Chapter 11
Clare
Parties and Stolen Kisses
The surprise anniversary party at Preston and Harmony’s house for Wes’s parents, was a hit. They were both surprised and had no clue the kids had been planning the party. The decorations screamed romance, winter, love, and holiday, all in one, and I, for one, was glad we had all taken the time to make them. It made everything just more personal.
I glanced around the room at all the couples and realized that Wes and I were the only two single people in the group. Even Angie brought a date.
Blowing out a breath, I made my way to the makeshift bar and asked for another glass of champagne. Once I had that in hand, I turned to the food table. Rory and Harmony had decided to keep the party simple with finger foods so that people could mingle and nibble at the same time. The cake, however, was beautiful, and I was dying for them to cut into it so I could try it. It was a Snickers cake. Their parents both loved Snickers, and my mouth watered every time I looked at the damn thing.
“If you keep looking at the cake like that, I’m going to start to get jealous,” Wes softly said as he came up behind me.
Letting out a soft groan, I replied, “When can we cut the cake? It’s sinful to tease everyone with it. And if I’m being honest, a tad bit cruel to keep us waiting for dessert like this.”
“Be honest with me,” Wes said, standing next to me now. “How badly do you want to run your finger through the caramel that is running down the cake.”
I put my fist up to my hand. “It’s taking everything I have not to do it. I mean, look at that thing! It’s practically begging for someone to taste it.”
“Okay, I have plan. I’ll keep a look out, you take this spoon and get a smidge of it. Then you keep an eye out for me.”
Laughing, I playfully elbowed him. “Stop it. I am not about to do that to your parents’ anniversary cake. We can wait.”
He sighed. “Can we, though? If I have to eat one more of those little meatball things, I’m going to explode. Whose idea was it to serve this kind of food? I’m a man…I need more than appetizers to hold me over.”
Turning to face him, I leaned in so no one else would hear. “I did see some chicken salad sandwiches in the kitchen.”
Wes raised his brows. “For real?”
I gave him a mock hurt look. “I would never lie about food.”
With a quick glance around, he whispered, “You go to the kitchen first, then I’ll follow.”
Before I turned to walk to the kitchen, he grabbed my hand. “Don’t eat them all!”
I rolled my eyes. “You seriously think I can polish off a dozen sandwiches in the time it will take for you to wait for me to get into the kitchen and follow after?”
Wes shrugged. “If you’re as hungry as I am…”
Spinning on my heels, I made my way through the crowd of people and to the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and nearly let out a scream as I shut it quickly. Turning to the doorway of the kitchen, I willed Wes to walk through. When he wasn’t there five minutes later, I started to walk out, only to bump into him.
“Oh my God! Where have you been?”
He sighed. “I got stopped by mother who introduced me to her friend Judith’s daughter, Candice. I had to make small talk with her. It would have been rude to say excuse me I’m meeting someone in the kitchen to eat some real food.”
I waved him off. “It doesn’t matter. Wait until you see what I found!”
“What? What did you find?”
Motioning him to the island, I said, “Sit down, I’ll get it.”
Wes sat down at one of the stools at the kitchen island as I opened the refrigerator and took out our secret meal.
When I heard him gasp, I grinned.
“Fried chicken.” We both said those magical words at the same time.
“Holy fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted something so badly before in my entire life,” Wes said as he rubbed his hands together and grinned. “This reminds me of when we would go camping as a family. Dad would always pick up fried chicken for the first night.”
I smiled. “That sounds like fun. I haven’t been camping in years.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Wes said with a soft smile on his face.
“While I was waiting for you, I found some paper plates so no one will ever know we were here!”
One of the wait staff that was hired to help with the food and drinks walked into the kitchen at that very moment, paused when they saw us, then simply went about filling his tray with more of the meatballs.
Once he was out the door, Wes and I both grabbed a piece of the chicken.
“A toast,” Wes said, holding up a drumstick. “To leftover fried chicken.”
I hit his drumstick with my own. “To leftovers!”
We both took a bite and moaned in unison.
“That’s good,” Wes said, a mouth full of chicken.
“I’ve got even better news.”
He stopped chewing. “Better than fried chicken?”
Nodding, I slid off the stool, opened the fridge again and pulled out cheesecake.
Swallowing hard, Wes pointed with his fork. “Is that…is that a cheesecake?”
Giggling like a little girl, I set it on the island. “Yes! A caramel one. And it’s all ours.”
“Wait? Are you sure this isn’t for the party?”
I drew back and gave him a look that said he was crazy. “Wes, they have the Snickers cake, why would they need a caramel cheesecake?”
He looked down at the box. “And it’s from the best bakery in Boston.”
“I know!” I practically cried out.
“No, wait. They have to have it for a reason. Maybe it is for the party? Or something else.”
Staring at the cheesecake, I replied, “It could be. Or it could just be extra.”
