Chapter 17 Josie
JOSIE
The moment we got into the party, Killian was being pulled away. I made my way to the bar and ordered a lemon drop from their pre-selected list.
“Josie Summers? Is that you?”
I turned to find the voice only to see it coming from Brian, my college crush.
“Brian? What are you doing here?”
“I work here. What about you? Last I heard, you were still living in the city.”
I grabbed my drink from the bar and stepped to the side so others could order. “Um, I was until a couple months ago.”
“What brought you back?” He was smiling at me, completely oblivious.
“Um, I came back to run Magnolia Inn.”
“Oh, isn’t that the place in Keene or something?”
I tried to hide my huff. Either this guy never paid attention before, or he didn’t care to remember.
“Lake Placid, ass.” Killian’s voice came up behind me.
“Whoa, Killian. What’s with the attitude?”
“Pretty sure it hasn’t been too long for you to remember something as important as that.”
“What makes it so important?”
I winced, and Killian seemed to catch it. He slid his hand along my lower back.
“You’re a fucking idiot.” Killian quipped, shaking his head.
“Dude, seriously. What the hell is your problem?” Brian turned his attention back to me. “Is it like a family place or something?”
“Yeah.” My voice was barely intelligible. “It belonged to my mom and aunt. Now, my aunt and I run it.”
Brian slowly nodded, and it was apparent that he still didn’t fully grasp it. “Oh, well, that’s awesome. Maybe I’ll come down and check it out, and we can go get dinner or something?” Brian had turned his body slightly, as if trying to block Killian.
“She’s already got herself someone, Brian.” Killian cut in, gripping my waist in a way that Brian couldn’t ignore.
“You? Seriously?”
“Yep.”
I looked at Killian to see where he was going with it before I said anything, and saw that he was smirking at Brian. When he realized I was looking at him, he looked at me with nothing but a smile.
A genuine smile. Not one reserved for two people pretending to date.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see where Killian would take it because the entire reason for the fake dating walked up to us.
“You seriously brought her?” Tiffany’s disgusted tone ripped through, and my eye literally twitched shut because of her screeching.
“Tiffany,” Killian deadpanned, but kept his eyes on me.
“I can’t believe you brought her,” she essentially repeated.
“Why? You know something?” Brian interjected.
“Yeah, there’s no way in hell these two are actually together.”
“I thought the same. The entire time I’ve known the two of them, which is since college, they’ve hated each other.”
“I fucking knew something was off with you two.”
“Tiffany, is it?” I felt my blood boiling. “Why don’t you mind your own fucking business?”
“You two are nothing but a joke. Even your initials make up ‘JK’.” She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, just like we were still back in school.
“Shit, it does.” Brian roared.
I rolled my eyes at them.
Killian brought his lips to my ear, whispering, “Want to make them shut the hell up?”
“Yes, please.” I groaned.
“You know what, Brian?”
“What? Going to try to say you’re in love with each other or something?”
“Actually, yes,” Killian answered, but his eyes were still glued to mine. “I’ve been in love with Josie Summers for over fifteen years.”
“She fucking hates your guts!” Brian nearly cried out.
“You know time can change things, right?” I quipped, barely looking at Brian from the corner of my eyes. “Especially when you learn the truth.”
I looked back at Killian and saw his eyes fill with questions. Questions I’d answer later. At that moment, I took a leap and did the one thing I never thought I’d do.
I pulled his face to mine and pressed my lips against Killian Montgomery’s lips.
The lines between fake and real just blurred.
No, they fucking disappeared, and I didn’t care anymore. I wasn’t keeping Killian out anymore. I wasn’t going to deny what I was feeling.
Everything disappeared around me, and the last thing I heard was both Brian and Tiffany groaning and whining as I pressed into Killian with my entire body.
I wrapped my hand around the nape of his neck, fisting my fingers into his short, dark hair.
Killian didn’t hesitate. He gripped my hips with each hand, holding tight like he was terrified to let go, or couldn’t let go.
The passion and desire that flowed through our kiss surprised me, but also felt so damn right.
I held on as long as I could before I had to catch my breath.