Page 50 of Counterfeit Boyfriend
21Ethan
Holy shit.
Since her dad was in the room, I should really stop ogling Gwen and the way the pink dress showed off her curves and her killer legs, emphasized by heels that made her legs seem even longer and also managed to give me dirty thoughts about those sharp heels digging into my ass as I drove into her.
Yeah, I better look away now because I don’t have Horny the Unicorn to help mask my reaction to her.Of all the lies I’d told over the past few days, the biggest one I’d told was the one last night when I’d said I was tired.
Sleep wouldn’t come after I’d retreated to the made-up futon in the office, no matter how much I told myself it was for the best. If her parents had set us up in the same room—hell, if I would’ve gone to her bedroom for “just a little while” I would’ve lost the fraying thread on my control, forgotten I was trying to be some twisted version of noble, and ended up having sex with her.
I could tell she was hurt I hadn’t gone up, and for the billionth time I’d wanted to come clean, even as I’d justified holding back and convinced myself it was for her own good. Last night at the bottom of the stairs I’d peered into her eyes, begging her to see I wasn’t my brother.
Then she’d told me she saw me, and I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest.
The instant she’d tacked on “Evan” it’d thudded and tumbled somewhere down by my feet. She didn’t have all of the facts, so it was stupid to think she’d see anything but the lie I’d sold her.
I didn’t deserve to touch her or to kiss her or to even look at her.
But as she stepped in front of me, nervousness plain on her face as she gnawed on the lower lip I desperately missed biting myself, it didn’t matter what I deserved. It was about what she needed.
“You look amazing,” I said, dragging my fingertips down her arm and then linking my fingers with hers.
A hesitant smile broke through, and I hated that the way I’d acted today was responsible for her holding back. If I tried to do the right thing, I messed things up between us now, and if I didn’t do the right thing now, I’d screw up ever having a chance with her.
You don’t have a chance. Not really.
But a fruitless sliver of hope refused to go away, regardless of how many ways it could crash and burn. Maybe if I could just get her to listen to me for long enough to convince her that while I wasn’t my brother, what we had these past few days was real, and I’d do anything to make up for the fact that I hadn’t come clean from the start…
Of course if I’d done that, I would never know that it could be like this.
She studied me, the same way she had the morning at the coffee shop right before she kissed me. This time when she wrapped her hand around my biceps and tipped onto her toes, I knew what was coming, and it made that moment our lips finally touched that much sweeter.
Unlike that morning, I kept this kiss on the chaste side—the part about not wanting her dad to kill me was at least true, and I hadn’t magically won him over today. Thank goodness we were staying at the hotel where the wedding was taking place tonight.
If only that didn’t also mean I needed another shitty excuse for why I couldn’t have sex with her.Guess I’ll worry about thatafterI get us through the wedding.
Gwen’s eyes held mine as she pulled away, but instead of reassured, she appeared more confused, a crinkle forming between her eyebrows. Then her features smoothed. “Bye, Mom. Dad.”
“Give Madison and Kade our best.”
“You could swing by. It’s only a forty-five-minute drive to the resort.”
Her mom waved a hand through the air. “Ah, we’ll just send a gift later. The drive’s farther than we like to go, and that place is far too fancy for the likes of us. Too many people, too much excitement. We’re too old for all that stuff.”
“Okay, well… we have to leave early tomorrow to make the trip home in one day, so...” Gwen blinked away the moisture glistening her eyes and gave her parents giant hugs. I stuck to handshakes and her dad stuck to intimidation tactics, squeezing it hard enough for my bones to protest.
I extended my elbow to Gwen, and after giving it a funny look, she looped her hand through it. She called out one last goodbye before we stepped outside, and at the car, I opened the passenger door for her.
“I didn’t realize you were such a gentleman,” she said.
My gaze lingered on the way that dress hugged her ass, and I couldn’t stop imagining smoothing my hands up her legs, tugging up the skirt, and touching her until she was panting and writhing against me.
I wanted to know how wet I could get her, how long it’d take to make her beg for release. Lust flooded my senses, trying to wash away the grip I had on my self-control, and before I could stop myself, I said, “Considering all the dirty thoughts that dress is giving me, I’m definitely not.”
* * *
This felt right. Driving in the car, my girl next to me.
Only not my car.
