Dex came to my defense. "Shelby runs her own hand-lettering business, specializing in weddings and subscription boxes."

  "Hand lettering?" Paige asked. "Like calligraphy?"

  "Calligraphy is more formal writing. Hand lettering is used mostly in art. But yeah, I can do calligraphy, too. Do you have a competition for that?" I lifted an eyebrow.

  "No. Again, sorry." Clearly Paige wasn't. "There's a full schedule of events, and your allotted tee times, spa appointments, etc. in your room.

  "Don't be late. You snooze, you lose your spot around here. If there's a problem, come see me. I'm the activity coordinator for the day." She grabbed Dex's arm. "I can fix anything." She ran her finger up his arm. "You'd better go to your room and change for the tournament."

  Another group of guests arrived. They caught Charles's attention. "More guests to greet, committee." He slapped Dex on the back. "You'd better get checked in. We'll chat more later. Gang!" He led his family away and waved to the newcomers.

  Paige reluctantly trailed after her family, giving Dex a little fingertip wave as she left.

  "So that's the famous Charles Kangley," I said, trying to figure him out.

  "That's him," Dex said. "I'll check us in."

  "I'll come with you," I offered.

  "That's not necessary," he said. "I'll be right back."

  He took off before I could insist again, leaving me to wonder what he was up to.

  Since he'd insisted on going alone, I decided to take in the view. I walked to the large, open doors across the room from the entrance. I'd heard rumors from friends of how stunning the deck was as a wedding venue. The falls as a backdrop couldn't be beat. But the descriptions didn't do it justice.

  As I stepped out on the deck, I heard the roar of the falls, which did little to drown out my roar of jealousy. Paige wasn't what I expected. At first glance, which was all I had, she looked like a perfect match for Dex. They would have made a cute couple. Even their looks complemented each other. I could picture them atop their wedding cake. She was clearly into him. And while semi-polite to me, not pleased with my presence.

  Charles wasn't crazy, or blind, not from my first impression, for thinking Dex and his daughter would be a good pair.

  A gentle mist floated up from the falls, lit into prisms of rainbows by the sun. A path led from the deck along the top of the falls to a gazebo and beyond. The gazebo was a beautiful spot for the ceremony, too. As were the lawn and gardens. This place had myriad opportunities. If you had the money, this was the venue to book for a dream wedding.

  I took a deep breath and inhaled the fresh air. So far, so good. Dex hadn't remembered me. That was my main anxiety over the weekend. But I figured if I made it through this, the odds were slim he ever would.

  I was still admiring the view, and examining my own emotions, when Dex found me.

  He took my arm and pulled me close. "Bad news. We'll have to share a room." He didn't look all that disappointed to me.

  "Oh?"

  "I begged, pleaded, and tried to slip the reservation woman a bribe. None of it worked." He shrugged and nuzzled my neck. He was really getting into this act. And making me hot.

  I wondered whether he'd actually slipped the clerk a bribe to get one room instead of two.

  "They're booked full. No no-shows—"

  "No no-shows?" I was incredulous. "There are always no-shows." Which was why brides always ordered fewer servings of cake than the number of invited guests who'd RSVPed.

  "And people who unexpectedly show up with a guest at the last minute, apparently," Dex said. "I asked for two adjoining rooms when I RSVPed, but apparently they were on a 'first to arrive, first get' basis. That was how they decided to divvy up the limited resources. It's my fault for waiting so long to add a plus-one."

  "You couldn't have added me earlier." My anxiety level had just spiked. I'd never been a fake girlfriend before. Or spent an entire weekend with a guy I'd known less than a week, and several years at the same time. One who I imagined wouldn't be pleased when he found out my secret. I wondered whether I could keep it in such close quarters.

  My fear was at odds with my desire. Dex was a delectable guy.

  I forced a smile, trying to remain calm. "Maybe it's my fault for having a dress that was too large for your car and took so long to load?"

  "I think I have to take responsibility for this one." He took my arm. "On the plus side, we have a room on the falls side of the building. This way."

