Page 37 of Away With You
I watch their interaction with hearts in my eyes. It’s like seeing the characters of your favourite rom-com come to life and be even more delightful than in the movie.
“You doing alright?” Nathan whispers into my ear when there’s a lull in the conversation. Surprisingly, there hasn’t been one in the hour we’ve been here. And sitting at this table with these people has felt as comfortable as an evening at home with Jade. Just time spent with friends.
Amazing.
“I’m good.” I turn to smile at him and find his face close to mine.
As is fitting of his role as my fake boyfriend, his arm has mimicked Nicky’s, lying behind my back and across the top of my chair for most of the evening. Right now, his thumb is stroking small circles across the nape of my neck, from where he’d gently moved my hair to the side. The exposed skin back there is singing with happiness at the attention he’s giving it, and I’m holding myself still to stop from sinking back into it. Into him.
“That’s good. I’m glad,” he answers, his breath tickling my lips.
Pulling myself together, I shift away and take a gulp from my glass of water.Is it getting hot in here?I turn back to the table and find Cherry smiling a strange smile across from me.
“What is it?” I ask, running a hand over my face to check for crumbs.
She shakes her head, her ruby red hair floating around her shoulders. “Nothing. It’s just that he was right about you.”
My heart picks up, racing.He’s been talking about me?
“About what?”
Her eyes bounce between me and the man next to me, who’s now locked in conversation with Nicky. “He just said you’re special.”
“Like eat the glue special?”
Her laughter is light, like little bells ringing. “No, just that you’re different. I can tell he’s enamoured with you.”
My gaze wanders back to Nathan, and my breath hitches as I find him staring back at me with a soft, almost wondrous expression on his face. It’s no wonder Cherry thinks he’s besotted with me; the man is acting the part of a fake boyfriend just a little too well.
“We’ve just starting seeing each other,” I lie, tearing my eyes away and fanning my heated cheeks.
Her blue eyes sparkle back at me. “Whatever you say.”
I shake my head with a rueful smile and change the subject. Clearly, Nathan hasn’t told his friends that this relationship is fake, and the lovely Cherry is commenting on what she thinks is real. It makes me think that perhaps this pretend relationship idea could work after all.
“It was so nice to meet you,” Cherry says a short while later when we’ve finished dessert and the servers are looking ready tokick us out. “Let’s exchange numbers so we can catch up on race weekends.”
My eyes fly to Nathan’s, who’s watching on, looking unperturbed. It feels wrong to deceive these lovely people like this, but what can I do? We can’t tell them it’s all fake and draw them into the web of lies we’ve already started weaving, so I guess I’ll have to play along. Not the worst thing, if it means I get to keep Cherry as a friend.
“Sounds good,” I tell her as she links her arm through mine. Together we walk behind the F1 drivers, chatting like we’ve all been doing this for years.
“You may have got it right this time,” I hear Nicky say in a low tone as we leave the restaurant. The two men have stopped just outside, their heads close together.
Nathan looks over at me, the side of his mouth curling up before he nods, murmuring something back that I’m too far away to catch.
“I’ll message you so you have my number,” Cherry says, squeezing my hand to get my attention. “I’m so happy you two are together.”
My gaze bounces between the three of them, and I force out a smile. “It’s been great meeting both of you.”
She envelops me in a tight hug before waving goodbye, with promises to catch up again soon. I nod helplessly, watching them walk away before turning back to the man who got us in this mess in the first place.
“That went well,” he says, his hand now on my lower back, walking us down the street in the opposite direction of his friends. He seems to enjoy having his hands on me, and I’m too befuddled to complain about it.
We stop in front of his car, and I slip in through the passenger side door he’s holding open. There’s no point arguing about itthis time; if we’re keeping up this façade, of course Nathan has to drive me home.
“I feel bad,” I blurt out the minute he joins me in the car. “About lying to them. They think we’re a proper couple. It’s wrong.”
His gaze sharpens on me, and he nods slowly. “Yeah, I get that. Do you want me to tell them the truth? About what we’re doing? I’m sure they’ll understand once I explain it all to them.”
