“I can’t believe it. I seriously can’t believe it.”

Cori rolled her eyes and handed Ava another martini. It was her third, but she still hadn’t shut up about how her attorney’s advice had been to simply go to Bliss and do what Rudy wanted.

“All he said was that it was the easiest thing,” Brynn commented, her words soft and a little slurry. She was definitely mellowed out from her one martini. But then Brynn was a lightweight.

It would take another couple of rounds for Ava to start to relax. The woman was so tightly wound that Cori was seriously concerned. Ava had always been driven and worked nearly nonstop, but this whole trust and Bliss, Kansas thing might just be the final straw.

Brynn waited until Ava had taken a huge drink, then said, “I think this could be a good thing.”

Ava lifted one perfectly waxed brow, her glass poised before her shiny Coral Crush lips. She was in loose cotton pants and a tank top just as Cori and Brynn were, but where Brynn never wore makeup and Cori had already taken hers off—shoes, bra, makeup were the first things to come off when she got home, in that order—Ava still looked like she could pose for a magazine cover.

“You think us moving to Kansas for a year could be a good thing?” Ava asked.

Brynn lifted a shoulder. “Why not?”

Ava lowered her glass. “Why not? Why not?” she asked, her voice rising. Again. They’d already done this ranting and raving bit. “I have a company to run.”

“Yes. A pie shop, I believe,” Cori said dryly.

“Oh sure,” Ava scoffed. “A pie shop. Because that makes tons of sense.”

“You know.” Cori shifted on her sister’s custom-made sofa upholstered in the softest leather Cori had ever rubbed her body against. And she intended to do more of that before she left. “Maybe it does make sense.”

Ava shook her head. “No. It doesn’t.”

“Listen, if Rudy wanted to give us each a new experience, something to expand our horizons, then coming up with something that is almost exactly opposite of what we’re doing now makes sense,” Cori said. She’d been thinking about everything a lot while she made dinner, and dessert of course, for her sisters. And she was on board.

She couldn’t believe it, really. It irked her a little to be going along with Rudy’s decree, honestly. But she couldn’t deny that she was curious about Bliss. And her father’s life there. She didn’t know why she would take Evan Stone’s word for it, but he said Rudy had changed, that he was a different guy than the one Cori knew. Cori wanted to see what that was about.

It was like every dare she’d ever taken—which would be any and all ever issued to her. Heading into a house they claimed was haunted? She had to see the apparitions for herself. Taking a bite of a pepper people claimed made grown men cry? She had to feel the fiery burn for herself. Visiting a town that claimed to have changed Rudy Carmichael into a decent human being? Yeah, she was going to have to live there herself.

And she was always up for an adventure. Living in a small town in the same house with her sisters for a year and running a pie shop might be the biggest one yet.

“So, I’m in,” she said.

“For Bliss?” Ava asked, her eyes wide.

Cori nodded. “Yep.” She looked at Brynn. “I think it could be good for us.”

“You? World traveler, never-settle-down Cori? Seriously?” Ava asked.

Cori frowned at her. “Yes. Seriously.”

“But you…you’re…you.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do.” Ava seemed totally exasperated. “I’m not saying it’s not a good idea in some ways. Lord knows of all of us you could use the most downtime.”

“Whoa. Hang on there. Really, Ms. Workaholic? At least I know how to have fun and not let everything get so serious. I think you could use some downtime.”

“Of course you know how to not let everything get so serious! Nothing is serious for you!”

“That is not true. I’m getting seriously pissed right now, if nothing else.”

“I’m just saying that Brynn might be right,” Ava said. “You could use some stability.”

“And maybe it could pull that stick out of your butt.”

“Hey!”

Suddenly they both stopped and turned to face Brynn. The sweet one.

Who was now frowning and looked almost on the verge of tears. “Knock it off.”

Cori took a deep breath. “Sorry.”

Ava looked sheepish as well. “Me too.”

“I’m going,” Brynn said. “I’ll go alone if I have to.”

She wouldn’t go alone. But as Cori looked closer at her sister, she had to admit that Brynn looked as serious as she sounded.

“You can’t go alone,” Ava said.

“Oh, yes, I can. And I will. I will work in the pie shop and date the entire town of Bliss and…enjoy it.”

But her hesitation over the “enjoy it” part was what finally made Cori say, “There’s no way I’m letting you date an entire town without me there to help you.”

