Page 44 of Love Among Vines

His attention snapped back to the present. Elaine was capable. Everything would be fine. And he would check in every hour.

“Did you draw up a contract before bed?” he teased.

“No, I’m just thinking. If we really want to sell this lie, we’re going to have to put the work in and spend at least a little time together while I’m here in town. Your parents still have friends here, I’m sure. If they ask them about me at your event, we’ll be exposed right away if we’ve never been seen together and know nothing about each other.”

She had a point.

“So what do you suggest?” he asked.

“Public dates. Town events, festivals, dinners out, canoodling in the gazebo. I’ll visit you at the winery. You can stop in at the café. We’ll have to take a lot of pictures and put them up in your house and office.”

“Did you just say ‘canoodling in the gazebo’?”

She threw her hands in the air. “It was just an example.”

“You sound suspiciously well-informed for someone who’s never fake dated anyone.”

“I’ve read a lot of romance novels in the past two years, okay? Trust me. We should discuss boundaries.”

“Boundaries?”

“Even in a fake relationship they’re important. Based on our earlier conversations, I would assume you would prefer that catching feelings is a boundary. The affection is just for show—when the party is over, we’re both free and clear.”

“Right,” he said. Thankfully she understood the situation. He should have thought of a fake girlfriend years ago.

“Okay, great.” She pulled up her notepad on her phone and began a list. “So criteria number one—no feelings. I might need some help with this one. If you could routinely insult me and remind me of your unredeeming qualities, that’ll really help.”

“Where do I start? Emotionally unavailable, baggage the size of Mount Everest.”

She put on a shocked face. “Same.”

“Nice.”

They fist bumped.

“Number two—no outside entanglements or situationships for the duration of the trial. If someone sees you hooking up with someone else while fake dating me, it’ll destroy your reputation.”

“This will probably shock you, but the dating pool in Hammondsport is exceedingly small.”

“I’m just saying. I’m sure you get a lot of tipsy hotties in the winery.”

His gaze drifted down to her outfit again. Overalls, but in the form of shorts. How did one even take them off? Now that she was staying, maybe she would be interested in exploring the physical connection between them. He had a deep feeling that this attraction wasn’t just one-sided.

Fuck it. It was about time he did something impulsive for once.

“Fair enough. I do have a question.”

She lifted her gaze from her phone. “Go on.”

“We should probably address the elephant in the room.”

She straightened up in her seat. “Which is?”

“The insane sexual tension between us.”

Her cheeks flushed. “Ah. So you noticed that.”

“If Penny hadn’t crashed into you last night, I would have dragged you into the shower with me. So we need to talk about it. What’s off limits?”

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