Wes met my gaze and grinned. “Fuck it. Let’s open it up now and eat some!”
He stood and got us each a fork while I set the box down on the island. “They probably just got this as a backup, just in case.”
“Exactly. We wouldn’t want it going to waste or anything.”
I shook my head. “Totally. I mean, we’re doing Harmony a favor by eating this cheesecake. Otherwise, she’d be staring at it and thinking, ‘oh man, I really want a piece, but I shouldn’t.’”
He pointed to me. “That so sounds like her.”
“I know!” I said as we both pushed our forks into the cheesecake. “To caramel cheesecake?”
“Hell yes, to caramel cheesecake!”
We both put the forks into our mouths at the same time and I nearly died on the spot.
With my mouth totally full of cheesecake, I said in a muffled voice. “Oh my gosh…so good.”
Wes looked like he was about to melt into a happy puddle. “Best cheesecake ever.”
There was nothing better than fried chicken and the best cheesecake in Boston. And it was all ours.
“You know,” Wes said as he swallowed another bite of cheesecake. “Maybe we should tell my mom we’re dating.”
The drumstick froze midway to my mouth. “I’m sorry?”
He wiped his mouth with a paper towel before diving back into the chicken. “Yeah, if we’re going to do this dating thing, why not make the most of it?”
“The most of it?” I asked, setting my chicken down on the plate.
“It’s pretty damn clear my mom is not going to give up on trying to get me to go out with one of her friends’ daughters, or a friend of a friend’s daughter. If we say we’re dating, then she’ll get off my back about dating someone.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Wes,” I replied, frowning at the idea of lying to friends and family. “Rory is going to know it’s not true, then Finn will put two and two together and we’ll end up making things more complicated than they need to be.”
He leaned back. “How so? And why do you think Finn and Rory would question it? They both know we’ve been spending more time together. Wouldn’t it just be natural to explore something more?”
I shook my head. “Why can’t we just tell the truth from the get-go then? Why pretend? Just tell Rory and Finn we’re pretend dating so that you can win your ex-girlfriend back?”
Something moved across his face, and for a hot second I thought it was regret. Was he regretting the plan, that it wasn’t working fast enough? I wanted to ask him, but I pressed my mouth into a tight line instead.
“You want me to tell my family I talked you into helping me make Mandy jealous by pretending that we’re together? My mother would kill me, my brothers would never let me live it down, and who the hell knows what Angie would do. How hard could it be to convince everyone we’re dating?”
“It doesn’t feel right lying to them.”
“And pretending we’re only ‘dating’ to get Mandy back does?”
“That’s different,” I said with an uncomfortable laugh. It wasn’t different, and I knew it as well as Wes knew. The whole pretending to be with Wes to make his ex jealous was something I was only going along with because it allowed us to spend time together. I was having fun hanging out with him, and a part of me didn’t want to lose that. Did it make it right what we were doing? Not at all. The bottom line was we were lying, and the outcome of that lie would be to break up a couple.
Wes stared at me for a few moments. As if able to read my mind, he said, “What if we weren’t pretending to date.”
The invisible weight that had been sitting on my chest lifted slightly.
“What do you mean?”
Wes rubbed at the back of his neck before he looked at me. “We date for real.”
My heart started to pound in my chest, and before I could ask about Mandy and the plan, he spoke first.
“I mean, I enjoy spending time with you, I think you enjoy spending time with me. So if that makes Mandy jealous, then that’s all the better.”
I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut.
“And if she leaves Ron?” I finally asked.
Wes looked everywhere but at me.
When he didn’t say anything, I stood. “We should probably clean up this mess before they send someone to find us.”
He let out a tired-sounding laugh. Was he regretting this whole thing? What had he been thinking about dating for real. What would that even mean? Would we kiss? Would we have sex? My lower stomach pulled with desire, and I quickly pushed those thoughts away.
Wes cleared his voice. “Yeah, I think I ate too much of the cheesecake, I feel sick.”
Laughing, I pointed to the half-eaten cheesecake. “You ate nearly half of it.”
He smiled as he looked at the dessert, then to me. His smile slowly faded and those eyes of his grew darker as he stared at my mouth. Wes took a step closer, and everything inside of me screamed to turn away from him, but I couldn’t. I was frozen in place. My heartbeat started to pound in my ears, and my breath grew faster.
“You’ve got a little cheesecake there on the side or your mouth.”
My tongue darted out at the same time his finger moved to swipe it away. We both drew in a breath at the contact, and before I knew what was happening, Wes was in front of me. A wicked smile on his face as he leaned down and whispered, “Let me get that for you.”
His tongue darted out and licked at the corner of my mouth as I reached for the island to hold myself up. Wes slid his arm around my waist, pulled me to him, and covered my mouth with his. I instantly melted against his body and moaned when I could taste the cheesecake on his tongue. It was like a second round of dessert—but only better.
