Chapter 7
Wes
Fake Dating and Coffee Shops
Leaning against the doorframe of my bedroom I stared at Clare asleep on the sofa. She looked so damn beautiful, and the fact that she stayed the night because she was worried warmed my insides more than it should.
I slowly let out a breath and made my way to the kitchen. I needed a cup of coffee like I needed my next breath. After making a cup, I walked over to the sofa only to find Clare was still sound asleep, so I made my way back to my bedroom and out to the balcony. It was a cold morning, but the fresh air felt good and eased the pounding in my head.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see it was a text from my mother.
Mom: Wes! I met the most amazing young woman last night and I told her all about you. I really think you would like her. She does the same thing as you! Stocks! I gave her your number. She should be calling you today!
Groaning, I closed my eyes. “Why, Mom? Why?”
Since I’d been back in Boston, my mother has introduced me to at least a dozen women, all with the hopes that her oldest son will settle down. I’d already been on three blind dates simply so my mother would get off my back. She was hell bent on saddling me down like my two younger brothers.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat on the balcony. My coffee had long ago turned cold, and it was getting to the point where I couldn’t feel my own fingers and toes. I slipped back inside, and the smell of something amazing instantly hit me.
When I made my way back into the living room, I saw Clare in the kitchen. She was moving about like she had cooked in my kitchen a million times. Sensing me, she glanced over her shoulder.
“You made it through the night.”
I smiled. “You didn’t have to stay and check on me every hour, Clare.”
“How did you know I was checking on you?”
Laughing, I slid onto the stool at the kitchen island. “Your phone alarm went off every hour and woke me up. Then I could feel your creepy presence standing over me. Did you put your hand in front of my face once to check for oxygen? Was a mirror under my nose next?”
She laughed and it sent a shiver through my entire body. “I did! I wanted to make sure you were breathing. You called me Chanel last night. I figured you hit your head harder than you realized.”
The fact that she hadn’t brought up the kiss wasn’t surprising. Especially after the shitty thing I said after it happened. But I had to say something to douse the fire that was building between us.
“I think it was more alcohol than anything. What are you doing?”
She focused back on the skillet. “I made an omelet. I hope you don’t mind. I have to eat breakfast or I’m dead to the world. I made one for you as well.”
“That was nice of you, thank you.”
Shrugging, she replied, “It’s your food. I should be thanking you. Have you heard from Preston about your car?”
“Um, yeah, he called me earlier. He offered to drive it in, and Harmony would follow him.”
“Oh, that works out good for you then.”
I nodded. “So, the sports car you were driving last night?”
“It’s my boss’s. He never drives it, and he told me anytime I wanted to use it I could. Plates?”
Standing, I made my way over and took out two plates. I also took out two glasses and pulled the orange juice out of the fridge.
I watched as Clare cut the omelet in half, giving me one side and her the other. She then put a piece of toast on my plate, one on hers.
“Hope you don’t mind I buttered the toast already.”
“Don’t mind at all, thank you.”
She brought the plates over to the small table and I brought the juice.
“Did I even have enough stuff to make an omelet?”
Rolling her eyes, she nodded, then took a bite of her food. I watched as she ate it, absolutely enjoying every moment of it. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Good?”
She winked and my heart tripped over itself.
“It is, if I do say so myself. I just sautéed up some bell peppers, an onion, and then added some cheese and seasoning.”
“It’s really good,” I said as I wiped my mouth.
We ate in silence until we were both finished. Clare stood to take the plates and I stopped her. “You cooked, I’ll clean up.”
She gave me a soft smile. “Okay. I’m going to just go splash my face with some water.”
“Sure, make yourself at home.”
Clare headed to the guest bathroom while I rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. Her phone was sitting on the counter, and I picked it up to move it so no water got on it. Right at that moment a text came through. She didn’t have her screen locked, so the text was right there.
Alex: Dinner tonight would be amazing. Do you want to meet, or should I pick you up?
A strange feeling swept over my body, and I suddenly felt very hot. Putting her phone back down, I loaded the last of the breakfast dishes and headed to the sofa and sat down. Clare had already put the pillow and the blanket back up.
“Thank you. I had to wash my face and get yesterday’s makeup off.”
