The Best Friend Bargain(5)

Danny couldn’t speak. Especially not when Mrs. L.’s entire face looked like one giant smile. Liv dropped her arms and twisted so they stood arm-to-arm. She laced her fingers with his. Besides her sweaty palm and shaking hand, he’d be hard pressed to find her looking nervous about what she’d just blurted out.

“That is wonderful news,” Mrs. L. said. She clapped her hands together and held them up as if in prayer.

Praying might be a good idea right about now.

“Congratulations. I can’t believe you two have been sneaking around without anyone knowing.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, then quickly dropped it back in.

Danny opened his mouth to say something, then shut it. He had no clue what he wanted to express, and he was worried the dismay simmering inside him would be evident in his voice. He didn’t like lying to sweet Mrs. L. Liv picked up the slack with, “We were taking things slow and trying to be very private. But when we got this little surprise”—Liv put a hand on her stomach—“we knew we were going to have to go public soon.”

Christ, he had no idea his best friend could lie so convincingly. And easily. When had she developed that skill? Combined with the new look and candid attitude, he wondered if he knew her at all anymore.

“How are you feeling?” Mrs. L. said to Olivia. Danny supposed that was a standard question, but the way Mrs. L. asked it, like she’d suddenly become deeply invested, had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.

“Not very well, actually.”

“I didn’t think so. You look pale.”

That’s because she’s making this crap up.

“Danny, stop dawdling out here with me and take your bride-to-be inside.”

Oh, so now he was the bad guy?

“Do you have any peppermint tea? It helps with morning sickness. Ginger does, too. Do you like ginger, Olivia? I’ll get you some fresh baked ginger spice muffins from the Beach Café as soon as I feel better.”

“Thank you,” Liv said. “And the house? Danny can—”

“Absolutely. We can talk about it later. Now go on.” Mrs. L. nodded toward the door. “I’m going to make a call and then go back inside.” She pulled out her phone and waved it over shoulder.

Great. Mrs. L. had the entire town—a town he loved and felt a part of—on speed dial, which meant by tomorrow morning everyone would believe Danny had a fiancé and a baby on the way.

“What was that?” he asked, annoyed at Liv for stirring up more trouble in two minutes than he had in the entire six months he’d lived in White Strand. He kept his personal life private, but she’d just opened him up for inspection under a small-town microscope.

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

“The lie you just told. Is that precise enough? Jesus, Liv, what were you thinking?” He knew the answer to that. She wasn’t. He’d helped bail her out of more missteps than he could count because she acted first, thought later. But now she was messing with his life. He didn’t like it.

She stared at the ground. “I wasn’t…I thought I could help you keep the house.”

“I don’t need your help.” He regretted his gruff reply the second she drew back.

Damn it. He hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings, but he didn’t need her compromising his reputation.

She sucked in her bottom lip, unexpectedly drawing his attention to her mouth and reminding him how he’d wanted to lick the frosted corner less than an hour ago.

“Funny, considering I’m pretty sure I just saved your butt.”

“By claiming me as your fiancé and baby daddy.” He met her gaze, and her sincere, forest-green eyes fringed with long dark lashes breathed life into her lie. Man, she was good.

Which meant how in the world was he going to get out of this mess?





Chapter Two

He wasn’t getting out of this mess. No. He was going to step knee-deep into it.

Because Liv was his best friend and he’d do anything for her.

And so far, all she’d said after she plopped down on the couch in the family room with a guilty look on her face was, “I’m pregnant.”

Danny’s fingers itched to punch a hole in the wall at the same time his heart told him to wrap his arms around her. He went with option three and sat on the opposite side of the L-shaped couch.

“Want to start at the beginning?” he asked.

She nodded. “But first, I am kind of freaked out that I was able to lie to your landlady so easily. I’m really sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me. Well, that’s not exactly true. All day I’ve been going over in my head how to ask you to marry me and also, this?” She pointed to the side of her head. “It’s a mess. I’m thinking like a lunatic. The woman sitting next to me on the plane told me it’s the pregnancy hormones. Not that that’s any excuse for lying. But I did have my fingers crossed behind my back.” She scrunched up her nose, her eyebrows pinched together. “That counts for something, right?”