Leighton blinked at Winnie Schwartz, who was in tears.

“What do you mean you don’t want to do the show, Winnie? I’m sorry I was late. I got pulled over by a cop who took forever.” Because she had propositioned him and he had been kissing her.

Her cheeks heated. She felt guilty and off-kilter, though she hadn’t done anything wrong. Not exactly. But she felt like Winnie was staring at her knowing that Leighton had kissed the stripper cop. The real cop. The hot cop.

“It’s not because you’re late. Though I think that gave Todd a few more minutes to cement his decision. He doesn’t want to be on TV. He says our wedding isn’t a circus. That it’s private, not an invitation to be trolled by haters.”

She couldn’t really argue with that. They were outside an ice cream shop shaped like a gigantic soft serve cone. Winnie’s fiancé had left, which was a dick move in Leighton’s opinion. He didn’t want to do the show? He could be man enough to stay and tell her, not let Winnie deal with it. “I’m sorry he feels that way. Are you sure he isn’t just having cold feet about the cameras? Maybe he’ll change his mind.”

Leighton’s palms were damp and she rested them in her lap, trying not to panic. The show’s producer would be pissed if they had wasted this trip to Minnesota and she would have to scramble to find a replacement couple in five days. Most likely they would lose next weekend for shooting and would have to push out to the following week, which would throw off their production schedule. All in all, a disaster.

This was so the total opposite of what Sadie had commanded her to achieve.

She was supposed to create a dramatic moment, not kill the show.

“Can I just talk to Todd?” she asked Winnie. She would beg him to do the show.

“No. He is seriously done. It’s not happening.” Winnie licked a twist cone and used her free hand to wipe her tears. “I really wanted to do this. I mean, we don’t have a huge budget. I’m sure whatever you and the show were going to do would be amazing.”

Leighton was torn between sympathy and wanting to dangle a carrot. Ultimately, she was too nice to try to twist the screws on Winnie. This was her wedding and it was hugely important to Winnie, obviously. “Everything you had planned is still in place. Nothing has been canceled because that’s not how we operate. We pay the original vendors in full when we make our changes so that they don’t lose their profit. You can still have the wedding you had planned before you ever even applied to the show.”

“Yeah. A lame one.”

“Hey, Winnie, it’s okay.” Leighton had a pit in her gut but she did not want Winnie to be disappointed in her day. “You have to think of your fiancé. What good is an over-the-top wedding if he’s totally uncomfortable? The day becomes about the cameras then instead of you. It should be about the two of you. About starting a life together.”

Winnie sniffled and took another lick. She was wearing full makeup and had done her hair since they were supposed to be filming the couple’s requests for the Wedding Crashers wedding. “I get it.” She sighed. “But I wanted both. I guess that makes me greedy.”

“It makes you a girl. Who doesn’t want an amazing fairytale wedding?” Leighton reached out and squeezed her arm. “But it will still be amazing.”

“Thanks, Leighton. You’re a pretty cool chick, you know that? Are you married? I can’t believe I didn’t ask you that before now. God, I guess I’ve been kind of self-absorbed.”

“I’m not married. I’m single.” Mostly always single. She was not about to date an aspiring actor/musician/model. Her last meaningful relationship had been with the guy who made her coffee every morning. That itself was meaningful enough to her but he had asked her out and they’d dated for six months before he had moved back to Iowa. He’d been a sweet enough guy, a little shy, and it had been a nice few months. But she hadn’t even thought about marrying him.

Winnie’s eyes lit up. “We should set you up with someone here.”

Axl Moore popped into her head. That kiss. What the heck had that been about?

She had basically melted against his hard chest, her thoughts scattered and confused. It had been a delicious kiss. Solid, easy, teasing, arousing. She glanced back to the window where the teen girls were working behind the counter making cones. She really wanted one suddenly.

She needed to cool down.

“No, that’s okay. Thanks, but that’s not a great idea. I’m only here a week.”

