Page 56 of No Summer Hotter than You

That wasn’t entirely true. I only decided to whip up the pancake batter and throw in all the blueberries I had in my fridge after she got the shower started. They were supposed to be for my plain yogurt, but I felt like doing something special since I knew she loved them. Although . . . there shouldn’t be anything entirely special about the fact that I slept with her last night.

She had a cute little smile as she dug in. We ate in silence for some time, just enjoying the meal and coffee I made in each other’s company. This was the first time in a long time that neither of us had anything to say to each other with such an awkward air between the two of us.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about last night?” Shoua asked, breaking the silence as we finished our food.

“Hm?” I blinked, unsure of what she was talking about.

“Before we left for the bar last night, you mentioned that you wanted to talk about something when we got home.”

I took a sip of my iced coffee, suddenly remembering. It seemed like I fucked up again. I completely forgot that I was going to tell her we should end this fake relationship. Now we were in another mess.

“We’re staying at a six-bedroom house right by Millerton Lake and I know you’ll love it,” I blurted out quickly without taking a breath.

“We’re going to be staying at a house right on the lake?” Her pretty lips parted in excitement and awe, and my eyes instinctively flicked to them.

They were soft and so fucking kissable. In a knee-jerk reaction, I leaned forward only to realize what I was doing mid-way through. My naked chest was hovering over our empty plates as my hands braced the sides of the tiny kitchen table.

I was getting ready to kiss her.

“Anthony, what are you doing?” she asked. Her brows furrowed together, worryingly.

“An eyelash,” I mumbled, stupidly.

“What?” she said, looking confused as I reached to her face and pretended to swipe off an eyelash from her cheekbone.

“An eyelash.” My voice was firmer this time as I flashed her a fake small and unbothered smirk.

“Oh.” Her hand came up to wipe off the remnants of my fingerprint on her skin as if to wipe me clean off her. “Make a wish then.”

I shook my head as I blew her non-existent eyelash to the ground. “Nah, that’s not necessary.”

She smiled as she continued to eat the strawberries on the side, easing us out of what just happened. “You could wish for June to pass by faster so all of this could end.”

My smirk fell as I sipped on my coffee. “You want June to end?”

Her eyes were on the strawberries as she shrugged. “I’m just tired of Evelyn.”

I leaned back in my chair and let out a long, exhausted sigh. I scrubbed my face with the palm of my hand. “Who would have thought she had it in her to ambush me?”

“I saw it from ten miles away and you refused to believe me.”

I scoffed. “Are you going to believe me about Kelvin then?”

She took a single glance at me. “Maybe.”

“Oh, so you won’t believe me. But you’re telling me I should trust your instincts?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. Kelvin and I barely exchange more than a few words any time I see him. But I’m not claiming he’s harmless either. I’m just saying that he’s keeping his distance.” She crossed her arms across her chest.

My eyes narrowed at her as my lips pursed. “He’s only doing that because I’m always around you. Did you even realize he followed you and your friends to the bathroom last night?”

“You mean the same way Evelyn did to you? Yeah, of course I knew! You were the only one giving her the benefit of the doubt. She’s not all sugar and sweetness, Anthony. I thought you knew that.” Shoua let out a long sigh.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “You were right! She was a bigger threat than Kelvin. So what? I doubt she’ll keep insisting we’re fake after that kiss.”

An awkward silence fell over us for a moment now that we were reminded of what we did last night again. I quickly glanced at the hickey I left on the nape of her neck and tore my gaze away.

“But we are fake,” Shoua said softly.

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