Page 92 of Playing Pretend

I shake my head and swallow over my drying throat.

This kiss would be real. No playing pretend. No games.

He raises a hand, his palm gently sliding around the back of my neck as he leans close.

It already feels like I’m denying fate. There’s no way his lips on mine will do anything other than increase that sensation exponentially.

“One kiss,” he whispers. “That’s all I’m asking.”

I bite my bottom lip, my insides screaming for me to crush my mouth to his while my anxiety demands I flee. “Rome…”

A feminine throat clears behind him.

“Shit.” He pulls back, his hold remaining on me as Olivia pads past with a sassy grin, her heels dangling from one hand, her purse in the other. I haven’t seen her for a few years. She looks good. Happier than the last time we caught up.

“You two might want to take this inside before you start getting subscribers.” She jerks her chin at the house across the street. “They’re not exactly discreet in their voyeurism.”

I follow her line of sight to Rome’s neighbor’s mansion, finding the silhouettes of two people standing at the window on the second story, a light shining from behind them as they watch us.

“I’ll speak to you later, cousin.” She gives Rome a wink, then a pointed look to me. “It’s about time, little lady.”

I remain silent as she continues to her car parked on the opposite side of the road and climbs inside, my nervousness stretching as she starts the ignition and then drives away.

Rome sighs. “I know that look.” His hand falls from my neck. “You still want to leave.”

“I don’t know what I want. I don’t even understand what’s happening. It’s all moving too fast.”

“This has been decades in the making, little Pip. There’s nothing fast about it. You’re just scared.”

“Of course I am. We played pretend for a few days and spent half our time fighting.”

“That wasn’t fighting.”

“It’s the closest we’ve come. We bickered like crazy.”

“Because we were stuck halfway between friends and lovers.” His hand tentatively grazes my hip. “I promise it won’t be like that when it’s real.”

I heave a frustrated breath and lower my attention to the black buttons on his shirt. “But you’re so…”

“Annoying?” he hedges.

I chuckle. “I was going to say adventurous. You know I’m not like that.” Insecurity leaves me chilled despite the blistering heat from his touch. “What if I can’t give you thespiceyou need?”

He glides a stray strand of hair from my blushing cheek. “After what we did at the resort, do you truly believe that’s a possibility?”

“But what if I can never bring myself to do anything like that again? What if I was only emboldened because we were pretending?”

A lone finger trails seductively from my ear down my jaw and along my lower lip, its path awakening with tingles. “In that case, I’d respect your wishes while also thinking you were kidding yourself. You were a sight to behold through all that spice. You made it seem so fucking natural.”

I shudder, falling under his spell. “I’m scared I’d disappoint you.”

“You couldn’t if you tried. I’ve wanted you for as long as I can remember.You, Piper. Not just the sexual fantasies.You. I’ve wanted to be the one you turn to when you’re upset—”

“You already are.”

“No, I’m the one youcall,” he clarifies. “I want to be the one you fall asleep with when you’ve had a bad week. I want to be the one you need to wipe your tears. The one who’ll make everything alright again. I want us to work together. Live together. Make plans together.” He keeps stroking that finger along my lip. “I want everything I can possibly have from you. For as long as you’ll let me have it.”

“And what would happen if there came a time when I didn’t want that anymore? Or if you changed your mind?”

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