Page 56 of Just (Fake) Married
“He thought I was wasting my life,” I said. “You probably agree with him.”
“No,” he said, and I lifted my eyebrows. “You were always made for this town,” he said. “Even in school you were committed to making it better, and that’s not a waste of your life at all.”
“Were you ever serious with anyone?” I asked him, changing the subject.
“No. I was too busy trying to impress my father with something he didn’t care about,” he said with a wry smile. He drained his glass and stood up to pour himself another one. “You sure you don’t want a drink?” he asked.
“No. One hangover a year is my rule.”
He smiled and sat back down.
“The good news,” he said, “about the suspension, is that I have three months to commit to making this fake marriage as believable as possible. I will be the most obsessed fake husband you’ve ever had.”
My skin flushed hot. Obsessed? What would that be like? To have all of Ethan McGraw’s formidable attention. Desire.
What, I wondered, would kissing turn into if we were naked? If he was kissing other parts of my body? If he wasfuckingme?
“What are you thinking about right now?” he asked, his voice low and rough.
“Nothing!” I said, too loud. Too bright. I shoved a piece of cheese in my mouth.
“Can I ask you something else?” he said. He turned, and his glasses caught the firelight, and for a moment I couldn’t see his eyes.
“Sure.”
“What’s the C&C?”
THIRTEEN
ETHAN
For a second,she looked so gob smacked I thought maybe I’d knocked her brain offline. Then she went bright red. Like a lobster crossed with a fire engine, red, like maybe I should get her to the hospital, red. I grabbed her hand and leaned forward to look right in her eyes.
“Breathe,” I said, and she sucked in a breath.
Clearly, whatever the C&C was, it was a big deal.
“Who told you about that?”
“Your sisters.”
“No,” she shook her head. “They would never. The C&C is sacred ground. It’s our Holy Grail. A Calloway Sister Exclusive and they would never share it.”
“Well, they were pretty drunk.” I pointed out.
“Oh. That explains it.”
“Give it,” I said.
A smile twisted around her lips. “It’s stupid. I can’t even imagine how it came up in the first place.” She pulled her legs free of her sweatshirt, and I don’t know why, but I thought shewas about to get off the couch, so I reached over and put my hand on her knee to stop her.
Her bare knee.
Both of us looked at my hand as if checking. Yep. That was my hand. Her knee. I rubbed my thumb against the soft skin there and both of us let out a careful breath, but she didn’t pull away.
“It’s a thing we made up. C&C stands for Catch and Curl.” she whispered. “Like a ranking system for kissing.”
“Oh,” I laughed. “This should be good.”
