Chapter 20
Later that evening, Roan was concentrating on being the best boyfriend ever and not destroying her birthday party by dragging his girlfriend to the bedroom.
Thus far, only one set of his guests had arrived: Willow and her boyfriend, Drew Crozier.
Simone had turned him down flat since she ‘avoided couple events like measles.’ Lillian Hernandez and her boyfriend were running late, and Abigail and her husband said their babysitter hadn't shown up, so they'd be late too.
Post-call, he hadn’t had an opportunity to touch Clarissa because Willow and Drew had arrived around when she’d woken up. The two women had secluded themselves in his bedroom with infuriating giggles. Willow had said a few words about epic party style before closing them out.
This new arrangement left Roan and Drew setting up food for the party.
Drew was bustling around the fridge, removing the label from the cupcakes, and opening a container of humus. “Did you ever think we’d be doing this?”
“Double dating? Quadruple dating?” Roan laid out brightly colored pink and turquoise napkins on the dining room table next to the cake Drew had brought from Giant Eagle. Kosher diary so the Mollas could have some.
He glanced down the hallway, hoping Clarissa and Willow would reappear soon.
“Paired up and domesticated.” Drew opened a package of crackers to go with the humus.
“Domestic?” Roan started to make a joke, until he saw Willow and Clarissa emerge from the hallway.
The ladies wore giddy smiles, phones in hand, but Roan only saw Clarissa, dressed in a pink blouse with turquoise sock-hop inspired skirt with tights. She’d gone the extra mile by adding pink ribbons to her pigtails, and the surge of emotion temporarily robbed him of speech as she did a slow twirl.
It wasn’t the clothes. For a moment, he was back in the NICU, where she’d been holding that baby. She’d radiated sweetness and contentment, the culmination of what was superimposed on the limitless future of what could be.
Had Willow and Drew not been in attendance, he’d have thrown her down and made real his overwhelming urge to faux put a baby of his in her belly.
Roan was trying to pay attention to what Drew was saying but was distracted by the careless way Clarissa flipped her pigtails over her shoulders while talking animatedly with her roommate. The two women had their phones in hand, texting and chatting about something.
Drew pushed him on the shoulder. “You’re doing it again.”
“What ‘it’?” Roan forced his mind back to the task of finding plates.
“Being dazzled. Whenever she’s in sight, nothing else exists. For a guy as stoic as you, it’s adorable,” Drew told him.
“Adorable? You’d better watch your step.” Roan raised his eyebrows, pretending to threaten Drew with the cake knife.
“Not adorable. Aspirational.” Drew picked up the wrapped square box on the other end of the table next to his and Willow’s present. “Does this have a ring and a bended knee?”
His suggestion made Roan's heart do a weird little flop. Probably premature arterial contraction.
“It's been two months since we filed papers.” But Drew wasn’t wrong. Roan was fixated, and he couldn’t even find a shred of embarrassment for his constant staring.
Like she’d sensed his gaze, Clarissa glanced up, her brown eyes drawing him in.
Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine, his inner monologue chanted.
Whatever it took. Whatever ring of hell he’d have to walk through to keep her, he’d do it.
“Not today? Well, what do you think about me and Willow?” Drew kept trying to shift his attention.
Roan redirected his focus to Drew’s blonde girlfriend. He recognized the dress she wore as one of his favorites from Clarissa’s pink jumpers. Best not to mention how he’d ‘used’ the jumper in the past.
“She seems nice.” For a woman Roan was ‘fake dating,’ he didn’t have much of an opinion about her beyond his gratitude. She must have had a pretty good sense of humor to play along this long.
“No, I mean us as a couple. I get that it’s only been a few weeks. Do you think we have ‘Soulmate, I will lie to my best friend to have your love’ written all over us?”
Lying would have been the path of least resistance, though he owed Drew a version of the truth. “You answered your own question. It’s been less than a month. Haven’t had time to form an opinion.”
Willow seemed pretty quirky, yet nothing like what attracted him to Clarissa. He was mesmerized by the way she kept fiddling with her pigtails.
He wanted her in his bedroom, his fist wrapped in her hair as he bent her over his bed...
“You’re useless when she's around, aren't you? Let’s put you out of your misery.” Drew strode into the living room and took Willow’s hand. Whatever he said to Clarissa made her saunter over to Roan.
He couldn’t not touch her and was compelled to slide her past the table and against the kitchen island. Despite his desire to devour her, he tried to maintain a good two feet of space between them.
She cutely bit her lower lip, swishing her skirt as she put her phone in the skirt’s side pocket. “Drew says you needed me?”
“Understatement.” Those two feet were unreasonable. He whispered into her ear. “I always need you.”
She let him turn her and embrace her from behind. “I meant needed me for the party.”
“If you insist. I’d rather have you alone.” Since she made no attempt to resist, he reached down to the edge of her skirt. Silky pink stockings stopped mid-thigh with garters.
Above that, he encountered nothing.
The blood immediately rushed away from his brain and directly to his cock. Sweet like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, and she expected him to behave at this birthday party where she was sans panties.
