Free The Substitute by Denise Grover Swank

rushed to her big brother and threw her arms around his neck, hanging onto him for dear life. “Where were you last month?” Her voice cracked with emotion.
    Kevin pulled her back and glared at Josh. “What happened last month?” His voice took an ominous tone.
    Oh, crap. What had possessed her to say that? But she hadn’t seen Kevin for years and she’d forgotten what an intimidating presence he had. Sometimes it was nice to think someone else, like her alpha male big brother, could help her with her problems. But at the moment, she needed to dig herself out of the hole she’d just dug. The problem was that Kevin tended to be perceptive as hell. Megan gave him a reassuring smile. “Nothing.” She dropped her hold on him. “I’m just all emotional with Mom and her big wedding plans.”
    “Did he—?”
    “No.” She grabbed Josh’s arm with both hands and leaned into him. “He’s great. A project at work had some issues, so it was a terrible month. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”
    Josh kissed the top of her head.
    Kevin studied them, looking like he was still unsure whether to believe her.
    “ Megan! ” her mother shouted.
    “Crap,” Megan muttered. “She’s up to level three. She raised her voice.”
    Kevin didn’t look like he wanted to let the subject drop, but he waved to the stairs behind him. “You better get down there. Her split personality is in full bloom.”
    “Great.”
    Kevin grimaced. “She may have been Miss Georgia, but she would have been much more effective as a third-world dictator.”
    Didn’t Megan know it? She started down the stairs, but Josh snagged her hand and she looked back at him, searching his face for an explanation. What had happened back there? Her conversation with Kevin hadn’t done a thing to make her forget that kiss. She had to admit to herself she’d never reacted to a kiss like that and part of her wanted to throw herself at him, even here on the steps, for a repeat performance.
    Then it hit her.
    She was an idiot. Josh had given her the single best kiss of her life to keep her brother from hearing their argument. That was the reason…the only one.
    She tried to drop his hand, but he hung on, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and pulling her into an embrace. She tried to resist, but he leaned into her ear and whispered, “Your mother is watching.”
    She forced herself to relax.
    “I’m sorry about what just happened,” he continued, “but your brother was about to overhear us. In fact, from the look on his face and the way he wouldn’t let it drop, I think he heard some of our conversation. I didn’t mean to violate you like that. I was desperate.”
    “I know,” she whispered back, fighting her disappointment at his confirmation. Had it really meant nothing to him? But of course it hadn’t. It was a ruse. As gorgeous as he was, he’d probably kissed plenty of women, beautiful blonds like the flight attendant. To him, kissing was likely as routine as flossing had been for Jay.
    “Megan!” her mother said.
    She broke loose and walked into the kitchen, Josh on her heels, prepared for the lecture that was sure to come.
    Megan’s mother’s nose wrinkled with a disapproving grimace. “Really, Megan. This party is for you and Jay—er, I mean Josh.” She shook her head, and—if possible—looked even more perturbed. “And why didn’t you bother to tell us he preferred Josh? We would have put it on all the invitations.”
    Josh slipped an arm around her back, his hand resting on the rise of her hip. “It’s all my fault, Mrs. Vandemeer. On both counts. I insisted Megan help me figure out what to wear tonight, which made her late coming downstairs, and I told her to use Jay on everything for the wedding. My parents prefer it and I wanted to honor that even if they couldn’t be here with us.”
    Megan couldn’t believe how well the lies rolled off his tongue. She’d definitely have to keep that in mind. He might be