Famously Engaged Read Online Free PDF Page A

afford to lose her. Finding someone who is competent and gets along with every member of the band is almost unheard of.”
    “So you think she’ll resign from her job if she’s not happy in her personal life?” Why does it feel as if there’s something you’re not telling me?
    “We all agreed that someone should look out for her. She lost her mother and stepfather in an auto accident years ago so she doesn’t have any family, and working from home here in Melbourne means she has no colleagues to rely on either.”
    He pushed out of his seat and spoke in a tone laced with disgust. “She and Brad are about to tie the knot, yet she jokes about him not being able to go sixty seconds without mentioning you. I’ve talked to Brad and it’s worse than I imagined. Her husband-to-be is still preoccupied with you. There’s nothing he doesn’t know about your habits and your whereabouts and what remains on your to-do list for the wedding. He knows when you last ate and slept.” He threw her earlier words back at her. “How come?”
    Feeling a flush of embarrassment creep up her neck, she curled her fingers over the edge of the counter and tried to steady herself. “That’s why you’re here? To distract me so I won’t have a fling with Brad before he remarries? What makes you think—?”
    “It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s him.”
    “Stop worrying. Brad’s a pain in the ass most of the time, but I love him like a brother. We got married because it was an adventure and our families expected it. There was no leap of faith and no chance of heartbreak, yet it was doomed to failure right from the start. Neither of us were happy, so I pulled the plug and we went back to being friends. Best friends.”
    She summoned a smile and ordered her shoulders to lift in tandem. “I’m the wedding planner, the ex-wife, the maid of honor, and the groom’s best friend, but I’m not a threat. If you’d shared your concerns with Skyla, she’d have told you that and we could’ve avoided this nightmare.”
    “The engagement nightmare could have been avoided if you’d taken care to limit how much time you spent with your ex-husband.”
    Picking up a spatula, she sliced a generous wedge of caramel apple cake. She set it on a clean tea towel and spoke. “Brad’s like my shadow, impossible to get rid of but relatively benign. I don’t encourage him. There are days I can barely tolerate his constant presence, but I know he’s transitioning from one marriage to the next. It will get better. He and Skyla are planning a two-month-long honeymoon and I think that distance will be good for him— and me.
    “Now that you know I’m not a threat to Skyla’s happiness, you can put a lid on this engagement nonsense and we can both get back to our regular lives.”
    “It’s too late. The story will run in every major newspaper across Australia this morning. I’d already committed to running it before I rang your doorbell.”
    “How nice for you to dictate the future without regard for anyone else.” She held the cake out. “It’s still warm.”
    He dipped his head to inhale the cake’s aroma, then nibbled the corner. “So good.” He grabbed two spoons out of the drawer next to her. “Want some?”
    Confusion swamped her. “You’re playing host again. Why does it feel as if you’re trying to trade my cake for information? Is there something you want to know?”
    He set the cake on the counter before she had time to blink.
    “Can you honestly say there’s no love between you and Brad?”
    “You saw my message. You know I can’t. There’s loads, but it’s not romantic.”
    He didn’t answer. He took a bite of the cake in silence. He’d set himself up as her fake fiancé, so that probably gave her the right to use him as a sounding board.
    “We got married young, thinking friendship would be enough to hold us together. But it wasn’t.”
    Jake’s half-muttered response didn’t sound