The family crowds closer and, one by one, she meets them all. Even before I finish, Noah’s younger brother, Trace, and his wife dart in, grab a drink, and sidle up to us.

  “Hi, Masey.” Corinne smiles and hugs the pretty, pregnant brunette. “I’m glad you’re here. I could use a familiar face.”

  “You’ve met?” I frown.

  Trace’s wife nods. “Harlow asked me to do her makeup, so I met her at the salon. Your fiancée has great skin.”

  “Thanks.” Corinne smiles at Masey. “But if I look good, it’s because you’re incredibly talented. No wonder you have such a massive online following.”

  “It’s my pleasure. As a beauty influencer, I love to help people feel like their most beautiful selves, whether that’s with makeup or not. But you happened to be naturally blessed.”

  Suddenly, all the women surround Corinne and introduce themselves. I can’t even get near her. Talk quickly turns from cosmetics to her dress, to all the kids with the sitters at Griff and Britta’s place, then everyone’s Saturday, drink refills, and finally the reason we’re all here.

  “Guests incoming!” Keeley shouts as she starts up some tunes. Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” is pretty apropos mood music.

  Corinne gravitates back to me, and I wrap an arm around her, burying my face in her curls, inhaling her addictive scent. “You ready for this?”

  She nods, but she’s trembling. “I think.”

  “We’ll get through this together. Don’t get too far from me. I know this crowd, so watch me for cues. If you’re not sure about something, either be vague or defer to me. I’ll—”

  “Take it from there and make sure everything goes smoothly. We’ve been over the game plan a thousand times.”

  She’s right. “We’ve got this.”

  I squeeze her, and she sends me a nervous smile.

  Then guests start pouring in. My sisters-in-law’s friends—yoga buddies, fellow moms, and neighbors, along with their spouses—all bring celebratory bottles of wine and other gifts that make me feel like a shit for this subterfuge. But this isn’t just for my revenge; it’s for Corinne’s independence.

  My assistant, Lisa, appears, secretive smile in place. Yeah, she’s got my back. Her husband, Dan, is his usual affable self, waving at me from across the crowd.

  Local reporters turn up then. One of Noah’s former football buddies and his wife enter in with smiles. Some of my clients who live on the island appear, too. Caterers follow, and before I know it the party is in full swing.

  As I predicted, Echo and Corinne fall into conversation like they’ve known each other forever. If our engagement was real, they’d definitely be the best of friends. I hover nearby, and Hayes is amused that I refuse to let my “fiancée” out of my sight.

  As the party goes on, so does the mingling. Corinne is absolutely charming. She smiles. She asks the right questions. She clings to my hand and looks up at me just often enough that people are convinced we’re for real. Dinner is equally smooth. There’s good food, laughter, and flowing alcohol. The reporters’ beats are more sports and less gossip, so their interest in us is largely passing. Everyone seems to be vibing and it’s a perfect Hawaiian evening.

  Then, as if the clearing of the dinner plates signals the gloves coming off, Harlow clinks her knife against her glass to get everyone’s attention. “Welcome, everyone! Thanks for coming on such short notice to celebrate Xavian and Corinne’s engagement, despite the fact my little brother is a pain in the ass. We love him anyway…but we’re hoping his lovely bride-to-be will make him less surly. No, wait. I meant to say we hope they’ll make each other very happy.”

  The guests laugh, and I make a face at Harlow. “You’re not funny.”

  “Everyone else disagrees.” She grins.

  They chuckle again, and I give a sanguine shrug. “Because they’re mostly your friends.”

  More laughter ensues before she takes command of the room again. Harlow really is a dynamo, and she presides over this event perfectly.

  “And now for the moment we’ve all been dying for. You two have put off everyone, but the gang is together, so spill! How did you two meet, when did you start dating, and how did you carry on in secret until you got engaged?”

  My gut clenches. Show time.

