Page 38 of One Bossy Date

“Seriously?” Brody said, scoffing once again.

Sam frowned, and then he seemed to remember that Brody was supposed to be my date (it wasn’t a secret in my family). I could tell Sam wanted to manage the situation, but didn’t know what to say.

“You mean to tell me that Zoe just found this perfect man, like a fucking penny on the sidewalk?” Brody challenged him, not even brave enough to look at us.

“Brody—”

“No, hang on, Sam.” Brody lifted a hand, laughing dangerously now. “She, in the nick of time, found herself a poster-boy billionaire, who happened to fall in love with her—how convenient—and now they’re just going to live together? No way! He’s much too old for her!”

“Brody, maybe we should—” Jenny tried next, to no avail.

“She’s probably just pet sitting for him,” Brody barked, still not looking at me. “That’s what she does. That’sallshe does!”

My hands clenched into fists of their own accord. He was hitting close to home, and it was pissing me off. I felt Anders’s rigid presence by my side, clearly not happy with where this was going, but too polite to disturb Granny’s party.

Brody was making my business everyone else’s. As if I owed him and everyone else the truth. As if that would clear his name somehow and prove that it wasn’t his fault that I’d never fallen for him. This son of a bitch.

“Wait.” Brody paused, swaying slightly, and holding a finger up to my face. “Are you pregnant, Zoe?” I felt Anders’s muscles tighten.

The second before he could swipe Brody’s fingers away from my face like a pesky fly, I stepped forward. “What if I am,Brody? Would that besucha scandal?”

15

ANDERS

Iwatched Brody with a raised brow. He was a sloppy drunk, driven by his childish emotions and frankly, unnecessarily causing shit. I understood jealousy well enough, but this guy was making a fool out of himself and embarrassing Zoe while doing so.

Given how she’d been fawned over all evening just because she’d walked in on the arm of a man, I now understood her need for a date. She, quite reasonably, appeared panicked when explaining herself to people who had no business poking their noses into her life.

From what I’d witnessed of her, she tended to be high-strung, distressed, and easily derailed. But then again, she’d surprised me every time it happened by rising above—when she had offered me that coffee, when she’d cut her losses and taken the job she hadn’t wanted, and tonight, when she stood tall and figuratively gave her whole family and their expectations the bird.

So, it came as no surprise this time when she stepped forward and spoke up before I could intervene. I held back. It would do Zoe good to settle the matter herself and put the idiot in his place, although it would’ve given me some satisfaction to drive my fist in his face.

“What if I am,Brody? Would that besucha scandal?”

My head swiveled to face her and read her expression.Is that a possibility? Is she pregnant?

No, she was fucking with him.

One hundred percent.

She had merely wanted to know why Brody fucking thought it was any of his business whether she was pregnant or not. Or, in simpler terms, telling him to fuck the fuck off. I realized this, but no one else seemed to have caught on.

The room was dead silent. Jenny’s astonished eyes were glued to Zoe’s face, Brody seemed like he’d had the wind punched out of him, and Sam looked back and forth between her and me.

They seemed shocked by the fake news, and I couldn’t blame them.

This was a fucking plot twist not even I had seen coming. Not only was I fake-dating the girl, and fake-moving her in, but I was also a soon-to-be fake baby daddy.

Not bad for a Friday night.

Zoe had been drinking wine before at the table, but funny enough, it looked like nobody noticed—otherwise it would have caused them to doubt whether she was really pregnant.

I tried my best not to give in to the tugging at my lips but rather to remain in character. I wouldn’t be wearing a yellow tie any time soon. Zoe had lost the deal, and I’d soon be feasting on my fake baby mama’s lips.

Don’t ask me why, but for some reason, I found the whole situation entertaining. Not just that. I found it fucking hilarious.

That was until I heard the excited gasp behind me.