“I do like her,” Ethan said, facing Emmaline. “We’re great mates.”
He smiled.
She smiled.
The camera was right there, and this was so very forced.
“Put your arm around him,” Annie suggested. “So you can really get in there.”
Em did as suggested. The first touch was slightly awkward since they were right up in each other’s business like this.
Annie held the camera for him this time, climbing up on a stool for a better angle.
“Maybe kiss him?” Fiona suggested, happily. “That’ll convinceeveryone.”
“Friends don’t kiss,” Em said, still face to face with Ethan. Still reminding her body she got to touch but not play.
“Thought you were playing pretend?” Fiona egged them on.
Em frowned at her daughter even as Ethan tightened his grip around her waist. And. She. Liked. It. Her stomach swooped and dipped as butterflies swarmed in her belly.
“You’re not ‘friends’ in this picture,” Fiona kept pushing.
She absolutely got that from her dad.
“You’re boyfriend-girlfriend. That means youhaveto kiss,” Fiona practically begged.
“Have you been hangin’ out with Annie too much?” Ethan said, giving Fiona a sly look. “No, your mum and I agreed we won’t be kissing in this charade. Messes with the long-term friendship and such.”
“Put your heads together then,” Annie suggested. “Foreheads touch, not lips.”
Now that they could do. They took a few photos facing each other and another looking straight into the lens. The forehead touch was genius—more intimate than a kiss, really. Staring into each other’s eyes, laughing because the situation was absurd, and knowing there would be no culmination to anything further. All the chemistry bottled in the tight space between them was sure to come through in the final photos.
Annie finally finished clicking so they could both peek at the results. With the girls’ help, they confirmed they were ready.
Ethan sent the images over to his team for his online Emmaline announcement.
“We’re gonna go make friendship bracelets,” Annie announced, as Ethan got to work and whisked together the wet ingredients.
“Haven’t you both made loads of those already?” Ethan asked.
He wasn’t wrong. They both had two wrists filled with the beaded Taylor Swift style friendship bracelets.
“Can’t have too many.” Fiona was already halfway up the stairs.
“Fiona? You don’t want to stay?” Emmaline asked, because since when did Fiona not want to help? Shealwayswanted to help in the kitchen.
Both girls shook their heads in unison and bounced up the stairs.
“Is that concerning to anyone but me?” Em asked. Something was up with Fiona. She didn’t know quite what, but a mom knows when her daughter is up to something—and she had a hunch, it wasn’t bracelets.
“Don’t question them too much,” Ethan said, stirring away. “They’re being good sports about the charade. Best not to shuffle those cards.”
“Hey, I never asked. What did you tell Annie to get her to agree?” Em asked, leaning against the counter. She forced herself away from Ethan’s forearm muscle porn as he whisked. Unfortunately, that adjustment only got her lost in his blue eyes.
Make no mistake, she had nice eyes, too. Those were one of her favorite features, even. But they were brown, and they were pretty standard—nothinglike Ethan’s blue.
“Told her this is a real mess. It’s not bloody fair to all those ladies reaching out to me,” he said, nodding as he spoke. “That she and Fiona will get to spend heaps more time together for the ruse to work.” He paused his whisking. “That’s the part that did it, I reckon.” A lock of his hair brushed against the side of his ear. Slightly long, but not ridiculous.