Standing, I turned to her, and it felt like someone has sucked the air right out of my lungs. There was Clare, no makeup, her hair up in some sloppy-looking bun that looked perfect on her, and she took my breath away. Her beauty was natural and to me she looked better without any makeup on. Mandy would never let me see her without makeup. Ever.
Clare walked over and grabbed her phone. She read the text message and smiled. I looked away and stared out the large glass doors toward the harbor.
“Did you need me to take you anywhere?” she asked.
I was about to tell her no, then decided against it as a plan started to work its way together.
“Would you mind driving me up to the office? I left some paperwork there and I really need to work on it today to give to a client tomorrow.”
“Don’t mind at all. Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, just let me grab my keys and wallet.”
Heading into my bedroom, I picked up my phone and saw I had a missed call from my mother. Rolling my eyes, I pushed my phone into my pocket, grabbed my stuff, and headed back out to the living room.
“Ready.”
I motioned for Clare to lead the way. Once we were in the sports car and on our way to the office I shared with Finn, I asked her about the car.
“So, your boss just let’s you use this whenever you want?”
“Pretty much. I don’t use it that often because I don’t want to take advantage of his generosity.”
“That’s nice of you.”
She shrugged. “It’s the right thing to do.”
I nodded. Before I knew it, we were at the office.
“Did you want to come in or wait here?”
Looking at her phone, she replied, “I’ve got some texts and emails to answer so I’ll just wait here.”
Forcing a smile, I opened the door and jogged toward the office. Knowing one of those texts were from Alex, the nerd. Once inside, I searched my desk for the file I was looking for until I found it. I also took the sheet of paper I had in my desk drawer and put it in the file.
Heading back out to the car, I slipped in and found Clare was smiling at her phone while typing.
“What’s the smile for?”
“Nothing,” she quickly said, setting her phone down. “Anywhere else?”
“Would you mind stopping for coffee?” I asked as I placed the file in the backseat.
“Why didn’t you just make some at your house?” she asked, her nose all scrunched up.
“I did have a cup. You were sleeping when I made it. Now, I’d like another cup. There is a great coffee shop right around the corner. We can walk.”
She looked like she was about to say no when I added, “They have amazing tea.”
With a long, overly dramatic exhale, she turned off the car. “Fine.”
We both got out of the car and started to walk down the street. It wasn’t as cold as yesterday, thankfully, so it was actually a pleasant walk.
“I had the craziest dream last night.”
Clare glanced my way. “Oh yeah? What was it about?”
I met her gaze and was struck by the starburst at the center of those baby blues. “We kissed.”
Tripping, then righting herself, she started to cough.
“Christ, only you could trip and make yourself cough.”
I held onto her arm before she jerked it away. “Do you mind!”
Holding up my hands, I laughed. “Whoa, I was trying to help you so you didn’t fall.”
Clare turned and glared at me. “Why are you such a…”
Raising my brow, I asked, “A what?”
Turning her head to the right, then left, she stormed off.
“Um, Clare? You walked past the coffee shop.”
She spun on her heels. “Ugh! You are so frustrating.”
“What did I do? I just said I had a dream we kissed.”
Before she got to the door, she looked like she was about to say something, then pressed her lips together into a tight line.
“What? What happened last night?” I asked with an edge of uncertainty in my voice.
Clare stood ram rod straight, lifted her chin, and lied through her teeth. “Nothing. Nothing happened. You came home, went to your bedroom, and passed out on the bed.”
I nodded. “Huh. That dream felt awfully real.”
Her cheeks turned red, and before I could say anything else to fire her up, I heard a familiar voice call my name.
“Wes?”
Clare and I both turned to see who it was…although I already knew who it was.
“Mandy?”
We both said it at the same time. How in the hell did Clare know this was Mandy? I looked back at Clare with a confused look. She shrugged and said in a lowered voice, “I, umm, lucky guess. Plus, she’s your type.”
That caused me to pull my head back. “I don’t have a type.”
Clare let out a humorless laugh, leaned in and whispered, “You forget I saw your latest one-night stand leaving your apartment recently. Skinny, looks like a model, is willing to sleep with you. You have a type, Wes.”
Mandy walked up with a smile on her face. “Fancy meeting you here. Wes, are you seriously following me around?”
“Wow!” Clare said as she gave Mandy a once over.
Glancing at Clare and barely even acknowledging her, she focused back on me.
“No, Mandy. Clare and I stopped in to get coffee. My office is right down the road.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Ron is meeting me here.”
