Candace’s face puckered like she’d swallowed something sour, and Madison’s smile turned strained. “Please just give this a chance, guys? It’s our treat!”
It was Harrison’s warning glare, which promised retribution if we upset his wife, that sealed the deal. Our silence was taken as agreement.
“Wonderful. Let’s begin by introducing each couple and sharing a fun fact about yourselves,” Bliss suggested. “Why don’t we start with that corner of the table?”
She pointed at Ellie, who popped up straighter in her chair.
“Oh. Hi, everyone! I’m Ellie Darling, and this is my fiancée, Cade Westbrook.” She gestured toward me and smiled around the table. “Let’s see. A fun fact about us is that, um, well, we first bonded over our shared love of unicorns.”
I pressed my lips together in a thin line. She was going off script again.
And right on cue, Harrison burst into laughter.
“You pretended to like unicorns to get laid? Whoareyou?” he murmured low enough that Ellie couldn’t hear him.
“Shut up,” I bit out.
“And what first drew you to Cade, Ellie?” Bliss asked, not even blinking an eye at the unicorn fact. “Aside from the mythical creature connection. What made you see him as a potential life partner?”
Ellie cocked her head. “Well, at first it was definitely his generosity. Cade knows Whiskey is the most important thing in my life?—”
“Whiskey?” Vlad lifted his glass of clear liquid. “You should switch to vodka. Trust me.”
Ellie blinked. “Oh, sorry, not the liquor. Whiskey is my cat! It’s short for Lord Whiskerson. Cade actually went out of his way to help us when Whiskey got sick. It was the kindest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
I wasn’t the only one staring at her, but I was the quickest to shake off my shock.
Ellie didn’tactuallythink I was kind. She was lying for the job. It was an act.
“You helped a cat?” Harrison whispered in disbelief right next to my ear, and I shoved him away.
“Anyway, Whiskeywasthe most important thing to me,” she continued, even managing to sound choked up. When she batted her big eyelashes at me, I was caught between snorting a laugh and telling her to tone it down a notch. “Until I met Cade.”
Her smile turned soft, and she reached for my hand before I could pull it away—grasping it with her smaller, softer one.
I gave a tight-lipped smile. She sure was selling this.
But then guilt flashed in her eyes, and she quickly added, “Now it’s a tie.”
Bliss bowed toward both of us. “Thank you so much for sharing with us, Ellie. I can’t wait to get to know you and Cade better. Now, who’s next?”
The others continued introducing themselves and sharing fun facts, but I tuned them out. My mind strayed to the secondphone and laptop I had stashed in the room. There were a few work-related items I needed to check on tonight that couldn’t wait until tomorrow.
If this fake doctor had somehow gotten the crew to confiscate electronics while they were unpacking, I’d just have to bribe one of them to return the goods.
But I couldn’t stop myself from looking down at my and Ellie’s clasped hands on the table. Her hand was so soft. And her thumb kept rubbing against my skin like she wasn’t even aware she was doing it.
It was cozy.
Intimate.
And weird as all hell.
“services”
. . .
Ellie