“Fiancé?” Walker demanded as members of the staff ushered them off the back of the stage and into the convention halls. Walker was stupefied. What did she mean, he was her fiancé?

Through gritted teeth, Scarlett smiled and muttered, “Please wait and let me explain.”

A gaggle of reporters hovered around them, still bombarding them with questions. “How did you meet, Ms. Powers?” one of them asked.

Scarlett plastered on an endearing look for the reporter and ran a hand through Walker’s hair. “Walker and I met on the lake. He actually saved my life,” she said.

To Walker’s own surprise, he found that amusing. He didn’t find most things funny, but now he pressed his lips together to hide the laughter bubbling inside of him. He wanted to demand the cameras go away so he could talk to her.

Scarlett gave the press a noncommittal smile. “Excuse us, we would like to be alone.”

But the reporters didn’t move. “What about the dishonorable discharge? What about the trail of women he’s been seen with?”

Walker’s hands clenched into fists. “It’s none of your business,” he growled at the group.

Scarlett let out what Walker already recognized as a fake laugh and gently put a hand on his cheek. “He’s just so misunderstood and heroic.”

His patience was quickly evaporating. The press always had a way of killing the mood. “You better explain or I’m ending this now,” he murmured in her ear. He had no use for stupid media shows or pretention, and he definitely wasn’t going to tolerate being some monkey in some act.

“Sorry, we have to go,” she announced to the group, before turning to walk away.

Everyone followed. Walker hadn’t been anticipating anything like this, so he hadn’t planned for a quick escape from the paparazzi.

More questions kept coming in a constant assault. “Ms. Powers, what about the recent engagement of your longtime love interest, Kurt Hamilton?”

Scarlett stiffened next to him.

There had to be a way to get rid of the press. He pointed down the opposite hallway. “Hey, there’s Riker Dylan!”

The swarm was diverted.

She tugged on his hand. “Nice idea! This way.” They rushed down the hallway and she pointed to a little room. “Here.”

He threw the door open and followed the teal, sequined dress inside. He felt like she was a princess and he was … what? Her security? Because there was no way in his mind he was her boyfriend. Or fiancé. He grunted out a laugh. That was just insane.

The room was a small concrete room filled with cleaning supplies. Walker tugged the door shut and put his back against it. “Explain!”

Her fierce green eyes turned vulnerable. “I’m sorry. It just happened.”

“Happened?” he growled. “What game are you playing?” His hackles rose, and he put a hand through his hair. “I hate the press. I don’t need this.”

Scarlett’s eyes fluttered and she put out her hand. “Mr. Kent, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have said that you were my fiancé. I just thought … I only … Grant and I are friends, and I trust him implicitly, so I thought I might …”

Suddenly, it struck him. “The movie Grant’s been working on.” He remembered talking to Grant a couple of weeks ago, and Grant had mentioned being in New York working on some romantic movie. He’d only been halfway paying attention at the time. “You know Grant?”

“We’ve been co-stars the past nine months,” she said, as if Grant’s life was Walker’s primary concern.

“Sorry, princess, his co-star isn’t the most important thing in my life.?”

“I just thought … I trust and admire your brother, and I kind of have a situation I’m dealing with, and I thought I might be able to trust you too.”

He scoffed. “By being your fiancé.”

She pointed at him. “You did kiss me.”

Walker blinked. Yeah, he’d kissed her, and he didn’t know why. True, it had just felt natural, but … “So that means we’re engaged now?”

Letting out a sigh, she shook her head. “I … I’m sorry.”

“Listen, I’m not Grant.” He let out a rippling laugh, thinking of his polished brother. Sure, his brother was tall and strong, but he wasn’t a “center” kind of strong. He was stealthy and lean. Walker was pretty sure he could sit on Grant and make him hold still if he had to. “I don’t know what game you think you’re playing, but I don’t have time for this.”

Ding. Ding. Ding. Her phone chirped, drawing her attention. “I was texting your brother before I … bought you.”

Walker wasn’t impressed. “So what?”

