Page 43 of Confessions of a Smutty Romance Author

“I wanted to,” I replied honestly.

She took a bite of the food and moaned, sending a jolt of lightning straight to my dick. This was so not the way I wanted to make her moan. I wanted to make herscream.

I turned away to clear my head and made a plate from myself. As I sat across from her and took my first bite, I thought how funny it was. Having her in my dining room, seeing the midmorning sun filter through the sheer curtains and bounce off her brown hair, making it shine every hue of brown I didn’t know existed. I hadn’t planned to have her here... but I liked it.

“Hey,” she said, “do you know where my phone is? I thought I set it by the bed, but I didn’t see it there when I woke up.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, quickly getting up to grab it. “Birdie called, and I didn’t want it to wake you, so I answered. I hope that’s okay. She said to give her a call when you got up.”

I handed the phone to her, and she looked at the screen. I watched carefully to see her reaction to the notifications. She either had the world’s best poker face or didn’t care about having those guys text her like that. I hated that I didn’t know which it was.

“Did you sleep alright?” I asked.

She set her phone face down on the table and said, “I slept great. And I can’t believe you didn’t wake me up with your boner in my back.”

I nearly choked on my pancakes. Recovering, I asked, “I couldn’t be a cliché, now could I?”

“If you’re a cliché for anything, it’s ‘nice guy.’ Really, Jonas, I can’t tell you how thankful I am you had me over here. It would have been a long night at my house.”

“No problem,” I said, trying to ignore the part of me that bristled at being called a “nice guy.” It was a compliment. Especially coming from someone like Mara. But that’s not the only way I wanted her to see me.

How exactly did I want her to see me... I still wasn’t sure.

She finished the last of her food, then held up her phone. “I better call Birdie.”

I nodded, continuing to slowly work my way through my breakfast while she went back to the bedroom. I could hear the muffled sound of Mara’s voice from the table. I wondered what she was telling her friend. If she thought I was too forward by asking her to stay. If she couldn’t wait to get out of my house.

But when she came back to the kitchen, she didn’t say any of those things.

No, she surprised me by saying, “We’re going to Collie’s tonight.”

I drew my eyebrows together. She wanted us to go to Cohen’s bar tonight? “Why?”

She smiled. “We’re all going to celebrate the success of our fake relationship.”

16

Mara

Confession: Tequila is my sexy drink.

Jonas pulledhis car into Collie’s crowded parking lot. I looked around at all the full spaces, the people walking inside, thinking it had been too damn long since I’d dressed up and gone out to the bar. And this was the first time that I’d arrived with the guy I intended to go home with.

To be fair, Jonas looked like the kind of guy I would go home with if I didn’t know he was an accountant. If I wasn’t fake dating him. He was fit, and the jeans he’d put on looked damn good on his ass. Not to mention he had on this navy-blue T-shirt that hugged his body in all the right ways.

I felt good too. Birdie had a stretchy body con dress that she let me borrow, and I loved the way it hugged my curves and showed just a hint of cleavage. It would be perfect for dancing.

We’d gone over there to get ready instead of chancing it back at my place. Jonas was adamant I would stay with him until the security system was installed, running, andtestedat my house. He’d even set up the guest bed with freshly washed sheets and pillows. Too bad I didn’t want to sleep in it.

Even if we hadn’t done anything, it had been oddly comforting to sleep next to him and know he was there.

And when I woke up? He’d been right. The water was still cold from that ridiculous ice cube.

He held the door to the club open for me, and the bouncer, a college kid named Stanley, let us in without a cover. “Hey, Jonas, Mara,” he added with a wink.

Always trying to punch above his weight.

I gave him a flirty wave and followed Jonas to the bar, where Cohen and Birdie were standing together. Birdie was sitting on the chair, and Cohen stood in between her legs, whispering something into her ear.

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