Page 29 of Allured By Her

The Pine State Bar and Grille was packed when Tenley pulled into the lot. I’d hazard a guess that at least half of the cars parked in the lot were from out of state, or people on vacation. Summer in Maine could be jarring. All of a sudden, there were strangers everywhere and you couldn’t find a parking spot at the grocery store and the beach was packed. The coffee shop also got a lot more customers, usually people on their way to Castleton or other more coastal places.

We had to wait for a few minutes for a table, so we stood by the entrance to wait.

“Hey, fake girlfriend. Act like my girlfriend,” Tenley said in my ear as she slipped her hand into mine and leaned into me.

I turned and found her looking down at me.

“Kiss me,” she said softly, and it was like she flipped a switch in me. I kissed her, and once I started, I didn’t want to stop. Her mouth was warm and soft and skilled. Not to mention she got her tongue involved immediately in a way that had my legs turning to liquid and every thought in my brain fading to nothing. Everything in the world narrowed to the two of us.

And then the hostess called out that our table was ready, and Tenley pulled away. I stumbled a little as she led me to our table. It was set just for two, so we sat across from each other, our legs brushing.

The hostess handed us menus, gave us water, and shared the specials.

“Look at that, a lobster dinner for two,” Tenley said, scanning the menu. “Is that what you were looking for?”

The meal came with two lobsters, clams, corn, coleslaw, rolls, and lots of drawn butter.

“As long as I can order shrimp instead of the clams,” I said, meeting her eyes.

“Not a clam fan?” she asked.

I shuddered in response. No offense meant to those who liked clams and mussels and oysters, but no. Absolutely not.

“More clams for me then,” she said, smiling. Our server came over and I recognized her from the last time I’d been here.

Tenley ordered for us, and I got a small glass of the house white wine.

“So,” Tenley said when our order was put in.

“What?” I said and she leaned in.

“Just making conversation, Mia,” she said, and there was a flirty tone in her voice. Coming here was a good idea if she wanted us to be seen together in front of people who would bring it back to Shane.

“And what did you want to talk about?” I asked, matching her tone and also leaning in. At the same time, I slid my foot up and down her leg. I’d never done anything like that before, but it seemed like the right move.

Tenley giggled. She actually giggled and blushed and I didn’t think it was an act. The combination of the blush and the giggle were doing very strange things to me.

The urge to lean over the table and kiss her right then and there was almost completely overwhelming. I’d always known that Tenley was disgustingly pretty, but being pretty and being attractive to me personally were two different things.

I didn’t want Tenley to be attractive. It made things way too complicated. Thinking your fake girlfriend was attractive did not figure into the plan. Definitely needed to stop that nonsense right away.

“Sorry,” Tenley said, her face getting even redder. “I did have a question for you, though.”

I was almost too scared to ask.

“Okayyy,” I said, tentatively.

“How exactly do you make those lavender vanilla macchiatos?” she said, and I relaxed. Coffee drinks were easy to talk about. I told her what supplies we used and where to buy them for herself.

“Does this mean you’re not going to come to Common Grounds and annoy me every day?” I asked.

“No, I just need to have the stuff so I can make them on the weekends when you’re not working,” she said. “No offense to the other people you work with, but they don’t make them like you.”

Now I was the one who was blushing.

“We all make our drinks the same, Tenley,” I said, wishing I had a plate of food to stare at instead of her. First the giggling and now the complimenting.

“Well I can taste the difference,” she said.

---