From Friend To Fake Fiancé

“Kissing you. Acting like I’m your lover and pretending to know every single detail about your body?”

Jenna’s breath caught in her throat. “I bet you that I can fool anyone who looks at us,” she told Mac, trying to catch her breath. “So long as everyone thinks we’re an item, that’s all I care about.”

“I’ve never turned down a bet.” He continued to stroke her skin. Her collarbone, her jaw, the sensitive spot behind her ear. “What does the winner get?”

Jenna swallowed, forcing herself to focus. “If we pull this off, I win and you’ll owe me another favor, which I can redeem at any time.”

His brow quirked up. “And if I win?”

“You won’t. I plan to be very convincing.”

Mac’s warm breath tickled her cheek as he shifted. One palm slid up the side of her face, his fingers threading into her hair. “Then we’d better practice.”

* * *

From Friend to Fake Fiancé is part of the Mafia Moguls series: for this tight-knit mob family, going legitimate leads to love!

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Award-winning author JULES BENNETT is no stranger to romance—she met her husband when she was only fourteen. After dating through high school, the two married. He encouraged her to chase her dream of becoming an author. Jules has now published nearly thirty novels. She and her husband are living their own happily-ever-after while raising two girls.

Jules loves to hear from readers through her website, www.julesbennett.com, her Facebook fan page or on Twitter.

There’s no greater happily-ever-after than sharing the journey with your best friend. Love you, Michael.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

One

“All I need you to do is play the part of my boyfriend for the next week.”

“Let me get this straight. You had me fly to Bora Bora so we can make your ex believe you’ve moved on. We’ll be pretending to shack up in this romantic hut. And in the midst of all of that, you’ll be doing the flowers for your sister’s wedding?”

Okay, when Mac O’Shea phrased the question like that, the situation did sound rather ridiculous. But she had her reasons, damn it. Good reasons. Reasons that justified making her very best friend pose as her boyfriend.

Standing in the cozy hut that was her home for the next week, Jenna LeBlanc adjusted the strap on her favorite coral sundress and stared at Mac. “Listen, you love to travel and I’m giving you a free trip. Stop complaining.”

Shoving his suitcase out of the way with the toe of his shoe, Mac stalked toward her. Emerald eyes held her in her place, as if daring her to move until he got to the bottom of this. Mercy, that man was potent. Her best friend was sexier than any other man she’d ever encountered and now she needed him to pretend to be madly in love with her because she trusted nobody else. Sure. This should be no problem.

“I can afford my own damn trip.” He propped his hands on his hips as he stopped right before her. “I want to know why you didn’t tell me the full reason you needed me down here when you called.”

Humiliation? Fear? Too many emotions swirled around, leaving her more desperate than she’d like to be. The need to keep her sister’s wedding perfect and her mother’s past demons from creeping up had Jenna putting everything on the line. Heart, sanity...everything.

“Listen, Martin is still attending because he’s the best man,” she explained. “We broke up two weeks ago and he wants me back. He won’t take no for an answer. There’s no way to avoid him here, so that’s where you come in.”

Mac’s dark brows drew in as the muscle ticked in his square jaw. “You told me you broke things off with him, but you never said why.”

“Well, you were gallivanting around the world—”

“In Barcelona.”

“And you didn’t return my call when I tried to reach you.”

“Because I was in a meeting when you called and your message said to come here.” Mac sighed. “Now, tell me what the hell is going on and why we’re dating, because if we are, my family needs to know. My sister will be thrilled.”

Jenna narrowed her eyes. “Now is not the time to be snarky.”

Mac crossed his arms over his massive, broad, extremely chiseled chest. She couldn’t help but stare as the material strained across his shoulders. They may be only friends, but that never stopped her from eyeing the goods. Mac made thirty-two look damn sexy.

“Martin was screwing his assistant.”

It hurt to say those words. Not because she’d been madly in love with him; they’d only been dating a few months. But to know he didn’t feel she was worthy enough for him to break up with first? Did men not consider women’s feelings anymore?

“He was a jerk anyway,” Mac commented. “Want me to rough him up?”

She laughed, though she knew he wasn’t kidding entirely. Rumors of the O’Sheas’ infamous ways of conducting “business” were strong enough that his words rang true. Mac’s father, Patrick, had passed away less than a year ago and the man wasn’t known for his gentle hand or kind mannerisms. Mac’s brother Braden had taken over as head of the family, and he and his fiancée, Zara, were much more personable, but Braden was still a formidable presence. He wasn’t a man to mess with, either, but had more tact, self-control—and quite possibly more power—than Patrick did.