Page 22 of Counterfeit Boyfriend
When Gwen blinked at me, I wished I hadn’t revealed so much—apparently that problem was mine alone. “Exactly,” she said, making it okay that I’d confessed as much. “It’s like we need someone to come in and reprogram us. But since we’re not robots…” She eyed me like she needed me to confirm.
“Not a robot.”
“Oh, phew,” she said with a laugh. “Let’s do it.”
Whoa, what?Since my mind was preoccupied with her and her sexy body, the “do it” went down the wrong road, I was almost sure. I cleared my throat. “Do… what?”
She removed her feet from the dashboard and twisted in her seat to face me. “Reprogram ourselves. For this whole trip, let’s only focus on our good traits.”
No more thinking about how horrible I am for going along with this scheme? For enjoying it so much? Sign me up.
“We’ll help each other. Like, instead of simply thinking about how much I like the way you worry about me falling to my death, I’ll go ahead and tell you that I appreciate that you care enough to worry about me. And when I was cold, you gave me your hoodie.” She tugged on one of the hood’s strings. “Of course, you probably didn’t realize you weren’t ever going to get it back when you lent it to me, but that’s neither here nor there.”
I grinned at her. “Well, since it’s neither here nor there, I won’t tell you how easily I could tackle you and steal it back. But the truth is, you look a lot better in it than I do.”
“Doubtful, but thank you. And just so you know, I’m translating that into you giving it to me.”
I barely resisted saying:Yeah, I’ll give it to you, all right.“You’re always happy, and you smile at perfect strangers and spread that happiness. You care about other people, on a deeper level than most.”
“I try.” Two creases formed between her eyebrows and she ticked up her chin, resolve setting into her features. “I mean, I do.”
“You’re also crazy hot,” I said, curling my hand around her thigh. Good thing I was focusing on the good and shoving away guilt, because now I could bask in the way her skin felt under my palm, and how right here, right now, it felt like she belonged with me. “I can’t stop staring at you, and I kind of despise the road and the other cars driving on it for taking my attention away from you.”
Her cheeks colored, and my blood rushed faster through my veins. She covered my hand with hers. “Thank you. And thanks for paying attention to the road and the other cars so we don’t crash and die.”
“Admittedly, my main motivation is getting to our next stop in one piece so I can get my hands and lips on you again.”
She swallowed, and her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “You’re getting better at your motivational skills.”
I tightened my grip on her thigh, and my breaths were coming right on top of each other.
She ran her fingertips up my arm and settled them against the back of my neck. “Shall we see how mine are improving?”
My mind ran rampant with all sorts of scenarios, most of them involving her losing her clothes.
“Luckily, I don’t have to watch the cars or road.” She leaned closer, testing the limits of her seatbelt. Her warm breath hit my ear and then she pressed an open mouth kiss just underneath it. “I’m thinking we come up with a reward system. For every half hour you don’t wreck, you rack up another kiss.” One of her hands moved down my chest, my abs. “An hour earns serious groping”—she dragged her fingertips over the waistband of my jeans—“and we’re talking both ways.”
Holy shit, the woman was trying to kill me. My hard-on pushed against my zipper and I shifted in my seat yet again, bringing the tally to about a hundred and one. I needed to distract myself—and fast—or I’d be pulling this car over and showing her that I was good at both punishments and rewards.
* * *
“This is where we’re going?” Gwen asked as I maneuvered the car into a parking lot near one of those pop-up carnivals. During our last fuel and bathroom pit stop, I’d seen a flyer about the state fair in Caroline County and thought this would be a fun activity before we had dinner and found somewhere to settle in for the night.
Apparently, Gwen didn’t get the memo about it being fun since she was frowning at the flashing lights on the other side of the windshield.
“Itwasuntil you started looking at the place like it’s a dentist office and you have a root canal scheduled,” I said.
“It’s just that…” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like thinking about imperfect machines made by imperfect people being set up as quickly as possible. You wouldn’t trust a house that can be built and unbuilt in a matter of hours, would you?”
“I believe those are called tents, and yes I would.”
She pressed her lips together, battling between giving me a scowl and a smile. Thinking of her clinging to me only encouraged the carnival idea. She sighed, exaggeratedly loud. “This from the guy who doesn’t trust a brick structure that’s been standing for over a century. Look how high that Ferris wheel is. As someone—”
I arched an eyebrow, warning her not to say it.
“Opposedto heights, I’d think you would avoid carnivals.”
“Well, you’d think wrong. The Ferris wheel might be a no-go, but there plenty of rides with protective cages and security belts and… it’s just different.” I grabbed her hand and ran my thumb over her knuckles, hoping it’d help soothe her worry. “How about we just try a few rides? I’ll hold your hand the whole time and keep you safe, I promise.”
“After the tire and pet-food slinging incident, I know you’re strong and all, but you’re not the Hulk.”
“Are you sure about that? Have you seen me get angry enough to test that theory? I mean I’m not confirming or denying, but I’d also like to point out that you haven’t seen me and Superman in the same room, either.”
She rolled her eyes, but this time she lost the battle to hold back her smile.
“Come on.” I laced our fingers together. “I’ll let you pick the rides.”
She was seconds from giving in, and I lifted our entwined hands and kissed the back of hers to tip the scale. The second she reached for the car door handle, I knew I’d won. “Fine. I hope you like the merry-go-round.”
