Page 51 of The Match Faker

The waiter chuckled and laid the plates down on the table.

Yes! He was convinced. My acting skills weren’t so terrible after all.

It felt weird saying the word boyfriend out loud. It’d been so long. For a second, I felt a flutter of happiness, then reminded myself again that it wasn’t real. I was just as single now as I was two weeks ago.

‘I will leave you to it.’ He smiled and quickly left the room.

‘Honey pie?’ Liam raised his eyebrow.

‘What? You said that people give their partners terms of affection. There’s nothing wrong with honey pie! Everyone loves honey and everyone loves pie. It’s a compliment.’

‘If you say so.’ He yanked his hand away from mine and I instantly felt the drop in temperature. His palm was so nice and warm. But now the waiter had left, there was no need for him to keep up the pretence. I tore my gaze away from his face. He’d dropped the act, so I should too.

Wow. I took in the sight of the food in front of us. There was a lot. But one dish in particular stood out.

‘You ordered salad for me?’ I frowned.

‘It’s for me, not you. But you can have some if you want.’

‘And you said you hadn’t changed. The Liam I used to know would never come to a Chinese restaurant and eat salad!’

‘I have a shoot coming up, so I have to watch what I eat.’

‘So all the good stuff’s for me?’

‘Yep. I don’t get to look like this by eating fried food.’ He gestured to his chest.

‘You really think a lot of yourself, don’t you?’ I shook my head.

‘It’s my job.’

‘What, to be arrogant?’

‘I’m not arrogant. I’m confident. I play a ripped action hero, so it’s my job to look good. Is it working?’

My eyes bulged, then dropped to my plate. It was obvious he looked good. It didn’t have to mean anything.

‘I suppose you’re not completely hideous,’ I said, keeping my tone neutral. I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of boosting his ego.

‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

‘Take it however you want.’

‘Actually, you’ve given me multiple compliments tonight. Maybe you’re not so bad at this faking stuff after all. Then again, you dated Boris for years, so I’m sure you got pretty used to doing that…’ He laughed.

Right again. Boris hadn’t exactly rocked my world in the bedroom. But after thirteen years, that was normal, right? Those mind-blowing orgasms in the films were fake. Actors did a million takes to make it look like they were having the time of their lives. But it didn’t happen in real life.

‘We’re not talking about him, remember?’

‘My bad. How are the prawns?’

I’d been so busy thinking, I hadn’t even eaten yet.

‘Oh God!’ I groaned with pleasure as I took the first bite of the salt and pepper prawns. ‘These are so good!’

Liam’s face lit up like a firework and my stomach flipped. Right in that moment I was catapulted back to when we were kids. When he used to wait for me after school and we’d walk home together. Or when I’d ring his doorbell and he saw I was on his doorstep. He’d always had a great smile.

It wasn’t just the fact that he had amazing teeth—perfectly straight and even and white (but not that fake white that was so bright you needed sunglasses, just natural looking). It was also those damn dimples.

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