Dashing (Unleashed Romance #2) - Kylie Gilmore Page 0,1

my hair. Even more alarming, she goes up on tiptoe to whisper in my ear, her full breasts grazing my chest. “We’re friends, right?”

“Yeah.” I relax a little. Both because she’s keeping the boundary and because she shifted back to look at me, ensuring her breasts are now a safe distance away.

She smiles winningly. “Great. I have a favor to ask you.”

“Sure.”

She laughs. “You didn’t even hear what it is. What if I said something crazy like I need you to do my laundry?”

A smile tugs at my lips. “If you don’t mind wrinkled clothes, I’ll throw them in with mine.”

She smooths a hand down my shirtsleeve, sending a rush of heat over my skin. “Your clothes aren’t wrinkled at all.”

“I pull dress shirts out of the dryer immediately to avoid ironing. What do you need?”

She looks over my shoulder, suddenly shy. “You’re going to think it’s silly.”

I don’t reply. Kayla never needs any coaxing to talk.

She goes back on tiptoe to whisper her request, and I catch the pink of her cheek out of the corner of my eye. “Would you pretend to be my fiancé at a party?”

I break into a cold sweat. Fiancé? I was a fiancé once, never again.

“I’ll pay you,” she adds.

My jaw gapes.

She grabs my hand and tugs me off the dance floor, saying, “I’ll explain in private.”

“No need to explain.” Because it’s not happening. No payment and definitely no fiancé, pretend or not.

She releases my hand and gestures for me to follow as she walks around to the front of Wyatt’s large gray two-story house. I don’t mind getting away from the reception with so many people. I like the quiet. She climbs the steps of the wraparound porch with four white pine rocking chairs. I made those chairs, a simple elegant design with curved wood to fit your head and bottom. They were additional pieces Wyatt commissioned me to do, along with a library complete with shelves, storage space, and a rolling ladder. I restored some hardwood floors and did cabinetry in the living room too. He’s been good for my business, talking me up and giving me loads of referrals.

She sits in a chair and rocks a little. “I just love these chairs, you crafty genius.”

My chest puffs with pride. I take the chair next to her. “Thanks.” I work hard at my craft, and I’m always trying to improve, taking on more challenges.

She gives me a sheepish smile. “So, it’s like this. My favorite professor is having an end-of-the-year party at her place for the entire statistics department. It’s casual, a backyard barbecue. And my ex—the one who left me at the altar four and a half months ago—will be there. This is the first time I’m going to see him since then, and I know it’ll be awkward. I just want him to see I’ve moved on definitively.”

She’s very precise when it comes to numbers—four and a half months. I respect that as a carpenter. You have to measure twice before you cut anything. Now that I know it’s about saving face in front of her sleazy ex, I’m in. I’m about to tell her that when she continues.

“I know it’s an inconvenience for you, which is why I’m happy to pay you. My tips aren’t great, honestly, but my apartment is free, so I do have some money.”

She lives above The Horseman Inn in my sister’s old place. Not surprising her tips aren’t great when she dumps food on patrons and the floor. I let that one go. “First, please don’t pay a guy for a date.”

“But it’s an inconvenience.”

I exhale sharply. “Second, I’ll go.”

She blinks a few times. “You will?”

“Yeah.”

“And you don’t want anything in return?”

I rub the back of my neck, not expecting to have to explain the way friendship works. Will it be uncomfortable? Yes. But I want to be there for her. “I got your back.”

She stares at me, not seeming convinced. “I don’t know. Now that I think about it, you don’t like parties. This wouldn’t be fun for you at all. Forget it. It wasn’t fair of me to ask. I’ll ask someone else, okay?”

Before I can reply, she’s already walking away, on her way to her new fake fiancé.

I stare after her, torn on what to do. Do I insist on being her fake fiancé? It’s true I don’t enjoy parties, but she asked me for a reason, right? I’m the friend she can depend on. Maybe I didn’t sound enthusiastic