Well, this was fucked up.

Not only was my snake of a brother right here on this island paradise, he was marrying Georgie’s sister. I damn near popped a vein in my forehead when I saw him sitting at the lunch table. At first I thought it was some sort of nasty practical joke, and I was about to find myself on some sort of stupid reality show.

But it was real.

Real and completely fucked up.

For the briefest of seconds, I considered hightailing it out of here. Then I remembered my promise to Georgie. As long as we were here, I was her ‘boyfriend’, and I told her I’d always have her back. I told her I’d be with her as long as she needed me. I couldn’t break that promise, couldn’t disappoint her. And when I heard her mother for the first time, I knew exactly why she’d been so desperate to bring someone.

I’d been snapping at Robert at the time, but we were close to the table, and I could hear what the women were saying. Georgie’s mother had spewed some sort of vitriolic bullshit about how she knew Georgie did this on purpose; how she planned it all just to ruin Libby’s wedding. That really made my blood boil. Georgie would never do such a thing, but given the way her mother treated her, I could see she wasn’t exaggerating about her in the past. She really was that bad.

Lunch was nearly over now, and while tension still simmered between Robert and me, we’d managed to keep our tempers at bay for the last half hour.

When we went up to the bar together for our private chat earlier, we’d realized that for once, we were both on the same page. Neither of us actually wanted to be anywhere near each other, but we didn’t want to hurt Georgie or Libby either. So we made a deal.

We’d try to avoid each other as much as possible while we were here, and when we were forced together at events such as family lunches or dinners in the lead-up to the wedding, we would sit as far away as possible from each other and try not to speak to each other. All for the sake of the women in our lives.

Worked for me.

“Let me walk you lovebirds up to your rooms,” Margaret simpered, pulling some keycards out of her purse as Robert took care of the bill.

She’d certainly changed her tune. After accusing Georgie of planning to blow up the wedding (and also asking if I’d come here with the intention of blowing it up myself) she was suddenly all sweetness and light, acting like she was ecstatic that Georgie had brought me. I wasn’t going to be rude to the woman, even if I thought a harpy would make a better mother for Georgie. Even I had enough of a conscience to avoid that, and besides, I didn’t need to create more problems on this trip. My simply being here was enough.

“Sure,” Georgie replied with a tight smile. “Which floor are we on?”

“You’re on the second floor. Room 214. Nate is on the third floor. Room 314,” Margaret said, handing us two keycards each. “I got them to give me spares, so you’ll be able to go into each other’s rooms whenever you want.”

Georgie went red, and she hastily tucked her keycards into her purse. “Thank you.”

“Let’s go,” Margaret said, glancing over at Libby and Robert. “I’m sure those two would like a moment alone. Now, did you see the….”

The two women chatted in front of me as we headed out of the restaurant, their voices drifting away as I tuned them out. I was too busy concentrating on Georgie’s ass as it swayed hypnotically in front of me.

With my peripheral vision, I saw Robert and Libby heading outside, hand in hand. A heavy feeling descended over my chest. Even though my brother was a total dickhead, it still made me feel like shit that I hadn’t even known he was engaged. From what he told me at the bar earlier, Libby was the same girlfriend he’d had for over eight months now, and he’d proposed about three months ago. I knew he had a girlfriend a while ago, but I’d never met her.

So he was right about one thing—we hadn’t exactly been close for quite some time now. For the last few years, the only time we’d even associated with each other was at the brokerage.

One hand curled into a fist by my side as the heavy feeling in my chest was replaced with burning anger all over again. I had a pretty damn good reason to not be close with Robert nowadays. After all, the prick took most of my money, then managed to convince everyone around us that he was innocent despite everything pointing to him. He might be an asshole, but he was a smart asshole, and he’d managed to make me look like a total dick to those few people who knew the situation.

Hell, at least no one could accuse me of being such a dick that I missed my own brother’s wedding now. I snorted at the irony.

Margaret turned to me. “Second floor, Nate.”

We’d just arrived at the elevators. I stepped inside and pressed the floor button, then stood back in silence, watching Georgie nervously chew on her bottom lip. I could tell she was still worried about the whole situation, but I couldn’t reach out and comfort her because her mother was standing rigidly between us like a blonde statue.

The elevator doors dinged and we stepped out onto the second floor. “Room 214, right?” I asked, looking at Margaret.

She nodded, and we headed down the hallway, searching for Georgie’s hotel room. When we arrived, Georgie gave me a half-smile and awkwardly stood there. “Thanks for walking me to my room,” she said stiffly.

“No problem. I’ll see you later.”

I went to turn away, and Margaret crossed her arms, her eyes slightly narrowed. “Did you two have a fight recently?”

I stopped, shook my head and forced a grin. “Of course not. Why?”

“You two haven’t so much as touched each other since you arrived. And not sleeping in the same room? Hmph. Most new couples can’t keep their hands off each other. It’s a little odd, if I say so myself.” She sniffed. “Especially for someone with your reputation, Nate.”