Brynn looked relieved. “Okay. Good.”

Cori grinned at her. “I have a feeling you’re going to love Bliss.” She gave her sister a wink and Brynn blushed.

Ava was watching them. “I don’t want you to go without me.”

“Why not?” Cori asked. “You can stay here and be miserable if you want.”

Cori expected Ava to point out that they all three had to go to Bliss for it to count. But a little bit of Cori wanted to go anyway.

Instead Ava said, “But you’ll have fun without me.”

Surprised, Cori nodded. “Yep, we totally will.”

“I can’t believe you want to do this,” Ava said to her.

“My therapist thinks it’s a good idea. For all of us, incidentally. She said she thinks Dad knew us better than we realized.” After picking up the groceries, Cori had taken a few minutes to call Karen. Even though she’d already known her shrink would love the idea of Cori making a commitment to her sisters that involved more than a wild weekend.

“You are seeing a therapist?” Ava asked.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Why?”

“Well, shocker… I have issues.”

“And you’ve talked to him about us?”

Cori laughed. “Her. And yes. You’re my sisters. We’re triplets for fuck’s sake. You’ve come up. Especially with all of this.”

“And she thinks we should all go?” Brynn asked.

“Yep.”

“But you’ve…been talking to someone else?” Ava asked, still frowning.

Cori focused on her. “Yes. Why?”

“I just…shouldn’t you be talking to us?”

Cori snorted at that. “To my kick-ass, no-one-tells-me-what-to-do corporate shark sister and my sweet, smarter-than-anyone-I-know sister about my feelings of inadequacy?” Cori asked. “How would that work? You can’t tell me you’re not all of those things and it would just make you feel bad.”

“Like how I feel right now, you mean?” Ava asked.

Cori looked at her for a moment. She’d love for Ava to be someone she could go to with problems and questions. And vice versa. Like it used to be. “Come to Bliss. Be a little out of your element. Be around so I can talk to you.”

Ava swallowed hard. Then she looked at Brynn. “And you’re really going to date the town?”

Brynn nodded, but she looked less than confident. “Sure.”

Ava sighed. “Well now I have to come.”

She didn’t look happy about it, but suddenly Cori felt a surge of anticipation go through her. “I know you love what you’re doing and that you’re good at it. But finding out you’re good at other things, things you didn’t even know about, is empowering. And finding out you’re not good at some things is humbling. And being empowered but humble is awesome.”

Ava narrowed her eyes. “You’re always trying something new and going somewhere new.”

“And I’m empowered and humble,” Cori said. But she shifted on the sofa cushion. That all sounded a lot stronger than she felt.

“But now you’re talking about going somewhere to live and do the same thing for a year,” Ava said.

Cori swallowed. That was a good point. She was curious about Bliss. She felt like this was a dare from her father that she had to take. But doing it for a couple of months would be a lot better.

“Well, I—”

“You’re right,” Ava decided. “We should go.”

Cori blinked at her. “Huh?”

“If I need to shake things up, then you need to…unshake things.” She frowned as if that hadn’t come out the way she’d intended. “You need to settle down some.”

“Hey,” Cori protested. “I’m fine. I guarantee that my blood pressure is lower than yours and when I take ibuprofen it’s because of a muscle strain from climbing a mountain or a back ache from sleeping on the beach all night, not because of a tension headache or eyestrain from staring at a computer screen until two in the morning.”

“You sure the backache isn’t from having sex on the back of a motorcycle or a camel or something?” Ava asked.

“Having sex on the back of a moving motorcycle would be really dangerous,” Cori told her.

“Well, obviously not while it’s moving,” Ava told her.

Cori didn’t say anything. Because there had been this one time…

“Oh, my God, you’ve had sex on a motorcycle?” Ava asked.

“Hey, at least I’m getting laid. I’d highly recommend it for you, in fact,” Cori shot back.

The sound of the doorbell interrupted whatever Ava was about to say. She gave a little humph sound, but set her glass down, tossed off the blanket she had over her lap, and pushed herself up. But the second her butt cleared the cushion, she wobbled and leaned to brace her hands on the glass-topped coffee table.

“Whoa there, princess,” Cori said, coming up from the couch and guiding Ava back down. “I got it. You just sit.”

“Okay.” Ava sighed and leaned back into the thick cushion behind her.

