Page 41 of Once Upon a Fake Date

“That would be great, actually.” She looked relieved as I popped the top off with a bottle opener, and I laughed.

“Did you think I was going to give you a beer?”

Audrey shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Do you even like beer?” I took a sip of mine, used to the taste. It wasn’t the shittiest beer I’d ever had. Thankfully, we’d sprung for something that wasn’t the cheapest, but it wasn’tgreat, either.

I knew she didn’t. We might not have gone to parties every weekend, but I’d spent enough time around her to notice what she drank. It was mostly fruity beverages.

She wrinkled her nose. “No. But no one ever cared about making sure Ilikedmy drink before.”

“Duke?” I asked, popping my index finger under her jaw and tilting her chin up to look at me.

She nodded before taking a sip. “I’m used to it.”

“You shouldn’t have to be.” I clenched my jaw.

Her eyes brightened as she stood up on her tiptoes, kissing my cheek. “Thank you, Parker. You’re a good guy.”

“A goodboyfriend, you mean?”

She looked around as if worried someone else was eavesdropping before nodding. “Yeah. That too.”

“Come on, girlfriend. Let’s go back in there.”

“What am I supposed to say if someone asks about us?” Audrey asked, rubbing the rim of the bottle with her thumb.

“The truth.” We hadn’t really talked about this part in our agreement. I leaned my head down so my lips would brush against the shell of her ear. “Except for the fact that it’s fake.”

“Okay.” The word was hardly more than a breath, and I tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear before threading our hands together again and heading back out to the living room.

Sitting on the couch next to Samuel, I placed my beer on a coaster—we might have been athletes, but we weren’t animals.

Audrey looked around, eyes wide. No doubt noticing what I’d already figured out. There were no open seats. I could see the indecision on her face as she looked around the room.

“Come here,” I murmured, gesturing to my open lap.

Audrey’s cheeks flushed pink like she couldn’t possibly sit on me, herboyfriend.As if it was somehow scandalous to sit on my lap.

“Are you sure?” she whispered, and I wrapped my arm around her waist, tugging her backward so she stood in between my legs.

“Positive.” My voice was low, more of a grumble than anything else. “Sit on my lap, baby.”

I didn’t think she was going to, but then she lowered herself onto my thigh, hovering like she didn’t want to give me all of her weight. But I used my hold around her waist to tug her back against me fully before curling a hand over her thigh. Possessively.

Like I was daring the rest of these fuckers to make a move on my girl.

My teammates had no idea what happened last year, but I wouldn’t make the same mistake again. She hadn’t been right for me, anyway. I knew that, yet still, I’d stayed with her.

“Parker,” Audrey whispered in my ear.

“Mhm?” With my free hand, I played with the ends of her hair. It was an unconscious movement, but I couldn’t stop touching her. Now that we were dating and free to, I was finding excuses to have my hands on her all the time.

What would she think if I always asked her to sit on my lap? I could smell her perfume, the sweet scent like champagne and berries mixing with her strawberry shampoo. Sweet. She smelled so damn sweet.

I didn’t hear a single conversation around me. Not when I was so painfully aware of Audrey’s weight on mine. How good it felt like this.

She took a long gulp of her lemonade, and I did the same with my beer before setting it back beside me. Tonight, I wouldn’t get drunk. During the season, I had a strict two drinks per night limit: beer or cider only—no hard alcohol. So I was content just to watch her.

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