4. Jude
four
Jude
“Hold up your margarita-flavored taco higher.” Kat grabs my hand, holding it higher in the air. “Just like that.” She drops her hand and takes a couple of pictures. “I need to post this—my followers are going to love this taco truck.”
“Aren’t you worried about them seeing my face?” I glance at her phone and the picture she just posted of me holding the taco.
“You’re kidding, right?” She posts the picture with the caption “hot summer nights, with a sexy boyfriend and a spicy margarita taco—what better way to spend your time in Sunbreak Harbor.” “Those two girls at the mall already tagged me in a picture they took of us buying lingerie together. They must have done it when we weren’t looking.
It already has twenty-five thousand likes. ”
“So, our cover’s working?”
“Yes, look.” She turns and hands me her phone. “Just look at those comments.”
I glance through the thread, noticing that most comments are about the tacos and Sunbreak Harbor, but more than I expected are asking about the man in her life, since they’ve never seen her post about a boyfriend before. It strokes my male ego, even if I’m a fake boyfriend.
“A lot of these people want to visit Sunbreak Harbor.” I keep reading the comments.
Our small town has about 12,000 people, and its population triples during the busy summer tourist months.
Most of the town depends on tourist dollars to support it for the rest of the year.
Kat’s posts will help increase the number of tourists and the money coming into this town.
“This is really going to boost the town’s economy.
” I hand her phone back, still in awe of how many people she reached with a single picture of me holding a taco.
“That’s what I’m getting paid to do.” She takes a big bite of her mango-flavored taco, some of the sauce dripping onto her chin.
“You have a little something on your chin.” I grab my napkin, but before I can wipe the sauce off, my phone vibrates.
Knowing the only people who call or text me are my boss or my buddies, I hand Kat the napkin and glance at my phone at the incoming text messages from my SEAL buddies.
Riker: Ashton’s pissed, you know Kat and didn’t tell her. She’s been dying to meet her and collaborate on her new book.
Riker’s fiancée, Ashton, is a famous romance author—they met while he was pretending to be her cover model.
Jack: So are Elsa and Ember. Ever since they saw that photo of the two of you at the mall earlier today shopping, they’ve been texting each other nonstop.
Trace: Yeah, it’s interfering with our alone time.
Screw Jack and Trace—they get enough alone time with their wives.
Hollander: Hadley has been searching the local security cameras to find the two of you at that food truck.
Me: Isn’t that illegal?
Hadley and Hollander fell in love while working together. Hadley is the best computer hacker I’ve ever met. Hopefully, my boss Sloane doesn’t find out she hacked into his security cameras around town—he won’t be mad, but he’ll try to poach her from Halo City Security.
Hollander: You know, Hadley, there’s nothing she can’t hack, and she’s the best at covering her tracks.
Rafe: Do we need Maddox to scrub your digital footprint?
Also taking charge, of course, Rafe, our former commander, would be the one to mention scrubbing information from the web. It’s a good thing he married Tara and loosened up a bit.
Me: No, it’s fine. It’s all part of our cover. I’m pretending to be Kat’s boyfriend.
Riker: A pretend boyfriend who just so happens to buy sexy lingerie for his equally fake girlfriend…right.
Me: I’m ending this group chat now.
Maddox: Let me know if you need me to scrub anything off the web for you.
Me: Finally a true friend that isn’t picking on me.
I think about how close Maddox and I have grown in the last few months. We’re the two outsiders. Once, the seven of us were all thirtysomething-year-old virgins. Now, in less than a year, Maddox and I are the only two virgins left in our group.
Madoxx: I just want to make sure you don’t do anything stupid like send her a dick pic or something.
Me: I’m done with this chat. Goodbye.
“You seemed pretty intense texting. Was it your wife or girlfriend?” Kat picks at the diced mango chunks on her taco with a plastic fork.
“What? I don’t have a wife or a girlfriend—well, except you.” I glance around the area, making sure no one is close enough to hear. “That was just my SEAL buddies, giving me a hard time about the posts of us they saw online.”
“Oh, okay.” A smile crosses her face. “I was afraid I’d pissed off a wife or a girlfriend by posting that photo.”
“Kat, I know you don’t know me very well, but I would never pretend to be your boyfriend if I already had a wife or a girlfriend.”
“What about a boyfriend?” she teases, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
“I think he’d understand,” I joke back, loving the easy banter between us.
“Or maybe we could be a throuple.” She laughs, drawing attention to us—the curious stares remind me I’m here to do a job.
“We should probably head back to the cottage so you can get some rest—it’s been a long day.
” I pile our empty paper plates and dump them in the trash.
“One more thing.” I pull a surprised Kat into my arms and cover her lips with mine, expecting a quick, fake kiss.
Instead, my tongue takes on a mind of its own and licks across the seam of her lips until they part.
With a soft moan, she opens to me, her tongue meeting mine stroke for stroke.
My hand creeps under her hair, lightly gripping the back of her head and deepening the kiss.
It isn’t until I hear the loud murmur of the other people at the tables around us that I realize I’ve taken our little show too far.
When I try to pull away and end the kiss, Kat runs her fingers through my hair, pressing my mouth firmly against hers.
She has no idea what she’s doing to me. If we don’t stop now, I’m afraid we’ll end up putting on an even bigger show for our audience, which might include the two of us naked and me nine inches deep inside her.
Reluctantly, I break the kiss, step back, and stare down at her well-kissed lips.
“Oh.” She runs her tongue over her lips like she’s savoring my taste.
Damn, this woman is going to be the death of me.
“Let’s go.” I take her hand in mine and lead her away from the food trucks and back to the cottage where I’m sure my self-control will be tested yet again.