Yeah, Cori really needed to get Ava drunk more often. She was a lot easier to get along with when she had some vodka coursing through her veins.

Cori went to the door and pulled it open.

“I have a plan. Just hear me out.”

“Mr. Stone.” Cori was completely surprised by the way her heart thunked in her chest, seeing Evan on the other side of Ava’s door.

He was still wearing the jeans and white button-down shirt, but it was wrinkled now and his hair looked like he’d been running his hands through it.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him.

“I want to be your boyfriend for the next six months.”

Cori felt surprise, then temptation shoot through her. And then comprehension.

But still, she had to hear this. She propped her shoulder against the doorframe. “Go on.”

* * *

Ava Carmichael looked completely hot.

Maybe it was just getting her out of her office, or maybe it was his sudden desperation to make this work, or maybe it was that her long, blond hair was pulled back, her makeup was wiped clean, and she was wearing a tiny, fitted tank top that hugged her breasts…and no bra. Her nipples were prominent against the pink cotton top that also left a strip of skin bare between it and the top of the loose pants that sat low on her hips. Evan was surprised that the pants were covered in bright multicolored stripes. And that her feet were bare. But of course, she’d be barefoot at home. Just because she looked like she’d been born in heels didn’t mean that she never took them off.

Yeah, he could definitely be this woman’s boyfriend for six months. She might be cool and confident and give off a there’s-no-way-I’m-ever-going-to-find-you-charming vibe that was, honestly, pretty foreign to him, but if he could keep her out of her pencil skirts and shoes, he might have a chance at not fucking this up. Because this woman? Yeah, there was a lot to like here.

“I fit all of the requirements,” he said as she folded her arms—which plumped up those very nice braless breasts—and propped her shoulder against the doorframe and looked up at him with a mix of curiosity and humor.

Yeah, he could work with that too. If she’d go braless and smile, even every other day, he’d be okay.

“The requirements?” she asked.

“In the trust,” he said. “Your dad said that you never go out with a guy until you know his grad school GPA, his political affiliation, and his cholesterol levels. And he said that you have to date a guy without knowing any of that about him.”

She looked surprised at that, and Evan figured she’d had no idea that her father had been that observant. Evan wasn’t sure how Rudy knew about Ava’s checklist of characteristics for her dates, but he’d said that she made online dating sights look like child’s play.

“I totally fit,” Evan went on. “I’m from Bliss, I’m a nice guy, and there’s no way I’m telling you my GPA, so you can’t make judgments about that. I don’t really have a political affiliation and even I don’t know my cholesterol levels.”

She seemed to take all of that information in. “GPA was that bad, huh?” she asked, a smile teasing the corner of her mouth.

He was surprised at that show of humor, but then he caught a whiff of liquor. Ah, so she’d had a drink to wind down after the long day. Not a bad idea. If she’d go braless and drink in Bliss, he’d definitely be good.

“I passed the bar, that’s all that really matters, right?” he answered.

“Hmm,” she said, noncommittally. “And how about the cholesterol thing? I mean, I don’t need to know exact numbers, but I definitely need to know how you feel about onion rings and cheese.”

Okay, there had to be at least an iota of honesty in their relationship, right? “I’m a huge fan of both. But I also run and take vitamins.”

She laughed at that.

And Evan felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. Wow.

Yeah, if Ava Carmichael was braless, drinking, and laughing, even some of the time, these six months would be a piece of cake.

“So what’s the plan?” she asked.

The plan. The thing that was going to solve every problem for every person. Just that.

“Date me for six months.”

“I didn’t think we really…connected,” she said.

Yeah, he hadn’t either. But that didn’t matter. “That’s the thing,” he said, “it doesn’t have to be totally real.”

One eyebrow lifted. “Oh?”

“I mean, it will be real enough,” he amended. “We’ll go out and stuff. I’ll make sure you have some fun and don’t work all the time. We won’t talk business. We won’t hang out with a single person who makes seven figures. We won’t ever say the words hedge fund.” Considering he had no idea what that even was, that would be easy. “That was what was important to Rudy. That you don’t work all the time. That you see that there’s more to life. That you have some fun. I can do all of that. But there won’t be any expectations beyond the six months and really, there won’t be any expectations during those six months. We only have to make it seem like we’re in a relationship. And this way no poor unsuspecting Bliss guy will fall in love and be devastated when you leave.” Evan gave her one of his best come-on-I’m-pretty-cute-right? grins.

