Cara

It’s hot in the Hamptons, and not only because my fake husband has his right hand curled around my upper thigh as he deftly drives out of the East Hampton airport.

It will take at least half an hour to get to the beach house today, with traffic crawling in all directions.

That should be just enough time to convince Toby not to fly back to Toronto with me after this weekend.

We’ve been fake-married for two weeks, and we’ve each done the cross-country flight once. We need to pace ourselves and find a sustainable long-distance routine that will work for at least the next year, and probably longer.

I still dream of living in Australia.

Now I wake from those dreams feeling like a traitor to love, though.

“What are you thinking about?” he asks as he rubs his fingertips along the hem of my shorts.

“You should go back to Palo Alto after the weekend.”

“I will,” he says gently. “By way of Toronto.”

“I’ll come and visit at the end of the month.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“So we don’t really need to—”

“Need to? No, of course we don’t need to. But if we’d had a big wedding, I’d have taken two weeks off so we could have a honeymoon in Fiji. A few stolen days here and there over the summer is a perfectly reasonable variation on the honeymoon time.”

I swallow hard. “We could still do the Fiji thing at some point.”

“Like in a year, when you move to Australia?” He gives me a sideways glance, all warmth and understanding.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“We’ll make it work. Maybe I’ll spend a few years focusing on an Asian expansion out of my Sydney office.”

“You don’t have a Sydney office.”

“Obviously an oversight I should correct immediately.” He lifts his hand to shift gears again as traffic starts moving, then returns it immediately to my thigh. He squeezes gently. “Are you really worried about me missing too much work?”

I laugh. “Right. I guess nobody’s going to fire you.”

“I’ll give myself a stern talking to at my next self-performance review.”

“No, I’m not worried, exactly. I just don’t want this to become too much.” My chest tightens as I say that. He is just my fake husband, after all.

“Not a concern from my end, I promise.”

I cover his hand with mine, and the ring he bought me glitters in the sunshine streaming through the window. That’s not fake.

He takes the Bridgehampton exit and heads toward Sagaponack.

My pulse picks up.

“It’s going to be fine,” he says, not taking his eyes off the road ahead.

“Of course it is,” I whisper. Will they see? Will they know?

The next time Toby reaches for me, it’s not my leg he curves his fingers around. It’s the back of my neck, his fingers gently rubbing up into my hairline as he pets me like a nervous kitten.

He sees me. He knows.

We drive through the village in silence, and by the time we see the dunes around my family’s beach house, I don’t think I could say anything else. I concentrate on the hypnotic stroking of his fingers on my skin and try to convince myself nothing else matters.

“We could keep going,” he says completely straight-faced.

I choke on unexpected laughter. “And find a place to stay on the long weekend?”

“I have some resources at my disposal.”

The understatement of a century. “What, would you buy a house in Sag Harbor so we could hide on the other side of the island?”

“Excellent plan.” He accelerates, making as if to overshoot the beach house, and I giggle.

Then I lean over and squeeze his thigh. “No. Let’s go and face the music.”

He pulls into the drive, an easy, cocky grin on his face, and I shake my head.

My sister’s car is already here. My brother hasn’t arrived yet, which floods my body with relief. “Music-facing may have a slight delay. It doesn’t look like Ben and Nana have arrived yet.”

“The traffic was crazy. I’m glad we decided to fly into East Hampton and rent a car instead of coming out from the city with them.” Toby squeezes my hand. “While we’re waiting for them, why don’t you sneak me into your bedroom?”

“That’s an excellent idea.” I grin and we both leap out of the car at the same time. Toby pops the small trunk and we grab our weekend bags, then we climb the stairs to the front door.

Elana is waiting for us on the other side. I’m not sure how she thought she was going to hide the fact that she’s pregnant again, her tiny baby bump has totally popped.

“My baby sister, the bride!” she exclaims, throwing her arms wide before squeezing me tight. “I promise I haven’t gone overboard—”

“That’s code for you totally have, right?”

She makes a shushing sound and hugs me even tighter. “But we’re going to have the most amazing dinner tomorrow night. Totally casual. Clambake and dancing on the beach.”

“We can celebrate all the things,” I murmur. “My new husband, your new baby…”

“Jake just got engaged,” Toby says, looking up from his phone. He turns the screen toward us. “Like a minute ago.”

I pump my fist in the air. “Yes! More to celebrate!”

Elana frowns. “Maybe we can have a breakfast for them the day after… try to keep this—”

“Nope,” I say, blissfully spinning my big sister in a circle. “All the things. Happy night tomorrow. This is perfect.”

