They weren’t real, McKenzie reminded herself for the dozenth time in the past five minutes.

Literally, she kept telling herself, because it was easy to forget they were pretending when Ryder smiled at her with a certain look in his eyes.

Ryder wasn’t her boyfriend.

Despite her reminder, which had been for herself as much as for Ryder, he was smiling.

Why wouldn’t he be? It didn’t matter to him that they weren’t real, that the sexual tension building between them on the dance floor was a by-product of proximity, pretense and young healthy bodies rather than something more.

Her family all bought that they were a real couple.

Only, rather than being happy at how well her plan was working, she laid her head back against his shoulder and moved to the music with him in slow rhythmic movements and fought sighing.

Because they were doing such a good job pretending that they were convincing her, too.