Page 21 of How To Fake A Fiancé

“Nice to see you again…Kami.” I smile.

She slightly stiffens. She must have remembered Mia was standing next to her because then her body language turns neutral, almost aloof.

“You, too.” Her gaze is everywhere but on me.

Mia then quickly interjects. “I’m going to put up the rest of the decorations before more people arrive.”

“I’ll help—” Kami begins to say when Mia stops her.

“I got this. Just…chill.” Mia winks.

Thank you, Mia.

Kami rolls her eyes, then turns back to me, staying on one side of the island while I stand on the other. “So what do you have for me this time?”

I grin at the confirmation that she received my gifts. “Just me this time. Did you like the other gifts I gave you?”

She hesitates. “As…kind as it was for you to send me those things, you didn’t need to.”

“I wanted to. And my intention wasn’t to be just ‘kind.’” I might as well come out and say it. “I like you, Kami.”

I watch her face contort into that same expression that she made back at the bar. As though she were fighting with herself. There’s a long pause between us. What is going on in that gorgeous head of hers?

Eventually, she takes a deep breath. “Why are you spending this money on me? You don’t even know me.”

She has a point. This is my second time seeing her since our night between the sheets.

“I don’t, but I’d like to. I sent you those things because I wanted you to know I was listening. Paying attention to what you had to say. I find you fascinating.”

She shakes her head. “That’s very…flattering of you, but that doesn’t change things. Even if I was looking for a special someone, it’d be someone not serious about a relationship, who still wants to party, and maybe someone…younger.”

Did she really just call me old?

Excuses. They’re all excuses. “You sure about that? Cause you don’t look sure.”

Her cheeks turn red. I can’t tell if she’s mad or blushing. “My point is, you’re still barking up the wrong tree. I don’t have time for relationships.”

I’m calling bullshit. “Don’t have time to date or don’t want to date me?” I challenge.

“Look, I’m willing to compromise, so let’s just be friends.”

“Friends? We fucked each other into oblivion, and you want to be friends?”

She crosses her arms over her chest. “You’ve got a problem with that?”

If she had zero interest in me, we wouldn’t have had sex that night, she would have returned my gifts, and she definitely would have nipped this conversation in the bud.

And yet here we are.

Circling around the long kitchen island, I close the distance between us. She watches me as I inch my body closer and closer to hers. Her face looks panicked, yet she doesn’t move an inch. She’s frozen in place, staring up at me like I’m the only thing standing between her and insanity.

Once we’re chest to chest, and our stares lock, my nose is met with that same damn hypnotic scent of hers. This time, it’s even more powerful.

Could she be wearing the perfume I gave her right now?

I study every aspect of her face before leaning my forehead against hers, her lips inches away from mine. “I’m afraid I do, baby.”

“W-why?” she breathes.

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