Wes’s other hand went to the back of my neck where he held me in place as he deepened the kiss.
What in the hell are we doing? Someone’s going to walk in and see us kissing.
Ignoring the inner battle in my head, I placed my hand on his chest and my brain told me to push him away, but my heart won out, instead. I held onto him as if he was a lifeline that I needed to stay afloat in the storm of emotions.
Wes walked us back until I hit the counter, and for a second, I thought for sure he was going to pick me up and set me down on it. Before either of us could do anything, a voice cleared from the other side of the kitchen and we both froze.
Slowly drawing away from me, Wes and I opened our eyes and locked our shocked gazes. Both of us looking at each other as if asking what in the hell had just happened. I could see Wes was as confused as I was. That kiss had been so different from the others. We had both wanted it, but for the same reasons? There was no time to think about what the kiss meant, because what was about to happen next was going to change everything.
“Oh. My. God.” Angie gasped.
“How long has this been going on between the two of you?” Wes’s mom asked in a completely shocked voice.
Wes closed his eyes and dropped his head slightly in response to his mother’s question.
My teeth instantly dug into my still-tingling lip as I gently pushed Wes back and he turned around, giving us both the opportunity to see that it wasn’t just Angie and Jennifer standing there, but Finn, Rory, and Harmony. Rory and Angie were the only two grinning, as if something they had already known about had suddenly become news to everyone else.
“You two?” Finn asked, pointing between the two of us. Then he slowly nodded his head and laughed. “No wonder you were pissed and got so drunk when I said we were trying to set Clare up with Alex.”
“What?” I asked, confusion in my voice as I looked at Wes, who refused to look at me.
“I knew you guys were hanging out more, but this? How could you not tell me, Clare?” Rory asked, her smile now gone and her arms folded over her chest, staring at me like I had been keeping the biggest secret in the world from her.
I was about to come up with some excuse about why we were kissing when Wes took my hand in his. He cleared his throat, and I knew he was about to do something he’d regret. We’d both regret.
“We’ve been keeping it a secret.”
“Why?” Jennifer asked. “My goodness, Wes, I’ve been trying to set you up with girls to date, and poor Clare has had to watch it. You’ve made a fool out of me.”
“What?” Wes and I said at the same time.
“No! No, it’s not like that at all, Mrs. Ward,” I quickly said.
“We just started dating recently. We’ve been spending more time together, the shopping trip for the anniversary decorations, the drive home that night, me getting sick and Clare staying with me. We like spending time together,” Wes said, reaching out for my hand and tugging me to stand next to him. “And we have slowly been exploring things.”
Angie laughed. “Well, judging by the way you two were kissing, I’d say things are going well.”
I let out a bubble of nervous laughter, then quickly covered my mouth with my hand. I could feel my face turning redder by the second.
Finn’s eyes bounced between me and Wes, and I couldn’t tell, but I swore he was attempting to figure out if we were lying or telling the truth.
“Who ate almost all of the cheesecake?” Harmony cried out.
“Wes!” I replied as he whipped his head and stared at me as if I had just hung him out to dry. All I could do was shrug.
“We both ate it,” Wes stated as he walked back over to the table, picked up the fork, and ate another piece. My mouth watered, but not because I wanted a bite. Oh no, it was because I was instantly jealous of the freaking fork in his mouth.
“Wes! Clare! I bought that for a luncheon I’m having tomorrow.”
“We thought it might have been an extra dessert,” I weakly added.
Angie huffed. “Did you not see the Snickers cake?”
Wes clapped his hands. “Speaking of, when are we going to cut into that bad boy. I’m dying for a piece.”
“That’s what we were coming in here for, to get you two so we could cut the cake,” Rory said. “We expected to see you in here bickering.”
“Not pawing each other.”
“Angela!” Wes’s mom said, her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face directed to her daughter. “That’s enough. Now leave these two alone. I think it’s wonderful that they’re dating! I always thought you two made a cute couple. So much better than Mandy, I’m sorry to say.”
I could practically hear Wes moaning in his head.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Why don’t you all go on out and I’ll quickly clean up the kitchen and join everyone for the cake cutting.”
“That’s a great idea,” Wes said as he began to usher his family out of the kitchen. “Don’t be long…sweetheart.”
I grimaced at the endearment. He couldn’t have made it sound more awkward if he tried.
Once nearly everyone was out of the kitchen, Wes turned back to me and smiled softly, and I could see it on his face. He was sorry we had gotten caught, but I wasn’t so sure he was sorry about the kiss.
Once he walked out, I dropped down onto the stool, and closed my eyes.
Picking up the fork Wes had placed in the cheesecake, I picked it up and took a huge piece of the cheesecake. Shoving it into my mouth, I slowly chewed until the taste of Wes Ward was finally out of my mouth.
My head then dropped to the table. “What have you gotten yourself into, Clare?”