I laughed a little too loudly to shake off the growing awkwardness. My mouth suddenly felt dry. “I heard there was champagne…?”
“Yes, of course.” Madison signaled a server, and I had a full champagne flute in my hand by the time the guys crossed the deck to join us. Cade came to stand next to me, looking comfortable as could be with a glass of amber liquor in one hand and his other resting in his pocket.
When he sent me a questioning look, I answered with an attempt at a reassuring smile. But I was a little more concerned than before we boarded the yacht.
If Candace’s attitude was anything to go by, this might not be the easy week of drinking champagne and soaking up the sun that I’d been promised.
Madison made quick introductions before zeroing in on Cade and me. “Okay, we need all the details. How did you two meet?”
He opened his mouth, but I beat him to it. “Through my work.”
Cade went dangerously still next to me, probably assuming I was talking about my cuddling job. I wouldn’t go that far off script, but I also wasn’t about to spend a week pretending to be a “consultant.”
A shudder trembled through me just thinking about how bored I’d be.
“Where do you work?” Fletcher asked, though he seemed more interested in retying his sweater than the answer.
Luckily, that made it easier for me to focus on my deception.
“At a local cat café. I take care of the cats and oversee robot operations,” I lied, going with my old job. The best lies always stuck close to the truth. Plus, working with robots just sounded cool. Unfortunately, all it was met with were blank stares. “Cade came in for a drink one day?—”
“Stop right there.” Harrison held up a hand, frowning at his brother. “You go to cat cafés, bro? Since when? I didn’t even know they existed outside Japan.”
Cade’s gaze drilled into the side of my head before he answered through a clenched jaw. “It was the nearest place with coffee.”
Well. He really wasn’t doing a great job of selling this.
Looked like I’d need to do more of the heavy lifting and help him relax.
Giving them my most charming smile, I leaned against Cade’s side and placed a palm over his stomach—feeling him stiffen under his soft shirt.
“Lucky for me, it started storming really badly, so Cade stuck around,” I lied, making a show of tilting my head back and batting my eyelashes up at him. “We got to chatting, and it turns out we have a lot in common. After that, he made a habit of stopping by the café to see me.”
I hadn’t planned to add the storm part, but what was more romantic than getting stranded in the rain together?
Unfortunately, lying had a habit of making me itchy, and a spot on my neck practically begged me to scratch it.
“So…that means you were dating before Cade went over to London.” Harrison’s eyes narrowed on his brother. “Did she go over there with you?”
“No, but we kept in touch,” Cade lied smoothly, earning a side-eye from me.
Maybe he wasn’t as bad of an actor as I’d thought.
“I was skeptical of the distance at first,” I added, seeing an opportunity to beef up our story while subtly scratching my neck, “but then Cade did the most romantic thing ever and wrote me love letters from across the pond. How could I resist that?”
A chorus ofawwssounded from the women, almost drowning out Vlad’s snort of laughter.
“Love letters?” Madison echoed with a dreamy sigh, before poking Harrison’s side. “Why don’t you ever write me love letters?”
“Ow!” He rubbed his side. “Maybe leave the country, and I will.”
“I had no idea you were such a romantic, Cade,” Piper said, eyeing him thoughtfully. “Love letters and getting stormed in together? I always figured you’d leave it up to an algorithm to choose a wife for you.”
Cade smiled tightly while grabbing my arm with one hand. “Like I said, things change. Excuse us for a moment.”
He strode off, pulling me along behind him with such force that I had to speed up so it wouldn’t look like he was dragging me away like a toddler.
It gave me déjà vu to when he tried to kick me out of his penthouse.
