Page 40 of Accidental Mile High Daddy
Apparently, my body didn’t want to listen to the words I was hammering into my brain, because I went up on tiptoes out of instinct, bringing my face just a little bit closer, my body swaying an inch when he tried to move us another step. “I’ll keep your secret,” I grinned, dragging my teeth over my lower lip. “For a price.”
He huffed a breath, leaning down to meet me just short of halfway, his gaze shifting between my eyes and my lips. “What, a hundred grand doesn’t cover secrets?” he murmured, his hand coming up to cup the back of my neck, his grip firmer than I expected, his thumb pushing up against my jaw just enough to tilt my head back a little more.
My cheeks heated immediately, my throat working desperately on words that wouldn’t seem to come.
“Name your ridiculous price, then, Sienna,” he said. “Or are you too scared to, since I called you out for it last time?”
Kiss me.
Are you asking me because you want me to or because you want him to see it happen again?
I wanted to answer him, wanted to shoot something at him that was smart and deflecting and entirely unserious so he wouldstoplooking at me like that, but I couldn’t. I was locked in place, my mouth not working, my brain skidding to a halt, my cheeks so warm they burned.
He leaned a little closer, his breath ghosting across my lips, and before I could do something reckless like close the distance or push away, his mouth brushed mine in thebarestkiss anyone had ever given me, my brain short-circuiting and turning into TV static.
And then he pulled away again.
No. No?—
“Too easy,” he rasped, his lips pulling up at the corners. “You’re too easy to rattle, sweetheart.”
I stared up at him, trying to process, trying to figure out what the hell he wasdoing, but he wasn’t moving, wasn’t coming back, wasn’t leaning down to kiss me again.
The thoughts hit me all at once — we were leaving tomorrow. The charade would be over. Unless we were saying goodbye to them in the morning, which I highly doubted, right here on the dance floor before going back to our villa would be the last time Matt’s hands would be on me like this, the last time Matt would be thisclose.
And he wasn’t even kissing me properly.
My heart pounded against my ribs. I should have been okay with that. I should have been relieved that this was almost over.
But, fuck, Iwasn’t.
I didn’t want to feel anything at all, but with his hands on my back and my neck and the lights of those stupid chandeliers hanging softly above us, I felt like the only people in the room were the two of us. Not Ryan, not Lauren, not anyone who’d ever made me feel like I wasn’t enough, not the guests I didn’t care about or the resort staff.
Just Matt. Just me.
And the horrifying realization that this, whatever it was, felt too real and dangerously, stupidly,heartbreakinglyeasy.
Every part of me screamed to grab him by the tie and pull him back to me, but I couldn’t. My pride wouldn’t allow for it.
Shit.
Shit.
————
We left before I’d even had the chance to consider running my fingers through the uncut cake.
Matt made the call, leaning in while the DJ switched to something upbeat and exciting, his breath hot against my ear. “If we want this wholenew and obsessed with each otherthing to come across right, we should slip out a little early. Sell it.”
I didn’t hesitate. I needed air that wasn’t tainted with the scent of his cologne desperately. “God, please,” I mumbled, forcing words to come out, but they felt hollow. “If I have to see Ryan feed Lauren a piece of cake, I might commit an actual felony.”
We slipped away through a side path winding past the edge of the reception space, laughter and clinking glasses getting quieter behind us as we walked. The sky was thick and blackabove us, the stars obscured by all the lights, the air still sickly with salt and flowers and the occasional waft of perfume when the wind blew.
Matt walked beside me, one hand tucked in the pocket of his slacks, the other brushing against mine more often than not.
“You’ve been a very convincing fake boyfriend,” I said, hating the words as they slipped out.
He glanced over, his lips twitching up at the corner. “I do like to commit to a role.”
