“It doesn’t matter.” Just wanting to leave, I knocked my suitcase into his legs—which did absolutely nothing.
Cade held me steady, his dark brows slanted down. “It does. What’s wrong?”
“‘What’s wrong?’” I echoed softly, momentarily so distracted by his obliviousness that I stopped trying to escape. I gaped at Cade. “What’s wrong is that we never should’ve made this deal!”
He went slack enough for me to jerk out of his hold.
“What’s wrong is that none of this is real.” I threw my hands up, gesturing wildly around us. “What’s wrong is that we’ve been playing house for a week, and it’s toying with other people’s lives. What’swrongis that I’m a fraud.”
“You’re not a fraud. Our deal is harmless?—”
“It’swrong.” I scratched at my arm where it was turning red and splotchy. “I can’t keep lying to your family. I just can’t do it. It’s cruel. Your mother offered to take me to France to shop for a wedding dress, and I had to smile and nod while knowing I’d never see her again. How would she feel if she knew you hired me a day before this trip?”
Apparently, Cade’s fake proposal had been my breaking point. Everything I’d bottled up throughout the week just exploded.
“And now you want me to keep up this fake relationship for ayear?” I laughed in disbelief, shaking my head. But the laughter quickly died, replaced by a lump taking up home in my throat. I swallowed around it, just sad now. “No. No, I can’t pretend to marry you, Cade. It just…It’d hurt too much. I’m sorry.”
I didn’t wait around for him to say anything, just pushed past him to the exit.
It was early, which meant the main deck should’ve been mostly empty aside from the crew.
That wasn’t true this morning.
I stormed out the lounge doors and straight into a magical wonderland of balloons, giant bouquets of blue flowers, and tables filled with enough pastries to feed an army—just as cannons of confetti shot off and scared the living daylights out of both me and Whiskey. A giant banner hung across the deck with big, bold writing:Happy Engagement, Cade and Ellie!
And a gathered crowd of familiar faces—Dr. Lovejoy, Cade’s family, the other couples minus Fletcher and Candace—gaped back at me in varying degrees of shock. Mac face-palmed in the back of the group.
Well, that answered the question of whether they’d heard my emotional breakdown.
I stopped dead in my tracks as red confetti rained from the sky, and Cade stopped behind me just in time to avoid bowling me over. He settled a hand on my waist as if it was the most natural thing to do.
The touch reminded me that all I had on was Cade’s college T-shirt, which landed way too high up on my thighs to be comfortable in this situation.
A painful silence settled in, threatening to suffocate me.
Harrison’s burst of nervous laughter echoed off the hushed deck, and he flashed us an awkward smile. “…Surprise?”
surprise!
. . .
Ellie
Ellie’s Guide toProfessional CuddlingBeing a Fake FiancéeNOT Falling for Your Fake FiancéHiding Any Trace that You’ve Fallen for Your Fake FiancéKeeping It TogetherSurviving as a Fake FiancéeReaping the Benefits of a Fake Engagement, Tip #33: Engagements involve parties. Lots and lots of parties. In my case, too many parties.
Okay.
Don’t panic, Ellie.
This was clearly a nightmare I’d wake up from any second now. It had to be, because otherwise, Cade’s family and friends were throwing a little surprise party for us right after he ripped my heart out of my chest and tossed it overboard.
And if it wasn’t a nightmare, then they’d also heard everything I’d yelled at Cade, which meant I’d broken a legally binding NDA. At that thought, I wanted to throwmyselfoverboard.
I pinched my arm, but nothing changed except now my arm hurt.
Well, so much for the nightmare theory.
Everyone was still staring, but even worse, I made the mistake of locking eyes with Cade’s mother. My stomach sank at the confusion clouding her gaze.
