Page 59 of Some Like It Hot

I set my fork down too and pick up my drink, taking a gulp. “That’s probably a good idea.”

“Okay, I’ve been thinking about this,” he tells me. “I think we should go on a public date, like tonight, once a week.”

“That seems fair.”

“You’ll need to meet my grandmother, of course.”

I’m already nervous about it, but I nod. “Sure. Whenever.”

“You also need to come to my games. I really feel like a fiancée would be at all of my home games. Wearing my jersey.”

I smile. “That’s kind of a thing isn’t it? Guys like to have their girls in their jerseys.”

He frowns. “Well, yes. Obviously.”

“Why?”

“Shows you’re proud of me.” He leans in. “Shows everyone you’re mine.”

A hot shiver dances down my spine. “I don’t have a jersey with your number and name.”

“I will take care of that.”

Inadvertently, my gaze drops to his mouth.

“And you need to spend the night at my place five times a week when I’m not traveling.”

My gaze bounces back up to his. “What? No. Come on.”

His voice drops lower. “Elise, if you were my girl for real, you would be in my bed every night. If we were actually engaged, I’d have you moved in. You need to be at my place a lot.”

“But I’m not actually your girl,” I say, my voice breathier than I would like. “So we need to negotiate that.”

“Because of Simon and Aidan?”

“Yes. In part.”

“I see.”

I decide to say something that’s been on my mind but that I hadn’t decided on for sure. Until now. “Maybe we should?—”

He squeezes my thigh. I have to clear my throat.

“Maybe we shouldn’t…I mean, you and I…shouldn’t do the spend the night thing. Or the sex thing…”

His hand slides up higher.

I take a breath and keep going. “That might just make this unnecessarily complicated. There’s Aidan and Simon.”

“I don’t mind that you’re with Aidan and Simon,” he says. His hand is squeezing and running up and down my thigh, pushing the skirt of my dress higher.

“I know,” I say, my voice a little husky now. “And that’s…nice. But this thing with us is fake, and it’s not with them. I might have a real…thing…”

His thumb brushes over the elastic that crosses between my pussy and my thigh. I suck in a breath. Focus! “...with them. And there’s a timeline with us. And…”

“Elise.”

I finally look up from my salad to meet his eyes.

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