Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
N o. No, no, no.
Sky lifted her phone, looking at the text again, still not believing what she was reading.
Mom: Your father didn’t want to leave Tony home alone, so he’s invited him to dinner tonight. I hope that’s okay.
No, it was not okay. And both her parents knew that. She’d made her thoughts on Tony pretty freaking clear. And it was interesting that they’d only invited him after she’d told them that Becket was sick.
Her fingers moved quickly over her cell, typing out a text that could only be described as furious. Then of course, the second she read it back, she deleted it. She couldn’t send that to her mother. It had two curses and a semi-curse in it.
Besides, it was more her father’s doing than her mother’s, and an angry text wouldn’t change things. Even if she wanted them to uninvite him, they wouldn’t. And it was too late to cancel or change plans.
God, her parents infuriated her. Her father inviting Tony and her mother only dropping it on her ten minutes before they came was so calculated and…just unkind.
She finally wrote out her reply.
Sky: I wish he hadn’t.
She hit send and dropped her phone to the kitchen counter before slicing the cucumber with a bit more aggression.
To make matters worse, she hadn’t seen Becket since the ball…and was actually disappointed about it. Gah. Why she was disappointed to not see a neighbor she didn’t even like, she had no idea. It wasn’t because his arms had felt good around her. And it certainly wasn’t because when he’d spoken to her on the dance floor, the velvet tone of his voice had slid over her body and made her feel all sensitive and tingly.
She didn’t like it. Any of it.
But it would be fine. Becket wouldn’t be there tonight—something she should be happy about—and even though Onion Breath Tony was coming, he still thought she had a boyfriend. So there should be no more talk of dates.
She’d just finished the salad and added a fourth place setting to the table when her doorbell rang.
Her gaze flew up to the clock. Her parents were five minutes early. They were never early. In fact, they got everywhere at almost the exact time, to the minute, that they were told. It was something she’d always found annoying but never understood why.
She moved to the door.
“Hey, you guys are—” She stopped, the words dying on her lips. Not her parents. Not even close. “Becket.”
“Hi.” He held a tray covered in foil and a bottle of wine.
“What are you doing here?”
“Six, right? I know, I’m early—a terrible habit of mine.”
“That wasn’t…” She shook her head. “I told my parents you’re sick.”
“Well, lucky for you, girlfriend , I am feeling like rainbows and sunshine.” Then he kissed her on the cheek as if he’d done it a million times and walked into her house. “What is that delicious smell? Pot roast?”
What was going on? Was she living in a twilight zone?
She closed the door and spun toward him. “I told you, you only needed to play along for one night.” Although, now that Tony was coming, maybe it was better that he was here.
No . How could having her sexy-as-sin neighbor here, pretending to be her boyfriend, be better? It wasn’t. This wasn’t a huge, crowded ballroom. This was her home . He’d be here all night. Smelling far too good and sitting far too close.
Becket frowned at the table. “It’s set with four places.”
“Good counting.”
“But if you thought I wasn’t coming…” Understanding crossed his face. “Oh. You tell your parents I’m sick, and they invite Tony, a guy they’re still trying to set you up with even though you’ve made your feelings clear about him.”
It sounded even worse when he said it. “Becket, why are you here?”
He lifted her glass of wine and sipped. “They know I live next door. Even if I was sick, it would be weird for me not to stop in and say hi. Besides, what exactly did you plan to tell them at every future get-together?”
“Well, I was going to wait until Tony left town and then tell them our sad but simple breakup story.”
“Was I going to come off the asshole in this story? I was, wasn’t I?”
She rolled her eyes and moved into the kitchen, where she grabbed a fifth place setting. “It doesn’t matter. They’re not your parents.”
“It does matter. I have a reputation to uphold in this town.”
“Good God, it’s a wonder you have the energy to get out of bed with that big head on your shoulders.”
“I’ve been carrying this big head my entire life. I’m used to it.”
Her lips twitched, and she hated that she found him funny. He wasn’t. Not even a little bit.