“We don’t need to talk and get to know each other? Spend time alone?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Only needs to be public.”

She tipped her head. “What’s in it for you?”

“It takes away one of the things that you’re concerned and frustrated about,” he told her. “Basically, it gets you to Bliss. That’s important. It’s what Rudy wanted.” And will keep Parker from poisoning me slowly and painfully.

“And that’s all you care about? That this would make Rudy happy?” she asked.

Well, and Parker and Noah. And… He took a deep breath. “Okay, there’s also this girl.”

“Ah.” She nodded. “Okay, there is something direct in it for you. You need her to think you’re taken.”

He supposed it was good that Ava know this. So that if his grandmother—or Jill’s—ever walked by and he suddenly grabbed and kissed her, she’d know why. “I need the town to know I’m taken by someone other than her.”

“The town wants you to be taken by her?”

At least part of the town did, Evan thought. Then he realized that no, pretty much the whole town probably did. “Yes.”

“And why can’t you just tell them you’re not interested?”

“Because I’ve known Jill all my life and she’s awesome and any guy would be lucky to have her. Not being interested…now…would make me seem like a commitment-phobic ass. I need a really good reason to not be interested. Like you.” He gave her a wink that worked to soften up the woman he was talking to nine times out of ten. “Because, on paper, Jill and I seem like the perfect couple.”

Ava gave him a look that said I know that you think that wink works for you nine times out of ten. “But you actually are a commitment-phobic ass?”

“It isn’t actually a phobia. Per se,” he protested. “It’s being responsible.”

“Sleeping with women you have no intention of committing to is responsible?”

He stared at her. “How did you know we slept together?”

“Because you’re trying to talk a woman you just met into pretending to be your girlfriend so that your hometown doesn’t think you and this girl, who you’ve known your whole life, should be together now.” She tipped her head. “Something must have changed between the two of you and everyone must know about it.”

Evan blew out a breath. She was good. “Okay, we slept together. But it was mutually a friends-with-benefits thing. She doesn’t want anything more either. But it’s up to me to come up with a really great reason for us to not be together.” Something Ava had said a minute ago occurred to him. “And by the way, never promising to give them anything more than I can deliver is responsible.”

“What can you deliver?” She looked curious. And slightly amused.

He could work with that. “A few laughs and a few orgasms.”

She lifted her shoulder. “Well, that’s not nothing.”

Evan grinned. It felt like he was talking to Cori again. Of course it made sense that Ava and Cori would have things in common. He supposed as triplets even their sense of humor could be crazily similar. That was good. He was attracted to Cori. Which meant, he could be attracted to Ava too.

“You’re just not into serious relationships?” Ava asked.

“Well…” He wanted to be. Or he wanted to want to be. “Mostly, I can’t be responsible for penguins being cared for by a sub-standard vet.”

Ava’s eyes widened. “Penguins?”

“Jill’s a wildlife vet. Specializing in penguins.”

“And there aren’t a lot of penguins in Bliss?”

“Not a one.”

“But there are in…”

“Omaha. At the zoo. It’s her dream job.”

“Ah.” Ava took a breath. “You’re worried that she’ll give it up and you won’t live up to the hype.”

Well, no. Not exactly. Okay, maybe. A little. He lifted a shoulder.

“Was this the first time you’d slept with Jill?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“And why now?”

“It was an unusual situation,” he said carefully. “Normally I wouldn’t have let it happen.”

“What was the situation?”

Evan rolled his neck, but he said, “It was just after your dad’s memorial service. I’d had a few drinks and she brought me lasagna and—”

“Well, that explains it.”

“It does?”

“It’s lasagna.”

Evan would not have pegged Ava Carmichael as a comfort-food girl. But he also wouldn’t have imagined how relaxed and normal she’d look at home. There were some layers here. That could make the next six months much more interesting.

“Exactly,” he said. “I was sad and drunk and there was a lasagna and she said that she was there for me, anything I needed and…” He trailed off, assuming she could fill in the rest.

Ava groaned. “You Harry-ed her?”

He paused. But no, that didn’t make any sense even when he repeated it in his head. “What?”

