Page 6 of Counterfeit Boyfriend
Spoiler alert: it hadn’t.
I took a giant swig of my coffee to wash the blueberry nastiness down as Gwen pointed at highlighted places on the map. “This website lets you save your trip. I kinda have this thing with lighthouses, and I’ve always wanted to go the one on Cape Hatteras. It’s the tallest brick lighthouse in the US, and the view’s supposed to be amazing.”
“Then we should definitely stop there.” What was I supposed to do? She’d said it with such longing in her voice, and I didn’t want to be the jerk who let her down.
Maybe I could just explain that my brother is an immature, blind idiot, but that I’m single and available.While Evan didn’t want to stay in a relationship with her, he cared about her, and that alone meant she was off-limits. Hell, the fact that he’deverdated her meant she was off-limits.
“We’d shave off a couple of hours if we went to another lighthouse that’s not so out of the way, even if the others aren’t guarding the graveyard of the Atlantic. Like there’s one—”
“You expect me to settle for a different lighthouse after hearing a fact like that?”
Her smile shot me right through the heart. She clicked on the icon, adding it to our trip. “Okay, so once we get to Pennsylvania, I figured we could stop at Philly and check out the Liberty Bell. I saw it once, a long time ago, but I care more about how the country was formed now. Or, if you’re more into chocolate, there’s always Hershey…”
I had a slight obsession with how the country was formed, even before law school, and I’d never been to Philadelphia. “No offense to chocolate, but I can get that anytime. Definitely the Liberty Bell.”
The excited way she clicked it made me think she preferred that option. “Okay, so backtracking a bit to before our Philly stop… Save time and go up through Delaware, which I’m sure is a very pretty drive? Or swing through D.C.? It’s about an hour difference, but with traffic and stopping to see the sights, it’d probably add closer to three.”
Three extra hours with her, on this road trip I was apparently taking? Sign me up. “D.C.”
She added it in and studied the map. “Thirteen hours in two days… Looks doable. And if we get several hours and sights into the trip and decide we need to shorten it, we can do that, too.”
“Perfect. Plus, we’ve got the Camaro to speed things along.”
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I thought we were going to take my car? I don’t want you to have to put the wear and tear on yours, and—”
“We’re taking the Camaro. I insist.”
“That’s probably the safer option, since my car’s been extra temperamental lately.” She glanced at the time and began gathering up our trash. I pushed out my chair and stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“I’ll get it.”
Touching her was a mistake—an amazing mistake I wanted to do again and again. Energy crackled in the air between us, and our gazes caught and held. Less than an hour together, and my resolve to do the right thing had crumbled. I could only imagine how many times I’d want to kiss her during thirteen-plus hours of traveling, not to mention the days we’d be in her hometown. Not just kiss her, either. Desire thrummed through me as I thought about pulling her close and getting my hands on her curves.
This is a bad idea. Abort, abort, abort!I quickly gathered everything and then returned to the table.
This was it. The moment I needed to break the news that the road trip we’d just planned needed to be a solo mission, but that I wished her the best and hoped she got to see everything she wanted to. She’d hate me and that’d suck, but the hatred would be aimed at Evan, and that… well, it didn’t make me feel any better. I understood all too well why he didn’t want to have to see her sad face when he broke the news.
How could I already care so much about how she felt?
And how could I already be experiencing such strong emotions for her?
Just do it.The Band-Aid method would’ve been easier if I’d done it the second I’d shown up, the way I should’ve. I cleared my throat, gearing up to let her down as easy as I could.
But then she put her hand on my biceps and pursed her lips together, looking at me like a problem she didn’t know how to solve. I had a feeling she solved most everything she put her mind to. “Can you hold still for a second?”
A strange request, but with her peering up at me with those big hazel eyes, she could ask me just about anything and I’d agree.
Her fingers wrapped tighter on my arm as she tipped onto her toes.Is she…? Oh, God, she’s moving in for a kiss.
Apparently I, like my brother, could also be a tool when it came to women, because instead of stopping her, I let her press her soft lips to mine. The reaction was instantaneous—heat flooding my veins, burning off the last of the hangover haze as every cell in my body went on high alert.
I wrapped my arm around her waist, fitting her tighter to me, and parted her lips with my tongue. Then I swept it inside, indulging in my first taste. I told myself it was also my last taste, which heightened the urgency to claim every inch of her mouth while I could.
She gasped, her chest rising against mine, and I drove my hand into her hair and angled her head so I could deepen the kiss and hold on to the amazing sensations rushing through me for a few seconds longer.
Minutes. Let’s make it minutes…
She wound her arms around my neck, closing the last inch of space between our bodies. If I didn’t need to breathe, I’d never let go, then it could still count as one kiss.
