Page 36 of The Fake Boyfriend Fiasco

Aria set the rest of her bagel aside and put a hand over his mouth.

He stopped talking. Then he flicked out his tongue and traced a line over her palm, eyes dancing with mischief.

“You are absolutely impossible,” she told him sternly.

He replied with something she couldn’t interpret, since her hand was still covering his mouth.

“I thought you weren’t doing the casual sex thing anymore?”

Apparently, he wasn’t prepared to answer that with a mumble, because he tugged her hand gently away. Eyes burning into hers, he said, “I don’t want casual.”

Well, smack her on the backside and call her Marianne. “Um… right… so what you want is…?”

“Un-casual. What’s the opposite of casual? I want you intensely. I want you formally? I want—”

“Committed,” she finished, her voice flat. “The opposite of casual is committed.”

He studied her for a moment, his gaze sharp, considering. She waited for his inevitable recoil, or maybe some hysterical laughter. It didn’t come.

Instead, he said, “Tell me about your ex-husband.”

It was an odd request, but she was prepared to go there if it meant a reprieve from this conversation. A reprieve from the tension of knowing that he couldn’t want commitment and she definitely shouldn’t.

“His name was Matt. We went to school together. He spent years calling me fat and ugly. Then we turned sixteen, and I don’t know what changed, exactly, but all of a sudden, he was into fat and ugly. And I…” she rolled her eyes. “I was pathetic. Trying really, really hard not to be, but I hadn’t quite gotten the hang of that whole ‘backbone’ thing just yet. I thought being with him would mean… winning? Showing everyone who ever laughed at me? I don’t know. We were together for years, and I guess we were in love. He never bullied me again, at least. He treated me okay. We ran off at eighteen to be roadies—he was a musician, you see, and he didn’t want to be without me. I just wanted to escape my parents.”

No, that wasn’t true. Aria forced herself to meet Nik’s gaze, ignoring the tempest of emotions in his eyes. The sympathy, the tightly contained anger, and something else she couldn’t bring herself to focus on. “Actually, I thought it was romantic that he wanted me around. I had— I kind of have a problem, I think. I need to be wanted. I suppose I didn’t get enough attention as a kid.” She laughed, even though there was no ‘suppose’ about it. Aria knew exactly what was wrong with her. Funny how that didn’t make it easier to fix. “Anyway, we got married, but it didn’t work out. I was never going to be happy at that point in my life, no matter who I was with. He’s an okay guy. We don’t talk, though. We don’t have any reason to.”

They’d never had any reason to be together in the first place. He’d been in lust, and she’d been in her toxic brand of ‘love’. Ah, sweet romance.

“That doesn’t sound pathetic to me,” Nik said finally. “It sounds like you were vulnerable. But that’s okay. You don’t learn how to ride a bike without falling.”

She smiled despite herself. “Deep, man.”

“So deep,” he deadpanned.

“Seriously, though, I’m…” Aria trailed off with a sigh. This wasn’t fucking therapy. Nevertheless, something about the look on his face made her finish. “I’ve learned, over the years, that relationships really aren’t for me. I’m not… I can’t trust myself.”

“Yourself?”

“Or anyone else,” she added with a grin. “Whatever. Semantics. This is depressing. Can we move on?”

“We can do whatever you like, moro mou.” Nik sat up suddenly, their faces inches apart. “I told you yesterday. All you have to do is ask.”

His gaze held her hostage, heavy-lidded and intense. Aria’s nipples tightened as she squeezed her thighs together, that familiar ache strengthening instantly. “Really?”

“Really.” He brushed a kiss over the corner of her mouth. Just the slightest touch, but she felt that hint of pressure directly between her legs.

“Fuck me, then,” she said, throwing the words out like a challenge. He couldn’t resist a challenge.

Except, apparently, for right now. Nik’s mouth met hers, his tongue tracing a red-hot line over the seam of her lips until they parted for him. He didn’t deepen the kiss, though. Christ, at this point, she would’ve let him shove his dick in there—but instead, he pulled away.

A teasing smile on his face, he murmured, “I will fuck you happily. After I take you to dinner.”

Aria stared. “What?”

“Dinner.” He got up and headed for the wardrobe. “Get up. We’re going to eat.”

“I… I thought we weren’t going out tonight.” I thought you were going to shag me senseless, you infuriating bastard.

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