Chapter 15
After Lucas grabbed her hand in the car, things somehow became worse.
Not bad worse.
Emotionally catastrophic worse.
Because now Sabrina couldn't stop thinking about the way he'd looked at her when he said he wasn't getting back together with Claire.
Not irritated.
Not defensive.
Intent.
Like her opinion actually mattered to him.
Which felt deeply unfair considering she was trying very hard not to fall in love with him.
Unfortunately, Lucas Cooper was making that increasingly impossible.
By Monday morning, Sabrina had officially entered what Chloe called "the doomed phase."
"You're staring into space again," Chloe announced from the kitchen.
"I'm thinking."
"You're yearning."
Sabrina glared at her over the rim of her coffee mug.
"That word should be illegal."
Chloe ignored her completely and sat across from her at the counter.
"So. Have you considered that maybe he likes you?"
Sabrina nearly inhaled coffee.
"Please don't say things like that before breakfast."
"I'm serious."
"He's famous."
"That's not a personality trait."
"He dates actresses and models."
"And currently he's fake dating a waitress."
Sabrina opened her mouth.
Then closed it again.
Annoying point.
Chloe leaned forward dramatically. "That man drove across Manhattan at night because he thought you were ignoring him."
"He was worried about publicity."
"He held your hand."
Sabrina looked down at her coffee immediately.
Because that was the problem.
Lucas kept doing things that blurred lines he was supposedly trying to maintain.
Like late-night phone calls.
Or remembering tiny details about her.
Or driving her home himself after exhausting days.
And every time Sabrina thought she understood him again, he'd say something quietly devastating that made her rethink everything.
Her phone buzzed against the counter.
Speak of the emotionally unavailable devil.
Lucas: Adrian scheduled another interview tomorrow.
Lucas: Apparently couples answering questions together is "good for engagement."
Sabrina smiled automatically before she could stop herself.
Hopeless.
Chloe pointed accusingly. "There."
"He's being annoying."
"You looked fond."
Sabrina ignored her and typed back quickly.
Sabrina: If someone asks us about marriage I'm leaving.
Lucas: Understandable.
Another message came through immediately after.
Lucas: You busy tonight?
The dangerous flutter happened again.
Sabrina hated herself a little.
Sabrina: Depends.
Lucas: Dinner?
Her stomach betrayed her instantly.
Chloe was practically glowing with vindication now.
"Oh my God."
"It's not a date."
"Sabrina."
"It's literally not."
Chloe leaned back in her chair. "You know what's funny?"
"What?"
"You keep saying that like you're trying to convince yourself."
Rude.
Unfortunately accurate.
That evening Lucas picked her up just after seven.
This time he looked exhausted before she even got into the SUV.
Dark circles beneath his eyes.
Tie loosened already.
Phone buzzing nonstop in his hand.
"You look terrible," Sabrina said immediately.
Lucas glanced toward her. "Nice to see you too."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
Despite the dry tone, he smiled faintly when she climbed inside beside him.
Tiny detail.
Dangerous effect.
"You eat today?" Sabrina asked.
Lucas looked personally offended. "Why does everyone suddenly think I'm incapable of basic survival?"
"Because you forget constantly."
"That feels exaggerated."
"You had coffee for lunch yesterday."
"You remembered that?"
The second the words left his mouth, both of them went quiet for half a second.
Because there it was again.
The weird intimacy of noticing things about each other now.
Sabrina looked out the window quickly.
Coward.
The restaurant tonight was smaller than usual.
Less flashy.
More private.
Which immediately made Sabrina suspicious.
"You hate public places now?" she asked as they sat down.
Lucas leaned back slightly in the booth. "I like quiet."
"You're becoming emotionally vulnerable again. Careful."
"That's your fault."
The answer came too naturally.
Too softly.
Sabrina looked down at the menu immediately to avoid reacting visibly like a normal person.
This was getting dangerous.
Very dangerous.
The waiter arrived moments later for drink orders.
Lucas ordered whiskey.
Sabrina blinked at him.
"You seem stressed."
"Observant."
"There's the sarcasm. Nature is healing."
A tired laugh escaped him.
Then his phone buzzed again against the table.
Lucas glanced down briefly before silencing it instantly.
Sabrina noticed the name this time.
Adrian.
Interesting.
"You can answer it," she said.
Lucas shook his head once. "Later."
Another weird dangerous feeling settled low in Sabrina's chest at the choice.
Because lately Lucas seemed to spend more and more time ignoring everyone else when he was with her.
Which definitely meant nothing healthy.
Dinner itself somehow felt... normal.
Which honestly remained the strangest part of all this.
Sabrina had expected fake dating a celebrity to feel glamorous and artificial forever.
Instead, moments with Lucas increasingly felt simple.
Easy conversation.
Comfortable silence.
