Page 12 of Yes, Love

Sienna was still laughing. “I’m almost there. Take a deep breath.”

When Sienna pulled up, I climbed into her passenger seat before the car had even come to a complete stop. “Drive. I think they’re all still looking at me with their pretty blue Cox eyes.”

Sienna snorted and shifted the car into drive. “Was it really that bad?”

I shot her a dirty look. “Yes! They hate me! And I realize that I was the little bitch that spread rumors about Evan after he dumped me. I’m also fully aware that I kept him away from his one true love for like six years! But, god! People grow up and change!”

“We all know that, Aves.” She glanced over at me with a soft smile. “So, big juicy burgers today?”

I rolled my eyes at her and smiled just a little bit at the memory of Dominic’s reaction when I’d told him I didn’t eat red meat. “Are you fucking joking, Ava?” he’d said in that sexy accent and then looked up at the cloudy sky like he was praying for strength.

He wasn’t so bad.

Sienna pulled up to one of my favorite little vegetarian cafes. I wasn’t a full vegetarian. I occasionally ate fish and had chicken even less often, but I loved her for remembering that I liked this place.

We walked toward the entrance, and Sienna nudged me with her elbow and gave me a sly little smile. “How’s Dominic? The pictures you two post are lookin’ hot!”

I laughed and shook my head. “Those pictures are so staged, Si.”

“I know. None of them have your real smile.”

We got in line to order our food, and Sienna waited until we were seated to resume her line of questioning. I was right. She respected the fact that this fake relationship needed to stay quiet.

“So, what are your first impressions of him?”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s hot enough to melt the panties off any living, breathing female. That was my very first impression of him. The next impression was that he’s an asshole. Then after that, I settled on, meh, he’s not so bad.”

Sienna laughed out loud. “Have you watched him on Wild Love yet? He’s a sweetheart on there. He’s funny, too. He seems like someone you’d actually like.” She took a bite of her salad.

I hadn’t watched him on Wild Love for two big reasons: First, I didn’t think it was fair to decide who someone was by watching them on a reality TV show. Second, I was wildly jealous of Lucy and didn’t want to see how much he enjoyed her company over mine. I glanced up from my veggie wrap and shrugged. “Yeah. Maybe I’ll watch it when our thing is over.”

Sienna’s mouth was full when she asked her next question. “Have you guys fucked yet?”

I raised both eyebrows at my best friend. “Look at you, being all forward in a public place.”

Sienna laughed and shrugged.

“But to answer your question, no. He’s still really into Lucy, so I don’t think it’s ever going to happen.”

“Nah, just shake that cute little ass for him, Aves. He’ll cave.” Sienna grinned at me and took another bite of her salad.

I laughed and shook my head. I was dying to know how Dominic fucked. You could tell a lot about a guy by the way he fucked. But I didn’t want to be the one that pushed for sex. Call it pride or something else. I wanted Dominic to want me.

Seven

Ava

My next “date” with Dominic was a staged photoshoot at my place. We were going to have three or four outfit changes and pose doing different things together, like swimming in my pool, baking cookies, cuddling and watching movies, etc. The idea was that we’d get enough material to post often and make it look like we were spending tons of time together without actually having to see each other.

I would never tell Jeanie or Dominic that I was disappointed that we were taking out like four birds with one stone. I shouldn’t want to spend more time with my fake boyfriend. That would mean I liked him, and that would be the worst. Liking a guy that loved someone else was a shithole I never wanted to fall into again.

The photographer arrived first, followed by Jeanie. Kitty and Dominic arrived a few minutes later. Dominic actually gave me a polite smile when he entered my kitchen. We’d really rounded a corner when we’d teased each other with stereotypes and accents in the coffee shop.

I smiled back at him, forgetting to give him the perfect one. But then, my real smile drew a bigger smile from him, which in turn pulled a bigger smile from me until we were a couple of smiling idiots.

Ugh. Stop, Ava. He doesn’t want you. He doesn’t even like you.

“Okay, let’s start with the cookies!” Jeanie was staring at her phone and already bossing us around. “The outfits you have on now are fine for this shoot. Kitty, do we have the props?”

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