Clare folded her arms over her chest. “Oh, this should be fun.”
Looking annoyed, Mandy asked, “Who are you?”
Before Clare could answer, I blurted out, “This is Clare, my girlfriend.”
Mandy looked shocked, Clare looked…well…she looked like she was going to rip my balls off and shove them down my throat.
“Girlfriend? I see,” Mandy said as she gave Clare a once over. “Where did you meet?”
Clare and I looked at each other. When it was clear she wasn’t going to offer up anything, I did.
“Clare is Rory’s best friend. Rory is Finn’s wife.”
Mandy looked surprised again. “Finn is married?”
I smiled. “So is Preston.”
“Well, goodness. How is Angie?”
I kicked at nothing on the ground. “Good. She’s in college and doing well.”
Mandy ran her tongue over her lips as she glared at Clare. “So, tell me, Clare, how long have you been dating Wes?”
Without even blinking, Clare said, “About three months now. We’re one of those enemies to lovers’ kind of story. We couldn’t stand each other when we first met.” She looked at me and plastered on the fakest smile I’d ever seen. “Honestly, I’m not sure we even like each other now, but I think it makes things better in bed, so I keep him around.”
It was my turn to cough.
Mandy’s mouth dropped open and she turned to Wes. “Um…the flowers?”
“I told you, it was simply just a gesture as a friend.”
A muscle in Clare’s neck twitched.
“Mandy, darling!”
The three of us turned to see a guy who couldn’t possibly be over twenty walking up to Mandy. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. Then looked at me and Clare.
“Friends of yours?” he asked.
I reached for his hand. “I’m Wes Ward, Mandy and I dated in high school and college.”
Clare covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile.
“Wes, well, it’s good to meet you. Mandy told me about you.”
Grinning, I asked, “All good things I hope.”
Clare let out a small groan.
Ron looked at Mandy, me, then back to Wes. “I guess so. I thought you lived in New York?”
“No, I moved back to Boston a year ago. Mandy didn’t tell you we ran into each other one night at a bar in town?”
If looks could kill, I would have been dead on the spot. Mandy was shooting me daggers.
Ron looked at Mandy. “No. She didn’t.”
“It was a long time ago, and I was with friends when I bumped into him.”
“Right, we…bumped…into each other.”
Clare grabbed my arm. “Wes, dear…est…we really need to be going. It was a pleasure meeting you both.”
She started to walk back toward the car when I stopped her. “Clare, hunny bunny, my coffee and your tea.”
Now it was Clare’s turn to shoot daggers at me. “Right. I forgot.”
I opened the door to the coffee shop and motioned for Clare to go in, then Mandy. Ron forced himself to smile at me as he followed Mandy in. Clare had stepped to the side so that Mandy and Ron could order first.
“What the fuck was that?” she hissed. “Your girlfriend? And hunny bunny? Seriously?”
Smiling, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her closer to me when Mandy glanced over her shoulder. “You didn’t see the way she looked at you when she walked up. She was jealous.”
Clare stared at me like I’d grown two heads. With her voice lowered she asked, “What fantasy world are you living in, Wes? She did no such thing. And what was all that…we bumped into each other one night?”
I shrugged. “We did. We bumped uglies.”
“Ugh,” she softly said as she reached to the side and pushed my hand away. “You are so gross. I can’t believe I even let you kiss me last night.”
Lowering my voice more, I said, “Ha! You lied earlier.”
Her face turned so red it was almost kind of cute.
“You knew it wasn’t a dream?”
“Of course I did.”
“Why did you lie then?”
I shrugged.
When Mandy and Ron were finished ordering and turned to face us, I drew Clare against me, put my finger on her chin and kissed her. I thought for sure she would pull away, instead, when I swept my tongue over her lower lip, she opened to me. The kiss was slow at first, then grew a bit more, and I swore I forgot everything and everyone around us. A voice cleared from behind us, and we both slowly drew apart and turned to see an older woman smiling.
“Young love. I remember those days. But you’re up next, so stop sucking face and go order, will you?”
Clare blushed and quickly made her way up to the counter where she ordered a chai tea Frappuccino. I ordered an americano.
After paying, I noticed Mandy and Ron standing off to the side whispering and smiling with one another. Clare was standing as far from them as she could, chewing on her thumb nail.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
She looked at me and let out a humorless laugh. “Are you daft? That’s twice you’ve kissed me. Why?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Seemed like a good thing to do at the time. And it’s part of our plan.”