“You Harry-ed her,” she said again. When he shook his head, she sighed. “When Harry Met Sally? The movie? Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan? They’re friends forever and she’s really sad one night and he comes over to comfort her and they end up sleeping together and afterward she thinks their relationship has changed, but he doesn’t.”

Evan stared at her.

“You Harry-ed her,” she said again, as if to drive the point home.

“But I was the one that was sad and needed comforting.”

“Well, maybe you Sally-ed her.” Ava scrunched her nose up, thinking.

And he found that adorable.

He sighed. “And neither of us thought the relationship would change. But okay, we screwed up. So, I propose this—you come to Bliss, and we act madly in love, and Jill will act brokenhearted and like she can’t wait to get away from having our happiness rubbed in her face, and everyone will give up on the idea of her and me. Then she’ll escape to Omaha, you’ll fulfill the dating provision in the trust, and I’ll prove that I’m a changed guy who is capable of being with a woman for more than sex.”

“Except that you won’t be a changed man. You’ll be a man trying to get out of a sticky situation.”

He leaned in, propping his elbow on the doorjamb just above her head. “But maybe you can change me.” That tone of voice always worked. And this was a good idea. For both of them.

She didn’t look amused. Or particularly turned on. But she didn’t move away from him either. She simply asked, “Do you want to change?”

Fine, she should probably know this too. “I need to take things a little more seriously. I’m kind of…the life of the party now. A lot like Cori. I love to have a good time, try new things, make sure everyone around me is having fun. But people want to hang out with me if there’s beer and wings involved, not as much if there are big decisions to be made.”

She tipped her head. “You’re a lawyer, right?”

He grinned. “Yeah, well, I’m very content mediating disagreements between people I’ve known my whole life, helping people draw up land purchase agreements, trademark their homemade soy candles, and adopt babies. Nothing big or fancy or serious.”

“Babies aren’t serious?”

He shook his head, still smiling. “Come on. You know what I mean. I’m a good guy. But I could stand to settle down a little.”

She finally nodded. “Okay, I get it.” She took a deep breath. “But you’re not like Cori.”

Just her name made his heart thump. That could be a problem. “No?”

“Sounds like people love to have you around.”

Evan felt his eyes widen. “What’s that mean?”

She lifted a shoulder. “A little bit of Cori goes a long way.”

He felt his brows pull together. “Rudy always said that Cori was the fun one.” Surely that wouldn’t offend Ava. Surely, she knew.

“Oh, she is. She’s great in small doses.”

A strange surge of protectiveness went through him. That could also be a problem. But it didn’t keep him from saying, “That’s weird. I got a small dose today. And definitely wanted more.”

Her eyes went wide. He probably shouldn’t have said that. But if Ava was going to criticize Cori, they were going to have issues.

Yeah, that was definitely going to be a problem.

“You wanted more from Cori?” Ava asked. Her voice sounded strange.

Absolutely. But that wasn’t going to work. Obviously. If he was dating Ava, he couldn’t even flirt with Cori. Though he wasn’t sure he’d be able to help it. “I found your sister…delightful.”

He wasn’t sure he’d ever used the word delightful ever before. And certainly not in reference to a woman he wanted to sleep with.

“You did?” Ava asked. Her eyes were even wider now.

“I did.”

“It was probably the whipped cream.”

Again, he felt himself frowning and wanting to defend Cori. “It wasn’t the whipped cream.”

She arched a brow.

“It wasn’t just the whipped cream,” he amended.

“Evan—”

“I like your sister,” he said. “But this is part of how I’m going to start changing. We both need this.” Ava was the one to shape him up. Cori was the one to…yeah, that didn’t matter.

She just looked at him for several seconds. Finally, she asked, “Do you cry a lot?”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you get all sad and despondent and in need of lasagna often?” she asked.

“I’m generally a pretty happy person,” he said dryly. “Though I will admit that I’m in need of pasta every once in a while even when I’m in a good mood.”

She nodded. “Noted.”

And he could have sworn she was suddenly fighting a smile.

“No risk of accidental sex, then?” she asked.

“I can honestly say that 99 percent of the sex I have is very on purpose.”

