For all intents and purposes, they look like a couple arriving for dinner. Which is definitely not the plan.
“Luna.” It’s a bit sharp, but I don’t like seeing her hand in the crook of my brother’s elbow.
She looks at me and then at the assembly of people. I can see the color drain from her face and the nerves rising as she bites her lip. “Uhm, hi!”
Her voice is bright and high with nervousness. I walk right up in front of her, and her hand falls from Cole’s elbow and to her side as she looks up at me, eyes wide with panic and mouth dropped open.
“Hey, babe. I was worried about you.” And then, right there in front of my family, I kiss Luna like I own her. Like she owns me—body, heart, and soul. It’s quick but impactful. My family holds their collective breath.
“Oh, y’all are just the cutest things ever,” Elena says, echoing her earlier sentiments about Luna and me. “When you get done saying hello over there, I need a hug, ma’am.”
Luna laughs, and when she moves to hug Elena and exchange pleasantries, Cole’s eyes are the first I see. The questions there are big, but him I can ignore. When I turn around, Mom and Dad are looking at me in shock. That I can’t ignore.
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
LUNA
A few moments ago . . .
I’m standing on the steps of Carter’s family house. It’s huge and fancy, but that’s not why I’m frozen like a statue outside, muttering to myself.
No, I’m frozen because on the other side of this door is the biggest lie I’ve ever told and the scariest thing I’ve ever contemplated doing. I hate crowds, hate meeting new people, hate knowing that I’m going to be judged as a ‘weird artist’。 It’s why I stick to my small group of people. Carter’s already forcing me to grow for this fake marriage thing, but at least the nerves over dinner with Elena were balanced out with the excitement of seeing her art collection.
Here, there’s none of that. This is just pure, unadulterated fear shooting through my veins.
“You going in?” a voice asks from behind me. I didn’t hear anyone approach, so I jump a bit, which is met with a male chuckle. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
I force a smile, starting my role a moment before I’d planned. “It’s okay . . . Cole.” I recognize him from the pictures Carter showed me, but even if I hadn’t seen a single photo, I’d know this man is a Harrington. They mostly look alike, almost copy-paste versions of their dad. Well, other than Kyle, but Carter assured me that he wouldn’t be here even though they invite him. ‘Family drama’， he called it.
Cole’s brow scrunches as he looks at me more closely. “Have we met?”
“Oh, I’m Luna. I’m Carter’s . . .” I pause, not sure if I should say wife. Part of Carter’s plan is that there will be a bit of mob mentality when his entire family is around us, and they won’t question us with an audience. But out here, it’s only me and Cole, and I know introducing myself as Carter’s wife will definitely lead to questions I can’t answer. I lick my lips and repeat with more resoluteness, “I’m Carter’s.”
Humor lights up Cole’s eyes, and he holds out his elbow politely. “Well, alright then. Looks like I’m gonna be glad I didn’t skip this family shindig after all. Shall we go in, Luna?”
I take his elbow gently and let him lead me inside. Truthfully, it’s kinda nice to not walk in alone. Right up until Carter barks at me, “Luna!”
I think I wave stupidly. Or maybe I say something? I’m not sure because I’m lost in Carter’s blue-eyed, stony stare as he strides over to me, a man on a mission. I watch his lips move, but my ears are full of staticky noise, so I don’t hear what he says. I’m on short circuit until Carter kisses me.
I swear he must’ve taken a class or something because every time his lips meet mine, it’s like my brain cells go into a frenzied chorus of ‘ahhhhh’ and hip-humping horniness that basically makes them ping off the inside of my skull.
When he lets me go—which might be a second later or might be an hour, I truly don’t know—he pushes me toward Elena. At least she’s a friendly face and has her arms outstretched, so I know what to do. I hug her as she tells me how good it is to see me again.
Now it’s up to me.
My eyes tick around Carter’s family, recognizing them from his descriptions and the photos he showed me. I mentally flip notecards in my head in an attempt to keep from freaking out because almost all of them are looking at me or Carter with shock, horror, or some mix of the two, and being the center of attention is one of my most common nightmares.
Absently, I rub my hands on my thighs, the smooth dress fabric reassuring me that at least I’m not naked in this version of the nightmare.
What would Alphena do? W-W-A-D?
I start with the easiest of the bunch, bending down to Grace.
“Gracie, Gracie, Bo Bacie,” I sing-song to Grace as we do the complicated routine of high-fives that we choreographed in the car on the ride home from Elena’s.
She laughs before finishing, “Little Luna foo-foo, hopping through the forest.”
We do bunny ear fingers and then wiggle them against each other. It makes no sense to an adult, but it works for us. I look up to Cameron and smile. He seems stunned, probably at both my appearance and the song and dance with his daughter, but he fixes his face quickly. “Hello,” he says politely.
I swear he mutters under his breath, “Loo-na and El-a-na? I thought she was saying the same name, just misspeaking sometimes.”
He thought Luna and Elena sound alike? That’s kinda funny. But nothing else about this meet-and-greet is.
Next, I smile at Kayla. “Hey, Kayla,” I say, side-hugging her in greeting.
To her credit, she hugs me right back the way Carter said she would. “I’m gonna need answers from someone later,” she speed-whispers in my ear.
Counting my greeting with Cole as I was walking in, I’m three for three with the siblings without hyperventilating. My internal Alphena is doing a little badass comic book cheer.
I wave at Chance, who Carter warned me would be a hard sell and a poor reaction and someone to avoid. Then it’s time to focus on the big bad in the room. “Hi Mom, Dad. So good to see you.”
Charles Harrington looks at me carefully, his eyes scanning mine. I catch Miranda looking past me to Carter. There’s a moment of horrid anticipation where I think my stomach contents might come right up and spill on their shoes and the very expensive rug beneath them. And considering I didn’t eat breakfast or lunch today because of nerves, that would not be a pretty sight.
Miranda must see something in Carter’s face because she reacts first.
Placing her arms around my shoulders in a friendly hug—as though we’ve done this dozens of times before—she says, “Hey, sweetheart, so good to see you too.”
I let out a relieved sigh in her arms.
They’re going along with it! I can’t believe it! The next thought I have is, This family is reeeally weird.
There was a tiny part of me that honestly thought Carter might be playing a prank on me. Like I was going to walk in, expecting to act like his wife, and the whole family would shout ‘gotcha’ and I’d be the dummy. I guess as long as Ashton Kutcher were here, I wouldn’t mind being Punk’d though.