Page 38 of Just (Fake) Married
“I’m going to watch,” I said.
It was weird how good at this I was. If I’d done what I just did with an actual date, I would have fucked it up hard. Give me a fake relationship, and I was a goddamn pro at making people believe Harmony and I were the real thing.
I gave her a little bow that I thought was kind of charming, but when I turned, I found my brothers around the pool table, holding each other up they were laughing so hard.
“Fuck you guys,” I told them, joining them at the pool table.
“Uh…it doesn’t look like you have to work too hard to make it believable,” Carter said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Well done, my brother.”
I didn’t have an answer for that. So I kept my mouth shut.
NINE
ETHAN
The night movedon as cowboys came and went, but the Calloway women continued to dance. A testament to their stamina or drunkenness. It was hard to tell. But as long as they were here, so were we.
There was a shift in the music and something bluesy and sexy came on. Mac, standing next to the pool table, cue stick in his hand, went total bird dog.
I turned to see the ladies trying to get off the dance floor, but they were being stopped by some cowboys.
“Those our guys?” I asked, and Tag shook his head.
Amity started to push a guy out of her way and Mac set down his cue on the table in preparation.
I heard Harmony’s raised voice and didn’t even pause to assess the situation. I was on that dance floor in a nanosecond, stepping in between Harmony and the burly, drunk cowboy who looked like I’d taken away his toy.
“Back off,” I said.
“We was just talking,” the dude said. I could get drunk just off the fumes emanating from him.
“Well, she doesn’t want to talk to you anymore,” I returned.
“Ethan,” Harmony put her hand on my arm. The skin of her palm against my wrist was like being touched by a cattle prod. A sharp, hot zap that went from my arm, to my heart, to my dick. “It’s okay.”
“Yeah, bud, you heard the lady, it’s okay,” drunk cowboy said. “Get lost.”
“You get lost, she’s mine.”
The word flew out of my mouth without thought.
I had not thought of Harmony that way, and I certainly didn’t think of myself that way. But I wasn’t going to stand by and let my pretend woman and her sisters get hassled by drunk cowboys.
But as soon as I said it, it felt right. Good.
Mine.
“Fuck man, I didn’t know she was with you,” drunk cowboy said.
“I’m nothis,” she said quickly. Because Harmony wouldn’t know how to be helpful in a situation like this if I’d written out instructions for her.
I wrapped my arm around Harmony’s shoulders and hauled her against my side. “I’m trying to save you,” I growled into her ear.
“I don’t need saving,” she hissed, turning towards me. “And people are listening.”
“Isn’t that the point?” I asked.
With my arm around her, she was curled up tight against my body, and I could feel her breasts against my chest. I pulled her closer without thinking, and her stomach was against my hip. Her pussy against my thigh.