Yeah, she was definitely fighting a smile. And he really liked that. And it made him think about sex. With this woman. It was interesting, and surprising, that he hadn’t really thought about sex with Ava before this. He’d noted that she was gorgeous and that she looked damned good in her heels and that if they’d met in a bar, he probably would have hit on her. But that was as far as that had gone. Because she’d opened her mouth and the frosty-CEO thing didn’t do it for him. He’d actually thought briefly about how a six-month public relationship with her would keep him essentially celibate, but then he’d quickly stopped thinking about that when he’d started to hyperventilate.

He’d told himself he could make it for six months. He was a grown man, for God’s sake. He could sacrifice for a greater good. People went off to war, after all. And into space. And…other places where they couldn’t have sex for long periods of time even if he couldn’t think of one at the moment. But he could be a fucking soldier here. So to speak.

“I assume if we’re putting on this relationship show in your little town, we’re going to have to make it believable,” Ava said.

He nodded. “Definitely. There’s no way anyone will believe that I’m serious about someone I’m not attracted to.”

Evan could have sworn she moved closer. That was…interesting.

“But I’m not sure we have any chemistry,” she said, her voice a little husky now.

He wasn’t sure they did either. But he knew that he liked her in this tank top. And he really loved her smile and her laugh and the way she seemed to know that he was full of shit.

“Well, there’s only one way to know for sure,” he said, to them both. Then he stepped in, wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her up onto her tiptoes and against him.

She took a quick, soft breath, but didn’t seem shocked. And didn’t move to put more space between them.

“So far so good,” he said gruffly as his body responded to having her up against him.

“Yeah,” she said, staring at his mouth.

He had no choice but to cup the back of her head…and kiss her.

Because, seriously, they needed to know how much acting this whole chemistry thing was going to take.

And the answer was clear almost immediately. Not one fucking bit.

Regardless of the hoity-toity attitude, the shoes that cost more than his truck had—and that admittedly made her legs look amazing—and the fact that he really wanted to eat bacon dipped in Nutella with her sister, kissing Ava Carmichael was going to be absolutely no hardship whatsoever.

In fact, the kiss had him thinking about other things to do with Nutella.

And if Cori’s face was the one that flashed through his mind when Ava first dragged her tongue over his bottom lip, then it wasn’t totally his fault. They were identical after all.

Evan curled his fingers into her hair as her hands gripped the front of his shirt. She made a little needy sound at the back of her throat and Evan took the step that put her up against the door and his body more firmly against hers.

Without her heels, she was a little short of the perfect height for making out against a door, so Evan scooped under her ass and lifted her slightly so he could press his suddenly aching cock into the soft apex of her thighs.

She groaned and wrapped her legs around him, her arms slipping around his neck.

He groaned in return.

Yeah, the next six months was going to be just fine.

As their tongues tasted and danced, he memorized the perfect curve of her ass, the feel of her breasts against his chest—also perfect—the smell of her skin, and the way she squeezed him with her thighs, almost as if she was trying to hold him in place.

He had no intention of going anywhere any time soon.

“Hey! Who was at the door?”

Unless of course one of her sisters interrupted.

Evan pulled back and stared down into the big blue eyes that were filled with heat and surprise, if he wasn’t mistaken.

She took a long breath, then called back, “Evan Stone.”

“Oh, is there a problem?” the other voice asked.

Her mouth curled up and her gaze went to his lips. “Well, maybe just a slight one.”

He lifted an eyebrow, but also loosened his hold on her, letting her feet swing to the ground. He stepped back, still able to feel her butt in his palms.

“That didn’t feel like a problem,” he said. “This plan will work.”

She took a deep breath, ran a hand over the front of her tank, where her nipples were even more prominent now, and said, “There’s just one little thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re really going to have to learn to tell us apart.”

Evan felt trepidation skitter down his spine as another beautiful blond appeared at the end of the hallway inside the door.

“Mr. Stone? What can we do for you?”

“He’d like to talk to you about your requirements in the trust,” the woman he’d just been kissing said.

And Evan felt that trepidation sneak around to his gut and form a hard knot.

“Oh?” the other blonde said. The one in a similar tank top and pants. But this top was green. And she was wearing a sports bra. “What about them?”

Evan met the first Carmichael sister’s gaze. He lifted a thumb and ran it over his bottom lip, where she’d nipped him slightly.

“He has an idea,” she said to her sister, even while she returned his stare.

“Well, great,” the one in the green tank said. “What is it?”

“I’ll just leave you and Ava alone,” the sister who was now clearly Cori, said.

