Parker ran a hand over his head and groaned.
“You’re dreaming if you think I could even begin to pull this off. You know I was a terrible liar when we were kids. That hasn’t changed.”
“Then you’d better learn, Abbott.”
“Why can’t you take Max or Cole? Either of them would be thrilled to go on an all-expenses paid island vacation. I’m sure Cole would be more than happy to share a bed with you.” His brother Cole, the one sibling who didn’t help manage the distillery, seemed determined to sleep his way through half the town.
“No one said anything about sharing a bed. That’s what makes you a pretend fiancé, genius.” Kayleigh clenched her fists, her chest puffing out.
“You expect me to fake intimacy? We were friends once, but we hardly know each other now. And you think I’ll be able to pretend well enough to fool someone who was your close friend? You’re being completely unreasonable here.” Parker took a cloth from his pocket and cleaned his glasses. “Even for you, and that’s saying a lot.”
She sneered at him, then sighed. “You’re right. We’d never fool Kira with this.” She gestured between them. “She’d sense that we’re virtual strangers.”
Parker breathed a sigh of relief, returned his glasses to the bridge of his nose and picked up his pen again. “So in lieu of the whole pretend fiancé thing...”
“No in lieu of.” Kayleigh shook her head vigorously and a few of her bouncy red curls spilled from the bandanna. “I didn’t say we weren’t doing it—I just said it wouldn’t work the way things stand between us now. That means we need to put some effort into it. We have ten weeks to get to know each other.”
“Kayleigh, how do you expect—”
“That’s the deal, Abbott. Take it or leave it.” Even the insidious grin slowly spreading across her face couldn’t dim her beauty. If anything, the sly smile highlighted her perfect cheekbones.
Acquire this building, no matter what it takes.
He could hear his father’s words in his head. When his siblings on the King’s Finest board had laughed, insisting he wouldn’t be able to cut a deal with Kayleigh Jemison, he’d taken it as a personal challenge.
Parker loved his mother and knew how much owning this piece of her family’s history would mean to her. Still, it was a lot to ask.
His teeth clenched and one fist balled at his side. “I’ll have the contract and confidentiality agreements drawn up and let you know when they’re ready to be signed. For now, though, this deal stays between us.”
Kayleigh could barely contain a grin as she gave him a two-finger salute. “Pleasure doin’ business with you, Abbott.”
Parker grunted in response as he headed to his car.
Now he was saddled with a broken-down building and a fake fiancée who hated his guts.
His siblings were going to get a kick out of this.
“Are you all done?” Parker sat at one end of the conference-room table, fuming as his father, brothers Blake and Max, and sister, Zora, laughed so hard that tears came to their eyes. “If so, I’d like to get back to the business at hand.”
“That Kayleigh is a shrewd businesswoman.” His father dabbed his eyes with a hankie, then stuffed it into his pocket. “You have to give her that.”
He could think of things he’d like to give Kayleigh Jemison. A compliment wasn’t one of them.
She’d turned him into the family punch line and seemed determined to make the next few months of his life a nightmare. They still had to iron out the details, but he’d have to spend the next few months getting to know her. It’d be like two betta fish being placed in a single bowl.
“C’mon, Parker, don’t try to act like you’re not secretly looking forward to a little alone time with Kayleigh.” Zora wiped away tears with her knuckle. “It’s no secret you have a little—”
“I’m not and I don’t.” He addressed his sister—the baby of the family—pointedly. “Now, if we could get back to the details of the contract.”
“Savannah won’t believe it when I tell her this.” Blake chuckled.
“Neither will Mom,” Max added, shaking his head. “Once we finally tell her. But I’m sure the prospect of marrying off another one of her kids will thrill her to death.”
“No one is getting married.” Parker’s voice came out shriller than he’d intended. He straightened his tie and released a slow breath. “I’m glad I could provide you all with a bit of amusement today, but we can finish this around the dinner table on Sunday.” He tapped his Bvlgari Roma Finissimo watch. “Right now we’re on the clock and I need to get the team’s agreement on the details of this contract so I can get it revised and signed before Kayleigh changes her mind.”
“Parker’s right,” his father said, with one final chuckle. “Time is of the essence. I think I speak for all of us when I say, we gladly accept Miss Jemison’s terms.”
Of course they did.
They weren’t the ones sentenced to spend the next three months in hell.
“So, when were you going to tell me you proposed to Parker?” Savannah Abbott asked as Kayleigh slid into her seat in their favorite booth at the Magnolia Lake Bakery.
“First, I did not propose to Parker. Second, he said I wasn’t permitted to talk to anyone about the deal, so I couldn’t tell you.”
“I had to hear it from Blake.” Savannah’s hazel eyes danced. “I thought it was an April Fools’ joke.”
Savannah was Parker Abbott’s sister-in-law. When she’d come to town three years ago, she’d loathed the Abbotts as much as Kayleigh did. But while carrying out her plan to prove that half of the King’s Finest Distillery rightfully belonged to her grandfather, Martin McDowell, Savannah had fallen for Blake Abbott. In the end it turned out that neither of their grandfathers had been completely honest about what had happened to their partnership all those years ago.
They’d both fessed up and Joseph Abbott had felt guilty enough to give McDowell and his two granddaughters—Savannah and her younger sister, Delaney—a share of the business. He’d also written Martin a seven-figure check.
“Honestly, I was kind of relieved that I couldn’t tell you about my deal with Parker. It’s embarrassing to admit that I needed to barter for a date to my friend’s wedding.”
“Why did you feel you needed to?” Savannah employed the same patient, soothing tone she used when trying to reason with her nearly two-year-old son, Davis.
“This isn’t just any friend’s wedding. She’s my ex’s younger sister.”
“The guy you moved to Atlanta with after college?” Savannah looked up from sipping her coffee.
“Aidan.” Kayleigh confirmed with a nod. “He’s married now. To a gorgeous woman from the right family. Last I heard, they had a couple of kids together.” Kayleigh gripped her mug tighter in response to the tightness in her chest.
“I’m starting to get the picture.” Savannah squeezed her friend’s hand. “But, sweetie, you were the one who walked away. You have nothing to prove to him or anyone else.”
“I know, but the thought of being the only one there alone while everyone else on the island is boo’d up...” Kayleigh heaved a sigh and raked her fingers through her curls. “I couldn’t bear for