Winnie eyed her. “Are you blushing? Or are you just hot? It’s humid today.”

“It’s the humidity. We don’t have it like this in California.” That was true. But it was not the weather causing her to heat up from the inside out.

Winnie picked up her phone, her tears dried up. “I should text Todd and let him know everything is okay.” But then she studied her screen. “What is this?” She tapped her screen. “Leighton, are you making out with Axl Moore?”

Her stomach dropped. “What?” Sure, the feed had been live, but it went to the staff at Wedding Crashers, not out into the world. She didn’t think. It never had before. It was meant to capture clips for editing into the show. “What are you talking about?”

Winnie turned her phone. “That is you. That is the dress you’re wearing right now!”

It was bizarre to see herself on camera. She was leaning against the car, which was unfortunate because she was taking up the majority of the screen. Axl towered over her, and his left arm was clearly visible, a lot of biceps on display. His hand was buried in her hair and yep, they were making out. She swallowed. It looked as good as it had felt.

“Well. Yes. That is me. And Axl.” She wasn’t sure what else to say beyond that. There was no denying it. She studied Axl. Damn, he was sexy. That dark hair, those strong cheekbones. All those muscles. That massive height. “I need an ice cream cone.”

She swung her leg over the picnic table they were seated at and was about to stand up when her phone rang. It was Sadie. Dang it. Terrified, she answered the call. “Hello?”

“What is going on in Minnesota? Jill just got a call from the fiancé who said he is not doing the show.”

“I’m on the call too,” Jill, the show’s producer, said. “Leighton, this is not good. We need to regroup and find someone else in Beaver Bend who wants to take the spot.”

“Jill, this is a very small town. I doubt we can find someone.”

“Work on it. Ask around. Also, we need to discuss you being clearly more focused on your personal life than your job. I didn’t send you to Minnesota to have sex with a police officer.”

Oh, God. Leighton hung her head and rubbed her forehead. There was no point in protesting. “Got it.” She wanted to ask what glitch had set that clip out into the world but there was no way asking would make it better. Hey, I thought only my co-workers would see me kissing a cop didn’t sound all that professional.

“I said be more fun, not act like a college girl on spring break,” Sadie said.

That seemed like a hell of a leap, but Leighton wasn’t going to argue. She was on thin ice. Plus, she was flat-out mortified.

“Find a replacement bride,” Jill said. “Or I’m terminating your employment with Wedding Crashers.”

There it was. Boom. The other shoe dropping. She felt sick and a little lightheaded. “I understand. I’m on it.”

She ended the call and took a deep breath. She could feel anxiety crawling over her skin, threatening to squeeze and crush her. Just breathe. There was a solution to every problem.

“Do you have any girlfriends who are engaged and want to get married next weekend?” Leighton asked Winnie.

She shook her head. “No. And if one of my friends took my spot on Wedding Crashers, I would cut a bitch. Just saying.”

Leighton hadn’t even considered that, but she didn’t blame Winnie. She’d feel the same way. “Fair enough. I’ll just post on social media.”

Winnie raised her eyebrows but she didn’t question it. “Let me go buy you an ice cream cone. You look like you need it.”

Leighton needed the ice cream cone, a Minnesota bride, and a backbone.

Not necessarily in that order.

---

Axl sat across from the chief as still as possible. Another lesson he had learned in the military. Just sit silent and don’t fidget while you’re getting your ass handed to you on a platter. Anything you try to say can and will be used against you.

“You think traffic stops are your personal Tinder? What the fuck, Moore?” The chief was in his fifties, in decent shape, but getting thick around the middle. He had been shaving his head for the entirety of Axl’s tenure in the department. He had a wife he adored and three kids not much younger than Axl. He was a fair man, but no-bullshit.

This was the first time he could recall getting ripped a new one by Chief Darcy. It wasn’t pleasant, but the Marines had been worse. So he would just take it.

