Page 130

His hand reaches out to touch my chin, lifting it to him.

“Sunny. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

Where do I even start? With the biggest piece, I assume.

“You told her we are getting married next week.”

I see his throat bob when he swallows.

“I did.”

“We can’t fake that, Preston.”

He nods. “I know.”

“I … this …”

The tears hit me before I can finish.

“Hey, hey,” he says softly and drops to his knees in front of me. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.” His hand cups my cheek, and he kisses my forehead. “I hate that I caused these tears. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blurted that out. It was wrong. I’ll fix it, and I’ll⁠—”

“Fix it? Preston, if you take it back now, everything she just accused us of will be true. You can’t take it back.”

He nods.

“This is so messed up.” I stand and move for the door, wiping the tears away.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going back to work. I can’t deal with this right now.”

I should stay and figure it out, but really, what is there to figure out? We’re getting married now. That’s the end of it. We can’t change this new direction he put us in without the truth coming out and ruining everything.

“Grace, I think we should talk about this,” Preston pleads.

I turn to face him.

“There is nothing to talk about. You told the world we are getting married, so now we get married and”—my voice breaks—“and you go back to LA as soon as it’s done.”

I don’t leave him time to reply. I march out of my office, letting the door close behind me.

With the direction we’d been headed lately, did I have in the back of my mind that we might move from fake to real engagement? Yes.

But marriage, an actual marriage …

I turn the corner and stop to lean against the wall, taking a breath.

Next week I’ll marry Preston, and I know without a doubt that I’ll wonder for the rest of my life if this is the outcome we could have reached without putting on a show.

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

PRESTON

Turns out, when it comes to Grace, patience isn’t my strength.

If I weren’t certain that walking into her office right now and demanding she talk to me would make the situation worse, I’d do it.