Page 92 of Take A Number
“No.” I scoff and roll my eyes. “Not really.”
“So, you’re still together then?” I glance over and see Lynsey smiling hopefully at me.
“No, actually.”
“We don’t have all day, Dean,” Kate snaps, standing in front of me with a murderous gaze. “Start talking or I’m going to start pouring out your IPA beers in the fridge.”
I hit them with the truth. “Norah and I are no longer together because we were not technically a couple. It was all a lie.”
“A lie? What do you mean?” Lynsey’s wide brown eyes are blinking at me like an innocent little Bambie.
“Norah needed a date for her parents’ anniversary party. I needed an approved date for your wedding. Neither of us were interested in a relationship, so we used each other for fake dates.”
“But you guys banged in Aspen,” Kate blurts out.
I shrug. “It transitioned into something more than just fake dating.”
“Like friends with benefits?” Lynsey asks.
I flinch. “Something like that.”
“Been there. It’s always messy.” Kate sits on the floor in front of me. “But I don’t get it…you and Norah weren’t fake.”
“Yes, we were.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“Yes, we were.”
“Dean,” Kate snaps, pinning me with her blue eyes. “I have a PhD in erotic romance, and you two were not faking a thing. You weren’t even faking orgasms. We could hear you guys in Aspen.”
I press my lips together. “That last part is true…the rest. All fake.”
“Bullshit,” Kate counters, shaking her head at me. “You two were the real deal. I’d even say you were in love.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I spit the words out through gritted teeth, hating she’s saying everything I’ve denied for days now.
“No, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lynsey volleys back, her voice rising at the end. “God, Dean, you are so annoying sometimes.”
“What the hell did I do to you?”
“You let Norah get away when you’re clearly in love with her.”
“I’m not in love with her, and I didn’t let her get away,” I growl and heave myself off my beanbag chair to get some fucking space from these two crazy women in my house. “Norah pushed me away. She’s buying out my investment in her bakery so she can get as much space between us as humanly possible.”
“Seriously?” Kate asks, looking astonished from her spot on the floor. “Damn, that girl goes big. I’m impressed.”
I shake my head in disgust. “She wants nothing to do with me anymore. She said she wants a real boyfriend and a real life with open possibilities. She’s going to France to stay with a friend for who knows how fucking long.”
“So, go with her. Be with her,” Lynsey exclaims, and her hopeful naiveté makes me want to smother my face in a pillow.
My voice is resigned when I reply, “No fucking way, Lynsey. I’d ruin her.”
The room goes quiet as Kate and Lynsey gape at me for a long moment.
“Why would you say that, Dean?” Lynsey asks, her voice grave.
I pin her with a look. “You’ve met my parents, Lynsey.”