Inside jokes that appeared naturally.
At one point Sabrina laughed hard enough at one of his sarcastic comments that she nearly knocked over her water glass.
Lucas caught it before it tipped.
Then looked at her shaking his head slightly.
"You're chaotic."
"You keep inviting me places voluntarily."
"That's becoming concerning."
His hand lingered near hers for a second too long after steadying the glass.
Not enough to acknowledge.
Enough to notice.
Sabrina looked away first.
Again.
Coward.
Halfway through dinner, Lucas's phone buzzed for what felt like the fiftieth time.
This time he sighed heavily and answered.
"What?"
Pause.
His expression cooled immediately.
"I said no."
Another pause.
Sabrina watched carefully while Lucas rubbed a hand across his jaw.
"No. Stop trying to turn everything into a media strategy."
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Lucas rarely sounded openly irritated in public.
Now he looked one bad sentence away from throwing the phone into traffic.
Finally he ended the call abruptly and tossed the phone onto the table.
"Everything okay?" Sabrina asked carefully.
Lucas exhaled slowly through his nose.
"Adrian wants us photographed leaving together tonight."
Sabrina frowned. "Okay?"
"He scheduled paparazzi."
Her eyebrows lifted immediately.
"Oh."
Now she understood the irritation.
"You really hate this stuff."
Lucas laughed softly.
No humor in it.
"I hate feeling manufactured."
The answer sat heavily between them.
Because suddenly Sabrina remembered the conversation by the lake again.
About fame.
About ownership.
About never belonging to himself anymore.
And now people were trying to stage even this.
Something sharp twisted painfully inside her chest.
"You know," she said quietly, "you can say no sometimes."
Lucas looked at her for a long moment.
Then:
"That's easier said than done."
"Why?"
He leaned back against the booth slowly.
"Because eventually everyone around you starts depending on the machine continuing."
The quiet bitterness in his voice surprised her slightly.
"Management. Studios. Publicists. Brands." His jaw tightened faintly. "If you stop playing the role correctly, people lose money."
Sabrina stayed quiet.
Because underneath the sarcasm and exhaustion, Lucas sounded trapped.
And maybe lonely too.
The realization hurt more than expected.
"Is that why your relationships don't work?" she asked softly before she could stop herself.
Lucas looked at her immediately.
The noise of the restaurant faded strangely around them for a second.
Then he looked away again.
"Partly."
The honesty caught her off guard.
Lucas rested his forearms against the table.
"Most people like the version of me they think exists."
Sabrina frowned slightly.
"And what version is that?"
"Whatever they want."
Movie star.
Heartthrob.
Famous boyfriend.
Perfect public image.
He laughed quietly under his breath.
"Nobody actually wants the exhausted version."
Something about that sentence made Sabrina's chest ache sharply.
Because she did.
God.
That was the problem.
She liked him exhausted and sarcastic and emotionally repressed.
She liked the real version.
And she really shouldn't.
"You know what your problem is?" she said quietly.
Lucas glanced toward her again.
"You genuinely think people leave once they know you."
A flicker crossed his expression.
Fast.
Barely there.
Still there.
"You analyze too much."
"You deflect too much."
Neither looked away.
Something shifted again between them.
That same dangerous tension from the lake.
From the balcony.
From every almost moment lately.
Lucas's gaze dropped briefly toward her mouth before returning to her eyes.
Sabrina's heartbeat stumbled painfully.
Oh no.
Not here.
The waiter appearing beside their table broke the moment instantly.
"You guys ready for dessert?"
Both pulled back slightly.
Too quickly.
Sabrina grabbed her water glass immediately like she'd never seen another human before in her life.
Lucas cleared his throat once.
"No dessert."
The waiter left.
Silence returned.
Heavy this time.
Lucas rubbed his jaw slowly before standing.
"We should go."
Right.
Probably before either of them completely destroyed the fake part of this relationship.
Outside the restaurant, snow drifted lightly through the freezing night air.
And unfortunately Adrian had clearly done exactly what Lucas said.
Photographers waited across the street instantly.
Lucas muttered something under his breath that Sabrina definitely wasn't supposed to hear.
"What was that?"
"I said Adrian's fired."
"You literally can't fire him."
"Watch me try."
Despite herself, Sabrina laughed.
The cameras started flashing immediately as they walked toward the SUV.
Lucas's expression hardened automatically under the lights.
Public mask back on.
But then one photographer shouted:
"Lucas, are things serious between you two?"
And before Sabrina could even process the question, Lucas looked down at her.
Not performative.
Not staged.
Real.
His hand slid against her lower back gently while snow caught in his dark curls.
"Yeah," he answered quietly.
One word.
Still, something about the way he said it made Sabrina's entire body go still.
Because for the first time, Lucas sounded like he'd forgotten this relationship was supposed to be fake at all.