Chapter 12 #3
“We’re just going to head over to Mia’s place and then to the beach and to her bookstore.” Luke sidles next to me and wraps his arm around my waist.
I can see Rex staring at his hand and then smirking. I make eyes with him while leaning back into Luke.
Rex runs his hands through his short blond hair, and once again I’m reminded of how different they are in terms of looks.
Both of them are gorgeous, of course, but Rex is the typical surfer type with his dirty-blond hair and his bright blue eyes.
He resembles their mother, except for his build, which is strong and muscular, like his father.
Mr. Haverbrook was also a football player and was quarterback of the football team at the University of Florida when he was younger, which is why I think he gravitated toward Rex more than Luke, even though Luke resembled his father more.
“So, what’s the plan for tonight?” Rex asks. “Are you guys going to go for a special dinner to celebrate not having seen each other in a long time?”
“We’re going to hang out with some of our friends.” I frown.
Rex looks at me and laughs. “Weird flex, bro.”
“What does that mean?”
I can hear the tension in Luke’s voice and feel it in his touch as well.
“Not what I’d be doing tonight if I hadn’t seen my girl in a really long time. No way I’d want to go and hang out with her friends instead of banging the living daylights out of her.”
“Rex”—Andi presses her hand against his side as she turns around—“that’s really rude and uncalled for.”
“What? If we hadn’t seen each other in a long time, wouldn’t you want to bang me?” He reaches out and slaps her ass lightly. “You know you can’t get enough of tiring me out.”
“Well, yeah”—she giggles slightly—“but we’re not like everyone. Maybe they are saving themselves for marriage and not into going all night long like we are.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Luke says, gazing over at her, looking pissed and offended.
“It doesn’t take someone with superhuman vision to figure it out. We’ve all noticed that you guys don’t seem like you’re super affectionate with each other.” She shrugs.
“In what ways?”
“I don’t know. It’s not like you’re desperately in love and you can’t keep your hands off of each other. Not like me and Rex.”
Rex grabs her and pulls her into him. He pushes her back against the elevator wall and kisses her hard. I watch in horror as he reaches down and gives her boobs a quick squeeze and then pulls back. She giggles like a schoolgirl and taps him on the shoulder.
“Oh, Rex, honey, you’re so naughty.”
“What? I’m just saying, if you’re really into your girl, everyone knows it.
And when I look at you two”—he sniffs and sneers—“I’m not feeling it.
” He stares at me. “There are two types of men in this world. The kind you want to ride all night long and those you want to chitter-chatter with. I don’t care about idle talk, but I’ll have you panting like a motherfucker. ”
He waggles his tongue back and forth, and I try not to gag. Has Rex always been this crude?
“I don’t manhandle my woman just to make a point,” Luke says as he pulls me in tighter to him.
“But let me make this very clear to both of you. Mia is mine, and whether or not you think she’s mine because of the way we handle each other in public doesn’t mean anything because we know the way that we interact in private. Don’t we, darling?”
He looks down at me with adoration in his eyes, and I swallow hard because he’s looking at me so intensely and my body is shivering, and I think he might be about to kiss me.
I glance over at Rex, and then I look at Andi. They just stand there, looking like they’re judging us. Like they think Luke and I are asexual and boring. There’s no way I’m letting Rex get away with that diatribe, trying to put us both down. Like he thought I wished I could ride him.
I have no interest in riding you, prick, nor do I need your tongue anywhere near me.
I stand on my tiptoes, and I grab Luke’s head.
I press my lips against him and kiss him hard.
He wraps his arms around me and holds me tight, and he kisses me back passionately.
I feel his tongue pressing against my lips, and I part my lips, pressing myself into him when Rex slams his fist against the elevator. The sound makes us both jump.
“Get a room, guys.” Rex sounds pissed, and we spring back from each other.
I feel slightly off-kilter, and my heart races rapidly.
“What? We couldn’t resist,” Luke says, smirking at him. “Don’t tell me you have a problem with our need for touch and contact now.”
“I don’t have a problem with anything.” The elevator dings, and Rex pushes past everyone to exit in a huff.
“Sorry about my brother. He wasn’t raised like that,” Luke says and allows Andi to head out of the elevator before us.
I step out next, and then Luke follows behind. We make our way through the almost-empty lobby in silence. I suddenly remember that Luke has to get the key to the Jeep from the lobby.
“You forgot to get the key,” I say to him, breaking the silence.
“Ah, yes.” He looks at me, but he doesn’t head back inside. “That was pretty intense,” he says, gazing at my lips.
