Page 76 of Even Exchange

“Stop inflating his ego!” I beg.

“Gotta make sure he doesn’t forget about me when he’s super famous,” Andi says, sending him a teasing wink.

“Didn’t you hear?” I say. “He’salreadysuper famous. The punt bunnies are in his DMs by the hundreds.”

Noah shoots me a crooked grin. “Jealous,soffione?”

“No.” Heat flushes my cheeks, and I’m curious what the nickname means.I’ll ask later.“Just stating facts.”

“Okay, well…” Andi gestures behind herself. “I’m out. See you at practice.”

She exits the cabin, shutting the door behind her.

“You ready to do this thing?” I ask Noah, giving him two thumbs up.

He chuckles “Yep. Let’s go.”

We leave the cabin, joining the path to the football field filled with other players and cheerleaders. Noah slides his hand in mine, my breathing ragged as he entangles our fingers and squeezes gently.

He leans down, his lips brushing against my ear, and goosebumps scatter down my spine. “Relax. You look constipated.”

“Excuse me?!” I drop his hand, shoving him away. “You did not just say that.”

He smirks and throws an arm around my shoulders, tugging me to him. “It got you to laugh. You appear much happier now.”

“There has to be some kind of rule against saying shit like that to your girlfriend.” I cock a brow up at him.

“What would you rather I tell you?” he asks, his familiar scent surrounding me.

“How about, ‘Charlotte, relax. You look breathtakingly beautiful but stressed.’”

“Done,” he says, shooting me a panty-soaking wink.

Rein it in, Benson.

Who knew fake dating your real best friend would be this damn hard?

“So, Ms. Breathtakingly Beautiful, are you looking forward to your firstfullday as my girl?”

My girl.

Heat flushes my cheeks. There’re so many things to unpack from his sentence, I’m not even sure where to start. “Am I looking forward to seeing the look on Jonathan’s face every time he sees us? Hell yes.” I blow out a breath. “But I’m also nervous about making sure I don’t get us caught in the lie.”

“Stop thinking about it as a lie,” he whispers in my ear. “The current truth is I’m your boyfriend. No one has to know that only officially started yesterday.”

His touch surrounds me, along with his reassurance. “I guess youareright.”

“I know I am,” he says smugly.

“Would it kill you topretendto be humble?”

“You know, baby? It just might.” He laughs, and my stomach flips at his first use of the pet name.What’s with the flipping?

“Is that something you’ll be doing a lot?” I ask hesitantly.

He looks down with furrowed brows. “What?”

“Calling me sweet nicknames?”

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