  Plastering on a smile, I stand and take Corinne’s hand, pulling her up beside me. “Fate was working overtime the day we bumped into each other. Eight months ago, as many of you know, my sister Bethany was having a rough pregnancy, so I took her client meetings on the West Coast for a week while she was on bed rest.”

  A true, verifiable fact—what we rooted most of our tale in.

  Beside me, Corinne nods and delivers her part of our rehearsed story. “Around the same time, I was flying to Connecticut for a high school friend’s bachelorette party.”

  “While I was at LAX, trying to get back to Maui. Our flights were both delayed.” More verifiable truth. We actually were at the same airport on the same day…but here’s where the fabrication starts.

  “And we were both starving,” she adds.

  “So I found the nearest place to grab a burger and a beer and I see this gorgeous woman”—I hold up Corinne’s hand—“sitting at the crowded bar, trying to fend off a drunken jackass. I sidled over, put myself between them, wrapped my arm around her, then turned to the jerk and asked why he was hitting on my wife. He left.”

  Corinne smiles at me. “Thank goodness.”

  “And since his now-empty seat was the only one in the restaurant, I grabbed it.” I shrug. “As I sat, I thought she looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her.”

  “We met when I was barely fifteen. He hardly remembers me from that Christmas he spent with my family. I had a crush on him back then. When he realized I’m Parker’s sister, it was awkward until we got to talking. It wasn’t long before I realized he isn’t the bastard my brother made him out to be.”

  I take over with a nod. “When we looked up a few hours later, I had missed my flight and hers had been canceled altogether. So she let me crash on her couch that night.”

  “You’ve never spent a night on a sofa at a woman’s place,” Clint drawls.

  “Despite his reputation, he did!” Corinne insists. “He also said he’d be back in LA a couple of weeks later and wanted to take me to dinner to thank me. I agreed. After that, we started texting, then talking on the phone. By the time he came back through town, I had a whole new crush on him.”

  The ladies aww at her remark.

  “It was mutual, so we kept in touch. We never told anyone because we wanted to explore what might be between us without hassle or drama. But as the release of Parker’s movie approached, Corinne was torn.”

  “My brother is all the family I have left,” she explains. “By then, I was in love with Xavian, and I wasn’t happy about the way Parker had maligned his character. But I didn’t want to put a bigger target on Xavian’s back if my brother found out about our relationship…so I broke things off.”

  “We’ve been on-and-off for a while. Each time we ended it, I tried to go back to my old dating habits.” I shrug. “But I couldn’t stop thinking about Corinne. You’ll all be shocked—I know—but I realized she was the one for me, so I bought a ring and planned a trip to LA. I was going to talk everything out and propose. But she reached me first, making an appointment to discuss her finances under a false name. Lisa can back me up on that.”

  “I can,” my assistant puts in, raising her glass to me.

  “Corinne and I agreed to have dinner, which everyone on social media saw,” I drawl. “We both admitted we’re in love. I popped the question…and here we are.”

  The room is silent for a nerve-racking moment before claps and hearty cheers erupt. We answer a few more questions about where we’ll be living—here in Maui—and when we plan to get married—we haven’t set a date yet—when my brother Evan pipes up. Usually, he’s quiet at gatherings like this. He’s not a social creature…but he’s a very inquisitive one.

  “What is it you love about each other above all others?”

  I slide a glance at Corinne.

  She casts a wide-eyed stare at me and swallows. “Um…”

  Shit. Evan doesn’t mean to be combative, but his question is a broadside to our bow. If I don’t answer fast, we’ll go down like the Titanic. “Corinne is thoughtful, always trying to see everyone’s side of an argument and find common ground. She’s kind. When I met her at her hotel a couple of days ago to talk, she encountered an elderly man who was lost. She didn’t just walk by. She cleaned his glasses, calmed him down, and helped him to his room. She’s passionate about the things and people who are important to her. She’ll never do anything halfway—not being a friend or a wife or a mother. She will be there for those she loves every moment of every day. For me, other women just don’t compare anymore. I can’t picture my life with anyone else.” I smile. “She makes me want to be a better man.”

