Page 23 of Crazy Little Thing Called Love

The warm heat of his breath caressed her lips. Her eyes started to close, body quivering with anticipation.

Oh, he was good.

“Typical man,” she said, not as steady as she wanted. Sucking in a deep breath, she tried again. “Always afraid of commitment.” There. That sounded better, stronger, not like she would cut off her own leg to taste him again.

She wouldn’t. A toe at most.

“I’m not afraid anymore, baby.”

Pushing out of his arms, she gave him her sternest glare. Being Del, of course, it had no effect.

“Okay, if we’re going to do this thing, let’s get one thing straight.”

“One thing?”

“Many things, but let’s start with the nicknames. I am not now, nor have I ever been any man’s baby.” Grimacing she added, “Except my father’s. But you’re not my father, so pick another nickname.”

He bit the corner of his lip, holding back a laugh, no doubt. “I already have one for you, but you always yell at me when I use it, Sassy.”

“I knew this was a mistake,” she groaned, holding her head in her hands.

“Hey,” Del grabbed her hands, pulling them off her face. His thumbs stroked the pulse points at her wrist, currently going a million miles an hour. “It’s going to be okay. We can pull this off. I even got my buddy Steve to film the proposal for authenticity.”

The guy with the camera. “That was your friend?”

“Believe it or not, some people actually like me.”

She smiled at his joke. “I like you, Del. I’m just worried. And I don’t like lying to your family.”

The humor left him. Del was sexy when he smiled, but his serious face was on a whole other planet. Planet Smolder. Why did he have to be so damn good looking? This ruse would be a lot easier if the guy looked like a hobgoblin. Goblins were notoriously easy to resist.

“We’re not lying,” he said. “Just hiding certain facts.”

Sure, like the fact that they weren’t in a relationship and never had been.

“Legally, we are going to be married,” she reminded him. “No one needs to know what goes on behind closed doors.”

And there lay the crux of her torment. Because even if their marriage was purely for show—a legally binding contract with no basis in reality when they were alone—part of her really, really wanted to have all the benefits Del could offer.

Bad idea. Very bad.

But sometimes being bad could feel oh so good.

CHAPTER 8

“You bought me a ring?”

Del glanced up from his pastrami on rye to see Cassie staring in wonder at the ring box he handed her moments ago. After she finally agreed to his proposal, they grabbed some sandwiches from the corner market and headed to a picnic table on the banks of Clear Creek to discuss their plan.

“Yeah. I thought that was one of the requirements for your perfect proposal? I mean, isn’t a ring part of the deal? We want to make this look real.”

Sandwich abandoned on the table, she cupped the ring box in her hand, reaching out to tentatively touch the jewelry with a single finger. Her hesitancy unsettled him. Unsure—an emotion he hated and rarely experienced—he prodded. “Do you not like it?”

Her gaze rose to meet his. A sheen of tears glossed those perfect emerald eyes, and he wanted to kick himself. Dammit. He’d chosen wrong. She hated it. He ruined this…whatever it was they were doing. Sure, the whole thing was fake, but he wanted to make it special for her. Cassie deserved that.

She deserved a whole hell of a lot more than she got in life, to be honest, but that wasn’t his concern. She wasn’t his concern. Not beyond their fake marriage, anyway.

“Not like it?” Her lips trembled, the corners turning up in a heartfelt smile. “It’s beautiful. I love it.”

---