“This is not like you at all. I’ve never seen you act with anything other than professionalism. Is something going on I should know about?”

That didn’t sound good. “No. What do you mean?”

“Are you having some kind of personal crisis? Do we need to see about getting you to a counselor?”

Oh, fabulous. His boss thought he was losing his shit. Add him to the list of people who thought he was “struggling” just because he didn’t want to settle down. Though in this case, the chief had a good point. It wasn’t like him to do something so unprofessional.

“No, no, seriously. No counselor. It was a lapse in judgment, nothing more. I swear.”

“I’m going to have to write you up formally. That video is fucking everywhere.”

Axl sat up straighter. That was something he did not want. “What? Seriously?”

The chief stared him down. “If you could tell me she was your girlfriend or something that would be different. But everyone is telling me she’s with that TV show that’s in town.”

There was no time to think. Darcy had given him an out and he was taking it. “What if I told you she is my girlfriend?”

“I would say that is a very good thing. But tell me how you met. And make it believable.”

Axl had known his boss long enough to know what he was really saying. Get your fucking story straight. That’s what he was saying.

“We met online,” he lied, shocked at how smooth it rolled off of his lips. “She purposely chose a wedding here so we could spend time together.”

Darcy gave a snort. “You’re full of crap. But I’d better see some wining and dining going on with this girl so that I get to the point where I do believe it.”

“Yes, sir.” He was going to have to not only wine and dine her but warn her that he was making shit up about her.

His mom reprimanding him for lying as a kid popped into his head. A tangled web and all that. But he just couldn’t stomach the idea of being officially reprimanded for kissing Leighton. He wasn’t even sure why he had done it.

He just knew that something was tugging at him when it came to her. He had wanted to taste her and he had.

Now he just wanted more.

He wanted her ankles on his shoulders and his cock buried deep inside her softness.

He coughed into his hand.

“Why do I feel like your thoughts are in the gutter right now?” Chief Darcy threw his phone down on his desk and leaned back into his swivel chair. “This is why celibacy is dangerous, kid. It makes you do stupid shit.”

“I can’t argue with you there.” Being distracted by dirty thoughts wasn’t usually a weakness of his, but Leighton was different.

When he had been a kid he had been into rock collecting. He’d dug through dirt, mud, water. He liked to find ones that were different. That had something unique about them. He studied them, polished them, saved them in his dresser drawer.

Leighton had piqued his interest because she was unique. Layered and complex. He wanted to run his hands over her and explore every inch of her skin. It was like he was just cruising through his life and then wham. There was a gem staring at him across the stage at Tap That.

It was totally out of character for him but he was in it now. He had to ride this out and if he was going to catch flak for it he damn well wanted a date with Leighton.

“Maybe you need to think about getting a girlfriend for real.”

Axl tried not to sigh. Everyone wanted him in a relationship because apparently, he wasn’t normal if he wanted to be single. “Yes, sir.”

“Get out of here.”

“Yes, sir.”

When he left the chief’s office he pulled his phone out. The guys were blowing his phone up in a group text.

DUDE.

WTF. Did you take a blow to the head? So not your style, man.

The Cali girl? Nice. Your mom. She was right. Haha.

He wasn’t even sure what to say so he settled for a general Fuck off. That was enough explanation for right now.

Jesse sent him a gif of a guy making a jerking off motion. Now you don’t have to be this guy for a change.

Sullivan sent him a picture of a man on his knees being whipped by a dominatrix.

He couldn’t even get mad at them. He had done this to himself. Now he had to extract himself from it. He waved to the receptionist who shook her head at him and another patrolman who made mock kissing sounds in his direction. “Yeah, yeah, get it out of your systems.”

“Oh, no, we’re driving this into the ground,” Jack Turner said. They were a similar age and Jack was a perpetual prankster.

“Awesome. Can’t wait.”

“The Ice Man melts. This is gold.”