Apparently she wasn’t going to mention his mistake. Or the kiss. That was great. He supposed.

Evan watched her as she walked down the hallway and disappeared around the corner. And all he could feel for a few seconds was regret.

Then Ava asked, “What’s your idea?”

And Evan focused on the woman who was going to be his girlfriend for the next six months.

* * *

“What’s going on?” Brynn asked as Cori walked to the couch and dropped onto the end cushion.

What was going on? She was knee-deep in a crush on a guy who was, at that very moment, convincing her sister to be his girlfriend.

Her very beautiful, put-together, successful, intelligent, driven sister. Who practically had to date him. While Cori wasn’t supposed to date anyone. She grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to her stomach.

“Evan Stone has a solution to Ava’s part of the new dating rules around here,” Cori told Brynn.

“Really?” Brynn asked. “He can get us out of that part?”

Cori couldn’t help but smile. Brynn actually looked concerned. “No, you hussy, you still get to try on a bunch of different guys, no worries.”

Brynn tucked her hair behind her ear as her cheeks got pink. “I wasn’t worried.”

“You know, you could still start dating a bunch. Even if it wasn’t mandated in some stupid trust,” Cori said. “There are lots of ways to meet nice guys.”

Okay, there were lots of ways to meet guys. There were a few ways to meet nice guys. But doing it in Bliss, Kansas seemed like one of those ways. Evan Stone sounded like he was a bit of a player and even he was nice.

“But the trust thing is such a great excuse, right?” Brynn asked with a grin.

Cori laughed. “Well, I guess if you need an excuse, then yeah.”

“Honestly, I’ve never needed an excuse, because I’ve never really wanted to date,” Brynn said.

“No?” Cori had always assumed that Brynn was just shy and a workaholic. Not in the same way Ava was, of course. Ava did it because she was proving herself. Brynn did it because she honestly loved what she did.

Brynn shrugged. “I guess I’ve always assumed when I met the right guy, I would just know. And he’d be it.”

“The first guy you date will be the last guy you date?” Cori asked. That was…a completely absurd idea.

But Brynn nodded. “I guess going out to dinner and the movies with someone I’m not sure of seems like a waste of time.”

Cori got more comfortable on the couch. This was fascinating. “But how do you know you’re sure, or not sure, until you spend some time together?”

“I’m just not the type to meet a guy in a bar or something and spend time getting to know him. I think I’m more likely to end up with someone I already know from work or a research team or through one of the forums I’m a part of or something. I think I’ll really know the guy before we go on a date. And then that will be it.”

Cori thought about that. Wow. That would be really nice actually.

“How’s Evan going to help Ava?” Brynn asked.

“He’s going to play my boyfriend for the next six months,” Ava said, coming into the room. Alone.

Well, that hadn’t taken very long. Why had it taken him more time to tell Cori about the plan? Oh, yeah, because there had been flirting. And making out.

“What are you talking about?” Brynn asked.

Ava reclaimed her seat, put her head back, and her feet up. “Yep. This is perfect actually.” She yawned.

“Perfect?” Cori echoed. “Really?”

Was Ava feeling an attraction to Evan too? And why did that idea make Cori’s stomach feel weird? Just because Ava wasn’t as fun or spontaneous or flirtatious as Cori and Cori really wanted that to be Evan’s type? That wasn’t fair. Ava was awesome. And there were extenuating circumstances here, for both of them. And Cori wasn’t supposed to date anyway.

But, seriously, how was she supposed to embrace the not-dating thing after a kiss like that? Sure, the idea of spending a few Saturday nights on the couch with the Hallmark Channel on was really appealing. But she was really going to miss kissing. Maybe Hallmark wouldn’t be the best choice. Too much romance. She might have to rent some thrillers. Scary stuff. Like the idea of never having Evan Stone’s mouth on hers again.

Fuck. She was in trouble.

Ava rolled her head to look at Cori. She was clearly still a little tipsy. “It’s perfect because it’s easy. And fastest. The six-month clock starts right away. This way it will be over sooner. Meeting a guy, establishing a relationship that could last six months, but not longer, would all be complicated. But Evan knows what’s going on so we can just do the minimum to meet the requirements—go out a few times, maybe have fun, do…something…date-ish.”

