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Jace was looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to explain why her family wasn’t taking turns helping her grandmother.

“My parents both work full-time in Bozeman. My sister is pregnant with her second child. She couldn’t bring a toddler and a newborn to my grandmother’s house for long.” The irony of her sister’s situation wasn’t lost on Marlowe. Katrina had married and started having children so quickly and easily. She was living Marlowe’s dream without even realizing it.

Marlowe shifted in Jace’s arms, letting the rhythm of the music wash through her. “I have to stay in Lark Springs for the foreseeable future, and I don’t want you telling your family any stories about me that lead to gossip.”

“Okay,” he said as though making a concession, “if that’s what you want, I suppose being a stripper is off the table.”

To their side, an amused voice said, “Is that what strippers are using these days? If so, I’ll never look at a table the same way again.”

Marlowe turned to see that Lucas and Riley had joined them on the dance floor. Riley playfully smacked Lucas. “Don’t put weird visual images into my mind.”

He waggled his eyebrows at her. “I guess if you insist, we can table this discussion.”

“Stop,” she said and laughed some more.

The music faded into another slow song, one with sway in it. Jace didn’t let Marlowe go. It felt so natural to dance with him, a residual of dating him in high school, she supposed.

Lucas said, “What career choice does Marlowe think will cause gossip?”

She opened her mouth but couldn’t think of any sort of explanation for their conversation. What exactly had Lucas heard them say?

Jace’s hand settled on her waist like it belonged there. “Marlowe is starting some business classes next week. She wants to own a salon someday.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Riley said, all encouraging smiles.

Lucas twirled Riley around, keeping time to the music. “Business classes must be different from what I imagined if strippers are involved.”

“We were talking about niche markets,” Jace said evenly. “I pointed out that someone ought to open a saloon salon. She could call it: Cuts, Color, and Cabaret.”

Nice save.

Riley snorted and turned to Marlowe. “Don’t listen to him about anything.”

“She hasn’t so far.” Jace ran his thumb over her hand in a distracting way. “She completely shot down Dye Hard, a beauty shop for women who take their hair color and their action movies seriously.”

Marlowe wrinkled her nose and hoped her voice sounded natural. “There’s a reason he’s becoming a doctor and not a marketing specialist.”

“Hey, I just want you to succeed.” His hand slid along her back again in a comforting gesture. It was just for show, but somehow, she still felt comforted, like her skin had forgotten this was pretend.

The group didn’t say much more because Riley and Lucas turned back to each other, and the music was loud enough to make it hard to talk to anyone who wasn’t standing right next to them.

Jace and Marlowe drifted farther away, and Jace bent to speak in her ear. “Turns out, not keeping an eye on my brother has its disadvantages. We could’ve blown our cover.”

“Fast thinking with questionable salon names. Also, even if you blow our cover, you’re still going to watch my grandmother every Wednesday, right?”

His lips were back on her ear. If someone looked over, it would seem like he was whispering sweet nothings to her. “I’m not going to blow our cover, and neither are you because from here on out, we’re only going to talk about our relationship like it’s real. That way, it won’t matter if anyone overhears us or sees a random text. You’re my girlfriend.”

That sentence shouldn’t have sent a shiver down her spine but somehow did. “Okay, darling. And that, by the way, is an acceptable nickname.”

The two of them continued to dance through song after song, and she found herself enjoying the music and dancing, even if it wasn’t a real date. In high school, Jace had been such a reserved dancer that he hardly moved. He’d gotten better. His moves were more fluid and less self-conscious. The boy had rhythm after all.

She tried not to be impressed. Failed.

Must not crush on my ex-turned-fake-boyfriend. Must not. He’d already said that one of the reasons he wanted to date her was that he knew she wouldn’t develop feelings for him.

The guy had broken her heart once. Did she really need to get back in line for seconds?

After an hour and a half, they returned to the table for drinks. Lucas and Riley were there, talking while they picked up their jackets. Lucas looked up. “We’re going to call it a night. The downside of managing an inn is that the busiest time for check-ins and checkouts is weekends.”