1. Greer #3
He loved the thought of keeping her off-kilter.
“No,” she said, still trying to tamp down her laughter. “I always drink the same thing, a dry martini,” she said, tilting the drink and studying it like she studied the ice earlier. “What does this even taste like?”
“No idea,” he said, laughing along with her. “But it reminded me of you.”
“How’s that?”
He tamped down a chuckle. She was really trying hard to understand something that was so very simple. “It was pretty… and so are you.”
She locked eyes with him, her eyebrows lifted gently. As if that was quite possibly the most heartfelt compliment she’d ever been given.
“Well,” she said. “I guess I can’t turn it down now, can I?”
As she lifted the glass, crushing the sugar to her lips, he studied her reaction. She looked a bit surprised, but also contemplative as she tried to identify what it was made of.
“Good?” he asked, sighing a bit in relief that she was game for even trying. Even more so, she didn’t look repulsed.
“It’s fantastic,” she said, absolutely stunned. “I can definitely taste champagne in there. And I think… Chambord too? But it’s really fruity, like maybe something tropical. Mango? It’s really refreshing,” she said, taking another sip.
“Couldn’t be orange, not with that color,” Greer remarked.
“Mmmm,” she said, swallowing. “Maybe pineapple?” she asked, eyes transfixed to the ice, and everyone skating off for now.
The video screens hanging above center ice were zooming in on folks in the audience, commentators making mention of notable people in the crowd.
Tessa’s head was on a swivel, looking around their box.
“I’m thinking they’re going to spotlight this skybox,” she said, setting her drink down and studying the people around them.
“Maybe?” Greer said, setting his bottle down too. But the question was, who would they go for? The stuffy general manager and the fleet of suited lackeys by his side? The cast of the local Broadway show at the bar?
The hot MMA fighters invited from the local gym?
Clearly, it was a no-brainer.
“Quick,” she said, spinning back to face him. “Kiss me.”
He wondered if he’d heard her right. They’d been teasing his fans on social media for a few weeks now, and everyone had been supportive of his new, sweet girlfriend. It was great publicity for him, and it would absolutely send a message to Troy, not to mention further tilt him off his game.
But none of that was what motivated Greer to throw all caution to the wind, diving forward and capturing Tessa’s lips with his in the most passionate kiss he’d ever given.
As Tessa pressed closer, her hands gripping his shirt, it only took her a moment to sync with him, matching him stroke for stroke. He felt his face warm and a blinding light shine behind his eyelids. Everyone around them began to whoop and… maybe the whole arena too?
He couldn’t tell; he was completely lost. Lost in sensation as he took their kiss deeper. Lost in his own mind as every cog in his brain began to spin with what they were doing, what was happening. Lost in feelings that were trying so hard to surface, but he knew he had to keep tamped down.
Even though this was made to look and feel real, he had to remember this was fake.
As soon as the blinding light disappeared, Greer slowed them down, and Tessa opened her heavily lidded, love-drunk eyes to him. Where they were once the sole focus of attention, everyone was now looking at the next couple they had zoomed in on, or gone back to whatever they were doing.
Tessa sat in Greer’s arms, slightly panting at their whirlwind embrace, just like he was. In the weeks they’d known one another, he’d never seen her do anything spontaneously, and while this had been her idea, he could tell this wasn’t at all the outcome she expected.
She’d planned on a pretend kiss.
Nothing about it felt pretend.
“D-do you…” she started, trying to find her words again. “Do you think that looked okay?”
Greer grinned back at her, leaning in to rub the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. She flushed in response, her pupils dilating again.
“Not too bad at all,” he said casually, even if it was the biggest understatement of the year.
She nodded, clearing her throat delicately and reaching for her martini. She took a good few swallows as Greer reached for his beer to do the same. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he couldn’t recall a kiss ever affecting him so much before.
When he’d agreed to this ruse, the one thing he’d been warned about was catching feelings. This was supposed to be friendly. Professional. Even if in the end, their job was to convince the world that they were together.
Tessa’s freedom from her stalker ex depended on it.
And Greer had foolishly thought that he could do it. Get close to her. Hold her hand. Kiss her. Hell, he’d gone a lot further with women and had easily walked away without any feelings attached. At all.
Taking one more sip of his beer, he stared out into the arena. It was pretty obvious that being her fake boyfriend was going to be harder than he originally thought.