Page 20 of Fake Dating the SEAL
Right. Showtime. She’d almost forgotten, this was nothing more than a performance for the matchmaking mothers.
Kenny got out and walked around to open her door, ever the gentleman. As they approached her front door, Sara was acutelyaware that they were still holding hands. “Thank you again for today.” She turned to face him on the porch. “All of it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”
“We’ll have to work on that then, but for the record, me too.”
For a moment they stood there, looking at each other, and Sara realized Kenny was thinking the same thing she was. Simply holding hands to the door wouldn’t be enough for the pretense.
“We should probably…” Kenny’s voice trailed off as his gaze flicked toward the front window.
“Give them something to talk about?” Sara finished.
“Something like that, yeah.” Kenny’s voice was low and deep and barely audible. His hand came up to cup her cheek. His eyes searched hers for a moment before he leaned in slowly, giving her plenty of time to pull away if she wanted.
She didn’t want to. His lips were warm and gentle, and the kiss lasted just long enough to look real without crossing any lines.
“See you tonight.” He inched back slowly.
“Tonight.” She nodded.
In a ridiculous effort to extend the moment, instead of going inside, she watched Kenny walk to his car. Not wanting to look foolish, standing there until he drove away, she turned and let herself into the house. She almost laughed at her mother trying very hard to look like she’d been dusting and not spying from the living room window. Considering her mother only dusted when company was coming, the woman was pretty much busted. Straightening her shoulders, sucking in a fortifying breath, Sara repeated what Kenny had said in the car:Showtime.
Chapter Nine
“He kissed her? So soon?” Maile Everrett’s voice rang clear in Missy’s ear.
“Not a big kiss. Just a…” she searched for the right word, “sweet kiss.”
“Hmm,” her dearest friend of decades huffed. “I expected more from our Kenny.”
Shaking her head even though her friend couldn’t see, Missy sighed. “He opened the car door for her.”
“Good. Good,” Maile muttered.
“When she was out of the car he didn’t let go of her hand.”
“Wait. He held her hand?”
“That’s right. He extended it to help her out of the car and once they were on the curb, he didn’t let go.”
“I see.” The tone in Maile’s voice had softened. “And he walked her to the door?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe there’s hope for our Kenny.”
She didn’t say it out loud, but Missy raised her gaze to the ceiling of her bedroom closet, the only place no one in the house could hear her talking on the phone, and prayed today meant there was hope for her Sara. Her little girl with the most tenderheart deserved a man as good as her father. With the grace of God, maybe, just maybe this time, everything would work out.
By the time Kenny pulled up in front of the house again, twilight had settled in. The last of the sun’s glow streaked the horizon, and the streetlights shone on the roads below. Before he could make it halfway down the front path, Sara stepped out the front door. For a split second Kenny almost forgot this wasn’t a real date. Extending his elbow to her, he caught the faintest movement of the curtains again. “Maybe I should have kissed you hello?”
Her eyes rolled heavenward. “Do I need to ask if they’re watching?”
“You know they are.”
“Yeah,” she sighed, “I do. And no. Leading the way is more chivalrous in their minds. I suspect you’ve scored a few brownie points.”
“Got it.” He smiled, holding the car door open for her. Quickly circling the hood, he climbed into the driver seat and was still grinning when he pulled away from the curb. This was definitely proving to be a very different way of spending his holiday. “How did it go earlier?”
“To my surprise, no third degree. Though I will say, it was rather entertaining watching Mom pretend to dust every surface in the living room so I wouldn’t know she’d been spying from the window. It must have killed her not to ask me a thousand questions, but I could see her eyes brighten when I told her I was home to change for dinner tonight.”
