Chapter Seven #2
Drew scooted his seat closer to mine, and when he rested his arm along the back of my chair I wanted to lean into him. It was like he sensed my panic and was trying to soothe me. “Hey, seriously, you’ll do great. It’ll be super low-key.”
And because we promised to be honest, I whispered my biggest fear.
“I know this isn’t real, but every relationship I’ve been in ends after I meet his parents.
Well, except for Kyle, but I never met his family.
” That should’ve been my first red flag.
I’d never seen his excuses as to why I couldn’t meet them for what they were.
What if Drew’s family decided after spending more time with me that we shouldn’t keep pretending to be together? This whole fake relationship was going to end before it began. I just knew it. My terrible track record would rear its ugly head.
And I had no doubt whatever disaster looming would remind Drew that this situation wasn’t worth the effort.
It didn’t matter that I’d met his dad already and he seemed to like me. Once we spent more time together, he’d also realize this was a mistake. And so would his mom, brothers, and sister.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and realized I was sweating. If I didn’t calm myself down soon, I’d drench this outfit.
And I flipping liked this outfit. I felt cute in it.
Even as all-encompassing as my panic was, Drew’s scowl was so prominent I couldn’t miss it. “You’re kidding right? You meeting a guy’s family couldn’t have been why you broke up.”
I shook my head. That was sweet that he didn’t believe it. “It’s true.”
His tone was low and laced with anger. “What would ever make you think that?”
I looked away, locking my gaze on an animatronic fish mounted to a plaque that said, “Bass Bass Baby.” I couldn’t bear to watch Drew’s face as he realized he’d hitched his horse to the wrong wagon.
“I’ve had four actual relationships. The first one’s mother told me I wasn’t good enough for her son and proceeded to list all the reasons why during dinner.
It was utterly humiliating. He avoided me after that and officially dumped me three weeks later.
I thought the next family liked me, but after he brought me home, they called him and said they didn’t think someone so uptight would fit in with their carefree bunch.
He stopped calling and sent a text saying I was too much and his parents agreed. ”
“Holy shit.”
Now he was getting it.
“Right? I mean even my own parents struggle to connect with me. So it’s not surprising, I guess.”
Oh my God. Just shut up, Ellie!
Why did I feel the need to tell him all of this? I opened my mouth and everything I shouldn’t say came pouring out.
Was I trying to scare him away? Self-destruction wasn’t usually my thing, but he did seem so unattainable, maybe deep down I was just trying to protect myself and prepare for the inevitable.
I kept my gaze on the wall across the room. My emotions were so raw that I was afraid I’d cry if I saw either pity or horror in his eyes. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to back out of our deal now.
“Ellie. Look at me.”
I bit my lip, afraid if I stopped I’d blurt out something even more embarrassing. This man was successful, had an incredible family, and was just so damn handsome.
And nice. How could anyone believe we were together? At least his family would know the truth. They were probably used to Drew doing things to save the world, one person at a time.
This was just another day to them.
And I was just another project.
“Ellie,” he repeated, his firm tone letting me know he wouldn’t let this go until I acquiesced to his demand and looked at him.
I turned my head slowly, afraid to hear what truth bomb he was about to throw at me.
“Ellie, we’ve been talking for a while now and I feel like I know you well enough to tell you this … ” He paused as though trying to select his words carefully.
Every muscle in my body tensed, waiting to hear his thoughts. To steel my emotions and expression so I could pretend whatever he said didn’t hurt my feelings. I’d gotten really good at that.
He grinned, and I almost relaxed my shoulders. “You have crappy taste in men. Excluding me, of course.” That little half-tilted grin appeared again, making me want to trace the corners of his mouth with my fingertips.
“What?” I was sure I heard him wrong.
“I can rephrase it if you’d like … The men you chose to give your heart to are assholes. If they let their mothers decide who to date, or allow their family to disrespect you and didn’t stand up to the person insulting you, you’re damn well better off without them.”
“Oh.” It wasn’t a response worthy of what he just said, but my heart beat triple time with gratitude and I had the sudden urge to kiss him.
Er … To say thank you, of course, for being so sweet. Not because the feel of his lips against mine made tingles of awareness flood my body.
I tore my gaze away. If he kept saying stuff like this, he was going to make me fall for him, even more than the little crush I’d been harboring all these months.
“But it’s a given that I’ll mess this up somehow.
There’s got to be something broken in me that makes it so easy for men to walk away.
I’ll only make you regret—” I was so flustered I didn’t even know how to say what was on my mind.
He moved so fast it took me a second to process what was happening.
His hand slid from the back of the chair to rest on the nape of my neck.
The tips of his fingers lightly held me in place.
His eyebrows lowered and drew together in an angry v, and a determined look flashed in his eyes that I couldn’t quite understand.
He frowned so hard I thought he was going to yell at me.
Hope your face doesn’t freeze like that, I thought, my brain short-circuiting with the intensity of his gaze.