He hated that stupid nickname. Ice Man. Why, because he didn’t talk just to hear himself talk? Because everything wasn’t a big fucking joke to him? Because he didn’t need all eyes on him at every moment?

Without responding to Jack, he started for the front door.

“Hey, Axl, wait,” Susan, the receptionist said. “You have a message from one Leighton Van Buren, who I think you know fairly well.” She made a face. “Is that a real name? Anyway, she wants you to call her. She left a number.”

Axl stopped in his tracks. He turned around and held his hand out for the slip Susan had been holding. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Officer Hottie.”

Great. So that had been shared too? There was no way the chief was going to believe his story about her being his girlfriend if he watched the whole encounter. He didn’t think. Then again, he had approached the car and used her name. He clearly knew her. Plus she had acted flirty. But he hadn’t responded the way a boyfriend would.

Damn it. What a mess.

He didn’t say anything in return to Susan and she started laughing. Actually, cackling. “This is what happens when you start stripping. Women are throwing themselves at you.”

“I bet you want me, too, then, Susan. I saw you at Tap That last night.”

Her smile fell off her face. “Jim knows I was there. It’s for charity.”

“Exactly.” He gave her a wink. “See you later.”

She looked flustered.

Leaving the building, he was determined to not be bothered by anyone razzing him. But he did not want to be written up. He could take heat. He could take the joke going on for months. But he had aspirations. He wanted to make detective. He did not want to be written up over something so innocent.

Well. Innocent wasn’t the right word.

But it wasn’t like he had fucked up his job. Or put anyone in harm’s way. Or taken a bribe.

Sliding into his squad car, he was about to call the number on the paper when his saw his mother was calling him.

“Shit.” If he didn’t answer it, she would just keep calling. Time to just take it like a man. “Hello?”

“Can you explain to your mother why you are kissing a woman on the internet?”

He fought the urge to sigh. “Because I didn’t know the camera was running.”

“This is very erratic behavior, Axl. I know you’ve been struggling since your discharge but maybe you need to talk to someone.”

Now he did sigh. He could never wrap his head around why his mother couldn’t just accept that he was a loner. He had not been struggling. Jesus. She worried endlessly about him, which worried him. “Mom. It’s fine. Leighton and I know each other.”

“I suppose that’s reassuring on some level. But unless you’re engaged to be married, not really.”

Shit. She reached right for the hard stuff. “Mom, I have to go. I’m at work.”

“Call me later,” she demanded.

“I will.” And tell her what, he had no idea. He had inadvertently turned up the heat on himself. His mother already thought he was a head case.

He called the number on the paper Susan had given him. Leighton answered immediately.

“This is Leighton Van Buren.”

“Hi, this is Axl. Look, I’m really sorry—“

She cut him off. “Axl, I need your help. Please. Do you know anyone who would want to get married next Saturday? Winnie’s fiancé canceled and if I don’t find a replacement I’m going to get fired. My producer straight up told me that.”

He was momentarily taken aback. He had thought she’d be calling about the kiss but clearly that was not first and foremost in her mind. That was a little insulting, he wasn’t going to lie.

“Uh… no. I can’t say that I do. Rick and Sloane aren’t even engaged yet and none of my other friends are dating anyone.” Brandon was living it up in Chicago as a party boy businessman and Jesse was getting ass left right and center on the road as a pro hockey player. Marriage was not on his mind.

Then there was Sullivan. He doubted Sullivan would ever get married again. Not after losing Kendra so young.

“Dang it. This is not good. They saw the video of us too, by the way.”

“Who is they?”

Leighton had a smooth feminine voice but now it sounded high-pitched and a little frantic. “Everyone!”

“I’m sorry about that. It was impulsive.” He didn’t regret it, despite the heat he was taking. Of course, he said that now. If that went on record he might, no matter how sweet and delicious Leighton was.

