Chapter 10
“Fake date Caleb? I’ll fake date him all the way to real.” ~ Maya
Maya
I wave to Caleb’s parents as they drive away. Caleb has his arm firmly wrapped around me and I’m melted into him. His earthy scent with undertones of spice surrounds me and I want to stay in this moment forever.
But I can’t.
Caleb didn’t even want me inside his cabin before his parents showed up. He definitely doesn’t want to be my boyfriend. We’re friends. Nothing more. Except for the one time in the library.
I slam my walls down before the memory invades my consciousness. The last thing I need to do is embarrass myself in front of my high school crush.
“Welp,” I say when the lights from his parents’ car can no longer be seen. “I guess it’s time to stage a break-up.”
He frowns down at me. “A break-up? ”
I roll my eyes. “You know. A break-up. As in what happens when a ‘couple’ no longer wants to be together.”
“You want to break up with me?”
I giggle. “We’re not dating, Caleb. We faked it for your mom, remember? Or did you get a head injury?” I pause. “Oh shit. Do you have a head injury? I was joking but is that why your mom was happy you have someone around while you’re injured? Do I need to get you inside? Should you be standing?”
I try to lead him inside but he growls. “I don’t have a head injury.”
“Phew.” I drag the back of my hand over my forehead. “I was freaking out there for a minute.”
A minute? Snort. I’ve been freaking out since the moment Nova mentioned Caleb could be seriously injured.
He drops his arm and motions to the door. “We should probably discuss this inside.”
Inside? I clamp down my muscles before I jump for glee. Caleb is letting me inside his cabin when his parents aren’t around. Take that, progress! I’m winning today.
I stroll into the cabin as if I’m not jumping for joy on the inside. Be cool, Maya . I’ve never been cool in my life but today is a great day to start.
“Have a seat.”
I sit on the sofa and wait for Caleb to join me. He doesn’t. He paces back and forth in front of me. He’s obviously limping and in pain. There are brackets around his mouth.
“Caleb.” I pat the sofa next to me. “You should sit down.”
“I don’t need to sit. ”
Ah, big macho Caleb has arrived at the party. I let him be. I learned long ago you can’t win against a macho man.
“Okay. What do you want to discuss? If it’s about the break-up, I can break up with you. I’ll tell everyone I dumped you because you didn’t perform in bed.”
He chuckles and his dimple comes out. A dimple I want to trace with my tongue. How does his skin taste? How does it feel? I’ve imagined it a million times but I bet the real thing is better than my imagination. And I have a stellar imagination.
“You wouldn’t dare tell everyone in Smuggler’s Hideaway I can’t perform in bed.”
I cross my arms and narrow my eyes at him. “Oh yeah? Try me.”
He frowns. “You’re not telling anyone I can’t perform in bed since we’re not breaking up.”
I scratch my neck. “We’re not? You do realize we’re not actually dating, right?”
He sits on the coffee table in front of me. “I know. And I know I’m no prize.”
I rear back. “No prize? I’d like to revisit the idea of you having suffered a head injury.”
“I don’t have a head injury. But my leg is screwed.”
I reach for his hands and he squeezes mine. I’m too worried to enjoy the warmth of touching him. “How bad is it? What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. The injury is bad, but I’m working with a therapist and doing my exercises. I won’t always walk with a limp like some loser. ”
“Some loser? Do you think of yourself as a loser? You get injured protecting this country and you’re a loser? Maybe I should have tutored you in English as well as Math.”
He squeezes my hands once more before releasing me. I immediately miss his warmth.
“Don’t make me out to be a hero.”
“It’s official. I definitely should have tutored you in English. Thus far, you don’t understand the definition of loser or hero. Those are pretty basic words. Are you certain you passed English class in high school?”
He grunts. “I passed English. And I’m done talking about this.”
“But you never told me how you got your injury. What happened? How bad is it?”
“Need to know,” he grunts.
I let it go. After a decade of being pen pals, I’m intimately acquainted with the words ‘need to know’.
I hold up my hands. “I’m officially letting it go.” For now.
“Moving on. Let’s discuss dating.”
My heart skips a beat. Dating. What I wouldn’t do to date Caleb. He’s my dream man. Has been for decades. But we’re friends. He shoved me into the friend zone when he shipped out to basic training immediately after our high school graduation.
“We’re friends, remember?”
Ugh. I hate the word friends where Caleb is concerned. Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s important for a couple to be friends. But ‘only friends’? Ugh. No thanks .
“My family’s worried about me.”
My head spins from the change of subject but I roll with it.
“Why?”
He scowls. “Let’s just say they haven’t seen much of me since I returned to the island.”
In other words, he’s hiding from everyone. Not just me.
“Why are you hiding from your parents? They love you.”
Acid churns in my stomach. A big, gaping hole exists in my life where my family should be. I would give up all my romance books for my parents to love me. Instead, they’ve rejected me time and time again. They ignore me and pretend I don’t exist.
Caleb doesn’t respond so I keep going. “And your sisters love you, too. They miss you. They want to spend time with you.”
He smiles and his dimple comes out again. How he can look so rugged and cute and adorable at the same time is a mystery to me, but he pulls it off.
“Willow, Abigail, Clara, and Eliza are crazy.”
I don’t disagree. I don’t really know his sisters. But I’d love it if they were my sisters. I’d love any siblings but my mom couldn’t have children after me. Not after my dad—
I shove those thoughts away. I’m not thinking about my parents now. Caleb needs me. He deserves my attention. Not them.
“What I’m trying to say…” He pauses.
“Yes?”
“I think we should fake date to stop my family from worrying about me. ”
It’s a good thing I’m sitting because his words would have knocked me off my feet if I were standing. Holy mermaids! He wants to date me.
Fake date, I correct myself.
Whatever. Fake dating still means spending time with him. It means he’s not embarrassed to be seen with me. The girl with more curves than the ocean has waves.
I inhale a deep breath and calm myself before I jump him. We’re merely pretending to date. Pretending to date doesn’t mean I get to strip his clothes off and lick every inch of him.
Wait a smuggler minute! Does fake dating mean those things? I read romance novels. I know all about how couples fake date in public but get busy in the sheets in private. What does Caleb want?
“Define fake dating.”
“We’ll pretend to be a couple in front of my family.”
“How is this supposed to work? You just admitted you’re avoiding your family.”
He grunts. “There’s no way I can avoid them any longer. Especially not when they think you’re in the picture.”
My stomach warms. I’m in the picture. Little old me.
“Okay. How does this work?”
“Simple. Whenever I’m forced to meet my family, you come with and act as my buffer.”
I’ll be his buffer whenever he needs it. I’ll be whatever he needs from me.
I should probably set ground rules about touching and kissing. It’s what a romance heroine would do .
But I’m no fool. If Caleb wants to break the ‘fake dating’ rules and kiss me or touch me, I won’t say no.
I stick out my hand. “You have a deal.”
He reaches for my hand but I draw mine away. He raises an eyebrow.
“And you’ll open the door when I come by with a care package from now on.”
I stick out my hand again. He hesitates.
“Promise you won’t come every night.”
Dang. He figured me out. I’d be here every night playing girlfriend if he’d let me.
I roll my eyes. “I have a very busy life. I don’t have time to be here every night.”
Lies. Lies. Lies.
He places his hand in mine. It engulfs mine and makes me feel tiny. It’s a new feeling. I like it. More than like it if I’m being honest. But apparently, honesty is not my thing at the moment.
“We have a deal.”
I can’t help the smile from crossing my face. This is going to be awesome. I get to spend time with my crush and there will be no more doors shut in my face.
You should protect your heart.
I ignore my inner voice. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.