But I couldn’t laugh at my own joke because the pupils of his eyes darkened, telling me another story, and he was leaning in so close that his face was only inches from mine.
“You ... are … not … broken,” he ground out.
My eyes fluttered closed, as the pressure on my neck increased, and he tugged me the rest of the way to him. His lips found mine. It wasn’t a sweet kiss or a gentle exploration. It was firm and punishing, as though he was trying to tell me without words to shut up.
Drew’s tongue ran along the seam of my mouth and I eagerly opened it, wanting this more than my next breath.
I kissed him back with a hunger I didn’t recognize.
It was needy and desperate, creating an ache that echoed through my body and settled in my core.
I wanted so badly to throw myself into his arms. To press myself against his hard planes to see if we’d fit together just as perfectly as our mouths did.
My fingers tightly gripped his shirt then let go to brush over his abs, frustrated at the barrier between us.
I barely held back from shoving my hands beneath the fabric to trace each dip and ridge, wanting to feel the heat of his skin.
Tingles of awareness sparked along the edges of my veins and spiraled out through my arms and legs.
I matched each tilt of his head. Our tongues dueled, intertwined and I wanted so much more.
At the edge of my mind, I acknowledged that my heart beat faster and a fluttering had started low in my belly, two things that had never been so intense while kissing my previous boyfriends.
With each lick, press of his lips, and tug on my scalp I craved more of him.
His taste, his touch, the possessive way he held me.
A moan reached my ears.
Holy crap, that came from me!
With each swipe of his lips, every thought in my brain disappeared and I lost my sense of reality. And for at least a few seconds, I forgot where we were.
Then a little girl giggled, breaking through the sexy, hazy glow surrounding me.
Drew's lips brushed against mine once more, featherlight this time, as though he were testing me to see if I was okay with what happened.
“This is a family restaurant, Kingsley!” Matt yelled from behind the counter.
I drew in a gasp so fast I almost choked on my spit.
“Hey,” Drew pouted as I pulled away.
I blinked to reorient myself. Then I looked around the room. There were more people here than there were when we arrived. And most of them were staring at us, not even trying to hide it. An older woman at the counter gave us a wide grin and a thumbs up.
“Hey,” I said back to him as I struggled to form an actual sentence.
Nora fanned herself with our check as she approached the table. “That was some kiss. You two really are so cute together.”
“Just so happy to see my girl,” Drew leaned back in his chair and for a moment, I let myself enjoy the charade.
I knew Nora was being sweet, but her words hit me like a bucket of cold water. Drew had only kissed me because we had an audience.
I needed to stop thinking he was attracted to me. He was a good guy and only doing his due diligence to make sure the town thought we were together.
That kiss, which holy moly was so freaking amazing, wasn’t real.
Just like our relationship. He didn’t do it because he had this overwhelming desire to make out with me. Did he?
Of course not. What we had was fake, and I couldn’t forget that and fall for the illusion like the people sitting at the tables surrounding us had.
Nora placed the check on the table in front of Drew. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you,” I said, and reached for it.
Drew snatched it out of my hand. “I took you out for lunch. I’ll pay for it.”
“What? Drew, no.” I lowered my voice. “You’re already doing so much for me. This is the least I can do.”
He stood before I could grab the bill from him and winked at me. Damn it. I hated to be indebted to anyone, and even though this was small, the scale between us was nowhere near balanced.
I grabbed my purse, waved goodbye to Nora and Matt, and followed Drew out the door after he paid.
“You can’t keep doing stuff like that,” I muttered so only he could hear.
His body tensed, and he threw a worried look my way. I hated seeing how his brow furrowed and the lines that appeared around his eyes. “The kiss, or paying for lunch?”
“What? Oh.” I waved my hand toward the diner. “For lunch. We’re going to need some PDA when we’re out or no one will buy our story, but you can’t keep paying for me. It’s not fair.”
I wasn’t about to tell him that had been one of the hottest kisses of my life and there was not a reason on Earth I regretted it. Even if it was for show.
“Fair for you, or for me?” His long strides had me practically sprinting to catch up.
“For you, of course,” I sputtered. Why was he making this so difficult? “It’s bad enough that you’re not getting anything from this.”
I slammed into him when he stopped short, and since I was so busy thinking of how I needed to prove that we should keep things even between us, I didn’t notice until it was too late.
“Umph,” I muttered. My face now squished against his muscular back. I had to fight the urge to run my hands over his body or let them wander to his abs to hug him from behind.
Which was a really weird response when running into someone, no matter how sexy they were.
I blamed Bad Eleanor.
He turned and grasped me by my shoulders. “Let’s get this straight right now. You owe me nothing, Ellie. I’m doing this because we’re friends. And friends don’t let friends get shit on by their families. Got it?”
“Uh, okay,” I mumbled.
His hazel eyes sparked with fury. “Furthermore, when I kissed you, it wasn’t to play pretend in front of the other customers.”
I gulped. “Oh?”
I had no reply to that.