  “Everything you said about my sister is true, but she can’t make you into something you’ll never be.”

  That fucking voice. I really hope like hell I’m hallucinating, but when I look up…no.

  The crowd gasps. People turn.

  Parker Emerson stands in the middle of my brother’s living room, glaring daggers at me.

  Automatically, I slide Corinne behind me, sandwiching her between my body and the dining room table. “Get out. You’re not welcome here.”

  Corinne’s brother prowls closer. He hasn’t changed much. He’s still got artfully mussed hair, still wearing designer glasses, still dressed in clothes that belong more on a golf course than on a hipster, and he still has a babyface that cons suckers into feeling sorry for him.

  “Let go of my sister, you son of a bitch.”

  “That’s not happening. We’re engaged. Nothing you say or do will change that.”

  “So the internet wasn’t trolling me?”

  I hold up Corinne’s left hand. “No.”

  Parker’s face contorts in fury. “My phone started blowing up. It’s all over the news.” His eyes narrow on me. “You really think I’d ever let you call my little sister your wife? Of course, that presumes you could even keep your dick out of other women long enough to say I do.”

  “Parker!” Corinne rebukes.

  “I don’t know how he sweet-talked you into believing he deserves you, but he’s the bastard son of a criminal. He came from nothing. And he’ll always be nothing because he has no scruples.”

  “You want to talk about scruples?” I growl. “You and I both know what really happened. I told your sister, too.”

  “Your version of the truth is garbage.” He scoffs, looking me up and down. “You may have money now, but you’re garbage. You obviously tricked her into saying yes to your proposal. You fed her lies, and you bought her.”

  It takes all my restraint not to punch this asshole. “Are you insinuating your sister is a whore? If you are, that makes you the douchebag. Corinne is sweet and loving. She can’t be bought. With the way you’re insulting her, it’s no wonder she would rather be with me.”

  Parker draws up. “Don’t twist my words. I meant that Corinne isn’t worldly. She couldn’t have known you would use your money to deceive her so you could try to stop me from speaking the truth. My sister is innocent.” He slants a glance over to Corinne, then back at me, his accusation heavy. “Or she was.”

  Behind me, she lets out an embarrassed gasp. Screw punching him; I want to kill him. “Get out. Now. Or I swear to fuck I will smash your face black and blue and I will relish every second.”

  “Because bullies like you enjoy hurting others.” He stares at his sister again. “Don’t you see the kind of man he is?”

  At the head of the table, Maxon stands. “You need to go. This is a private party on private property, and you’re trespassing.”

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  “Maxon Reed. I own this place. I also happen to be Xavian’s brother, and I want you gone.”

  Parker opens his mouth. Before he can spout off to Maxon, Corinne pushes past me.

  I grab her arm to pull her back. I don’t want her anywhere near her brother. “Princess…”

  She shrugs me off and marches toward her brother, hands on her hips.

  Parker’s gloating face floods my veins with venom. I don’t care what the asshole says about me anymore, but if he dares to insult her or degrade her again, I will go to the ends of the earth to eviscerate him.

  He holds out his hand to Corinne. “It’s okay. You didn’t know the kind of guy he is. I tried to shelter you—”

  “Stop it. Just stop!”

  The whole room falls silent. No one even breathes.

  “Ninny…” he cajoles. “I don’t know what he—”

  “Shut up,” she snaps. “How dare you crash my engagement party? Haven’t you done enough to Xavian? You’ve insinuated he’s the kind of vile human being who feeds off others’ misery, who would tell lies just to crush his enemies so he could cash in on their misfortune. But that’s not him at all. Xavian is funny and charming and thoughtful, not the mean-spirited predator you’ve made him out to be. Why doesn’t the public know about Hadley? Why didn’t you ever tell that story? Because you wouldn’t be the victim if everyone knew you betrayed him?”

  He scowls and waves away Corinne’s accusation as if it’s irrelevant, but I see panic on his face. “She has nothing to do with anything.”

  Corinne gapes. “She was his fiancée.”

