paper.â
Wait. This was becoming far tooâ¦real. âWhy?â
She looked at him with that kind smile, the one she seemed to reserve for when she was intent on getting her way. âYou want people to stop bothering you. Thereâs no way faster to do that than to put the engagement in print.â
âButâ¦â But what? She was right, she was always right, he was beginning to suspect. And why was she so sweetly disagreeing with him on everything? Dammit. âOkay. Fine. An ad is fine.â
Lani dropped her gaze, looked around at the kitchen sheâd seen a thousand times. Almost nervously, she glanced out into the hall and up the stairs.
She was wondering about the sleeping arrangements.
âCome on,â he said with another heartfelt sigh. âIâll show you where the spare bedrooms are. You can pick one.â
She looked relieved and disappointed at the same time.
He could understand.
Â
L ANI PICKED the bedroom at the far end of the hallway from Colinâs. Not because she found him offensive, but because she didnât trust herself.
Her natural, easy affection seemed to terrify him. Heâd nearly leaped out of his skin when sheâd hugged him hello. Just a simple hug, an affectionate hug, but heâd hated it.
Heâd made sure not to come within five feet of her since then. And when theyâd climbed the stairs, heâd shown her the bedrooms as far from his as he could get.
She didnât know what she had expectedâthat he would have suggested his own bed? That wasnât his style.
Still, she couldnât help but wish, as she followed his tall, lean, oh-so-watchable frame, that in this one aspect, their engagement was real.
He dropped her duffel bag on the bed that would be hers. âLet me know if you need anything.â
Did he mean it? She doubted it. He had that expression on his face, the one that assured her heâd rather be at the dentist having a tooth extracted. Without drugs.
Well he wasnât alone in that. She had so many reservations about this farce they were undertaking! She could tell herself sheâd agreed to help because she believed in his projectâand she did. But she knew the truth, that it was far more than that. And she was scared.
Colin West was driven and focused, and if she believed the rumors, he was cold and aloof as well.
But it wasnât true, she knew this with all her heart. No one with eyes so deep and heated could be cold. All year sheâd been drawn to him on some deep, primal level and while she might not understand it, she couldnât ignore it. Any of a million things could have happened to make Colin the very private man he was, and she understood that better than most, because for all her bubbliness, she herself was incredibly private.
What she didnât get was the sudden need she had to please him, to be with him. To make him happy.
âIâll be fine,â she said quietly, and decided to face the music with a brave smile. âSo what are we going to do to get to know each other?â
Given the way his eyes flared, sheâd gotten his attention. In response, her insides heated and they both stared at each other like idiots.
It drew a laugh out of her, because they were both so obviously thinking about only one thing. She reached out and stroked his arm. âThis is silly, you know. Weâre adults.â
He stared down at her hand on him. âYeah, adults,â he agreed, those intense eyes of his heavy and shuttered.
Her inner warmth spread, pooling in areas she hadnât felt heat in for some time. âMaybe weâd better sleep on it tonight,â she suggested. âWeâll think ofsomething. Like Twenty Questions, or another game.â
He blinked and looked as if heâd rather face a firing squad, which made her laugh. âThis was your idea, you know,â she teased.
His mouth quirked, though he didnât actually