“I should have pulled away,” she wailed. “I didn’t stop you at all. I liked it.” She sounded scandalized by that.

The fact that she liked it mattered more than it should. “Kissing is fun. You wanted to be fun. I don’t see what the problem is.” He didn’t. Not for her. What did her boss care if she was rubbing bodies with a small-town cop? Though he supposed she was probably being paid for her time in Beaver Bend. That might annoy the powers-that-be that she had been briefly unprofessional.

“I don’t think anyone particularly cares that we were, you know,” she said. “They care more about wasting resources by being here in Minnesota and not being able to film an episode. And they think I’m distracted and Todd canceling is my fault because I didn’t massage his concerns enough. That I was too busy having some full-blown love affair.”

“It was one kiss,” he protested. “Though I have to tell you, I had to tell the chief of police we met online months ago.” He looked out of the window like someone might suddenly appear and overhear his confession. “Sorry about that. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”

This was the problem with impulsiveness. Then you had to backpedal.

There was a pause, then she said, “You didn’t. I was flattered. Men don’t usually just spontaneously kiss me.”

Then she was hanging around the wrong men. “I was serious about getting a drink. And if I can help you in any way with the show, let me know. I don’t know Todd or I would talk to him.”

“You can produce a whirlwind romance I can film and make the producer and Sadie happy.”

Axl had an idea. Actually, maybe he could credit Chief Darcy with it. His boss had handed him an out. Now he could hand Leighton an out. It was a crazy idea. But it was what his grandfather would say was killing two birds with one stone. Saving both their asses in one fell swoop. “How about you film us?”

He was a practical guy. He wanted to spend time with Leighton, especially of the naked variety. He would get unlimited access to her for a week. Plus, neither of them would get fired or written up or busted on. He had no intention of getting married in real life, and he constantly had his mother on his ass about that. People were starting to question whether he was normal. If they thought he was with Leighton, and then the relationship tanked, they would leave him alone to lick his supposed wounds.

Pretending they were falling in love on camera was a diversionary tactic that could save both their jobs and let him live his life as a bachelor in peace. It would buy him a year at least from familial concern and harassment. Leighton would get the show she wanted to make her boss happy.

It was so simple and perfect it was kind of genius.

“Are you insane?” Leighton said, her voice cracking. “We can’t do that!”

He pictured her full breasts, her narrow waist, her generous hips. He envisioned lifting that sundress over her head and having those curves all access. He wanted to flick his tongue between her legs, then drive his cock into her while gripping those soft thighs.

“Why not?”

---

Leighton had an upset stomach from eating not one, but two, ice cream cones, and from anxiety churning her insides. She had called around and hadn’t found a replacement couple. Jill had told her not to post on social media because they would look desperate.

She felt pretty damn desperate.

In her hotel room, she was pacing back and forth in front of the window. Jackson had mentioned he had a lake view. She had a view of the dumpster, which seemed appropriate. Her career was a dumpster fire.

Now she was on the phone with Axl, who might have given her the best first kiss ever, except that it was under the worst circumstances possible. She would be in trouble at work with or without the kiss but it was not making the situation any better.

She couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. The man sounded serious. He didn’t seem like a prankster bullshit joke around kind of guy. But she didn’t know him at all so she could be totally wrong. “Are you pulling my leg?” she asked him.

Axl actually gave a chuckle. “Sometimes you say things that sound like my grandpa. It’s adorable.”

It was actually a habit that annoyed her mother. She wanted her to be more on trend with her slang but it just wasn’t her personality to be using the current catch phrase. “My father is seventy-five years old. I grew up on his phrasing. He’s also German, so the combination is interesting, to say the least.”

“Wow, your dad had you at forty-nine? I applaud his energy.”

“He’s a very good father,” she said. “But not exactly the get-down-on-the-floor-and-play-dolls-with-his-daughter type.” Back and forth she walked, agitated and distracted. “Though I don’t really want to talk about my childhood when my future is at stake.”

