While I help him stack the feed bags, I explain what I just experienced back at work. Both Ford and Wyatt give me curious looks as they dump out their wheelbarrows, but head back to the truck without prying.
Once I finish, my friend fixes me with a mischievous look in his eyes.
"What?" I say, furrowing my brow at him.
"Well, first of all, you know I think you're absolutely gaga for the woman, right?"
I wave his words away.
"What does that matter? I work for her."
"Well, did her family even know her fiancé? Because the way you just told it, it sounds like they've never even met him."
I snort.
"I don't even think they knew the guy's name. They don't really give that much of a shit about Joss except when they want to make her feel small."
"Well, then why don't you step in? Play the part. Save her. Be her knight in shining armor for a shitty family wedding," Amos says.
"What do you mean, 'play the part'?"
"Pretend you're her fiancé!"
I'm shocked, but the wheels are already turning in my head.
"She's not going to skip the wedding, right? And having a fiancé would mean she'd be a lot less stressed out. You could step in and play that part. And now that she's single, you willbe spending more time with her socially. Maybe it would lead to more," Amos says with a knowing smirk.
I open my mouth to argue, but quickly shut it as Ford and Wyatt push in the final wheelbarrows of feed. Instead, I mull over my friend's suggestion as I help stack the rest of the order.
Joss Gallagher's dark gray hair falls in waves along her shoulders, but what catches my attention is how wide her warm brown eyes are as she stares up at me. Her mouth gapes slightly.
"Are you offering to pretend to be my fiancé?"
Her pale cheeks flame red as her gaze darts around my face, studying me.
"If it would help you, then for sure," I say, smiling down at my boss.
A curious smile falls upon her full lips as a look I can't quite read flashes behind her eyes. I watch Joss stare up at me and square her shoulders, then give a determined nod.
"If you're being serious, then okay. Let's do this. Come to my place tonight for dinner?"
I'm sitting across from my curvy boss at her kitchen table, nursing glasses of wine after dinner. I've been harboring a crush on her ever since she hired me last year. Just two minutes earlier, I had her in stitches with a story about Amos and me as teens in the San Fernando Valley. Now she's watching the flames dance in her living room fireplace with a contented air about her.
Being part of the reason Joss can let go of her massive stress about Bart and the wedding makes me feel damn good.I'm realizing there's a whole host of things I'd do to make this woman feel safe and protected.
Joss releases a contented sigh, interrupting my train of thought. She turns to me, fixing me with her dark brown eyes.
"So, since the wedding is next weekend, I was thinking we should probably do something together besides work before we have to play the part of fiancés."
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever you like."
She smiles at me shyly with a look behind her eyes that I can't quite read.
"There's a free skate tomorrow at the Corvid Valley Ice Complex. I hear sometimes team members of the Beast Mode Blades surprise people by joining them during it," she says with a small laugh.
"Are you an ice hockey fan?" I ask, surprised.
"Just for the Beast Mode Blades. I'm not really big into sports, but ever since they moved their team here, I've gotten kind of obsessed," Joss says, with an embarrassed laugh.
