t miss a beat. “Serious enough that I gave her the closet in the main bedroom.”
“Ohhh, Ireallylike him.” my mom singsonged.
I blinked at him.Who are you, and what did you do with the grumpy, standoff-ish man who chops wood and kills unsavory men?
My mother started taking off her coat.
“I’ll take that,” I said, already reaching for my father's too.
“I’ll show them around, sweetheart, and then I’ll make us breakfast,” Lachlan offered with the smug warmth of an insufferable man. He was really laying this on for someone faking everything.
