Page 26 of The Fake Date Deal

I kissed her again. “Yes.”

Her brows shot up. “Really?”

My face went hot. Had I been too honest? “I’ve missed this,” I said, teasing, and pinched her taut ass. That got her giggling, and I pushed her robe off her shoulders. I got my hands under it and gave her a tickle. She squealed, ran away. I chased her and caught her. She pushed me back on the bed and I dragged her down with me, and I unwrapped her like a sweet, squirming present. Then she was on me like a starving woman, claiming every inch of me, teasing and tasting. By the time we got through and we lay sated, the moon hung cloud-blurred in a darkening sky. Eve sat up and groaned.

“Have you eaten?”

I realized I hadn’t, since before my race. “No. What time is it?”

“I don’t know. Nine?” She grabbed her phone and checked it. “No, it’s just eight. I’m so hungry it feels later.”

I reached for the room service menu and frowned at what I saw: we’d just missed the cutoff, if we wanted dinner. “We’ll have to go out,” I said.

Eve ran her hand down my naked body like she was considering eating me instead. She leaned down and kissed me, then sat up again. “Yeah, let’s go out.”

The press caught us again slipping out after dinner, but this time we smiled for them and posed holding hands. We were free and clear, getting into my car, when one last question stopped me in my tracks.

“It’s two weeks to your rematch with Prince Rafael. How are you feeling? You nervous at all?”

I’d leaned past Eve to open her door. Now she stiffened beside me. I straightened up.

“I’m not nervous,” I said. “To be honest, I’d almost forgotten.”

The press crowded in again, microphones bristling.

“Seriously?”

“Aren’t you rivals?”

“Aren’t you worried he’ll be out for revenge?”

I slid my arm around Eve and pulled her closer. Inspiration struck, and I grinned ear to ear. “If he wants to waste his time plotting revenge, that’s his problem. For me, when I’m driving, my mind’s on the race. And when I’m not…” I paused for effect, my grin turning wicked. “When I’m not driving, well, I’ve got Eve.”

She turned her face up, radiant, glowing. I kissed her long and deep, and it felt amazing. It hit me, why worry? Eve was great — we were great. We wouldn’t have forever, but we had now, and right now we were having the time of our lives. Why mess that up with a whole lot of thinking?

She nipped at my lip. I cradled her head in my palm. I let myself ride on that perfect moment, no thoughts for the future or for the past. Only here, only now, only us while we lasted.

CHAPTER 11

EVE

We had dinner the next night in our hotel, a long, lazy meal in the Italian tradition. We’d spent most of the day tumbled up in bed, then in the shower, then against the wall. Then in the bed again, then back in the shower. Now we were glowing and freshly scrubbed clean, sprawled in our robes like Greeks in their togas, eating olives and artichoke hearts and juniper-salted prosciutto. Marco’s phone buzzed, but he ignored it. He reached for a fat bunch of black grapes.

“These are so good,” he said.

His phone buzzed again, texts bubbling up. Then came a photo, a pair of bare breasts. Marco saw me see them and flipped his phone over.

“Sorry.”

I forced a laugh. “It happens.”

Marco picked his phone back up and put it on silent. I put down the bit of bruschetta I’d been eating. These things did happen, but my stomach felt sour. Jealousy bubbled there, bitter and sharp. I knew there’d been others — I knew who Marco was — but still, seeing one of them flaunting her chest…

“She’s someone I met last time I was here.” Marco had stopped eating, and was polishing his phone screen. “She must’ve heard I was here and thought, well, you know. I wasn’t going to see her again.”

“I don’t care,” I said. Marco recoiled. I realized I’d spoken more harshly than I’d meant to. I gulped some wine to calm down and tried again. “What I mean to say is, we all have a past. I don’t need to know about yours, or who’s in it. All I need to know is, right now you’re mine. For the term of our agreement?—”

“No, yeah, of course.”

---