She shakes her head at me, but lets it go as she reaches for Toby. His turn to be squeezed to death. “You married my baby sister? In secret?”

He grins at me over her shoulder. “I did.”

I miss what she says, but from the exaggerated face he pulls, I’m thinking it’s some kind of threat. “Elana, let him go.”

He whispers something in her ear before she releases him, and they’re both smiling when she turns around.

I roll my eyes and tug him toward the stairs. “Holler when Ben pulls into the driveway with Nana, okay?”

She laughs. “I will. And remember that my children are just outside, so don’t be too loud.”

I groan. “Well now we’re not going to be loud at all. Thanks for that.”

We stop on the landing and look out toward the beach. Sure enough, there’s Elana’s husband racing back and forth with her boys.

Toby sets his hands on my hips. “I can be very quiet,” he murmurs in my ear.

I twist my head around. “What did you say to Elana?”

“Same thing that I tell you every day. You are the best, most unexpected gift I’ve ever been blessed with, and I’ll never hurt you.”

My heart melts. Okay, quiet it is.

I have the smallest room at the back of the second floor, but it has a small balcony and a private bathroom, so I’ve never minded the cramped quarters before.

Now, as we set our bags on the single chair in the corner, and bump into each other navigating around the bed, I start to second guess my choice. There are ten bedrooms in the house, and they won’t all be full. We could move…

“Do you want a shower after all that travel?” Toby runs his fingers through my hair, then brings them back to my neck and rubs. “We can conserve water.”

“Later,” I say, turning in his arms. “I don’t want to be in there when Nana arrives.”

“I’ve met your grandmother. She’s not that scary.”

“You haven’t met her when the empire is on the line. You are going to be grilled.”

“I’ll pull my public filings up on my tablet so she can see my estimated net worth.”

“It’s not funny.”

“It’s hilarious. Take a deep breath. There’s no need to go spinning. What would you have done if you’d actually hired an escort and brought him here this weekend?”

I bury my face in his chest. “Can you imagine what a disaster that would have been? And you’d be just down the hall. We’d have had phone sex, and then I’d have an actor here with me.”

I’m mortified just thinking of the fake love triangle I almost found myself caught up in.

Toby is shaking with quiet laughter. “I’d have glowered the entire time. We’d have ended up on the beach late at night, and I wouldn’t be able to resist kissing you.”

“You’d be the other man?” Now I’m laughing, too, because it didn’t happen, so it’s fine, but it almost did.

“I’d keep him up late drinking, and wake him up early go golfing, so he never got a minute alone with you in this room.”

“I’d have picked another room,” I whisper. “With a bigger bed. And a couch. And floor space.”

“You’d have made him sleep on the floor?” He gives me a look of mock horror.

“I’d have taken the couch, of course. We’d only have stayed one day. I’d have made up a reason to go back to Toronto as soon as possible.”

“It sounds terrible.”

“Awful.”

He cups my face in his hands and gives me a slow, serious smile. “It wouldn’t have happened. Because you are mine, Cara. And I am yours.”

“That was a big risk you took…”

“Hindsight being what it is, maybe we could have both gone about it differently, but I’m happy with where we’ve ended up.”

I press up onto my tiptoes. “Me, too.”

* * *

Ben arrives with Nana in tow two hours later. We’re on the beach when they arrive, and Elana calls for us from the deck. Toby scoops up my youngest nephew and fireman-carries him along with us.

“What?” he asks innocently as I give him a knowing look. “I’m not above using a child as a shield.”

He’s smart, too, because all the kids descend on Uncle Ben, which leaves Toby free to charm Nana for at least a minute before he needs to go toe-to-toe with my older brother.

“So,” Nana says, eyeing him up hawkishly. “You are the young man my granddaughter has married.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“And you are gainfully employed?”

He grins. “You own seven percent of my company, Mrs. Russo.”

“Indeed I do. You give adequate returns, but I have some thoughts on your customer service practices.”

“I’d love to discuss those over a cup of tea.”

She winks at him. “She prepped you.”

“She did.”

“She must like you, then.”

I clear my throat. “I’m standing right here.”

Nana frowns at me. “There’s no need to be lippy, Cara.”

“I can’t help it,” I say cheerfully. “And Toby doesn’t mind.”

He grins at me. “I don’t mind at all.”

“Well, then,” Nana says, holding out her hand for me to take. “In that case, I want to hear all about this whirlwind wedding. Elana says that you wore blue?”