“Happy birthday to me,” she helped his hand on its upward journey.
“You are in so much trouble, baby girl.” He deliberately avoided fingering her, though he encountered the start of slick near her core. Instead, he cupped her two perky cheeks under that skirt.
“Bad Daddy.” She hummed and then stiffened, wiggling away. “You need to behave.”
“What you need is for me to take you back to the bedroom and punish you for skipping those panties.” He didn’t let her go. “The other guests are late, and Drew and Willow aren’t shocked.”
His girl was breathless and rightly struggled to ignore what her body craved. She struggled to get the next words out. “Roan... Willow and I have been talking, and we think it’s time—”
There was a knock at the door, and Roan reluctantly released her. It wouldn’t be the best first impression to her friends if he was mauling her.
He reached out for her hand and was surprised that she danced away toward the living room.
Before he could ask what she was doing, Drew had answered the door, and the person on the other side growled, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
Tank had arrived, uninvited, and more than a little unhappy to see Drew.
Drew, being the good friend he had clearly become, stated the obvious, “Attending a birthday party for your sister.”
Willow had appeared at Roans side and dragged him to the cake table, while Clarissa continued to the door.
“Hey, Tristan! Glad you could make it.” Clarissa elbowed Drew out of the way and gave her brother a hug as he entered.
“Let me take your coat.” Drew carried the coat and his body away from Tank.
Clarissa continued the hug, rotating ninety degrees so she was facing Roan and Willow. The determined expression and tilt of her head communicated that Tank’s intrusion was no surprise.
“Guppy, tell me you aren’t on a date with that rat bastard, Drew,” Tank asked.
“Don’t be silly. He’s Dr. Marin’s friend, and you know men can’t plan parties,” Clarissa answered and linked her arm with her brother as she finished the turn so Tank could see Roan and Willow. “Dr. Marin volunteered to host since his house is bigger. My other friends are on their way.”
Her roommate had leaned her head against Roan’s shoulder. He was obligated to not withdraw and act like they were a couple.
His actual girlfriend tugged her brother in their direction. Tank came willingly, dressed in jeans and a shirt that read ‘God will judge our enemies, we'll arrange the meeting.’ He was carrying a badly wrapped present in a paper bag.
“Tristan, I think you’ve mentioned—occasionally—that you wanted to meet my roomie Willow,” Clarissa said with breezy innocence.
Tank stepped forward, right hand outstretched. “Hello, I’m Tank. Clarissa’s brother and Roan’s best friend. You must be Willow. I’ve heard almost nothing about you. He’s been quite cagey.”
Willow straightened, affected a serene face, and folded her hands. “Namaste.”
The expression on Tank’s face of being rejected almost made Roan laugh. He hadn’t been prepared for that response to his introduction.
Clarissa swooped in between them to take the present. “So sweet of you, best brother ever.”
As she added it as the third gift on the dining room table, Willow said, “A little bit further away from the birthday cake.”
“Of course, Willow Branch.” Clarissa smiled, though Roan had never ever not a single time heard her use that nickname before.
“We can’t allow it’s industrial chemicals to contaminate your organic, vegan, ethically sourced birthday cake,” Willow explained, her expression not changing.
“Can’t have that,” Clarissa said with good humor, moving the offending package to the requested spot. “Is it time to bring out the vegan gluten-free sugar-free nut-free cruelty-free preservative-free non-GMO cupcakes?”
They spoke the brazen lies with an astounding amount of confidence. The cake had no such categorical specialness beyond it naturally being vegetarian. Still in the fridge, the Giant Eagle cupcakes’ only special feature was to be vanilla instead of chocolate like the cake.
Considering Drew was lurking by the fridge, it was possible he’d been on whatever game the girls were running, since he had removed the label on those same cupcakes.
Then again, he appeared positively terrified of Tank, so possibly not.
The game was just beginning, and Tank stared at the two women like they had fifteen heads. “Did you become a vegan?”
“Of course. It’s the healthiest way to live, as opposed to consuming other creatures. We must also be inclusive of other dietary needs. Everyone’s becoming vegan,” Clarissa told him in a way that suggested their behavior was sensible.
Her brother latched onto one piece of information. “Roan, you became a vegan?”
“Roanie’s so committed to the lives of other animals.” Willow kissed his cheek and put her arm around his back.
Somehow, Roan managed to retain control of his natural response.
His body desperately wanted to recoil from her touch because it was quite cognizant that she wasn’t Clarissa.
Over the past ten months, his body was very clear it was a Clarissa-sexual, and Willow, despite her enthusiasm, did nothing for him.
Speaking of Clarissa, she gave him a subtle nod to play along. She was sending another text message, coping just fine.
Tank, however, was not doing as well. “Well. Umm. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I can see why Roan has been keeping you to himself.”
Roan’s fake girlfriend responded to his dig with, “Of course. Lack of foresight is a common cognitive bias among certain groups.”
Before anyone could call her out on her bonkers definition of cognitive bias, the doorbell rang.