Page 82 of The Waiting Game

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

After settling in for the night, Felix was reading on the bed when there was a quiet knock on the door of the guest room. Surprised, he called out, “Come in.”

He wasn’t surprised when the door opened a little and Jonah poked his head in. “Hey, you have a sec?”

“Of course.”

Jonah slipped in and stood at the foot of the bed, shifting his weight from foot to foot. It was the same absent-minded motion he made on his skates as he and Felix stood on the ice during the national anthem.

“So.” Felix smiled, stuck a bookmark between the pages, then closed his book. “What’s up?”

Jonah took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”

“Uhh.” Felix stared at him. “Do what?”

“This fake engagement thing. It’s crazy but we should do it anyway. Let’s see how it goes.”

For a few heartbeats, Felix just stared at him.

“I mean, you still want to, right?” Jonah said, his tone turning hesitant. “After you got back from your meeting, you said Ismael was okay with it and …”

Felix nodded, unsure why he felt so tense. “Yeah, he supports it.”

“So I had some time tonight to think about it and we should do it. Let’s get engaged.”

A jolt went through Felix at that word.

Jonah didn’t mean it for real or anything but some part of Felix had thought Jonah would never agree to this. And having him here, having him say that he wanted that too … it was the strangest feeling.

Not bad. But surreal.

“Yeah?” Felix croaked.

“Yeah, c’mon, it’ll be some fun, crazy story we can tell everyone in like ten years when we’re married to other people.” Jonah gave him a little smile.

Felix chuckled. “It’ll make for a hell of a best man speech, that’s for sure.”

Jonah laughed and everything settled again, the weird tension bleeding away in the face of their normal banter.

“Okay, so what happens next?” Felix asked.

Jonah shrugged and took a seat at the foot of the bed. “I don’t know. You’re the one who cooked up this crazy idea in the first place.”

“Well, I didn’t think it all the way through!” Felix protested. Honestly, he hadn’t even thought it would get this far. He’d thought Jonah would shoot the idea down.

Considering their options, Felix set the book aside and crossed his legs.

Jonah’s gaze tracked the movement and, for a moment, a little frisson of heat went through Felix at the way Jonah’s gaze lingered on his legs, bare below the shorts he wore.

“Oh, so the usual then?” Jonah shot back.

But the chirp about not thinking things through before he leapt was a beat too late, like Jonah had been distracted.

Huh. That was interesting.

“I mean, I guess the big thing is, who do we tell the truth to and who do we let believe it’s fake?” Felix said, reaching for his phone.

Jonah would laugh, but a spreadsheet would help them keep everything straight.

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