For a second, the woman had the nerve to hold his gaze with a penetrating glare. Then, just as quickly, she deflated and turned away from him, putting her hand to her forehead and shaking it back and forth. “I know. I know. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Unreal, that’s what this was. He let out an unamused laugh. “This crap doesn’t happen to me.” He scoffed, remembering how he’d distinctly made fun of Sloane recently for getting on a bus to chase a woman, and how he’d reprimanded Zane for hooking up with the woman who’d scorned him in the past. “If you’re looking for a fake fiancé, better ask Grant.”

She sighed. “I thought about that, but he’s in a relationship. You know that.”

This took him aback. “So you thought I’d just be delighted to be your fiancé?”

She didn’t turn back to him right away, and he wondered if she was having some kind of emotional breakdown.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he exhaled and unlocked the door. “Listen, I don’t do this stuff. Either you tell them you lied, or I’ll tell them you lied.”

“Wait.”

He turned the door handle.

“Please. I mean, you were trespassing today. I could have you arrested.”

This was not the response he had expected. Jerking back to face her, he glared. “You’re going to arrest me?”

She pointed at him. “You were trespassing. That is my lake, and you were on it. I expect to have a certain level of privacy when I’m here. I don’t expect to have some jerk on my lake at five-thirty in the morning interrupting me.”

This was rich. It didn’t feel like she really cared about that, and he didn’t know why he was still standing in this broom closet, but there was something about her. “You’re making no sense.”

She snapped her fingers in his face. “I am an Olympic-level breather.”

Walker’s brows furrowed, not just at what she said, but at her ferocity as she said it. “Still making no sense.”

Scarlett didn’t speak for a moment. Then she roughly dropped her arm and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I know. I know. I’m sorry, I’m not arresting you.”

“Well, that’s good news.” He sighed, thinking he would call Grant and ask what kind of crackpot he’d been working with.

It looked like she might cry, but she only blinked a bit.

“Why did you stay under the water like that?” It was stupid, but he did want to know. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it all day.

“The truth,” she whispered, swallowing hard and then flashing those beautiful pale green eyes at him, “is that I was having a moment.”

“A moment?” he said slowly.

“Mo-ment.” She over-pronounced the word like it was something distasteful. “I was having a very bad moment because I told my father that I had a fiancé.”

“O-kay.” Yep, she was clearly crazy.

She ran a hand through her hair. “Not that this is your concern, but I’m supposed to go to a wedding for the next four days and play nice with my micromanaging father and my ex, who just announced his engagement to my best friend, and …” She trailed off and put a hand to her stomach, looking even more pale.

“Are you okay?” he asked, resisting the urge to reach out and steady her.

“I’m fine. It’s just been a couple of hard months.” She put a hand to the wall and sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry to drag you into this. I was in love with Kurt ever since we were children. I’m only telling you this because I feel I owe you an explanation.” She held up her hand, cutting off her own torrent of words, and then rubbed the top of her forehead as if she could knead all of her confusion out of her brain. “I’ll slow it down. This morning, my father called me and told me that Kurt—my ex, who is also my brother’s best friend—just announced he’s engaged to a girl who I once considered my best friend. My father expects me to be fine with it, and he reminded me I needed to have a date for this occasion so I don’t make it weird for my brother.”

He had caught up with her train of thought. She was in crisis. “O-kay,” he said lamely.

“Kurt’s new fiancé was my best friend.” She sighed. “Until I found out they’d been cheating together.”

“Ouch.” He found himself getting sucked in.

“I don’t know what hurt worse—his betrayal or hers.”

The pain on her face, the pain that wasn’t part of the mask she showed the world, hit him in the center of his chest.

“I didn’t want to show up to the wedding alone. So when I was watching you out there and I realized you were Grant’s brother, I just … I got this harebrained idea to buy you and …”

“Ask me to be your date by announcing to the world that I’m your fiancé?” he asked, a bit out of breath.

She smiled weakly. “You did kiss me.”

While he had to admit the attraction between them was out of this world, he let out a light laugh. “Obviously I shouldn’t have done that, because I don’t do relationships.”

She stood there, pleading with her eyes. “I have put you in a difficult position, Mr. Kent,” she said softly.

He wanted to smile, even though he never felt that civil and polite. “Yes, you have, but it’s not that. It’s just … I’m sorry, no way. I can’t be your fiancé. I’m sorry.”

Scarlett was quiet for a long moment. Then she nodded. “That’s fine, but hear out my official proposition first.”