Her mouth opened and a squeak of some sort slipped free. “A good thing at the time? And what plan? I told you I wasn’t having any part of that plan of yours.”
“Yeah. Last night you looked like you wanted to be kissed. So, I kissed you.”
Holding up her hand, she waggled her index finger at me. “Ohhh, no, sir. You said you wanted to kiss me, then you did. I had nothing to do with it. Then you insulted me.”
“Did I? I don’t remember that part.”
“Of course you don’t,” she replied as she rolled her eyes. “And what made this kiss necessary?”
I leaned in closer. “To make Mandy jealous.”
Something like hurt moved across her face, and I instantly wanted to take the words back when she averted her gaze.
“So it meant…nothing?” she asked so softly I could hardly hear her.
A part of me wanted to tell her that it had. That I had never experienced a kiss like that before, not even with Mandy. But I didn’t say that. The next words out of my mouth were cruel and were only meant to drive her away.
“Not for me. It didn’t for you, did it?”
She shook her. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
I pushed down the sudden feeling of nausea and glanced over to Mandy and Ron. His name was called, so he walked up to the counter. Meanwhile, Mandy made her way over to me and Clare. I could almost feel the energy coming off Clare. I reached down and took her hand, giving it a light squeeze. When she didn’t pull it away, the sense of relief nearly knocked me over.
Mandy stopped right in front of Clare. “It was so nice to meet you, Chloe.”
“Clare, my name is Clare.”
Mandy had done that on purpose.
She looked at me and tilted her head. “It was nice seeing you again, Wes.”
“You too.”
“Ready to go, darling?” Ron asked as he handed Mandy her coffee. With one last look at me, Mandy nodded.
“Enjoy the day, you two.”
Once they were out of the coffee shop, I let out the breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding. I looked down at Clare and she was still watching the door Mandy and Ron had left through.
“Clare! Wes!”
I jumped when the barista called out our names. Clare and I both walked up to the counter, and when I went to reach for my coffee, I realized we were still holding hands. Clare pulled hers free, took her tea, and turned on her heels.
“Thank you so much,” I said as I took my coffee and followed her out.
“Now what are we going to do?” Clare asked. “Your ex thinks we’re together.”
I shrugged. “Isn’t that part of the plan?”
“Like I’ve said a couple of times now, I never agreed to be a part of the plan?”
I frowned. “Are you sure?”
She looked at me. “And what if I run into her at dinner tonight with Alex because we’re going out this evening? It looks like we all live around the same area of town.”
Letting out a bark of laughter, I replied, “Boston is a huge city, Clare. I highly doubt you’ll run into her.”
We walked for a few moments in silence before I asked, “You’re really going out with that guy?”
“Yes,” she said right before sipping her tea. “He’s nice. He gives me compliments, and I think we’d get along great.”
I scoffed.
“What is your problem?”
Frowning, I said, “He doesn’t seem like the type you would go out with, that’s all.”
“Oh, so now you’re going to tell me my type since I pegged your type? How would you know what type of guy I would go out with anyway?”
Stopping, I turned to face her. “Because I pay attention, Clare. I listen to the things you like to do. You’re adventurous, carefree, will take risks to make a memory. This guy seems like he’s…well, to be honest, he seems kind of boring. I think you’ll get bored with him.”
I swore her eye twitched along with that vein in her neck.
“You couldn’t be further from the truth. Alex is a really interesting guy, and we have a lot of things in common. And I liked him. He’s cute, funny, and I’m excited to get to know him more.”
“Right. Well, you have fun with museum boy.”
Clare laughed. “Be careful there…you might come across as jealous.”
“Please,” I said with a scoff. “I have nothing to be jealous of. Besides, I could not care less who you date. I just need you to remember you’re playing a part when it comes to Mandy.”
She placed a hand to her heart. “Well, thank God for that! I was so worried I wouldn’t have your approval. And screw your plan, Wes, I’m not playing any part of anything that involves you!”
With a roll of my eyes, I walked up to the passenger side of the car and waited for Clare to unlock the door. The ride back to my place was silent and thick with something in the air that I couldn’t pinpoint, but whatever it was, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all.
Never mind the fact that I was starting to feel completely confused with these feelings for Clare.