Power Drilled (Roommates, #8)(28)

“Shoot, this could get complicated.”

Reid nodded. “Yes, but we’ll make it work. We’ve bluffed our way through situations like this before.”

That struck me as funny. “You’ve been in a lot of situations in which you three pretended to be one man who was pretending to be someone’s boyfriend?”

Reid grinned. “It does sound a bit more difficult than taking one of my brothers’ math tests, but we’ll figure it out.”

I liked his confidence. It gave me hope that this week wouldn’t end in disaster. “I’m going to go shoot some video, but thanks in advance for coming to the luncheon with me.”

“No problem,” Reid said, though he did glance at the time on his phone. “I’m guessing it’ll be more pleasant than standing in a shell of a kitchen eating donuts.”

Guess that depended on which of my relatives we encountered at the luncheon.





10





PENNY





“Oh my god, Penny, Reid is gorgeous!” Claire exclaimed as she dragged me off to the corner of the room where the fittings were held.

We were all in our rose-colored gowns, except for Claire who hadn’t yet donned her wedding dress.

Tanya was currently standing on a box platform while the seamstress circled her. With any luck, my cousin was more concerned about not being stabbed with a pin than with what Claire and I were talking about.

“He is pretty handsome,” I admitted. Of course, Claire hadn’t actually laid eyes on Reid, she’d only seen Hunter, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Tell me everything about him,” she practically squealed. Shouldn’t an almost-married woman be more reserved? But I liked that someone was happy for me—even if it was for a fake reason—rather than pitying me. I’d gotten a lot of that since Jeff left.

Anyway, even if I’d wanted to, I couldn’t have told her much about Reid, first of all because we were supposed to keep our story simple. And then there was also the fact that I didn’t know that much about him.

Claire was still gushing. “And that kiss last night—it almost made my panties melt, and Matthew was standing right there next to me.”

“It was pretty epic,” I admitted.

“It looked it. And you two were incredible on the dance floor.”

“He was. I just followed his lead.”

Claire’s expression grew more serious. “I’m glad you found someone worth following.”

Moisture lined my lashes. I was all too aware that I’d spent a really long time with a guy who treated me badly. Truthfully, I didn’t know what kind of men the triplets were, but I knew they were risking their deadline by attending these events with me. That spoke of good character. Then again, I’d once thought that about Jeff.

The seamstress finished with Tanya, and I prayed she wouldn’t head our way. Fortunately, she started up a conversation with another bridesmaid, one of Claire’s old roommates.

“He’s coming to the luncheon, right?” Claire asked.

“Yes.”

“I’d love to get to know him. I wish you could sit at our table, but mom put Tanya and the loser there.” Clair’s expression told what she thought of that arrangement.

“Your mom’s just trying to keep the peace.”

“She’s trying a bit too hard, if you ask me.”

I clasped Claire’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry about it. This is your wedding, and I don’t want you to feel like you’re in the middle of two warring factions.”

Claire grinned. “Well, if it is a war, my money’s on your knight in shining armor over Tanya’s.”

I was grateful for the vote of confidence, but it still hurt anytime someone referred to Jeff as belonging to Tanya. For well over a year, he’d been my man.

The seamstress called Claire over.

“I’ve got to go, but make sure you and Reid find me at the end of lunch, okay? I’ve got a surprise for you two.”

For both of us? I had no clue what it could be. “This week has already been full of surprises. You’re the bride, not a fairy godmother.”

She grinned. “Well, you already made good use of the last surprise—a room here.”

Predictably, I blushed. But that didn’t stop me from wondering what it would be like to spend the afternoon with Reid—and what Claire had in store for us.



Lunch was actually pretty fun. Reid was the perfect gentleman—maybe too perfect. He didn’t look like the same man who’d had his hands all over me last night when we danced.

We sat at a table with two other bridesmaids and their dates. The bridesmaids asked Reid all kinds of questions, but he managed not to reveal too much. But his smile was so charming that the others didn’t mind.

He looked hot, too. He had on a dark green button-down dress shirt and black pants. I couldn’t help sneaking peeks over at him throughout the entire luncheon. But I figured that was okay. He was supposed to be my new boyfriend, so people hopefully assumed that we were in the early stages of infatuation.

Hopefully.

After lunch, I explained about the video I was making for Claire and Matthew.

“You’re making videos for everyone these days,” he said. It wasn’t a question.