Once the fifth place was set, she turned—only to freeze. Becket was adding olives to her salad. And he looked far too comfortable working in her little kitchen.
She opened her mouth to tell him she couldn’t do this. That asking him to pretend to be her boyfriend in the first place had been a gigantic mistake…but the doorbell rang.
Too late now.
She sucked in a shaky breath before turning and heading to the door. She pulled it open and forced a smile to her lips. “Mom. Dad…Tony.” Okay, Tony’s name didn’t just slide off the tongue.
She gave each of them a kiss as they came inside, making sure to hold her breath when she greeted Tony.
“Becket,” her father said, sounding shocked.
Sky took her time closing the door before turning.
Becket didn’t look fazed at all.
“Hi.” Becket dried his hands on a dish towel before crossing the room. He kissed her mother on the cheek, then shook her father’s hand. When he shook Tony’s hand, just like at the ball, the other man cringed.
How hard was Becket shaking the guy’s hand?
“We thought you were sick,” her mother said.
“Fortunately, I started feeling better just in time.” He slid an arm around her waist as she moved to stand beside him.
Why on earth did she have the sudden urge to lean into him? Her body was betraying her, dammit.
Her father’s eyes narrowed on Becket, while her mother looked intrigued, and Tony just kind of looked angry. At least that was one positive to having Becket around.
When the awkward silence stretched, Sky cleared her throat. “I’ll slice the roast, then we can sit down to eat.”
“I’ll do that,” Becket offered. Then he freaking kissed her on the cheek again , this time also squeezing her waist.
She told herself she didn’t like it, but her pulse picked up speed.
The next ten minutes were a mess of her and her mother trying to make small talk, her father and Tony sulking, and Becket acting like everything was normal and he’d been in her kitchen a million times before.
She felt like she was on a freaking sitcom. What had happened to her quiet dinner with her parents?
Testosterone…that’s what happened.
She’d just set the last of the food onto the table and they were about to sit when that onion stench grew stronger.
“Sky.” Ugh. There he was. “Is it okay if I use your bathroom?”
She forced her lips to stretch into a smile as she turned to look at Tony. “Of course. It’s just down the hall.” She led him into her hall and opened a door. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” He didn’t go inside. Instead, he stepped closer to her, eliminating some of the space between them. “I have to admit, I’ve been struggling with this a bit.”
“This?” she asked.
“You and… him . I really enjoyed our date, and—”
“It was hardly a date, Tony. It was dinner with my parents.”
“Regardless of what it was, I had a good time with you. And I thought you had a good time too.”
How on earth had he thought she’d had a good time? She had to have yawned at least half a dozen times, and they hadn’t even finished eating when she’d made a pathetic excuse to leave. Something about needing to feed her fish. She didn’t have a fish!
“I wasn’t planning on dating Becket. It just happened.” Understatement of the century.
Tony stepped forward again , almost touching her. “It’s just hard to let go of the idea of you and me when your father’s spoken so much about what a good match we’d be.”
Well, let it go, man . “Tony—”
“Everything okay here?” Becket asked as he entered the hall, tall and broad…and angry. He stopped beside her and tugged her close. And even though this thing between them wasn’t real, it was a relief to be closer to him than Tony.
Safe. That’s what she felt when she was near Becket.
Tony’s eyes narrowed and he moved back.
Okay, her hallway was feeling far too small right now. “It’s fine,” she said, looking up at Becket. “I was just showing Tony to the bathroom.”
Tony straightened. And…was he pushing his chest out? “Strange that Roger didn’t even know you existed a week ago, especially because you live next door.”
“Just because someone doesn’t know I exist doesn’t mean I’m not here.”
Tony scowled and opened his mouth, but Sky put a hand to Becket’s chest. “Come on, we should get back to my parents.” She pushed, but he didn’t move.
“I’ll see you out there,” Tony said, staring at Sky.
“ We will see you out there,” Becket corrected. Then he led her out of the hall, her heart beating far too fast. Because Becket was fighting for her like he was actually her boyfriend, and it felt far too real.