There were car doors closing and engines starting behind him. Probably the vultures on their way to the closest Wi-Fi hotspot to break the news. Or in reality, his little white lie.

“Tell me you didn’t just start what I think you did,” Julia muttered under her breath, smiling and waving at her parents.

Logan adopted the same phony grin and began walking up the sidewalk, squeezing Julia’s hand.

“Tell me you didn’t just do what I think you did. A kiss?”

“What about you? It’s serious?”

His pulse was thumping, but he was sure he’d done the right thing. Mostly sure, at least. “I didn’t have a choice,” he mumbled. “Somebody was going to get hurt. You were going to get hurt. I had to make them go away. And you’re worried about ruining your sister’s wedding. That was going to ruin your sister’s wedding.”

Four

Tracy wasted no time letting her opinion be known. “Nice job making my big weekend all about you.” She whipped around and stormed into the house.

Logan grimaced and shrugged, apparently at a loss for words. Julia wasn’t doing much better. She was too busy trying to get her bearings after the kiss.

We’re together?

This was a bad idea.

Fake romance or real, there would be no opening of those old wounds.

And yet here she was, holding Logan’s hand, scaling the stairs to the wraparound porch and filing inside her parents’ house. Logan closed the door after her, while her father clapped him on the shoulder.

The grin on her dad’s face was as wide as the beach at low tide. “Sounds like I’ll be marrying off a second daughter soon. Julia’s mother and I had always hoped this day would come.”

Married? Good God, what was it with the men in Julia’s life assuming marriage was the next logical step? “Dad, isn’t that a little presumptuous?”

“The man said serious. What else am I to presume?”

“We’re so happy, Jules. We’ve always thought Logan was the only one for you.” Her mother’s ability to radiate warmth and happiness made everything worse. How would her parents feel when she told them her secret on Sunday? Would they only be happy for her if Logan was indeed the dad? Precisely the reason she didn’t want a paternity test. She didn’t want her baby to be judged because of who his or her father might be. It was such an old-fashioned fixation, anyway. She could be a mom on her own, with no need for a man. The baby was Julia’s, and that was all anyone needed to know.

Julia sucked in a deep breath, not knowing what to say. Logan had put them in a horrible position. And admittedly, Julia had probably made it worse with the kiss, but the press had said they’d go away. She wanted that insurance. Still, playing fast and loose with the truth... Julia might be an actress, but she sucked at lying. “Logan and I aren’t together. He just said that to make the press go away.”

“I knew it!” Tracy exclaimed, breaking her momentary silence. “At least Logan cared enough about me to do something about the problem.” She shot Julia a pointed stare. “Unlike my sister.”

“What about the kiss? That’s what really made them go away.”

Logan nodded in agreement. “True. The kiss was definitely Julia’s idea.”

Don’t remind me.

“The kiss was fake?” Her mother’s voice was rife with distress, just as it had been the day before when this all started. “No. It couldn’t have been. It was so sweet. It looked real.”

I bet. Julia still felt that kiss all over every inch of her body. Damn Logan and his resolve-destroying lips. “It was just what they asked for. A kiss for the cameras. Nothing else. I am a halfway decent actress, you know.”

Julia had thought she’d have to fake her way through it, that she was still too mad at Logan for the way he’d treated her. That wasn’t the way it had gone at all. The second his lips fell on hers, her body cast aside any hurt feelings and went for it. Her traitorous mouth knew exactly what to do, and sought his warmth and touch, his impossibly tender kiss. Her body knew how perfectly they fit together, physically at least, and was all too eager to find a way for them to squeeze three months of lost time into a few short heartbeats.

Logan stepped forward. “Actually, it’s not entirely true that Julia and I aren’t together.”

If Julia could’ve clamped her hand over Logan’s mouth and make it look like an accident, she would have. Tracy threw up her hands, stomped once on the hardwood floor with her jeweled beachcomber sandal and began pacing the room. “Which is it? Will you two get your act together so we can go back to enjoying my wedding week?”

And to think that earlier today, Julia’s big concern had been shades of pink frosting. Now she was far more worried about shades of red. Namely the various hues of crimson coloring her sister’s face. Volcano Tracy was about to blow.