“You look so pretty!” May proudly shook out my dress, a simple light pink shift that I’d worn a few times now without washing. I hoped I didn’t smell.
“And what exactly are we playing?” I asked.
“You’re getting married!” May exclaimed.
I nearly choked when I realized the flower crown and bouquet were supposed to be for a bride. I whipped around to Severn, alarmed, but to my surprise, he only looked mildly amused. Red burned into my cheeks as I thrust the bouquet back at May.
“May! That’s ridiculous!”
“It’s justpretend,” she pouted. “Please?” I knew that look. She was building up to tears again. It was true that May was at the age where she was obsessed with weddings, having her teddy bears marry each other time and time again. Still, as I eyed Severn, I started to get an uncomfortable premonition that Henry and May had planned this very intentionally. Were they trying to push us together? The two parental figures in their lives? They adored Severn, and I knew they were fond of me, too, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that they’d conspire to play matchmaker.
But if they thought there was any chance that Severn and I would get together, they were sorely wrong. He was a fae prince. My boss. And I was nothing to him but an employee.
“No,” I said firmly, but May started tearing up.
As soon as her tears began, Severn looked uncomfortable and grumbled an indulgent sigh. “What does it matter? It’s just a children’s game.”
Flushing, I glanced over my shoulder, but thankfully, there were no onlookers now. It was obviously unprofessional to pretend to marry my boss, but then again, whatwastraditional about this job?
“Fine,” I relented, and May beamed, her tears instantly gone.
“Hold hands!” she ordered. Henry looked on, grinning, as Severn and I reluctantly held hands beneath the cherry tree. “Say your vows!” May insisted.
“I promise to, um, try not to annoy you too much,” I said, rolling my eyes.
In return, Severn closed his eyes and whispered something in a language that wasn’t English, wasn’t even human.
I stared at him. “What was that?”
“Fae do not marry, so I recited a spell.”
“Forwhat? Not for love, surely?”
He smirked, and I instantly felt like an idiot for thinking it. “Of course not, Willow. For it to rain so we can end this charade.”
Sure enough, dark clouds began to move in overhead.
“Now kiss!” May cried, jumping up and down in excitement.
I was about to tell her that I couldn’t kiss my boss and that we’d officially reached the end of the game when Severn suddenly pulled me into a kiss.
It started with the same light energy we’d had for the whole mock ceremony. We were only doing this for Henry and May’s benefit—everything about it was a pretense. Our lips touched gently, nothing more than a small peck to appease the children. But then something happened. Suddenly, the peck lasted longer than I think either of us anticipated. It all seemed like it was happening out of my control, and I felt utterly swept up in the moment.
A sigh slipped out of my throat, and Severn reacted mechanically, his hand cupping my jaw as he deepened the kiss. I tasted the sweetness of honey wine on his lips and something herbal and earthy, too. I felt myself leaning closer, wanting more. There was an electricity to his kiss that was like an addiction.
This is your boss, a voice warned.YOUR BOSS!
But for a heady few seconds, I didn’t care. I shoved that voice out of my head. Severn was usually so tightly wound, every muscle perfectly controlled, but a sudden feral energy overcame him; his hand tightened around the back of my neck, and his mouth moved demandingly over mine. Then almost as soon as the kiss had started, he pulled away.
I stared at him, wide-eyed, barely able to catch my breath. What the hell had just happened?
We heard a growl from Kell, who strode off toward the bushes, where someone had been filming the whole thing with a phone. Kell grabbed the guy’s phone and smashed it under his foot.Thank god, I thought. If those photos had leaked, it would be big drama. The billionaire Severn Wilde kissing a mystery woman.
“Now you’remarried!” May sang, giggling, throwing cherry petals at us.
I could still only stare at Severn, shocked by how our kiss had so quickly transformed into anything but child’s play. As though it had been the answer to a question both of us hadn’t known we’d been asking for a very long time. Had he felt it, too? I studied his face as he thrust a glass of honey wine in my hand with a wry look.
“To the bride,” he said mockingly, as though the whole thing was one big joke on me, and I suddenly wondered if he’d only been toying with me with that kiss, that he hadn’t felt anything at all, that he was just as much an asshole as I’d first thought.
