“We can probably hire Ivy with the Weddings in the City company to do the wedding. They were part ofThe Great Christmas Bake-Off. My brother produces the show, and he was raving about her guest appearance. Maybe we should ask them to come over.” He started to stand up.
“No way, don’t you dare,” I hissed at him, grabbing his arm and yanking him back down. “We can’t invite Ivy over here. I can’t handle it.”
“You don’t like her?” Blade asked in confusion. “Are you enemies or something?”
“No, she’s not my enemy. If she was my enemy, that would be one thing. I wouldn’t care if she came over. No, she’s an idol. I have to be my best self if she’s around. It’s a lot of pressure.”
A small smile glanced across Blade’s mouth.
I licked my lips. “It’s my dream to be a wedding planner on their team. They do the best weddings. I need our wedding to be fantastic, beautiful, and envy inducing.”
“My future sister-in-law runs theVanity Rag. I’m sure she could do a spread on it if you’d like,” Blade offered.
“Great.” I rubbed my hands together. “Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. I’ll have a dream wedding, with a nice venue, lots of flowers, tasty food, and you’ll be a good-enough-looking groom.”
“Good-enough looking?” Blade said.
I nudged him lightly under the table with my foot.
“Stop fishing for compliments. You know you’re hot as fuck. We’ll have drool-worthy photos. Now I need a to-go box and dessert.”
* * *
“I’m taking you home,”Blade said firmly when we walked out of the restaurant. His arm was around my waist. The wine had made me tipsy, and it was almost enough to make me throw judgment out the window and break the most important rule of a fake relationship—almost.
I tried to grab the bag of food from him. I had ordered two desserts, one for Edward and one for me, because I needed something besides wine to take the edge off.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re my girlfriend,” Blade said stubbornly, opening the door to a town car that had pulled up.
“I live far away,” I protested. “In Brooklyn, and not the bougie part that has more hipsters than roaches.”
Blade half scooted me into the car. He sat next to me, draping his arm around the back of my seat. He was starting to warm up to the role of fake boyfriend.
“We’ll head to Harrogate tomorrow afternoon to beat the traffic,” Blade said.
“Does your family like anything special for gifts?”
“I have almost a hundred brothers,” he said dryly. “They don’t need anything.”
“I could bring the kids presents,” I offered.
“We’re trying to train them not to expect gifts when people come. The fact that you’re a new person they’ve never seen before is going to be exciting enough for them.”
I laughed. “You make them sound like puppies.”
“They’re not as cute and a lot bigger.”
“I hate to ask this, but could you bring a gift when you meet my parents? Something amazing that will impress them and make my sister jealous?”
Blade looked at me in the dark.
“Sorry, that’s petty.”
“I live for petty. Why do you think I have a fake girlfriend now?”
“That’s business.” I wrinkled my nose.