“Fair enough. So are you on board with my plan?”

“I don’t understand your plan.” She didn’t.

“My plan is we have a whirlwind romance and we get married on Saturday.”

Leighton needed to sit down. She also needed a stiff drink, the kind her father said would grow hair on your chest. She might also need some oxygen because she suddenly could not breathe.

“You want to get married?” she managed to choke out. Never, ever in her wildest dreams did she envision being pseudo proposed to over the phone by a man she barely knew.

“Well, fake married. We can use someone for the ceremony who isn’t really ordained. Think about it. The ratings for a wedding after a quick romance will be huge.”

It would be. There was no doubt about that. A clandestine love story. An immersion romance. Everyone would love it. Jill would love it. Viewers would eat it up.

Oddly, Leighton thought she might love it too. A whole week with Axl the police officer? Having him fawn over her and dote on her? What woman wouldn’t want that?

But it was lying. She would be letting her friends and family and co-workers think that she had a hot boyfriend who was madly in love with her.

Though now that she thought about it, that was appealing too. Everyone always felt just a little sorry for her. Sorry that she wasn’t skinny, sorry that she was shy, sorry that she didn’t date a merry-go-round of men. It might not be the most humble quality to want everyone to see her as capable of making a man fall head over ass for her in a week flat, but there it was. She was never quite enough for everyone and this would make her seem like she was. It was tantalizing.

She had to question if she was a good enough actress, though, to convince people she wanted to get married on five days’ notice. “I’m kind of a nervous Nellie if you haven’t noticed,” she said. “I’m not sure I can pull something like that off.”

“I can take the lead.”

“What’s in this for you?” she asked because this was his home town. Having a romance and wedding that then ended as abruptly as it began would disrupt his life big time. “There could be big consequences to your personal life doing something like this.”

“I care more about my job than my personal life. I don’t really see myself getting married and having kids. I’m kind of the guy destined to go through life alone.”

He didn’t sound upset about that. Just matter of fact. But it made Leighton’s heart melt in sympathy and understanding. She often felt that way about herself. That she was destined to be alone. Instantly, she felt calmer. Sinking onto the bed, she said, “Oh. I totally get that.”

Everything inside her felt squishy when she thought about a man like Axl feeling lonely. The strong, stoic man who hid his emotions. The quintessential Minnesotan. Did his duty and went home to his empty house. Who didn’t date because women wanted marriage eventually and he didn’t want to mislead them.

“I can meet you at the hotel you’re staying at tonight after my shift and we can talk about it.”

Leighton shivered in anticipation. A fake romance meant very real kissing, and she had no qualms about that. “I thought you said you work until eleven.”

“What better time to kindle a romance than at night?”

That made her feel warm. She wondered how real the fake would be. The kiss had been amazing. Axl had made her feel delicate and desirable and she had been caught up in the moment. “Sure. Okay. I can meet you in the hotel bar.” It was poky and dark and a little dated but it would do. She wasn’t ready to just invite Axl into her hotel room.

“Perfect. I’ll be there by quarter after.”

“Great, see you then.” After Leighton ended the call she sat on her bed wondering what the heck she was supposed to do. Could she pull this off? A fake courtship. A hot cop. She touched her fingers to her lips, remembering the sizzle he had inspired in her with that kiss. “Holy moly, I’m in trouble.”

This called for a best friend. She instructed her phone, “Call Zach.”

Zach Collins had been her best friend since they were three and he had been a star on the pageant circuit, the only little boy who loved the glitz and glamour as much as the girls. His confidence had known no bounds and he did some fabulous routines to nineties classics like the Spice Girls and “What a Girl Wants” by Christina Aguilera. When Leighton had frozen on stage more than once, it had been Zach who had run out and held her hand and made up a routine on the spot for her to follow.

These days he was making a name for himself in makeup design on a hit TV show.

He was still fabulous.