Christ, this woman was insufferable. I thought she would find it sweet and adorable that I was apparently so respectful of her daughter, but instead it made her fucking suspicious.

“It’s just because of that lunch,” Georgie said, averting her eyes. “I don’t know if you noticed, but it was probably the most awkward experience of our lives. And it’s not like I want to stand here and make out with my boyfriend while you’re here looking at us. That takes the awkwardness to a whole new level, don’t you think?”

Margaret snorted. “Oh, don’t be such a prude. I’ve been married three times, darling, and I wasn’t born yesterday. I can tell you two are fighting about something,” she prattled on. “I mean, you won’t even give your man a goodbye peck on the cheek, and you’re as stiff as a board. But we’ve already had enough arguing today, thank you ver—”

I cut Margaret’s ridiculous little diatribe short by leaning forward and tilting my head down to Georgie’s face, my arms encircling her waist. Then I kissed her full on the mouth, crushing myself against her. She moaned softly with surprise, but she didn’t stop me.

One of my hands moved upward, tangling in her hair, roping it so I could deepen the kiss. My tongue slowly darted forward to meet hers as her lips parted. Thick desire coiled inside me, making my pants tighten at the front, and Georgie’s nails dug into my back as she clung to me, her knees damn near buckling. Then she pulled back and touched her left hand to her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at me, her arms dotted with goosebumps.

Jesus, had a kiss ever felt like that?

Maybe for her, but not for me. It was incredible. Sizzling hot. Strangely terrifying. It only lasted a few seconds, too. I couldn’t imagine what kissing her for longer would feel like.

I cleared my throat and winked at her. “Talk to you later, doll.” Then I turned to Margaret and held my hands up. “See, we’re not fighting. I was just trying to be respectful of your daughter while you were here. If you weren’t, I’d want to do a lot more than give Georgie a goodbye kiss. But I’m sure you don’t want to see that, do you?”

The woman spluttered at me, her cheeks turning red. Then she mumbled some sort of vague apology about overstepping and dashed back to the elevators.

Georgie’s eyes widened even further, and she stood there staring at me with an open mouth for several seconds. “Oh my god,” she finally said. She paused and touched a finger to her plump pink lips again, rubbing the spot my own lips had just been on. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

“I probably should’ve asked.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t mean that. I mean… you actually managed to get rid of my mother!”

“Someone had to. She was getting suspicious.”

“Yeah, I got that. But I thought she’d think we were cute for staying in separate rooms and waiting to sleep together,” she muttered.

I shrugged, then chuckled softly. “Told you no one would buy it.”

“Well, they’re going to have to,” she said, turning and swiping her keycard in the door. The little light above the slot turned green, and she pushed the door open before turning back to me, her gaze hesitant. “Look, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

I frowned. “For what?”

“This,” she said, sweeping her right hand around. “Your brother marrying my sister. All the drama. I brought you here and dropped you right in the middle of it. It wasn’t intentional, I swear.”

“I know. It’s not your fault. You had no idea, and after meeting your mother, I can see why you didn’t want to deal with this vacation alone. She just got mad at us for not touching each other up in public. I’ve never heard of a parent acting like that.”

She gave me a tight smile. “Yeah. She can be… interesting,” she said delicately. “And I think she’s a little suspicious of us being together. Part of her probably still thinks we’re faking it.” She paused and looked down. “I mean, I know we are, but not for the reasons she suspects.”

I grinned. “We’ll be fine. I promise.”

She nodded and hugged her arms around herself. “Hope so. Thanks again.”

I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “No problem. I said I’ve got your back, right?” I replied. She nodded again, and I went on. “Hey, once you’re done unpacking, why don’t you come up to my room for a drink? We could both use one after today.”

Georgie suddenly jerked back from my touch, her cheeks flushing. “No thanks. I have stuff to do. Sorry. I’ll… I’ll see you later.”

She quickly closed the door. I frowned. She was still being a little reticent with me, though I couldn’t think why. I stood by her and promised to stay on the island despite the tension between my brother and myself, and I thought that might be enough to win her trust and respect, despite whatever nasty shit had occurred in her past with that other guy. Apparently not. She was still being cold toward me.

Maybe she was just embarrassed about the way she reacted when I kissed her a moment ago. I grinned as the thought flitted through my mind.

Yeah, that had to be it. Georgie might not like me very much for whatever reason, but she wanted me physically, whether she liked to admit it or not. I could tell. During that kiss, the desire swirling around us was palpable.

The image of her face after she pulled back was seared into my mind. The wide eyes, the flushed cheeks, the way she bit her bottom lip. It was hot as hell. And when her surprise wore off, she looked at me differently. Like she wanted to slap me and fuck me at the same time. That was even hotter. Her gaze had completely ensnared me, her willing prey.

And right then and there, I realized our act didn’t feel like a lie anymore. Not to me. It felt real. Because it was real.