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Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it.“What, you didn’t miss me?”You are an incurable dumbass.His mouth was going to screw everything up and send her sprinting back to Ethiopia or Honduras before he could blink.
She turned back to him and blinked a few times, the corner of her mouth curling into a half smile. “You’re a given, Sparky. You know you and Fredrock are a package deal.” Her eyes widened as he shook out the blanket and spread it across the stone slab. “What is that?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been out in the field for so long you’ve forgotten what a picnic is.” He looked up at her and grinned as he smoothed the thick material on the smooth stone surface. He’d leave out the tidbit that it was the same one Tanner had used on Izzy and Wyatt had used on Georgia, and that he hoped it carried some weird Carlisle family magic.
And he’d made sure to wash it twice after he snagged it from Connor because he didn’t even want to imagine what kinds of things this poor piece of cloth had seen.
Not that he’d ever be sentimental enough to believe in that kind of garbage like a lucky love talisman. That was Connor’s thing. He was “the sensitive one.”
Dean carefully pulled each container of food from the saddlebags as Jillian took a seat on the blanket and her eyes grew wide at the seemingly endless supply.
Score one for Izzy. His sister-in-law had done little more than give him a half second long knowing look before agreeing to pack up dinner for two.
The small dimple Dean had found himself thinking about in the middle of the night appeared on her left cheek. That alone was worth the endless hours of harassing “I-told-you-so’s” his brothers would undoubtedly pour on him.
And, damn it, they were right.
Since Dean and Jillian first met his brothers would bump his shoulder with their larger ones and say her name in a sing-songy voice that irritated the hell out of him. They’d make kissy sounds and humHere Comes the Bridewhen they saw her coming toward the house.
If it weren’t for the fact that he loved the woman sitting next to him so much he wasn’t sure he could take his next breath without confessing it, he’d hate the fact he was proving all their taunts were right. Well, right as long as Jillian agreed to make the fake engagement something a little less than fake. Something that was kinda like forever.
Her smile vanished as she popped the lid off of one of the containers and her mouth turned down at the corners. “Dean, I don’t eat chicken.” She lifted her eyes from the breaded planks to meet his. “Remember? Vegetarian?”
It was a fact he knew well and so did Izzy. And just in case she’d forgotten he’d reminded her. Twice.
He picked up one of the pieces and held it close to her lips. “I remembered. This is fake chicken. And I gotta admit it doesn’t taste half bad.”
She opened her mouth and took the proffered food, closing her eyes with a small moan that sent Dean’s mind straight to the gutter. “Damn, Sparky, this is good.”
His incredibly proper and refined fiancée managed to devour more food in the next ten minutes than he could even attempt. The brown leather belt was digging into his stomach and he held up his hands calling “uncle” while she plowed through two more helpings.
“Where in the hell do you put it all, Jillybean?” He wasn’t sure if he was more in awe or jealous of her appetite, although the way she licked the strawberry juice from her fingers was enough to wipe both thoughts from his mind and set him on a very different track.
She lifted her shoulder and popped one more grape in her mouth before snapping the lid closed on the nearly empty container. “Working out in the sun and walking all over creation has a way of making a girl grow her appetite.” She sighed and tilted her head to one side. “I’m not saying this wasn’t delicious and I definitely don’t want to sound rude, but tell me what this is all about.”
Show time.
He grinned and pulled the bouquet of daisies, asters, and chrysanthemums all in vivid purple tones from behind the rock where he’d stashed it earlier. Her mouth fell open slightly but he held up one hand. “This is an eco-friendly bouquet from a fair trade farm. No plants were harmed in the making of these flowers.”
A warm smile curled her lips and she pulled the fragrant blooms close to her nose, inhaling deeply. “Dean, they’re gorgeous.” She drew her brows together and frowned at him over the petals. “Seriously, what are you up to?”
He slid off the rock and knelt beside Jillian, pulling the ring from his front pocket in a move he hoped looked far smoother than he felt. He lifted the lid and did a small inner cheer at her sharp intake of breath. Without the slightest input from his foggy brain, he tucked a thick auburn wave behind her ear that had escaped her ponytail.
“Jillybean, just because this is all happening as a means to an end…” The words nearly lodged in his throat. He wanted more than a fake engagement, but now wasn’t even close to being the right time for that particular announcement. “Well, you’re still my best friend. And you’re still that girl who cried over those stupid reality show engagements even though you knew they’d be broken up within a month.”
He plucked the ring from the blue velvet and slid it on her ring finger. “And my best friend deserves a real engagement ring.” He slid his knuckle under her chin and lifted it so she’d look him in the eyes. “Conflict free and ethically sourced with all the proper certification to prove it.”
She sat motionless, eyes glued to the ring, mouth still hanging open in shock. After countless moments that had Dean believing he had royally screwed it all up, she lifted her gaze to meet his, tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes. “Someone is going to be really lucky to get you for real one day, Sparky.”
Dean smiled up at her despite the ache in his heart at the suggestion there could be anyone other than her. “For the next two years this is real. I know what you said, but I already told you I don’t have a girlfriend and I’m not going to look for one.” He gripped the hand he still held firmly in his.
Jillian tugged free from his hold to wrap her arms around his neck. “I can’t possibly thank you enough for doing this. I’m asking so much of you and you just…jumped in to fix the disaster that’s my life without asking questions.” She pulled back and sniffed, wiping her forearm across her eyes. “And you haven’t even pushed to know why.”
He rose from his spot on the ground to the smooth stone slab, not letting her out of his arms as he moved. “You’ll tell me eventually. You always tell me everything.” He placed his palm on the side of her head and gently coaxed her to lay against his shoulder. “And if you don’t, I have ways of making you talk.”
“This is probably exactly why none of your ex-girlfriends actually believed we were just friends. Or your brothers.” She lightly pinched his side. “And you aren’t that good of an interrogator.”
The immediate grin that took up residence on his face at her joking challenge was completely involuntary. He walked his fingers from where they rested near her hip bone up to her ribcage and around her back before dancing lightly across the thin material barely covering her skin. “I’m pretty sure I won every tickle fight we ever had.”
