Page 49 of False Play
I frowned. “What?”
She nodded as she reached for her salad bowl and started eating. A painful silence stretched between us as I patiently waited for her to finish her thought.
She shifted in her seat and faced me. Her knee brushed my thigh slightly, and the movement alone had me like a dog panting for more attention.Hell. If I ever had the chance to see her bare legs, I knew I was going to combust. “Yeah, some ground rules for this fake dating thing.”
“What we need are acting classes,” I retorted with a laugh.
“You did just fine at the meeting. What the hell are you talking about?”
I rolled my lips to keep my grin in check. “I meant for you. You’re a shit actress.”
“Excuse me if not everyone can go through life lying through their teeth,” she bit out.
While I knew she didn’t mean anything by it, because she couldn’t possibly know how true that statement was, the jab still left a mark.
I let people believe what they wanted because it was easier to let them form their own opinions than shine a light on the ugly truth. Giving attention to the core of the problem would only hurt people I cared about.
“What are these rules you’re talking about?” I asked, trying to deter the conversation. I needed to get out of the gloomy, lingering thoughts that constantly haunted me.
She counted on her fingers as she rattled off the list without a pause. “No flirting, no kissing, no sex?—”
“Whoa, hey.” I raised my hands and gripped her forearms softly, interrupting her. “How do you expect we sell this, then?”
“What do you mean?”
“When we’re in public, we’re going to have to act like a couple. That includes flirtingandkissing.”
She grazed the top of her teeth with her tongue in contemplation. “I guess you have a point.But”—she pointed a finger at me—“none of that while we’re behind doors.Onlywhen the situation calls for it.”
I quirked a brow. “Afraid you’ll like it too much?”
“More like trying to avoid the way you’llinevitablyfall in love with me, pretty boy.” The way her eyes sparkled with amusement had my heart stammering wildly. My heart wanted to leap out of my chest and serve itself on a silver platter before her.
I liked mean and serious Kennedy a lot, but fun and playful Kennedy was someone I found myself being attracted to just as much.
“You sound so sure of yourself.” I rested my elbows on the island and gave her a once-over. Even in basic, staying-in type clothes, she managed to be devastatingly beautiful.
She flipped her curls, and a whiff of her coconutty shampoo hit my nose. Of course, her shampoo also had to smell intoxicatingly good. The way my brain committed the smell to memory in excruciating detail should have been alarming.
“Confidence is practically my middle name, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Oh, trust me, I haven’t forgotten. It’s one of your best traits,” I replied honestly.
“You’re flirting again.”
“Am I?” I asked innocently.
“Yes,” she drawled.
I scrubbed my jaw. “Hm.”
“What?”
I shifted in my chair and twirled a piece of her beautiful chestnut curls around my index finger. “Let’s get one thing clear,” I rasped as my eyes met hers. It was hard not to get lost in them. I wondered how they would shine if she were on her knees for me, taking me in her mouth as deep as she could go. The thought alone made my cock stir with excitement. I’d bet all my money she would look like a goddamn perfect wet dream.
What was I saying to her again?
The flirting thing.
