Page 21 of When Hairy Met Stella

She wiped her hands on her jeans under the table, hoping no one would notice. Did she really have to do all this? And worse, with a man who had no interest in her whatsoever? This was last Halloween all over again, but instead of someone not showing up for her, the man was here, just probably wishing he was anywhere else.

And instead of handing out candy to children, this year, she was going to dangle from a rope hundreds of feet above the ground—that was what happened on these aerial courses, right? Not that she knew, seeing as how heights caused her breath to cease as much as the pressure of having to do this all alone did. But she wouldn’t have to do it alone. She’d have to do it with a man who didn’t want to do it with her…while her friends and cousin watched.

“I…” she started before taking a big swallow—or attempting to with the little saliva left in her mouth. “I…”

“It’s okay, honey,” a deep voice said from behind her. Who was thishoney? And why was everyone staring ather? Unless…

Her head turned to her right, everything around her moving in slow motion, until her eyes settled on the man who’d scootched so close she felt the firmness of his chest against her back. The memory of their popcorn ball session flashed in her mind, and at the time, she thought nothing could have felt better than that moment, but she’d been so wrong. His eyes rounded, like he was telepathically trying to tell her something, but the message was lost in translation—mostly because her brain was still working overtime to find out who thishoneywas and why it’d sounded like Nathan was the one who’d said it.

“You might as well tell them the truth.”

There was that deep voice again, and it moved in sync with Nathan’s mouth. Stella knew because she couldn’t stop staring at it. And then his lips started moving again when more words tickled her cheek.

“Stella and I are dating.”

Wait…Nathan is dating someone? Gosh, no wonder he didn’t want to do a whole fake-dating charade with me. How humiliating. How…wait—did he sayStella?!

“What?!” Lucy squealed like she’d just won the Super-Mega-Epic Lotto. “Since when?”

Was Stella supposed to answer that? The six pairs of eyes trained on her certainly thought so. But before she could blurt out something that would have blown the ruse or embarrassed her—or let’s be honest, both—a warm hand cupped her bare shoulder, its thumb absentmindedly stroking her skin and sending her to a place of bliss she’d send everyone a postcard from that said she was never coming back.

“Since this one here knocked a little sense into me.” The words rumbled in his chest, which she felt with him still pressed against her. And suddenly, she was back in her office, her face so close to his, and his eyes diving deep into her. She’d gotten a funny feeling in her gut that night, like something between them had shifted—or maybe that feeling was nerves stemming from a looming lawsuit. But clearly, she’d knocked the senseoutof him because what was he doing agreeing to this harebrained idea she’d thrown out and he’d swatted away only an hour ago?

“This is…not what I was expecting,” Eric said, shaking his head as he displayed a wide grin. “And here I thought we told each other everything.”

His hand paused, his touch warm and firm on her shoulder. “What I’ve felt for her was too precious to share with anyone other than the woman who’s stolen my heart.”

Stella stilled, which was quickly becoming her frequent reaction to every single thing this man said this evening. Dang, was he good at this. In fact, if she’d known just how good he was at this, she would have asked him to be her fake boyfriend months ago, when Lucy first started putting her nose where it didn’t belong.

“Wow, you two are just…” Hannah began, drawing a hand to her chest. “This is just wonderful.”

Yes…wonderfully false.Part of her felt bad for the deceit, until she saw the broad smiles of her cousin and soon-to-be cousin-in-law. They’d put this into motion. They’d pushed and pushed until there was no other option. Well, except to tell them to back off, which she’d done—many times.

Couple by couple, the group walked to the dance floor, seemingly content with the outcome of their meddling. And Stella felt a contentedness herself, if she was honest. The knowledge that Lucy and Eric wouldn’t hound her about her love life or meddle the rest of the week was as comforting asthe arm draped comfortably on her shoulder and as soothing as the circles Nate traced on her bare skin with his thumb. So, she decided to lean into this—all of it—as she shifted her weight in his direction.

For the act, of course. No other reason.

It was a moment of weakness.

That was what Nate told himself, anyway. Except, it had been quite the opposite. When the table of people staring at the two of them started spouting the events of the week, when Lucy mentioned activity after activity dealing with couples, when he felt Stella’s muscles stiffen like a board, his desire to protect her and do anything to help her kicked in. And between that and the hunger those few Goldfish couldn’t satiate, he was about ninety seconds from giving the whole restaurant something to really stare at.

“You’re awfully quiet,” she said between bites of pierogi. She obviously couldn’t hear the thoughts in his head because they hadn’t shut up since he’d blurted that they were together. A verse ofI thought you were going to put some distance between the two of you, followed by a chorus ofAre you a complete moron?. It was a musical interlude he’d rather not hear on a loop. But the voices in his head made an excellent point. Less than an hour ago, he’d rejected her idea for the very reason swirling in his brain right now. The second verse was practically writing itself because he really was a moron.

“I just… I’m sorry I told everyone we’re together. Are you mad at me?”

She quirked a brow as she looked at him. “Why would I be mad at you? This was my idea.”

“Yeah, but I told you we shouldn’t do it. And then I went and did it without discussing it with you first. Maybe you’d changed your mind…”

He paused as her hand covered his, lightly squeezing it as her eyes met his. They sparkled in the glow of the tiny jack-o-lantern centerpiece, and he counted every fleck of gold he’d never noticed before. Gosh, he hoped she hadn’t changed her mind.

“I didn’t,” she answered, and his muscles unclenched a little. But why? He shouldn’t have wanted her to go along with this. It would have been so much easier if she hadn’t. But as her smile sparkled as brightly as her eyes, he thought that maybe easy was overrated. “I didn’t change my mind…unless you have?”

He shook his head the moment the words left her mouth, giving his brain no chance to step in and call a timeout, to tell him to get his head in the game—or whatever other clichéd phrases coaches told their players when they’d disappointed them with some poor in-game decisions. Because this…this decision was a Hail Mary pass into the end zone with nobody but the defense within twenty yards.

“I haven’t.”

“Okay, then.” She punctuated it with a nod and then turned to dunk another mini pierogi in the barbecue sauce, but not before he caught a glimpse of her small smile before she did.

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