"Oh!" Sabrina tugged her skirt down a little. It had, in fact, gone appealingly high, showing off most of her thigh, and frankly, Luke hoped he'd gotten a good picture of that. Although he'd probably have to delete it, since she smiled at him in sunny relief. "Thanks for not being a creep. Can I see the pics?"
He handed his phone over nervously and watched over her shoulder as she skimmed through them. "Oh. Oh, wow, I really do look hot, don't I? Wow. You're going to have to accidentally let The Girls see those somehow."
"I'm prepared to throw myself on my sword and suffer through the indignity of having one as my home screen photo," Luke offered. "Just to really sell the boyfriend thing."
Sabrina laughed. "That's so noble of you. I like this one," she said, scrolling back to the flirtatious wink, "but you can shock and scandalize me with your choice, if you want."
"I don't think any of these are quite in shock-and-scandalize territory, and if they were, I'd have them in a locked folder, not on my home screen." Luke set the wink as his home screen and showed it to her before she squinted up at him thoughtfully.
"You seem like pretty goodrealboyfriend material. What awful secret are you keeping from me, that you don't have a girlfriend?"
"I'm a hopeless romantic, waiting for the right one." That was pretty close to true, but Luke didn't expect it to make Sabrina's eyebrows fly toward her hairline.
"Wait. Waiting likewaitingwaiting or just like…waiting?"
He gazed down at her solemnly. "I need you to know that if I didn't have an older sister, that sentence would make no sense to me at all. 'Yeah, but Luke,'" he said, mimicking Emmy's voice, "'do you like her, or do youlikelike her?'"
"I refuse to believe boys don't communicate that way too," Sabrina said cheerfully, and held her hand up. "Don't disillusionme. I need something to cling to in this world of failed romances."
"I'm having a hard time imagining you've got a string of failed romances behind you," Luke replied. "I'd think men would be knocking down your door."
"Ugh." She rolled her eyes, and waved toward the house. "Get your changes of clothes and I'll explain it on the way over to my place. Not that there's that much to explain, but yeah."
"Be right back." Luke bounded into the house, avoiding the common areas where he was most likely to run into his mother and have to explain he was leaving for a long weekend immediately after getting home, and grabbed a handful of shirts and a pair of jeans before sneaking back downstairs.
Emmy was waiting for him in the living room door, her cheeks flushed from her gym workout, and her eyes bright with anticipation. "Is she your mate?"
"Emmy!" Luke hissed his sister's name and shot a frantic look over her head toward the yard. "Shh!"
"Oh my God, sheisyour mate. I thought so from how you reacted when you saw her. Yes! Yay! Amazing!" Emmy capered around, thumping her feet like the rabbit she could be, and beamed at him. "Have you told her yet?"
"Of course not! Does she even know about shifters?"
"Ihaven't told her!"
"Then she probably doesn't! So no! I haven't! And I'm not going to! She's looking for a fake boyfriend for a weekend, not an unasked-for lifetime commitment! So shhhh!"
"Can I tell Mom and Dad?" Emmy asked gleefully. "Mom will be one hundred million times chiller about you bouncing out of town immediately if she knows you're off seducing your mate."
"I am not going to seduce her! That is not part of the deal here!"
"Uh-huh. So can I tell them?"
Luke groaned. "I guess? But not until I'm actually gone, okay? Because Mom will pin me to the wall and grill me and also insist Sabrina come over for dinner so she can meet her?—"
"Lucky for you, she's already met the parents. She stayed here like three times," Emmy said to his astonished look. "She met everybody in the family who's been home in the last year. Except you."
"I've been here most of the past year!"
"Yeah, but your timing has been terrible, I guess, because you weren't here when she was. Anyway, good luck, okay? Actually." Her eyebrows went up and she eyed the shirts Luke was carrying. "What are you doing with those? That's not all you're packing, is it?"
"No, we're going to go take some fake boyfriend pictures so she's got photographic evidence of us being together a while."
Emmy's jaw fell open. "Wow. You're really committing to the bit."
"Well…! If I'm going to be a fake boyfriend, it seems like I should do the best job I can!" Especially, Luke admitted, if he wanted to come across as good enough to be arealboyfriend.
You are good enough!his rabbit said enthusiastically.You're the best! Our mate knows that even if she doesn't know she knows it! Go Luke go!