Ava frowned and Cori laughed, in spite of the fact that Ava was talking about doing something date-ish with Evan. “You do know how to date, right?” she asked. “I mean, you do go out with guys.”

Ava sighed. “Yeah, but I guess maybe Dad was right. I don’t date just for fun. And I pick guys based on things like their job and their future prospects. And I like to multitask. Which means that I like to go to dinner at restaurants where other CEOs, or senators, or foundation presidents will also be having dinner. And I like to talk about PR plans and investments while we run. And I love when we have mid-week drinks and he can introduce me to new contacts. And I like gallery openings, because they’re great opportunities for business conversations that don’t feel like business conversations. And I love weekend getaways skiing or at the lake where I have access to influential people for an entire forty-eight hours while they’re ‘relaxed’ and happy and a little drunk.”

Ava used air quotes around “relaxed” and Cori shook her head. “Do you ever actually spend time alone with any of these guys?”

“I said we run,” Ava replied.

“And talk business the whole time,” Cori said.

Ava shrugged.

“Do you talk about the stock market while you’re having sex too?” Cori asked.

Ava didn’t respond right away. Cori felt her eyes widen. “Don’t tell me that the words ‘market shares’ and ‘depreciation’ get you going.”

“Of course not,” Ava said. She paused. “But ‘cash flow’ and ‘acquisition’? Definitely.”

Cori threw the pillow at her. “Stop. That makes me sad. Foreplay should include words like ‘tonight I’ll be the professor and you be the grad student’ and ‘all fours then cowgirl’ and ‘naked waffles’.”

There was no response and Cori looked from Brynn to Ava. They were staring at her, their cheeks pink.

“What?” she asked. “I like to role-play.” She really did.

“Naked waffles?” Ava finally asked.

“Yeah. That’s not really role-playing but it’s fun. One of you is the waffle. Then there’s butter and syrup and—”

“Yep, got it,” Ava said. She looked at Brynn. “I don’t…”

“What?” Cori asked.

Ava shook her head. “I don’t have sex like that.”

I’ll bet Evan Stone does. Okay, that was a completely inappropriate thought. Cori shook it out of her head and focused on her sister. “Do you have sex at all?” she asked Ava.

Ava shrugged. “Of course.”

Cori was pretty sure how that went. “Let me guess. You like to be on top and you get up afterward and check your email.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “I don’t get up afterward to check email.” She paused. “I can check it on my phone from bed.”

Cori laughed. But for some reason it was really important to Cori that her sisters, both of them, have good sex more than sometimes. She swallowed hard and ignored the twist in her stomach and said, “Maybe you won’t want to check email when you’re with Evan.”

Ava sat up quickly, then groaned slightly. But she shook her head. “I’m not going to sleep with Evan Stone.”

“Why not?” Cori asked, legitimately confused. “He’s hot and funny and I think he’d go for naked waffles.” Or Nutella and bacon.

“You and your food,” Ava muttered.

Yeah, well. “I’m just saying that sex should be fun,” Cori said. “And satisfying. And something that makes you forget about your email. At least for the night.”

“Nothing can make me forget about my email.” Ava slumped back into the couch.

Evan Stone totally could. But she’d already done the bigger-person thing by saying he was hot and funny and even mentioning the idea of Ava and Evan and naked waffles in the same sentence. Now she was shutting up.

“I guess that means Dad was right,” Ava said.

Hearing about Ava’s dating life, Cori couldn’t disagree. “So, we’re going?”

Ava sighed. “It’s still crazy.”

“Maybe that’s what we need,” Brynn said. “I have to admit that there’s been a severe lack of crazy…and naked waffles…in my life.”

Cori almost laughed. But then a thought hit her. “And maybe I’ve had too many naked waffles.” Maybe the fact that her mind went from the idea of dating, straight to naked waffles and role-playing, meant that she wasn’t doing so great at basic dating and getting to know people either. Or even really dating at all. She didn’t make business deals during fancy-schmancy wine tastings and art shows, but she didn’t go to the movies or on picnics in the park either. Maybe a step back from incorporating butter and syrup into her sex life wasn’t a horrible idea.

And wow, she’d come up with that without having to pay Karen three hundred dollars an hour.

“Okay, then,” Brynn said. “We’re going.”

“Yep, we’re going,” Cori agreed.

Ava nodded too. “Look out Bliss, Kansas. The Carmichael sisters are moving in.”