He was still her source for confidence.

“Hey, sugar, what’s up?” he said instead of a basic hello. “Are you rusticating in the wilds of Minnesota?”

“So, the groom bailed on next week’s wedding and Jill is going to fire me if I don’t find a replacement. Sadie thinks I need to ‘bring it’ more and I thought she was setting me up with some kind of test and I got pulled over and assumed the cop was a stripper and did a horrible job of flirting with him.”

“I have no fucking clue what you just said to me. Start from the beginning. And Jill can suck my dick. She’s not firing my Leighton.”

His attitude always made her laugh. When it came to f bombs, he swore at a rate of a thousand to her one. “If Jill sucks your dick that will be the first woman to do that in how long?”

“Since tenth grade.” He snorted. “It was a sacrificial suck. I felt sorry for her.”

“How generous of you.” She rolled her eyes.

“Explain to me what is going on. How can a cop be a stripper?”

Leighton started with the bachelorette party and explained how Axl had saved her from a panic attack.

“Hot and observant. I like. Go on.”

“I didn’t know it was a charity event. I thought he was a stripper, you know, nightly. So when he pulled me over I thought it was a joke.”

“Cops that pull me over are never strippers. So disappointing.”

In hindsight, it sounded kind of dumb. “I thought it was a setup. I acted like a freak, but what’s even weirder is he kissed me. Now I’m getting fired if I don’t produce a wedding and he is in trouble at work because my dashcam recorded everything. His solution is that we get married instead of Winnie and Todd.”

“One, who the fuck are Winnie and Todd? Two, excuse me? Did you just say you’re marrying the stripper cop?” His voice sounded scandalized, yet excited.

“He’s not really a stripper. But yes, that’s his solution. A fake wedding that everyone thinks is real after a whirlwind romance.”

“That’s so now. Totally on trend. I love it.”

“You do?” Leighton bit her fingernail. “You don’t think it’s a horrible idea to fake a relationship for career advancement?”

“I want you to listen to yourself. You have betrayed your roots with that question. Faking a relationship for career advancement is mild compared to what some people in LA do.”

“That’s a valid point.” Relationships might be scraping the surface of what people had faked.

“Is he cute or does he have a butterface?”

Leighton pictured those strong cheekbones, that stern jaw. His rich amber eyes. “Oh, he’s good looking, trust me. In a real man sort of way, super masculine. Not a pretty boy. At all.”

“That basically guarantees he won’t be selfish in bed. Pretty boys are selfish. And oddly enough, ugly guys. You think they would try harder, but they don’t. It’s like they feel life owes them easy sex after being born with a hook nose. I’ve done the legwork on this so I know what I’m talking about.”

“I’m not going to have sex with him.” She wanted to, but she didn’t think it was a good idea. She didn’t trust herself to stay detached.

“I can’t even with you right now. Why the actual fuck not?”

“Because it’s a bad idea.” She tried to sound firm.

“Wearing peach with your complexion is a bad idea. Having sex with a hot cop that you are having a fake relationship with sounds like your best idea ever.”

“I can’t wear peach?” Was he serious? She had a dozen items in her wardrobe that could classified as belonging to the peach family. She’d worn peach the night before.

Zach sighed. “No, you can’t. But that’s beside the point. Please have sex with the cop. For me.”

That made her laugh. “Everything you just said is so wrong.”

“I gotta go. A certain aging diva just showed up an hour late so now I have to rush. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

“Fuck the cop!” he said and made kissing sounds. “Ciao.”

Leighton pictured her ankles on Axl’s shoulder.

Damn Jackson to hell for putting that imagery in her head.

She could not have sex with Axl. She didn’t think. Probably not. Or she’d regret it. After enjoying it. Right?

No. No sex. But could she fake marry him?

This was going to give her the ultimate stage fright.

Sparkle, baby.

She took a deep breath.

Time to own the stage for the first time in her life.