  Chapter 16

  Shelby

  Our room was on the third floor. My heart fluttered. I hadn't counted on sharing a room with Dex so soon. Then again, I hadn't ruled it completely out. I had gotten a Brazilian. But maybe I shouldn't have been so forward with my kissing.

  Our bags were already in the room. My dress bag was hanging in the closet.

  At my first glance of the room, my breath caught. It was a luxury retreat all to itself, with a gas fireplace, a furnished balcony, and a stunning view of the falls. The room was done in sleek white custom woods and furniture. Contemporary, but very Northwest chic. The bathroom had a deep spa tub that sat on the floor in front of a large square window with more view. Everything was perfect. Except…

  "There's only one bed," I said, queen of the obvious. I had genuinely been expecting two. This was a new wrinkle. "You could request a rollaway." I was only teasing. Sort of. How would I resist him in bed? I'd been counting on having a sex-filled honeymoon week right now.

  "Yeah. If word got out, and it would, I'd never hear the end of it." He shook his head. "I bring a hot woman as a date and then insist she sleep in a different bed?"

  There wasn't even a sofa or loveseat. Just two chairs.

  "We'll figure it out later," he said.

  There were flowers, in a similar scheme to those in the lobby, on a small table between the chairs. A box of obviously expensive chocolates sat on the table, wrapped in pink and tied with a silver-gray bow. A bottle of red wine and two etched wine glasses were next to them. I imagined the etching was the name of the bride and groom and wedding date, though I couldn't read them from this distance.

  A gorgeous, buttery-soft large tote in pale pink sat on the hearth next to a leather charcoal-gray backpack. The tote was the kind that would have given me heart palpitations if I'd seen it in a store window. And tote envy. It was that fine. An elegant hand-calligraphed card was propped up against the backpack.

  "Oh. His and hers gift bags." I took a step into the room. "Gift bags, like we're celebrities? So we get wedding favors before the wedding here. Is it a Fabergé egg, do you think? Eggs are symbolic of fertility. The rich people of the last century used to give them out. I saw it on a special—"

  Dex held me back. "Wait a minute. Let me check it out first. Paige was here. Those gift bags are her work. This room could be pranked. Better let me de-prank it first."

  "What?"

  He shook his head. "Paige loves her pranks. She thinks she's on par with me. Let her have her illusions." He sighed. "Didn't you notice? She clearly has it in for you. There was no love lost there, Plus-One."

  "You're exaggerating," I said. "She wasn't exactly warm, but she wasn't that bad."

  "You don't know Paige like I do," he said. "She was worse. She's out to get you. She'll make it look like it's all in good fun, but…"

  He scanned the room. "Stay close to me. I'll protect you. I know the way she thinks. Stay here while I check things out."

  "You just said stay close to you—"

  "In the room is close enough. I don't want you getting pranked."

  He did a quick walk-through of the room, then headed for the bathroom. I heard him rustling around in there.

  Finally, he came out. "She's more upset than I thought. She's not even pranking. Or she has something more devilish planned for later."

  "Maybe she's just respecting her brother's wedding weekend and behaving herself."

  "That's not like Paige," he said.

  I sat on the bed, still eyeing that tote. "What do you have against Paige?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I thought Charles was maybe being blind about his daughter. But seeing her, and you, it's clear anyone would get the idea you'd make a cute couple." I hated to say it. But it was true. Even as a fake girlfriend, I had to feel him out and state what was obvious.

  "I told you," he said. "She's not my type."

  "But she's a lot like you," I said. "From what I can tell. You even both like to prank, you said."

  "Maybe I don't want a female version of myself," he said. "Seriously, there have been times I wish she were my type. Life would be easier. Unless I inadvertently hurt her. That would ruin the great friendship and mentor relationship Charles and I have."

  "Is that what's holding you back?" I asked. "Fear something will go wrong? That he'll side with her in a lover's spat?"

  "No," he said. "I can't explain it. She just isn't for me. I don't know why."

  "So that's why I'm here?"

  He took my hand. "Partly."

  I swallowed hard. "I understand. Mitch was my Paige. Everyone thought we were the perfect couple. Two bookends made for life together. For a while, I thought so too. But in the end, our differences were too extreme to bridge. We may have looked perfect together, but we were anything but." I had to stop talking about Mitch.