“It was definitely intense, but I think the kiss was definitely needed to make Rex and Andi realize we are really together.” I nod slowly.
“I agree,” Luke says solemnly. “I think we played the part well.”
“Yeah, we could be up for a Golden Globe soon.”
“I don’t know about that.” He grins. “Maybe one day.”
“Well, hey, I don’t know that I could have done it much better.”
“I don’t know about that,” he says with a grin. “It wasn’t bad, but I could tutor you to make your kisses just a little bit better.”
“How generous of you, Luke. You’d lower yourself from hedge fund manager to kissing coach? I’m sure I can find someone else—”
“There will be no one else touching those lips right now. Just me.”
His gaze darkens, and I swallow hard as I think about our kiss. It felt so sweet, so real … almost like we were really together.
You don’t want to be with Luke like that, Mia. This is just an act.
“Do you think that we are making a—”
“Don’t ask me again if you think we are making a mistake. I don’t want you to ask me that again for the rest of the summer, okay?” He frowns. “We’re already in this, Mia. We’ve already committed to this relationship for the summer. We can handle Rex.”
“But, Luke—”
“We’ve already made our decision, Mia. We said we are going to do this, so we do it right, and we stop second-guessing everything, okay? We do what we’ve got to do. Let’s make sure that Rex knows his place.”
“I suppose you’re right. I just … I just don’t want the lines to become so blurred that we get confused ourselves.”
“Not going to happen. We’re Luke and Mia. We know each other better than most married couples.”
“In some ways, but not in all ways …”
“We could learn each other in all ways as well.” He winks, and I flush.
“Very funny, Luke.”
“I’m just joking.” He checks his watch, and I know he’s thinking about work again. “Just remember, we need to make sure that everyone believes that this relationship is real. Rex can’t get away with treating us like shit.”
“I wonder if people are buying it or not though.”
“They’re buying it in droves. Trust me! That’s why Rex is getting so mad.”
“Are you doing this because you can’t stand him?” I already know the answer.
“Uh, yeah.” His expression darkens as he thinks about their history. “Mia?”
“Yeah?”
“We want to one-up him, right? We both want to walk away from this, feeling like we showed him, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.” He looks pleased. “Do you know what I was thinking about the other day?”
“No clue. Wait, let me see if I can guess. You were thinking about watching a boring horror or sci-fi movie?”
“Hey now, I love a good sci-fi movie.”
“Trust me, I know. I’ve watched far too many with you and fallen asleep.”
“I wasn’t thinking about my awesome taste in movies. I was thinking about those emails that you sent me when you were, like, eighteen.”
“Which emails?” I know exactly which emails, but I’m not going to admit I remember. The embarrassment is still high.
“You know, the ones where you said if we’re both single when we’re forty, we should get married.”
“Oh, I forgot about them.” Liar!
“I was thinking that if we are single at forty and we have to get married, at least we know we won’t absolutely hate kissing each other.”
“I suppose that’s true, but I really hope I’m not single at forty.”
“Oh?” He gives me an odd look, and I feel my heart racing.
“Why? Do you think I will be?”
“Not at all,” he says softly. “A good woman like you … any man would be happy to snatch you up.” He nods slowly. “And I’m sure one will. Stay here. I’ll be right back,” he says, and he does an about-face and heads back into the hotel lobby.
I stand there next to the tall planters and vases and admire the bright pink bougainvillea that is directly next to the white wall.
It’s tall and beautiful, and it provides a welcome burst of color next to the row of tall palm trees that stand proudly on each side of the expansive driveway.
The wind has picked up today, and I watch as the leaves sway back and forth, like they’re bowing to the cars entering the grounds.
I take a deep breath of the ocean air and let the fresh air free my mind from focusing on the last twenty-four hours of interactions with Luke.
I can almost hear the wind calling out to me, asking if I’ve lost my mind.
Don’t think about it, Mia. Don’t question anything. Just go with it.
I don’t want to think about the kiss in the elevator. I don’t want to think about why we’re really doing this.
Are we really doing this because of Rex and his rude notes?
Deep inside, I don’t know. But I also know I don’t want to fixate on the change in our dynamic.
I just want to enjoy the next two weeks of summer with my best friend.
I just want to enjoy being with Luke one-on-one, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all that really matters—having fun and making everyone believe that we’re in love.
I don’t question that we’ve already done things that purely platonic friends would never do, but then we have a special friendship.
We both know our experimenting means nothing.
It’s not like we actually want each other or anything like that.
Not at all.