Page 78 of Fake Shot

I cross my arms over my chest. “Why not?”

He reaches up and grips the doorframe as he leans in closer. “Because I don’t want to. I want to be wherever you are, and I’m sorry if I made it sound like I only wanted you to come out to make this relationship look real. I was feeling a little desperate to say whatever would get you to hang out with me, and obviously that was not it.”

I hug myself a little tighter, fighting off the flutters awakening in my stomach. “How do I knowthisisn’t the thing you’re saying now because you’re desperate for me to come out with you tonight?”

“I don’t really care if we go out, Jules. But after spending the weekend with you, I don’t want to be without you.”

I try to keep my walls up, to keep myself safe, but when he says things like that, it’s harder and harder to remember why I need those walls to begin with.

“What if I want to stay home?”

“Then I’ll stay with you.”

I glance over at the clock on my nightstand and am surprised to find that it’s not quite eight o’clock. “Fine, I’ll go. But I need to change.”

He bends down and swoops me over his shoulder so quick I barely have time to shriek before he’s walking through the door to my bathroom and heading toward my closet.

“Colt, stop.”

He freezes.

“I can change by myself.”

“What is it about this closet that makes it so secretive, huh?” he asks. “Does it turn into a sex dungeon or something?”

I laugh. “What in the world would a virgin need a sex dungeon for?”

He pulls me down, letting my body slide along his until my feet meet the floor. His voice is even deeper and more gravelly than normal when he says, “Why do you keep emphasizing the fact that you’re a virgin?”

I reach up and hook my finger into the space above the top button on his shirt. “Because I still need someone to help me out with that situation.”

Leaning forward, he kisses my forehead. “We can revisit this when you have a better answer.”

Then he’s turning me toward my closet, and he smacks my ass to push me through the door, telling me I have fifteen minutes to get ready.

“Ican’t believe you’re here!” Audrey squeals when Colt and I slide into the booth at the Neon Cactus.

“Why’s that?” I ask, feigning an air of nonchalance that I certainly don’t feel. Obviously, I know everyone sitting at this table: my sister and Drew, Zach and Ashleigh, and Walsh and Marissa. But there’s something about being here with other well-established couples, when this thing with Colt and me has only started to feel real recently. Zach and Ashleigh have only been together since right before Christmas, but she moved in with him weeks after they metbecause she was relocating from Seattle to Boston, and he insisted it didn’t make sense for her to get her own place.

“Because you have to work tomorrow morning,” Audrey says.

“So do you.” I shrug.

“Yeah, but I’ll stroll into the office whenever I feel like it, which will probably be about three or four hours after you leave for work.”

“Must be nice,” I say with a little roll of my eyes. Then again, I’m often home long before Audrey finishes up for the day. “I’ll be fine. It’s just one night. Plus, we’re starting a little late tomorrow because we’re waiting on a delivery.”

“How was Montreal?” Walsh asks.

I look at Colt, waiting for him to respond. He just shrugs, still looking at me, and says, “It was interesting.”

They pepper us with questions about what it was like for me to meet Colt’s family for the first time, and it’s a relief when the waitress comes over to take our drink orders. Colt and I are both being purposefully evasive, and I’m half-afraid someone’s going to call us on it.

By the time we’re on our second round of drinks, the conversation has shifted to the upcoming series against Carolina. Colt’s lazily tracing figure eights on my bare thigh when Walsh starts going through the list of players, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Colt slides out of the booth and holds his hand out to me. “Let’s go play pool.”

“I don’t really play pool,” I tell him, but I take his hand and let him pull me up to standing.

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