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I glanced over at Mark and felt my heart flutter. I wasn't sure what to do with those feelings. This wasn't something I thought was going to be happening in my life any time soon. I hadn't been focused on relationships in my life before now, and even if I had been, I wouldn't have thought one was going to come to me this way.
I'd always heard people say you can't start a relationship with a lie. But I wasn’t lying to Mark, I was lying with him to someone else. Didn’t that count? I couldn't deny my feelings for him. They were very much there and only getting stronger the longer we spent together. I just didn't know if he felt the same way. It was his idea to spontaneously pretend that we were engaged rather than just dating, but I was the one who had roped him into the fake relationship to begin with. He might have just been playing along and saw an opportunity to up the ante and smooth out an embarrassing situation.
The sex was definitely incredible. Better than anything I'd ever experienced in my life. But did that really mean anything? We could just have good chemistry and be comfortable enough with each other to really enjoy ourselves. I couldn't stop thinking about him telling me he'd never been serious about any relationship before. This didn't seem like the type of situation that was going to change that.
Besides, Mark was going through a hard time. He was still grieving the loss of his father and trying to navigate what it meant to be back home in a place where he never thought he'd live much less be the local doctor.
Maybe this wasn't the time for us to push anything. I told myself I should just let this wedding play out the way we planned it and then go back to our lives.
Then Mark reached over and squeezed my hand. I looked at him, and his smile told me there was no way I was going to be able to just go back to my life and pretend none of this had happened. Pretend Mark didn't happen. I was just going to have to feel it out and figure out what to do one step at a time.
The ceremony finally ended, and the new couple rushed off for pictures while the guests filtered out to the cocktail hour before the reception. While we mingled, people came up to us to congratulate us on our engagement. Some had been there to witness the sudden announcement in the water, and others had heard about it when they arrived for the festivities.
Mark kept his hand on my waist or holding mine the entire time, occasionally leaning down to kiss the side of my neck or my cheek. I didn't have to fake the smile that brought to my face. When we were alone for a moment, he leaned down toward me.
"We sure are getting a lot of attention for our engagement," he said with a hint of glee.
"Good job on the quick thinking explaining my ring is being sized," I said. "I had no idea people would be so invested in admiring a woman's engagement ring at another woman's wedding."
"I hope you're not feeling too bad about that," Mark said.
"Well, there is a little part of me that is feeling a bit guilty about stealing some of Jade's bridal thunder, but at the same time, I figure she kind of had it coming. And let's be honest, I was going to be getting looks at this wedding no matter what. I'd rather them be jealous glares than pitying ones," I said.
"That's a good outlook," he said. He surprised me with a kiss. "Just in case someone is giving you one of those glares right now."
His whisper brought heat to my cheeks and made my heart thump in my chest. I started to say something. I wasn't even sure what it was, but there were words right on the tip of my tongue, and I opened my mouth to say them, but then noticed my brother off to the side staring at us.
He'd hung around so he could watch the horses and bring them back to the ranch as soon as Jade and Trevor were done with them, so we didn’t have to deal with them. Now it seemed he'd slipped into the cocktail hour for a couple refreshments, but he had his eyes glued to Mark and me.
"Did you tell Camden what was going on?" I asked.
"What?" Mark asked, turning his attention away from something he was watching across the room to where I was looking at my brother.
"He's over there staring at us. He doesn't look particularly pleased," I said.
The two men locked eyes, and Mark nodded. "I did. We should probably talk about that later." I was going to ask what that meant, but he glanced at his watch. "It's time for Jade and Trevor to arrive."