  I pointed to the bags. "Can we open our gifts now? I'm dying to see how the other half does wedding favors. This will be something I can talk with my friends about for years."

  He shrugged. I took that for a yes and jumped up.

  I picked up the card first. The calligraphy was gorgeous, as I knew it would be. It was done by a master penman. "This is our schedule. It's, wow, gorgeous. Premium cardstock. Hand lettered. Fabulous. And look at this—we have a couple's massage scheduled for tomorrow. Is that your doing?"

  He reached out for the card. "No. Paige planned everything. I imagine every couple gets one."

  I handed the card over and picked up my bag. I'd never owned a bag this expensive. My name was even embossed on it. The fastener was silver in color, but my guess was that it was white gold. I opened it up and took a seat on the hearth as I pulled the items out.

  A golf shirt in pink, a top-quality athletic brand. Silver threads. Antimicrobial. Sweat-proof. Odor-proof. The wedding date embroidered on the sleeve along with Chrissy and Adam's names. And my name embroidered on the front. How had they managed that so quickly?

  Sunglasses—high fashion and designer. Top-quality polarized lenses. A golf hat. Obviously, these were meant to be worn for the tournament.

  A silver golf tee with the wedding date inscribed. A set of three golf balls with my name on them.

  A deck of playing cards with the bridal couple's engagement picture on the back and the wedding date.

  A resort spa robe, again with my name embroidered on the front left. Spa slippers.

  I pulled out a bottle of perfume. I recognized the brand immediately. But the scent was a custom blend made just for the wedding. I set it beside me.

  Oh, and a lovely spa candle in a can. Wedding floral, it read. Had they actually had a candle scented like Chrissy's wedding bouquet made just for the occasion?

  I grabbed the lid to pull it off and take a whiff.

  Dex jumped from the bed and lunged toward me. "No! Shelby, don't—"

  I pulled the lid off the can just as he grabbed my wrist too late to stop me. The lid popped off. I screamed as a can of cloth snakes popped out at me. As I screamed, I was hit with a poof of glitter. Right in the face.

  "Damn you, Paige." Dex had managed to duck away just in time to avoid the worst of the glitter attack. "I saw it coming a second too late. I should have been paying closer attention."

  I blinked, trying to get the glitter out of my eyes. "The old can of snakes trick." I sneezed glitter and blinked again. "They're even in the wedding colors. That's impressive." I picked up one of the cloth snakes.

  "Followed by a glitter bomb. That was a nice piece of engineering," Dex said. "I have to give her credit for that."

  I had glitter everywhere, all over my sundress, my chest, my lap, my face. "How bad is it?"

  "We'll call housekeeping to send up a broom while we're out." He was holding something back. "Good thing you hadn't changed yet. Your golf shirt is un-glittered. You'd better freshen up. We don't want to miss our tee time."

  I stood up and rained glitter. I looked like I'd slipped with the holiday body glitter. "Do you think this is the end of it?"

  "No."

  "That was blunt."

  "That was the truth. You don't want me to sugarcoat it, do you? Be on your guard."

  "I'm assuming there's no time for a shower?"

  "You would assume right."

  I was momentarily at a loss as to how to carry my clean clothes without glittering them. Dex saw my dilemma and carried them to the bathroom for me.

  At my first glimpse of myself, I nearly cried. My face looked like the good pink fairy had floured me with glitter. My makeup was completely ruined, and I didn't have time to reapply it. The best I could do was wash my face, do my quick two-minute makeup, don my sunglasses and new pink golf visor, which fortunately matched the glitter, and hope for the best.

  I wasn't even sure I wanted to use my brush on my hair. Once I'd corrupted my brush with glitter, I was doomed to have glitter hair all weekend.

  I finger-combed my hair, knocking as much glitter out over the sink as possible, and pulled on my hat.

  Go ahead and try, Paige. You're not going to steal my fake boyfriend.

