Free Some Like It Charming (A Temporary Engagement) by Megan Bryce Page A

she could call a co-worker, and she wouldn’t exactly miss the guy. But it felt like a closing. This chapter of her life was ending, a situation she’d been working toward for quite some time now, but the suddenness of it kept catching her off-guard. Technically, she had six weeks left. As far as anyone knew, she was only taking a vacation. But she knew she’d never come back.
    A bet about their sex life? Ugh. Ethan was going to pay for that.
    She finished packing her things, smiling slightly when she took out her hidden stash of chocolate. She’d miss that. She’d miss Ethan waltzing in and disrupting her life. She shook her head. This time he’d made it a doozy.
    She threw the boxes into the trunk of her car, looking longingly at her batting bag. She could go spend an hour at the batting cages or she could go home and wash the gunk out of her hair and prep for an evening filled with Ethan O’Connor and camera-wielding crazies.
    She sighed, slamming the trunk. She was not getting paid nearly enough.

    Cassandra greeted her at the door with her mouth hanging open. “Well, that’s different.”
    “Here’s a general rule. Don’t get your hair done with the mother of the man you’re pretending to marry when she hates your guts. Even if she knows it’s pretend.”
    “It doesn’t look bad. It’s just different.”
    “As different as she could make me without surgery.”
    Mackenzie flipped the bathroom light on and inspected her now blond hair. “ This was not what she was going for. She should have taken me to a stylist not quite so versed in bleached blonds.”
    Cassandra started opening drawers and piling makeup on the counter. “With this color you’re going to need more dramatic makeup. Your usual boring look will wash you out.”
    “Please. I have spent the afternoon with a woman who would like to run me over with her car. Can I get a little less lip from my best friend?”
    “What’s a less insulting word for it. Demure? Your usual demure makeup will wash you out with this color.”
    “Don’t make me look like a clown.”
    “I will be the judge of that. You think any lipstick brighter than nude is clownish.” Cassandra patted the toilet seat cover. “Sit. Let me work my magic.”
    “I need to wash my hair first. Tame this wild beast.”
    “Don’t wash it out!”
    “I look like a floozy.”
    Cassandra shook her head. “You look gorgeous. Now that I’ve gotten over the shock. Very Anna Nicole Smith.”
    “Oh, that’s going to win you this conversation.”
    Cassandra pushed Mackenzie down. “I meant from the early years, but I can see how you wouldn’t like that comparison. Even if you have caught yourself a very rich, older gentleman.”
    “Ethan is probably only five years older than me; emotionally he’s a good ten years behind. And I haven’t caught him. If anyone is dangling on the end of a hook, it’s me.” She stood up. “I’m taking a quick shower. I can’t get rid of the blond, today at least, but the poofiness has to go.”
    Cassandra put her hands back on Mackenzie’s shoulders, blocking her path. “Come on. Give Ethan Howell O’Connor a taste of the magnificence you hide behind sensible. And give the tabloids some good pictures. All they’ve got right now is you sweaty and dusty.” Cassandra kept a firm grip on her shoulders. “His mother will hate it.”
    Mackenzie rolled her eyes. “You are very unsubtle.”
    “But, unfortunately for you, also very right.”
    Mackenzie closed her eyes, giving in. “You know, she’s turning into my Achilles’ heel. This is exactly how I got my hair turned Anna Nicole blond in the first place.”
    Cassandra made up Mackenzie’s face and even if Mackenzie hated how bright and perky she looked, she had to admit she did look good. And not anything like herself.
    Cassandra said, “And I’ve got something every woman who finds herself accidentally dating a celebrity playboy needs. Be right back.”
    Mackenzie yelled after her,