Free Four Weddings and a Break Up by Elyssa Patrick Page B

date.”
    “Well, I am always right.” Her eyes, he thought, were so dark and expressive. Humor flashed in them briefly. That was another thing he liked about her—she didn’t take things too seriously. She could joke with him and tease him in return. It would be easy to be with her. There would be no expectations on either end. Just how he liked it.
    “How’s the bachelorette doing today?” On the phone last night, she had told him about her mom’s attempt at a set-up.
    “Ha. Ha. Very funny.” She sat down, picked a blade of grass, and rubbed it between two fingers. “You don’t have to keep standing.”
    Wes joined her on the bench, draping one arm on the back. His fingers brushed the ends of her hair. He wondered if she noticed. Apparently, she did because she moved forward and turned her body to him so they were face to face.
    He just wanted to pretend to be with her to make his life easier these next three months. It was a selfish move on his end, but he didn’t want to deal with any set ups, not when he’d come out here for his family.
    She let out a sigh. “I was always the ugly duck. Never quite fitting in.”
    He tried to follow her train of thought. “The ugly duckling that becomes a swan?”
    “Not really. Sometimes, I feel like the wrong story was told with The Ugly Duckling . I keep thinking about a duck that was friends with the ugly duck and saw her friend transform into this beautiful white swan. And that duck kept waiting and waiting for it to happen to her, but it never did.”
    “Your mind”—he lightly touched his finger to her forehead—“it’s fascinating how it works.”
    “I’m just saying that I keep hoping for things, but they don’t happen. I don’t expect much. But I don’t expect to be taken advantage of, or to be played for the fool.”
    “I wouldn’t do that.”
    She arched her eyebrows. “We’ll see. I don’t put too much faith or trust in people. If we’re going to do this, I think there should be a few ground rules.”
    “Rules.” He swallowed. Perhaps that would be for the best. It would establish things between them.
    “My mom knows about us. She would like you to come over for dinner next weekend.”
    “That doesn’t sound like a rule.”
    “No, it’s not. Are we going to attend all family functions together?”
    He thought about it. “Dinners and any type of celebration would be good, I think.”
    “My cousin, Deb, is getting married on the beach on the Fourth of July.” She dropped the blade of grass, and it flitted to the ground. “Do you have any upcoming weddings?”
    “My younger brother, Seth. End of June. I’m sure more will crop up.”
    “Okay, so we’ve agreed that one rule is that we go to things together, family-wise and any other events. Like the Glorious Food festival on Saturday.”
    “That sounds fine to me.”
    “And I think that another rule is . . . well, it should be . . .” Ginny pressed her mouth together. “No sex.”
    “No sex.”
    “Absolutely no sex whatsoever. What happened two nights ago can never happen again. Especially since this is a fake relationship. Sex would just ruin things.”
    “What type of sex have you been having?”
    “Not much, remember?”
    He stared at her, his throat suddenly dry. “No, you said you didn’t have one-night stands. Not that you didn’t have a lot of sex.”
    She crossed her arms across her chest. “Does it really matter?”
    “Yes. No. I don’t know.” He got up, pacing in front of her. “You’ve thrown a wrench at me.”
    “How so? I’m still experienced. It’s not like you’re going to hurt me.”
    “You’re right. We’re keeping this light and easy.” And this was going to help him. “No emotions whatsoever.”
    “Exactly. No emotions.”
    He glanced down at her hand and her short, unpainted fingernails. Heat spread from her touch, and he was tempted to close the distance between them and get burned. Instead, he moved away from her. “So you’re not