Playing Pretend with her Brother's Best Friend: Spring Valley, #2

By Tamlyn Black

Wanted: hot, single male who doesn't scare easily needed for a six-week fake relationship.

Olivia Thomas loves her small hometown. She just wishes the people in Trinity would see her as more than the young girl who tragically lost her parents. She's sure that's partly why the eligible men in town never ask her out. That and the fact that her grumpy older brother scowls at anyone who even looks in her direction.

If she could just find someone who isn't intimidated by her big brother to be her fake boyfriend for a few weeks, maybe people would start looking at her differently, and her odds at finding an actual boyfriend might improve. Local vet Abe Kendrick is good-looking, well-known throughout the county, and as a friend of the family, he also knows her brother is usually more bark than bite.

She has a solid plan and the perfect candidate. What could go wrong?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tamlyn Black
• Release date: Sep 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223775621

Tamlyn Black

Fueled by coffee and carbs, Tamlyn Black spends her days running after her three amazing kids, a huge rescue dog whose superpowers are shedding and snoring, and two formerly feral cats.

Book preview

Prologue

Abe McKendrick slowed and checked his GPS again. Satisfied this was the right turnoff, he pulled onto a long road that had more dark and broken streetlights than working. He tamped down his unease and concentrated on reaching his destination as quickly as possible.

It had only been twenty minutes since Olivia Thomas called him and asked him to come and pick her up, but after having just spent six years studying to be a vet, Abe knew how quickly frat parties, especially those in houses off campus, could get out of hand. He didn’t know what the hell his best friend’s eighteen-year-old sister was doing at a frat party a hundred miles from their hometown of Trinity, but he was glad she’d thought to call him when she needed help. And she must need help. She wouldn't have called otherwise. She would never risk her brother Matthew discovering she was out drinking, and she must know there was no way Abe could keep this kind of thing from his best friend.

Matthew Thomas had raised his younger siblings, Olivia and Drew, since their parents died in a tragic small plane crash twelve years ago. He was known for being more overprotective than any other older brother in the county. In fact, he was known for being stricter than any of the parents in the county too.

He’d been surprised to see Olivia’s name pop up on his screen, especially after midnight, and even more surprised to hear she was in the city where he was finishing up his degree. His blood had run cold and then started to race with adrenaline when he’d heard the slight slur to her voice and realized his best friend’s baby sister was a little drunk and in trouble.

GPS said he should be coming up to his destination in a few yards, and sure enough, he could hear the base of a straining stereo through his open window. There was a house set back from the road lit up and teeming with young people in various stages of drunkenness. Cars were parked haphazardly along the long driveway and Abe had to slow down to ease his way through a few tight spots and around a few stumbling partygoers. He scanned the sides of the road and the small groups of people for Olivia’s blond curls.

Damn it, Olivia. Where are you?

The youngest Thomas was known for being strong-willed and a little adventurous, but he'd never known her to do anything like this. Matthew was going to flip when he found out.

Olivia had said she would wait for him outside, but it seemed like at least half of the party had spilled out into the yard and street. How had the neighbors not complained and called the cops?

A flash of blond caught his eye over at an old swing set. He quickly pulled over and double-parked. The party didn’t seem close to winding down, and if anyone wanted to get their car out and he was blocking them, they would just have to wait. The petite blond sitting alone in the corner of the yard was in fact Olivia Thomas, but she didn’t look anything like the Olivia Abe had watched grow up. She wore a tight denim skirt that rode up her thighs as she sat on the only swing still attached to the peeling metal frame. Her pale-blue crop top left her belly bare and the shoe-string strap showed off an expanse of golden skin.

Fuck!

Realizing he was checking out his best friend’s baby sister, he snapped his gaze up to her face and called himself all kinds of names under his breath as he strode across the patchy grass to stand in front of her. She was wearing more makeup than he’d ever seen her wear, and it made her look older than her eighteen years. But that was probably the point of it all.

Olivia, he said when she didn’t seem to notice he was standing there.

Abe! She smiled up at him, and one look from those moss-green eyes had the tension and frustration emptying out of him like water swirling down the drain after the plug has been pulled.

I knew you would come, she said on a long exhale.

Of course I came, he said. But what are you doing here? A loud bout of laughter and shrieks from the porch grabbed his attention for a moment.

"Anna said we should wait, that maybe her cousin will come back for us, but I told her you’d come and save the day. And here you are.

Anna Murray? That’s who you’re here with?

Yeah. She hiccupped. We’re in Portland to look at colleges, and Anna’s cousin brought us to this party.

Matthew let you come to Portland with Anna Murray? Something about this didn’t sound right. His overprotective friend would never have agreed to his baby sister running around Portland this late at night.

He wasn’t happy about it, but there’s a cattle sale this weekend. John was supposed to go, but he hurt his leg.

Is John okay? The old foreman on the Thomas ranch had been around since Abe and Matthew were kids. He was more family than employee. Abe knew that Matthew and the foreman butted heads over what jobs the older man should delegate to the younger hands or leave for Matthew.

He’s fine. Just cranky that he stepped in a hole and tweaked his ankle. She hiccupped, and the swing bounced a little. So Matthew went to the sale, and Anna’s mom arranged for us to stay with her sister in the city. Anna’s cousin said frat parties are the most important part of a college tour.

She hiccupped again, and Abe crossed his arms over his chest, feeling that anger start to creep back in. So where is this cousin?

Her boyfriend wanted to check out some other party. They said they would be back in twenty minutes, but that was a while ago.

Narrowing his eyes, he scanned the yard again and took in a deep breath. He didn’t know Anna Murray’s cousin, but he sure wanted to meet her and tell her what he thought of her ditching two eighteen-year-olds at a frat party.

Anna texted her and even called, but she hasn’t answered yet. Another hiccup shook the chains of the swing. Abe, the world is swaying a bit.

You’re on a swing, kiddo.

Oh, that’s right. Her giggle ended on yet another hiccup. You’re always so smart. Her expression got serious all of a sudden, and her full glossy lips pulled into a pout. Don’t call me kiddo. I grew up while you were away.

No kidding.

Fuck. No!

Argh, you won’t tell Matthew about this, will you? He’ll be so mad. It’s like he forgot what it’s like to be eighteen. Before our parents died and he became our guardian, he used to have fun. I’ve heard stories about the things you guys used to get up to. She hiccupped again and shook her head a little, as if trying to clear her thoughts.

Olivia. He sighed, not liking this position he’d been so quick to rush into. Matthew is my best friend. We—

Well, we’re friends too, aren’t we? And you know how he gets.

Let’s just get you and Anna out of here. Where is she anyway?

She had to pee, so she went back inside. Olivia giggled and put a hand over her mouth, making the swing sway unevenly. Don’t tell her I told you she had to go pee. She’d die of embarrassment. Do you do know how many girls I know have a crush on you? She gazed up at him, back to looking serious and yet still sweet as hell. It’s because you’re so hot and so nice.

Hearing Olivia call him hot sent a jolt of electricity sparking through his veins.

What the actual fuck?

The noise of the party was a dull hum in his ears, like everything and everyone around him had been plunged underwater. He was not turned on by little Olivia Thomas calling him hot. He couldn’t be. And most certainly not when she was drunk. She didn’t know what she was saying. And if she did—

Nope.

He was not going to go there. He couldn’t. Matthew would kill