Page 36 of Fake It 'Til You Sleigh It

“Oops, I missed it,” Darla says cheerfully. “No worries. I want to get the whole tree in the shot. Hold on.”

As Darla repositions herself, I notice Nolan, emotionless, pouring yet another cooler of ice into the hot tub. My nipples pop out at the sight. This is gonna suck.

Ethan tosses his phone to Nolan. “Be ready, bro. Go live right at 6:00.”

Nolan responds with the enthusiasm of a mannequin, his face a masterpiece of neutrality. Ethan seems to take it as,You got it, bro.

“Sweetie, give Chase a kiss for the picture!” Darla calls out.

I whisper under my breath, “What the fuck is happening? Tell her I’m not comfortable with PDA.”

Ethan gives me a light kiss on the cheek. Everyone(except me)groans in disappointment.

“A real kiss. Hurry up,” Darla insists. “Ain’t no time to be shy, lovebirds. The audience is waitin’.”

“She’s not gonna stop,” he warns.

“Fine, just make it quick.”

“Trust me, I will.”

He leans in and gives me a quick peck on the lips. I breathe a sigh of relief.

“I need you to hold the kiss so I can get the picture!” Darla pipes up again.

Stage Mom is relentless.

Then hell rains down on me as the enthusiastic crowd joins in, chanting, “Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!”

Ethan shrugs apologetically. “Sorry, fans want it. And you want fans. We’re doing this.”

God, this is humiliating.

I regret everything—I don’t want to be here. I close my eyes…

Ethan leans in, crashing his mouth onto mine. His lips are soft at first, and then his kiss deepens, becoming more passionate, more demanding. He pulls me closer, and the obnoxious chanting and excited squeals fade to a whisper. My heart poundswildly as he cups my face in his hands. The intensity of his touch surprises me.

I regret nothing—Isooowant to be here.It’s fucking electric.

My brain goes haywire as he devours my mouth. My inhibitions vanish, swept away by a flood of desire. I feel him shudder as I trace his bottom lip with my tongue. He presses his rock-hard erection against me, and goddamn—the jolt of pleasure nearly knocks me off my feet. I moan, and he swallows the sound. My spine tingles, every nerve ending a live wire, crackling with electricity.

I’ve filmed Ethan kissing lots of leading ladies. It took countless hours to manufacture a kiss that looked magical. Still, I always dreamed about what it would feel like. No wonder women throw their panties at him—if I’d known his kisses could set me on fire like this, I might have jumped him years ago.

Darla’s voice cuts through the noise. “Okay, you can stop. I probably got a good one. I took at least fifty, just in case.”

I yank myself away, but my head’s still spinning like I just downed a bottle of vodka and jumped off a merry-go-round.

Ethan and I lock eyes.

All dilated pupils and swollen lips.

What. The. Hell. Was. That?

His alarm goes off. Ethan’s expression changes instantly, and he switches to his announcer voice. He points to Nolan, who holds up his phone to start the livestream.

“We did it. Fifty thousand new subscribers for the Cherish Channel. Holy smokes! That means now we have to…” he pauses, inviting the audience to echo his shout. “Take. The. Plunge!”

Ethan rips off his shirt—the crowd goes wild.

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