“Then why would you do it?”
“I was asked,” he explained, still completely serious. “I don’t have the best track record with my brothers, especially Alex, so when he asked, I agreed.”
“Do you always do whatever your brother asks of you?” One of my eyebrows arched.Thiswas the kind of behavior that made my distrust of Westwoods flare. Had Alex given any thought to the blowback of this on Jesse’s reputation? Did he care, or was Jesse collateral that the family could easily write off?All is fair in love and business.
“I’m not sayingno, Jesse. I’m just trying to understand.”
“To answer your question, no, I don’t. I usually don’t do anything they ask me to, actually, but that’s kind of why I’m doing this now.”
“Is that supposed to make sense?”
“Do you remember Will, my twin brother?” he asked suddenly, a soft, faraway sort of smile spreading on his lips. “And Little J?”
I nodded. “Of course. We met them at the estate.”
“Yeah.” Jesse turned his head toward the window, staring out of it with an expression I couldn’t quite read as he went on. “Will did something great for me recently and I owe a few favors now, I guess.”
My head tilted as I studied him, the seemingly carefree, roguish Westwood not so carefree right now at all. “This is a pretty large favor though, don’t you think?”
“It is, but I’ll do what I can as long as no one gets hurt. Including you.” He finally brought his gaze back to mine. “If you’re ever uncomfortable or you want out, no problem. We’re done. No questions asked.”
Unexpectedly, I found that I actually I believed him, but I still shook my head. Getting hurt was the least of my worries. “This plan is absurd, you know that, right?”
“Yep, but it’ll work,” he said confidently, that glint of mischief I’d come to expect from him finally making a reappearance in his eyes. “So, are you in?”
Am I?
Honestly, I wasn’t sure. Yet I was currently on a private jet with a man I barely knew, discussing a fake relationship that would inevitably become very public, very quickly, and all I knew was that he was doing it for his brothers. It didn’t make a lick of sense to me, but I supposed it was his family’s business, not mine.
A voice cut through the cabin. “We’ll be descending shortly. We have approximately twenty minutes until arrival in Honolulu.”
My lips parted, my eyebrows shooting up. “Honolulu? Are you kidding me?”
Jesse winced slightly. “It was supposed to be a surprise.”
I turned fully in my seat, staring at him openly now. “You brought me toHawaii.”
“I was going to tell you,” he said defensively.
“When? After we landed?”
“That was the general idea, yes.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This man really didn’t do anything halfway if his version of aconversationabout a fake engagement involved a private jet and an island in the middle of the Pacific.
“You’re insane,” I said, still laughing as disbelief sped through me. “Absolutely, utterly insane.”
“Correct,” he replied easily, another one of his smirks ghosting across his lips as he held my gaze. “We might as well have fun with it, right? And what better place to revealmy girlfriend to the world than stunning beaches, crystal clear water, and tiny swimsuits as we toast to rekindling our relationship?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t help smiling as I glanced out the window like I might be able to see blue ocean instead of stars. Jesse’s plan was ludicrous. It made very little sense to me that he would agree to something like this and even less that he’d choosemeas his partner in pretend matrimony, yet, ifthiswas the treatment I’d be receiving for the duration, then I had a feeling I wasn’t going to say no—even if I already knew that I probably really should.
CHAPTER 15
JESSE
We made a brief stop on O’ahu to refuel and we were supposed to take off again right away, but Jacqueline absolutely refused to stay on the plane. Already halfway down the aisle before I could even unbuckle properly, she looked back at me from the open door with a wide smile on her lips.
“I’m not flying all the way to Hawaii only to stay on a plane,” she said firmly. “That’s criminal.”
