Not Another Wedding. Jennifer McKenzie

his mother’s cheek. He turned away.

      “I need to talk to Jamie about it. Just to make sure.” Poppy poked him in the side. “Everything would be fine if you hadn’t intruded.”

      Her demand to get some private time with Jamie made sense now, but Beck shrugged off her complaint. If he hadn’t intruded, the rest of the family would have come upon them like a swarm of locusts.

      “Seriously,” she continued, “you haven’t held up your end of the bargain at all. You did nothing to get me this alone time. You just sat there molesting that orange while I did all the work.”

      “Liked that, did you?” He smirked.

      She sniffed. “Not even a little.” But he felt the way her body leaned into his for a moment and the desire of that long-ago summer flooded him.

      She’d been so open and generous. Her laugh, her family, her life. And Beck hadn’t been able to get enough of it. Enough of her. He should have called her from Seattle. Should have tried to explain what happened, but it had been easier to ignore. To pretend he was like every other student at university, starting fresh with no excess baggage.

      If he’d stayed with Poppy, he would have ruined her.

      He’d only needed to look to his parents’ broken marriages to know he didn’t have good genetics when it came to long-term relationships. Falling into the cycle of university life where some people encouraged a no-strings attitude had seemed simpler.

      “I’ve been doing my part,” Poppy said, dragging him back to the present. “Now it’s your turn.”

      “I wouldn’t say you’ve made it easy.” To prove his point, he tightened his hold on her and brought her around so she faced him. Their hips pressed close together. She tried to wriggle away.

      “You didn’t say anything about mauling when I agreed to this.” She continued wriggling. “Quit it,” she whispered.

      He moved his head just before she banged hers into his chin. “Quit what?” he teased.

      “We’re not dating, remember?”

      “I remember.” But he didn’t loosen his grip. She was slippery and would scoot away if given the slightest opportunity. He knew his mother had one eye on them. All he needed was for her to see Poppy publicly end things. He’d spend the rest of the week fending off his mother’s prying questions as to why things hadn’t worked out.

      “Then stop crushing me. I can’t breathe.” He wasn’t sure if she was being truthful, but he eased up a little. She made a big show of inhaling, but didn’t dart away. He figured that was a win.

      Emmy and Jamie stared out at the lake, when they weren’t staring into each other’s eyes, and eventually called out they were heading back to the house because Emmy was cold. His parents followed suit.

      Beck watched Poppy watch them. When they moved out of sight, she tried to shake Beck off again. But he was an immovable object. He could manage her weak attempts with one hand.

      “What is the matter with you?” she asked once it became clear she wasn’t getting away from him quite so easily.

      “What do you mean?” He played dumb and turned her in his arms so they faced each other again. “All my parts are in exactly the right places.” He leaned toward her so she could check for herself.

      “That is not what I meant.” She wedged her elbow between her body and his so he couldn’t press up against her. “Why are you trying to convince everyone we’re dating?”

      “That was the agreement.”

      “No, the agreement was that I would act as a buffer and you would help me get some time with Jamie. A point at which you failed miserably.”

      Beck didn’t think he’d failed miserably. He’d been the one to suggest Jamie head down to the dock to take a look at the view, and then casually mentioned to Emmy it might be chilly with the wind blowing. He’d even tried to prevent them all from coming down, but once his mother had mentioned going and his father had agreed, there had been no way to stop the entire group from making the trek.

      But he shrugged in the face of her complaint. “If you think you can manage to get the time with Jamie on your own, that’s fine.”

      It was a power play. A subtle one, but a play nonetheless. If she thought she could manage this on her own, she would never have joined forces with him.

      “Maybe I will.” She crossed her arms and shot him a challenging look.

      He recognized her bluff. Beck had seen enough of them in boardrooms to recognize the signs. The way she held his gaze without even blinking was wholly unnatural and not something a confident person did. If they were to shake hands, she’d probably try to squeeze hard enough to rub his bones together. Plus, she had a pinched curve to her lips and held herself stiffly as though waiting for the anvil to drop on her head.

      “Okay,” Beck acceded to her statement. “Then I guess this is it. Good luck.” He stepped back and removed his arms from her, pleased when panic flashed across her face before she replaced it with a tired, been-there-seen-it-all smirk.

      “Are you forgetting that you need me to keep your mother from shoving you and Grace into a rushed engagement? You’re trying to fake me out,” she said, taking a step toward him, “but it isn’t going to work.”

      “I’m not trying to fake anyone out. It’s only a week. I can put up with anything for a week.” True, but he didn’t want to. This was much more fun. He met her eyes long enough to convince her and took another step toward the house.

      She faltered, but recovered with a quick shake of her head as she followed him. “I don’t believe you.”

      “Believe what you want.” He moved down the steps, but instead of taking the path back to the house, stepped onto the small sandy beach.

      “Okay, fine.” She charged after him, waving the shoes she still carried. “I still need your help.”

      He stopped and faced her. “And what are you going to do for me?”

      “I already said I would help with your mother, and I think I got off to a pretty good start today. By the way, what’s going on with your parents? I thought they were divorced.”

      Beck stilled. “They are.”

      “They don’t act like it.”

      “I know.” The words tasted sour. They were acting like a couple of dopey teenagers.

      “Are they getting back together?”

      “I don’t know.” A lie. He did know. He grimaced. Not asking for outright confirmation didn’t change anything.

      She put a hand on his arm. “Does it bother you?”

      He didn’t want to think about it because thinking about it meant he had to face his own feelings. That he wasn’t happy about his parents reuniting. That he didn’t want to see them hurt each other again. “Yes,” he said quietly.

      He wasn’t sure she heard him, until she slid her arm around his neck and hugged him. There was the sound of her shoes dropping on the sand and then the feel of her lean body wrapping around his. He liked that. Liked it a lot.

      They stood that way for a minute. The wind tugged her hair loose so it draped across them. Her scent filled his head. Their bodies pressed together. Some of the ice inside him started to melt.

      He pulled her closer. “It bothers me an awful lot.” And let his hands slide up her back to tangle in her glorious hair. “I’m practically devastated, but this helps. You know what else would help?”

      “What?”

      “A kiss.”

      She shoved at his shoulders, but he wasn’t letting go. “Beck.”

      “I’m