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irritation. She’d agreed to this trade. And really, she was being offered what she most needed right now. Which was not a fiancée, fake or otherwise. It was a well-behaved dog.

The kind of companion she could walk into her old age with.

“You seem to know quite a bit about dogs,” she conceded.

“We bred, raised and trained hunting dogs when I was growing up. It was our off-season business.”

“Oh, dear,” she said. It was time to remind him of the other part of their deal. “I don’t know how this is going to be a fair trade when you know quite a bit about dogs. I, on the other hand, know nothing about being a fiancée. Your fiancée.”

“What’s to know?” he said. “I’ll put a ring on your finger. We’ll gaze at each other adoringly.”

A ring? She hadn’t even considered that. And the gazing adoringly part seemed very dangerous, indeed.

“I think the family reunion would be too much,” Krissy said carefully, “A whole weekend? It just gives too many opportunities to expose the fact we don’t know each other.”

“But by then, we will.”

“We will?”

“Sure. We’ll do a few dog training excursions, I’ll take you out for dinner a couple of times. We’ll know everything there is to know about each other.”

That sounded scary!

“Then we’ll go to the reunion, we’ll cream all the competition in the water fight, eat too many hot dogs, sing by the campfire, show off your ring.”

The picture he painted called to a little girl inside her who had craved exactly that kind of family and that kind of gathering. She had seen such things in movies and read about it in books. Kids at school talked about lives that made her aware that her life—her parents’ battles followed by periods of crushing silence—was not normal.

Aunt Jane had known how wrong it all was. She had taken Krissy out of that situation as often as possible. Overnight sleepovers at her great little NYC apartment, trips, excursions, outings. And she had always assured Krissy, whenever they were alone together, that the home situation was not her fault. And yet how could it not be?

How could it not be, when Krissy had been the reason—the accidental pregnancy—that had brought her parents together?

“Besides,” he continued, oblivious to Krissy embroiling herself in distressing thoughts, “we’ll bring the dog. You’d be amazed how a dog becomes the center of attention. My sister won’t notice much else.”

Krissy was not convinced the reunion could be a good idea. “I think maybe just dinner to introduce me to Mike and Theresa,” she said. “Show them the ring. You can claim I had a previous engagement for the reunion dates.”

“Let’s just see how it plays out,” he said. “Go get that leash and we’ll start.”

It was all wrong. Everything about this whole encounter was wrong. He was taking charge completely. He was triggering forbidden longings in her. She had thought it would be fun, but she felt tense. It was supposed to be the prelude to their engagement, but it felt businesslike and calculated. She had dressed up for it!

What was troubling her was it felt as if Jonas Boyden was here out of some unfathomable sense of responsibility for her.

He had been 100 percent correct in his assessment of their situation when he had refused her initial offer to be his fake mate.

It could get complicated between them. Fast.

CHAPTER SEVEN

KRISSY WONDERED IF Moo-Moo’s was still on the table? It was such a small thing. It already felt way too large. If it was still on the table, she planned to be shocking. She planned to order the most exciting thing on the menu. She seemed to recall, vaguely, there was an item called Earth Orgasm on the menu, a concoction of organic yogurt, nuts and bananas.

That was ridiculous. She was being ridiculous. Embarrassingly so. She didn’t even like nuts! And she wasn’t all that fond of yogurt, especially in an ice cream shop.

But it was just more evidence you could not keep things uncomplicated with a man like Jonas Boyden. Particularly if you let your mind wander to orgasms in any form. Krissy did not like being ridiculous.

She was already nervous about the family reunion and it was nearly a month away!

So the best thing to do would be to tell him the deal was off. She needed to put an end to this now. She didn’t need him to help her with the dog. There were thousands of books out there. And videos. She could ask him to recommend a few.

She opened her mouth to say it.

“See?” Jonas said quietly. “This is what you want. Do you see how relaxed he is? That’s what you reward.”

He dropped down on his haunches in front of the dog and took the big mug between both his hands. He massaged with his palms and his thumbs, pressing deep circles into the scarred face of the dog. Crusher-Pansy-Hans-Louie’s tongue fell out of his mouth and he closed his eyes. A moan of pure bliss escaped him.

A light seemed to be shining out of both of them, man and beast.

Krissy watched for a moment, utterly entranced.

She sighed. She would just have to put her own best interests on hold for the good of her dog, she told herself as she went and got the leash.

* * *

A rare thing had happened to Jonas when Krissy had opened her door.

He’d been caught off balance, and not entirely because of the dog trying to leap at him. He’d been expecting the woman from the other night, the one with the frumpy sweater and shoes and messy hair and makeup-free face. The one who had brought out a surprisingly protective side of him. And not just because of the dog, though it was more than evident she was in over her head with the mutt.

But his protective inclinations had surfaced more because of what she had said about family and fun being a novel concept. About her family being a war zone.