Page 71 of Fake

“Nope.” Benjamin smiles gently. “As much as it pains me, I’m giving you back to Nathan before his eyes burn hate holes into the back of my head. Not only will people wonder even more, but you deserve some time to think about my offer before you agree.”

I turn and there he is. Arms crossed. Thorn and bramble gaze piercing the night. I smile and he glares and won’t he think it’s funny when he learns what just happened.

“To the many, many good things we’ll discover together.” Benjamin presses a kiss to the back of my hand before returning me to Nathan. “Thank you for letting me borrow your date. She’s quite a woman.”

With that, he saunters away, head held high, smile in place as people watch and whisper.

“I bet that made your night,” Nathan growls, barely meeting my eyes.

“In a string of surreal days, this one takes the cake.”

He’s jealous. There’s no hiding it. I should put his mind at ease, but there’s something fun in drawing it out. I won’t make him suffer long, though.

Nathan rakes a hand through his hair. “The whole reason we’re…whatever we’re doing…is because you had a thing for Benjamin and your drunk friend tried to play Cupid.”

“I did have a thing for him.” I place my palm to Nathan’s cheek and meet his eyes. “But it pales in comparison to the thing I have for you.”

A slow smile creeps across Nathan’s face as he leans into my touch. It’s like watching the dawn chase away the shadow of night. A thawing. A warming. And then, the sun in all its blinding glory.

He kisses me, his lips gentle then commanding, his hands whispering up my back, slipping over silk to find skin. His body presses to mine, strong and hard, and mine answers, supple, clenching, a low, throbbing need burning in my belly.

Nathan pulls back, brushing his forehead to mine. “Is that why he gave you back so early? Your thing for me?”

One kiss.

Another.

People are watching and I’m suddenly shy.

“Apparently this was all a big marketing scheme.”

“Marketing…?” Nathan cocks his head. “What the hell, Mina?”

“This is pretty much the best night of my life for a number of reasons.” With the man beside me being the biggest of those reasons. I can’t stop smiling and the look in his eyes is like coming home. Like becoming whole. Like knowing all is right in my world.

Nathan glances at the gathered crowd, then leans close to whisper, “Why don’t we get out of here and you can tell me all about it.”

And suddenly all I want is to be alone with him, so I can finally be with him. I want to tell him I stopped faking weeks ago and I want him to agree. I want him to touch me and take me and fulfill the promise he made with that first kiss in the parking lot at The Pact when the moon was full and expectant and hinted at wonderful things.

I nod and he smiles, then takes my hand and we wind through a crowd whispering questions as we leave.

There’s one thing I know for sure:

I want more time with Nathan West.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Mina

I tell Nathan about Benjamin’s offer in the car. My words trip over each other, each one more eager than the last to get out. “Bancroft and Blake Design. I mean…how awesome is that?”

“That’s amazing, Mina. I’m so proud of you and not at all surprised. You’re so incredibly talented. Benjamin would have to be blind not to see.”

He hasn’t let go of my hand since we got in the car, his thumb brushing my knuckle in a soothing dance. Everything’s shifted now. The nerves I felt when he picked me up have dissipated, burnt off like morning fog giving way to the sun, dewdrops glittering. A surge of anticipation effervesces through my bloodstream as Nathan’s driver pulls to a stop in front of a modest two-story house on the water. It’s so much smaller than the one Benjamin and I are designing for him, smaller even than his parents’ house, that I don’t immediately unlatch my seatbelt, certain there’s been a mistake. But Nathan climbs out of the car and the driver steps out to open my door, so this must be where we’re supposed to be.

I emerge into a night filled with expectation.

It pulses through the air.

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