  When I emerged from the bathroom, Dex was dressed in his charcoal-gray golf shirt and jeans. His pockets bulged with balls. Golf balls. If only I'd been a minute sooner…

  I caught him off guard. For an instant, he looked at me hungrily. Then the mask went up and fake boyfriend returned. "Ready? Do you have your balls and tee?"

  "Just grabbing them." I went to my bag and got them and my new sunglasses—pink frames and pink tinted, of course. As I bent over, pink glitter shook out of my hair, illuminated by the sunlight streaming in.

  Dex grinned. "It's a good thing you like pink. You look like you're sprinkling pink fairy dust everywhere you go." He held his hand out for mine.

  "Are you sure? There's a good chance I'll accidentally glitterize you."

  "Glitter me, baby."

  "Brave man. All the other guys will tease you."

  "All the other guys will be jealous of who I'm with. Win-win for me. If they aren't secure enough in their masculinity to brave a little glitter, you're all mine."

  I took his hand happily. "You know, I always wanted to be a fairy when I grew up. But on my own terms. This is war. Brace yourself. I'm going to be so entirely into this fake relationship in front of Paige that she's going to die of envy. Oh, the public affection. She doesn't know what she's started."

  "Wow. Two women engaging in a glitter war over me? In any kind of war, that's new for me. And another win." He squeezed my hand.

  Part of his appeal was that he genuinely didn't realize how hot he was. His self-image was still stuck in geek-guy mode. Win for me.

  I slipped on my sunglasses.

  He looked me over. "At least you got your disguise. And in pink. No one will recognize you in both sunglasses and a golf visor. You know one or the other will do."

  "I can't be too careful," I said, hoping to add to my allure with an air of mystery. "But, actually, the golf shirt is disguise enough. No one will recognize me in a golf shirt."

  "Not your fashion statement?"

  "Never had a need. I've never actually done more than miniature golf. And that's hit or miss for me. When I'm on, I'm awesome. I can knock that ball through all kinds of crazy shots. When I'm not, look out. The game can last forever."

  "Don't worry about the tournament," Dex said. "We're playing best ball. Justin and Kayla are our other two to complete our foursome. Justin is a pretty decent golfer. Not as good as his brothers, unfortunately. But he'll carry us."

  "Good to hear. Go, Justin. But what is best ball?" I was genuinely naïve. The hand-lettering industry didn't require a person to golf with business associates.

  "Everyone plays the best ball that's hit each time," he said. "So if Justin hits it on to the green during tee-off, and the rest of us all hit our balls into the rough, we go to where his ball is and all play from there."

  I let out a sigh of relief. "I can do that! Once I get on the green, I'm a good putter. Especially if there's a little windmill involved or neon lights or something."

  "I wouldn't count on those."

  We grabbed our jackets and stepped into the hall. As Dex pulled the door closed, a couple stepped out of the room next to ours. The guy was young, tall, and handsome. She was stunningly gorgeous and blond.

  "Dex?" The woman looked surprised to see him. Or maybe me coming out of his room.

  "Dex!" The guy pulled him into a hug and slapped his back. "What took you so long? Kay and I were beginning to think you were going to leave us high and dry for the tournament."

  Kay? Wasn't she Dex's cousin?

  I stepped forward. "That's my fault. He was wrestling with a dress. I'm Shelby."

  Dex made the introductions. Kayla came forward to hug me.

  "Careful," I said, trying to spare her glitter for life. "I've been glittered. I'll probably never be the same again."

  Justin shook his head. "Paige?"

  "Who else?" Dex said.

  "I'm not afraid of a little glitter." Kayla pulled me into a warm hug and whispered, "I'm happy to see you're real. Knowing Dex, I half expected you to be a blow-up dummy or one of those Japanese robot girlfriends. He can afford one now." She cast Dex a wry look.

  Dex rolled his eyes. "I'm wounded. You underestimate me, Lala."

  "I never underestimate you," she said seriously. "If anything, I overestimate you. It's safer that way." She turned to me. "I'm so happy Dex finally found someone, a living, breathing woman, no less, that he deemed worthy of making his plus-one. He's never brought a guest to a wedding that I can remember. Unless you count the time he brought Charlie."