Page 68 of Filthy Twisted Devil

“But I am a city boy poser.”

“And if you behave, maybe we’ll buy you some boots in town.”

After promising to text me about the dates, Eden hangs up. I look back at my reflection with the bags under my eyes. The guy in the mirror looks at me like I’m an idiot, which I am.

I’m about to visit Eden’s hometown and meet her family. That means I’ll be stuck performing a fake relationship for the Locke brothers, while pretending to Eden that it’s not real.

Convincing the Lockes that I’m in love with Eden should be no problem. It’s the other part I’m worried about.

28

EDEN

March

The rental car waiting at the airport turns out to be a low-slung red Corvette. It’s a beautiful car and utterly impractical for ranch life. I can practically see my brothers’ faces—a combination of judgmental distaste for this expensive Not-A-Truck mixed with boyish desire to drive it down the roads.

Luke’s face, however, is all boyish desire.

“You can drive,” I tell him generously.

“I don’t have to,” he says quickly. “We’re going to your home. You know the way better.”

“And once we’re on those empty prairie roads, I know you’re going to be salivating to see how fast this car can go.” I hand him the keys. “Go ahead. I don’t mind.”

He brushes a kiss across my cheek. “You’re the best, wildflower.”

I’m grateful that he turns away to put my bag in the truck before he can see how big my smile gets when he uses that name.

The flight to Calgary took off early in the morning. Fortunately, Luke’s executive status with the airline meant we got to enjoy unlimited free coffee and breakfast in the first-class lounge. While I made up a big plate of eggs, sausage, and sourdough toast, Luke made a monstrous concoction of half-Frosted Flakes, half-Fruity Pebbles.

We spent most of the flight catching up on the work we’ll miss, which meant we were both glued to our laptops for hours. I finished up invoices for Flair’s vendors while Luke read quarterly distribution reports, which he promised were just as boring as they sounded. When we put our laptops away for descent, I let out a breath. For the next few days, I won’t need to worry about life in Toronto.

I’ll have enough to worry about at home.

I wait until we’re on the road to get into it.

“My brothers are going to grill you,” I warn Luke. “They’ve played nice over text, but you’re on their turf now, so you need to know what to expect.”

“I’m sure I can handle it.”

“Wrong answer. The Locke boys might seem like simple ranch boys, but under that, they are devious, suspicious, devilishly clever amateur detectives. You’re going to have to face a straight-up interrogation, Luke.”

“They won’t tie me to a chair and threaten to cut off my fingers, will they?” he jokes.

“They won’t need to do that. They don’t need blunt force when they have manipulation. They'll ask you about everything, even stuff that seems meaningless, but you have to be consistent. They’re looking for any holes in your story, so we need to make sure we’re on the same page.”

“Sure. If anyone asks, I was with you the night of the murder.”

I elbow him. “You need to take this seriously, Luke! They're going to ask how our relationship started and what you thought when you found out about the cam work. We need to get our story straight.”

“Fine. Let’s see, we obviously met when you brought Brinley home for the holidays. We didn’t exactly stay in touch, but when you moved to Toronto, I was interested.”

“But not immediately,” I reply. “If you were interested too fast, they’ll say you’re only with me for my looks.”

“At first, I was. Your personality grew on me eventually, though.”

I ignore his jokes and keep going. “When you and Brinley patched things up, that’s when you started hanging out with me more. You realized that I was an ambitious, intelligent, business-minded woman, and that’s when you became interested. You reconsidered when you found out I was a camgirl.”