Page 24 of Needing Happily Ever After

It was perfect, all right. Katie swallowed hard and forced herself not to look at him.

And that was going to be a problem.

Okay, maybe he didn’t have to kiss her.

But with her family standing there watching them, it wasn’t a bad idea to make sure that they really looked like a young couple in love, right?

That was the story Damon told himself all the way back up the mountain to ElkView while they drove in silence. He’d kissed her just to keep up the act. Nothing more. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that ever since the first time his lips touched hers, his entire body had yearned to have her in his arms again.

No. It had nothing to do with that.

And he was a big fat liar.

Damon bit his lip and said a series of completely inappropriate things to himself in his head as he punched in the code for the gate and steered the truck the short distance to the cottage. He was being an asshole. A selfish asshole, which, as far as he was concerned, was the worst kind. It was bad enough he’d asked Katie to participate in this ridiculous lie for his personal benefit, but to confuse the situation even further by being so completely attracted to her? That was over the line. He needed to rein himself in. And fast. It wasn’t fair to Katie.

“Here we are,” he said in an overly cheerful voice that sounded brash and obnoxious in the silence of the truck. “Can I grab your things?”

She looked at him for the first time since they’d left the ranch and shook her head slightly, as if she’d just come out of a daze. “It’s okay. I’ve got it.”

Damon jumped out of the truck and ran around to the back to grab her bags, at the same moment that she got there.

“I’ve got them, Damon. Really.”

“No.” He reached for her duffel at the same time she did. “I in—”

His hand touched hers and a shock went through him at what should have been an innocent touch. Her fingers lingered on his hand. He looked first at her hand, and then into her brown eyes, wide with shock. Did she feel it too? Was it…what…

“Okay,” she said quickly as she pulled her hand back and broke whatever little spell had come over them. “If you insist. You’re welcome to do all the heavy lifting.” Her voice was light and teasing and totally normal.

Maybe he’d imagined it. Maybe there was nothing there.

It had been years since he’d actually been in the cottage, but it was almost exactly as Damon remembered it. The entire guesthouse consisted of one large room with a small but well-equipped kitchen tucked into one corner, with a table and two chairs that would be perfect for Katie to set up a studying station. The rest of the room was filled with a large couch and two oversized chairs facing the glass doors that looked out to a large covered deck and the view that was worth a million bucks. Behind the kitchen was the one bedroom and bathroom that completed the space that was really the size of a small apartment.

It would have been perfect for one, or even a couple. A real couple. But as Damon pushed open the door to let Katie enter first, the problem with the space became clear immediately.

One bedroom. And they were definitely not a real couple.

“I’ll sleep on the—”

“You take the bed—”

They spoke at the same time.

Katie laughed. “I’m not taking the bed while you’re out here. It’s your house. That’s silly.”

“You’re doing this for me, Katie. There’s no way I’m going to make you sleep on the couch.”

He watched as Katie walked through the kitchen. She ran her hand along the backs of the wooden chairs as she moved slowly and Damon was hit with a blast of deja vu. She’d done exactly the same thing, the last time they’d been in the guesthouse together. They’d been teenagers and they’d been looking for alcohol they could sneak out to a bush party that was happening that Friday. Damon was sure his parents wouldn’t notice any extra they had in the cottage if it went missing, so together, they’d snuck in. Even back then, Katie had walked through the small space with a dreamy look in her eyes.

“Could you imagine if this was your house?” She’d spun with her arms outstretched. “Like, all yours? You didn’t have to share with anyone.”

“It’s pretty small.” Damon had laughed.

“Are you kidding?” She turned on her heel to stare at him. “It’s perfect. I can imagine it now.” She squeezed her eyes shut and a small smile crept up her face. “The perfect apartment, with no annoying big brother barging in when I’m listening to music, and no parents telling me what to do or when to go to bed.” She opened her eyes again. “Maybe one day, right?”

Damon shook his head clear of the memory. “One day” was upon them.

He closed the door behind him as Katie walked through into the bedroom and flicked on the light. “It’s a king-sized bed,” she called out. “We could share.”

His body reacted immediately and dramatically at her suggestion. There was no way. “Share?” He hoped his voice didn’t betray every racing thought going through his mind because the moment she’d offered up the suggestion, his brain had gone directly to imagining her in the middle of that king-sized bed, her arms behind her head, her long, dark hair spread out on the pillow beneath her, and her perfect little body completely naked and—

“Sure,” she said, interrupting his thought before he could get carried away with it. “Why not? We’ve shared beds before.”

They had. That was before.

Before he’d kissed her. Before she was Katie.

Katie appeared in the doorway with a smile on her face. “I’m sure we can handle it,” she said. “After all, we’re getting married in a few days.” She waved her ring in the air.

Damon forced a lightness into his voice. “Of course we can. We can handle anything.”

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