“You’re right, she won’t want to,” Clarabelle said sharply. “But you’re going to show up in the hopes that she does anyway.”
“And which book boyfriend trope am I to represent? If it’s the damn cinnamon roll, you can count me out. She’ll know that’s bullshit.”
“You’ll go up there,” Clarabelle snapped, “and be whatever it takes to win back the woman of your heart.”
He opened his mouth to argue and shut it. When she got that look in her eyes, there was no getting around her will. Mightier than Stone had tried and failed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“As it turns out, her book boyfriend with a secret—that he would reveal to the highest bidder—backed out,” Clarabelle said.
“Backed out or was asked to be a no-show?” Stone asked, smelling a rat.
“Do not take that tone of voice with me, young man,” Clarabelle said.
He sighed. “I wasn’t aware Sophie had found such a book boyfriend.” Who had it been, and who had she taken with her to the interview for protection?
“She did, and he’s perfectly lovely, so stop scowling,” Clarabelle ordered.
“I’m not scowling. I’m thinking.”
“Well, stop it. It’s going to give you wrinkles.”
He forced himself to have no expression. “Better?”
She nodded. “As I was saying, you will take his place. Once Sophie wins you at auction, you will tell her you are a fairy godfather. If that doesn’t cause her to run, you’ve been cleared to offer her a job as a Fairytale Coordinator for you and the boys. It’s been preapproved by the Grand High Enchanter of Fairy Affairs.”
“How did you pull that off?”
“Let’s just say we have theories about Sophie that coincide.”
Stone went on full alert. “You’re saying I can tell her my secret without her saying I love you first?”
“Yes,” they all said in unison.
“But what if she’s not great at keeping secrets?” he forced himself to ask, because accidental telling of secrets can and do happen. And he wanted to know the outcome should that occur. Protecting her was still his focus. When they’d all been sworn in as Fairy Godfathers, there’d been a strong emphasis on theneed to keep what they did out of the limelight. According to Clarabelle, if the wrong group of people learned of their existence, bad things could and would happen to the magic in the world.
Clarabelle smiled sadly and patted him on the cheek. “For starters, if she tells your secret, both of your memories of each other will be erased.”
There was no world in which he’d want to exist where he didn’t remember someone as perfect as Sophie E. Clark. “Starters?”
“Darling, stop borrowing worries. Now is the time to embrace possibilities. Go for the gold. Grab your own fairytale ending.”
“In other words, grow a pair,” Montgomery said.
“Man up,” Ryder added.
“Indeed, indeed,” Clarabelle said, causing both of his brothers to double over in laughter.
Stone let the ribbing slide. His gut told him Sophie could keep an important secret, especially if she knew the consequences of letting it slip. Which meant there was nothing stopping him from saying yes to offering Sophie a fantastical job. The realization caused him to laugh.
Hell, he had no idea what he and his brothers would do with a Fairytale Coordinator—mostly because he didn’t know what one of those did—but it didn’t take a sober genius to know Sophie would love the title. He could just imagine the T-shirts she would design for all of them to wear. “I’m in.”
“We thought you might be,” Ryder said, clapping him on the shoulder.
Montgomery puffed out his chest. “It was my idea, and I came up with the title.”
“Suck up,” Ryder jibed.
Clarabelle made a tutting noise at her boys.
