Page 23 of Needing Happily Ever After

“Right?” It was beyond strange, but Katie felt a flash of disappointment go through her. It wasn’t really crazy to imagine them together, was it?

“And it sounds like Faith is going to handle all the details.” Damon had already moved on in the conversation. “And…well, Logan is…”

“Logan is Logan. He wasn’t going to be happy no matter what.” She turned around to face him and was startled by how close he stood. A shiver went through her body at his nearness, but he didn’t seem to notice. And if he did, it didn’t bother him to be close to her.

Not that it bothered her. Quite the opposite.

She shook her head quickly in an effort to clear her thoughts. This is fake, Katie reminded herself. It’s all fake.

Even if the kiss they’d shared earlier had felt very, very real.

She’d tried to laugh it off because what else could she do? It’s not as if she could tell him that when his lips touched hers something had happened inside her. Something that had never happened before. It was like a full-body shiver, but instead of being cold, it was the exact opposite. His lips had lit her up in a way that had sparked a very dangerous fire within her. And even though it had only lasted a moment, she was certain that if she closed her eyes right now, she would still be able to taste him.

But nothing about that would be a good idea, so Katie forced herself to keep her eyes open and directly on Damon, who looked at her strangely.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded and smiled. “Fine. It’s just that all this is so…” She sighed. “It’s a lot and I still have to pack.”

Pack. Yes. She had to pack. It was the perfect way to get a little space and clear her head.

“You know what?” She wiggled to the side and moved toward the hall. “If you start the dishes, I can go throw a few things in a bag so we can get out of here a little faster. I think it’ll be easier to…well, you know…lie,” she whispered the last word, “if we limit the time we spend around my family.”

He nodded, but if she didn’t know better, Katie might have thought that he looked a little disappointed. “No problem. I’ll take care of the cleanup. You pack.”

“Pack for what?” They both spun around to see Logan in the door with the remaining dishes stacked in his arms. “Where are you going?”

It was clear that Logan still wasn’t happy about their engagement. The last thing she needed to deal with was a scene with her big brother. “Damon’s dad has generously offered us the guesthouse to stay in.” Katie grinned and tried to keep her voice light. “There’s just so much more room up at ElkView. We thought it might get crowded here and well, with the wedding in a few days, it doesn’t really make sense for Damon to stay at the hotel, so…”

Damon and Katie waited and watched Logan carefully. Katie was half convinced that her brother might actually take a swing at Damon, but to her surprise, he shrugged.

“Makes sense.”

“It does?”

Logan forced out a chuckle. “Of course it does.” He waved at her. “Go. Pack. I’ll help Damon with the dishes.”

A sliver of panic threaded through her, but Katie had no idea how to get out of leaving them alone together. Not without it looking suspicious. She looked to Damon, who nodded and smiled.

“Okay,” she said on an exhale. “Sounds good.” Right before she turned to leave, she had a thought and took two quick steps across the room to press her lips to Damon’s cheek. “I’ll see you soon.”

His eyes held hers for a beat as she pulled away. Something in the way he looked at her caused a fluttering sensation low in her belly.

Stop that!

She really needed to get that under control. The last thing she needed to complicate everything even more was to actually have any kind of romantic feelings for her husband-to-be.

The moment she was alone, she dropped her head and took three quick breaths, forcing herself to calm down. It was just Damon. The same Damon he’d always been. Their relationship was exactly the same as it had always been. Friends. There was nothing between them. It was pretend. That was all.

And that’s what she kept telling herself as she threw her clothes and her school books into a duffel bag. By the time she was done packing and had rejoined the others in the living room, just in time to say goodnight, she’d actually convinced herself of it. They were only friends. There was nothing between them. Nothing real. Just a little lie that they needed to keep playing at for a little bit longer and then they could go right back to being Damon and Katie, best friends.

They said their good-byes and were almost home free as they walked away from the house toward Damon’s truck and freedom from what had been the hardest part of the whole deception so far when Damon paused with his hand on the truck door he’d been about to open for her. “They’re all watching,” he said through his smile. “Let’s give them something to watch.”

Before Katie could ask him what he meant, he pulled her close with one hand while the other cupped her cheek. And then he was kissing her. Really kissing her. In an instant, everything fell away and Katie forgot about the fact that her family was watching them, or that it wasn’t supposed to be real. Her knees actually buckled a little, but Damon held her tight. He tasted faintly of the coffee they’d had after their meal as his tongue slipped between her lips and found hers. There was nothing pretend about this kiss. Absolutely. Nothing.

It was as real as it got and when he finally pulled his mouth away from hers, she was completely speechless. Her breath came in short bursts and her heart raced.

“That was perfect,” Damon whispered against her lips before pulling back, and opening the truck door for her. He helped her up and inside, and somehow she managed to regain her senses long enough to buckle her seat belt and wave out the window as they drove away.

---