Truth or Dare: A Sweet Romantic Comedy Collection by Laura Burton (free ebook reader for ipad txt) 📗

“Are you kidding me? Nonna is here! All our aunts and cousins… I can’t lie to them all.”

Debbie shakes her head furiously, her hair swishing from side to side. “Please Kat…”

“Deb, it’s your wedding! If anyone thinks Ryder and I…”

“They’ll be all over you. Exactly.”

My eyes narrow as I study Debbie’s panic-stricken face. She’s hiding something. Whatever she’s up to, it’s not about diverting attention away from her.

“Okay. What is this really about?”

We stare at each other for a few minutes, then Debbie’s shoulders slump in defeat.

“We’re leaving.”

“Huh?”

“Mark has contacts through the paper. I landed an interview with a small press about having my own column on philosophy... And I got it.”

I sit up and beam at my sister, my chest bubbling up with pride. “Deb! That’s amazing news.” Debbie left college with a degree in Philosophy. Her brilliant brain has so far been wasted at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. My only confusion is what this has to do with my dare? And why she's staring at me with big, round eyes.

“Have you told dad? He’ll be so proud of you!”

Debbie shakes her head. “Kat. The job is in Tokyo.”

“Tokyo? The one in Japan?” I splutter. Debbie snorts and her face settles into a warm smile for the first time. “Do you know of another one?”

I whistle as I process the news. “This is big.”

“Please, Kat. I can’t face the whole family and their questions. You know how they get. They’ll wanna know about where we’re gonna settle down, if we're gonna have kids…”

“How long are you gonna be in Tokyo?” I ask, my throat constricting. The two of us have never been apart for longer than a week. The thought of my twin sister being on the other side of the planet brings tears to my eyes.

“It’s a twelve-month contract. After that... Who knows.”

“Right,” I say, trying to make sense of my thoughts. There's a jumble of emotions swirling around in my chest, and some of them aren’t even mine. Debbie grabs my hands. “Please do this for me. If the family thinks you and Ryder have gotten engaged, I can steer the conversations off me and Mark.”

“So, you haven’t told dad?”

Debbie nips her bottom lip. “I promise I’ll tell mom and dad. As soon as the wedding is over,” she squeezes my hands. “Please, Kat. I need you to do this.”

I suck in a breath and hold it for a moment. So I can't just pretend I’m engaged to Ryder, my twin sister wants me to make a big show of it. To be fair, when her news gets out, she’ll never hear the end of it from the family. Everyone already assumes we’ll both move back to Verona to settle down. And I can totally see why she doesn’t want the third degree from the whole family on her wedding day.

“Fine,” I say through an exhale. Debbie throws her arms around me and pulls me in for a hug.

“I owe you a million favors,” she says as we break apart.

Suddenly, we both jump at a rat-a-tat-tat on the window. I open the door with an excessive amount of caution but breathe out in relief when I see Ryder looking in at me. “Just letting you two know that everyone saw you turn up and they’re wondering why you’re not coming inside,” he says. His deep voice rumbles against my eardrums. “You’re just the person I need to see!” I say brightly. Ryder’s thick brows shoot up. “Really?”

I glance back at Deb and she gives me a grateful nod, then I take a deep breath.

“Yes honey, we’ve got to make our big entrance.”

Ryder

I’ve never known Katia to take something as trivial as a dare so seriously. She slides her arm through mine, clutches my bicep, and puts on her best impression of a loving smile. Her act is good enough to almost fool me. Almost.

I break eye contact with her briefly at the sound of a yelp just in time to see Mark swoop Debbie around in a circle before he pulls her in for a kiss. Then he looks up at me. “Your room key is at the desk. Go put on something sharp and meet us downstairs in an hour. We’ve booked the restaurant.”

“You’ve booked the whole restaurant?”

Mark howls with laughter. “Have you seen how many guests we have here? We’re gonna need the space.”

He plants kisses on Debbie’s cheeks, but she turns serious, looking at him hard. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone about…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t say a word.” He presses his index finger to his lips with a grin.

“A word about what?” I blurt. Mark jabs his thumb in my direction as he settles Debbie to the ground again. “See? I haven’t even told my best man.”

Neither of them seems inclined to clue me in though. They turn away, but Debbie shoots Katia a look over her shoulder. “Don’t take too long.”

Then the two of them walk off, talking to each other at a hundred miles an hour, while Katia locks up the car. I take her bag and she clutches my arm again. “Do you know what that’s all about?” I ask her. Her brows knit together as she hums.

“Well, we’re both lumped into this mess. So, I guess I can tell you,” she says, looking disgruntled. “Mark and Debbie are moving to Tokyo.”

“Wow. As in... Japan?” I ask. Katia’s face breaks into a grin at my reaction, but I can’t work out what I just said that's so funny.

“No one in the family knows… Yet.”

“Ah,” I say, connecting the dots. “We’re the diversion.”

“Bingo.”

We hover on the spot, looking across the parking lot as Mark and Debbie make their grand appearance at the entrance to the hotel. A rise of chatter fills the air and slowly, the crowd files into the lobby. I turn to look at Katia.

There's a strong sea air fanning her dark hair back like she’s in a shampoo commercial, and the streetlamps illuminate the shine of her lips. Feeling her body so