  “Their relationship wasn’t going to last. I told him that.”

  “You made sure it didn’t when you slept with her.”

  “She came onto me,” he protests.

  “So that makes it okay to screw your best friend’s bride? You broke his trust in the worst way. What’s more despicable is that you didn’t take her to bed because you had feelings for her; you did it to prove a point.”

  “And I was right. For trying to save a friend from a lifetime with a gold-digging whore, what did I get? Snubbed. Bullied. Derided. Persecuted.”

  “Don’t you think maybe you earned some of that?”

  Parker looks stunned. “You don’t know what he did to me.”

  “What did he do that you didn’t bring on yourself? Your compulsive need to ‘win’ every argument ruins all your relationships. And if the argument isn’t going your way, you twist events around until they fit what you want everyone to believe.”

  “I don’t. He’s filled your head with poison, and you’re only acting this way because I’m withholding the money in your trust until you grow up. Last week, I almost gave in… But clearly, I made the right choice. You’re still a gullible child.”

  “Not another fucking word,” I growl, stepping between him and Corinne again. “You don’t get to trespass on my brother’s property to bad-mouth my fiancée during our engagement party. Unlike you, I’ll never tell Corinne who she can and can’t talk to, but after the way you’ve behaved tonight, if she never spoke to you again, I would completely support her decision. And if that’s her choice and you’re grappling to understand why, take a hard look at yourself in a mirror.” I get right in his face, barely holding back the urge to hit him, and only because he’d press charges for assault—another way to make himself the victim in the press. “Get. The fuck. Out. Now.”

  Parker opens his mouth to protest when a pair of police officers enter the house and take in the scene. “Is there a problem?”

  Parker tugs on his starched shirt. “No, I was just leaving.” Then he looks Corinne’s way. “You’ll regret him. I’ll be waiting when you finally figure out he’s not husband material, but a monster.”

  With a huff, he’s gone. Instantly, the tension leaves the room. Nervous chatter ensues. Lisa catches my eye and holds up her cell phone to indicate she captured the whole thing on video. I give her a thumbs-up while Maxon and Griff talk to one of the officers. The other detains Parker on the lawn.

  I turn to Corinne, who looks a heartbeat away from sobbing. She lost her only brother and the last of her family tonight. Sure, the asshole brought it on himself, but she’s the one who’s hurting.

  As I wrap her in my arms and kiss the top of her head, she sags against me and clings. She found the courage to stand her ground and confront him about his bullshit, and I’m so proud of her.

  Then the truth hits me… She defended me.

  No, she chose me over him.

  A wave of warmth spreads through my chest. It’s not mere admiration, though I think she’s amazing. It’s not just lust, though I’m dying to bare her soft, sweet body and make love to her. What I’m feeling is something else—something more I don’t have a name for.

  I’ll figure that out later. She needs me now.

  Cupping her face in my hands, I lift her gaze to mine. “You okay, princess?”

  “Why did he come here and ruin everything?”

  I could tell her it’s because he’s an asshole who doesn’t care who he shits on if he makes himself feel better. I’d be right…but that wouldn’t help her. “Don’t focus on him. Things have a way of working out. Just know that every word I said about you tonight is true. People care about you. I care about you.”

  Corinne sniffles and buries her head in my chest, fists wrapped around my shirt that’s now hopelessly wrinkled, and I don’t care. “Everything I said about you was true. And I care about you, too.”

  She looks up at me. The soft welcome on her face doesn’t merely tug on my cock. It hits me in the heart, which I would have sworn even a handful of days ago was too hard to spare a single fuck for Parker Emerson’s sister. Now I’m losing myself in her misty dark eyes, and I can’t stop it. We might have a pretend engagement, but suddenly this feels more real than anything I had with Hadley.

  I lower my head. Her eyes slide shut. My pulse kicks into overdrive. I’ve only ever kissed Corinne for the cameras or to prepare for them. Now I’m dying to slide my lips over hers and take full possession of her mouth for no other purpose than pleasure. Than connection.