Page 33 of The Fiance Dilemma

Matthew’s arms closed in on me, his stance widening and his boots moving until his legs enclosed mine. “Sun is setting,” he repeated. “Less chatting. More touching.”

“Oh, okay. Good.” Because that was… good. Yes. “So, ah, where do you want me?”

Another of those short-lived chuckles toppled on my skin. My temple this time. “You tell me, sweetheart.” One of his hands left the fence, landing on my waist. My breath hitched. “I have never done this before.”

“Pictures?” I asked him. My voice came out husky. Off. His palm over the waistband of my dress was all I could focus on. “And I thought we were past the sweetheart.”

I felt him start to say something, but the contact of my hand on his shoulder brought that to a halt. His whole body stiffened for just a moment, so brief that I would have missed it if we weren’t standing this close, or I wasn’t this determined to notice this much. He eased into my touch. “Engagement shoots,” he said. And to my surprise, he grasped my wrist softly, then rearranged my palm so it’d rest higher up. My hand wrapped around the back of his neck, fingertips tingling against his skin. “Sweetpea.”

The word was nothing but a breath, yet it made my belly flop.Flutter.“I… I don’t think that’s working either,” I admitted, the strange quality of my voice even more prominent. “I think…” My left arm rose, my hands meeting behind his neck. “I think you should look at me.” I swallowed, tongue feeling like sandpaper. That blanket of awareness covering my skin thickened. “I think we should look at each other. Gaze into each other’s eyes while we touch. It’s what engagement shoots are about. What people in love do.”

Matthew’s eyes were immediately on me. “What else?”

“Maybe lean a little closer,” I instructed.

He did, and boy it was really hard to focus on anything but him with his face so very close. Matthew’s expression grew serious, the line of his brows determined, and I swore I could feel the tension hanging off that pair of shoulders I seemed so caught on. “Now?”

“Maybe smile a little,” I told him, whatever control I wasgrasping at in the situation slipping with every inch lost between our chests. “You have a handsome smile.”

Matthew’s hand at my waist flexed, his thumb pushing softly into the purple fabric. “Enough to make you proud? Enough to make you want to show me off?”

I immediately knew what he was referring to. Sam and Nick’s speculation about why I didn’t show my new fiancé anywhere. “They aren’t wrong,” I whispered. And I didn’t know why I said what I did, but the words simply came out. “It’s a little tedious to clean up your life when something ends. Social posts included.”

His hand shifted, sliding across my waist and resting at the small of my back. “Good thing we’re a private couple,” he said, letting more of the weight of his body fall on me. Our hips clashed. Matthew swallowed. “And you can have all this for yourself.”

Breath officially lost to the heaving of my chest, I tried my best to speak. “I thought the purpose of this was the opposite.” My voice came out hoarse. “And your game’s not off. If you’re…” My fingertips stumbled upon those short strands at the nape of his neck, the feel of them making me lose my focus for an instant. “If you’re flirting with me.”

His gaze roamed over my face for an instant. A muscle in his jaw ticked. “I could still do a little better. A little more. If you need me to.” His tongue made a pass of his lower lip. “Do you need me to?”

Yes,I thought.Please.But I said, “Only if you’re comfortable. Are you comfortable with this?” My fingernails grazed his scalp as if to make a point of what I meant.

Matthew’s weight fell a little heavier, a little… nicer. “Do I look uncomfortable to you?”

He didn’t. But I was pretty sure it was a rhetorical question. “Ialways liked this part,” I heard myself say. “Of a relationship. It’s what I miss the most.”

“That’s a dangerous green light you’re giving me.”

I watched him, waiting for more of… more of anything. But Matthew didn’t say how or move to show me, and with the press of his thighs against mine, and the heat of his palm on my back, and the cocoon of intimacy that had somehow formed around us, I felt the need to speak. “I would post you. Everywhere. If this was real.” The brown in Matthew’s eyes sharpened as his gaze held mine. “I’d be very happy to show you off. Just so you know.”

Matthew continued to watch me, and I continued to study his face in return. He seemed to be thinking of something. Hard. As if he was trying to make up his mind. It intrigued me, what he was debating or what conclusion he would reach.

His lips finally popped open, and I wasn’t going to lie, I held my breath a little. “Josie—”

“AND THAT’S A WRAP!” Bobbi hollered through the bullhorn. Again. “HALLELLUJAH. FINALLY SOMETHING WE CAN USE. GOOD WORK. YOU’RE GIVING HORNY. AMERICA IS GOING TO LOVE THAT.”

That breath I’d been holding left me, and I suddenly felt… dazed. Matthew must have, too, because it took him a beat to step back.

“Hallelujah,” he repeated.

I frowned at that, a little lost as to what the stiffness with which he’d said that came from. Matthew wasn’t Bobbi’s biggest fan, which would explain it. But a part of me wanted to ask. And I would have if I hadn’t seen the woman turning around and walking away. With her phone. That contained the pictures we hadn’t even seen.

“Bobbi!” I called, walking around Matthew. “Wait up!”

I didn’t like leaving Matthew behind like that, but there was something a little more pressing than dissecting why my fiancé was still frowning down at me, lost in thought.

Why was America going to love us?

And how horny exactly did we look?

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