Page 51 of Fake Dating Adrian Hunter
My words are cut short by a group of men laughing, passing by in the distance. “Verena, is that you?” one of them calls out.
“Shit, it’s your dad,” Adrian hisses.
“What’s the big deal?” I ask.
He takes my hand and places it over his dick. Hisharddick. And oh my gosh, this is the second time in one day that I’ve felt his package, and I’m secretly in heaven.
“That’s the problem. Get rid of them while I calm myself down.” He runs back inside the building.
“Darling, are you alone?” Dad calls. “Everything all right?”
“Ah… yeah, getting some fresh air. I’m about to head back into the bachelorette party. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“All right. Have fun.” He continues down the pathway, taking the group of men with him.
I turn back to the party, about to call out to Adrian that the coast is clear, when someone takes hold of my hand from behind. “Verena, hey.”
I give a frightened yelp and look down at our hands, then up at Jake’s face. He’s smiling at me. Like, genuinely smiling, as if he’s happy to see me and this isn’t awkward for him like it is for me. He’s sun-kissed from our day on the yacht and his dark hair is ruffled with sea salt, which I’d ordinarily love, but the sight of this guy doesn’t do it for me anymore. I retract my hand and brush his cheater germs against a nearby tree, not willing to taint the emeralds on my dress.
“I’m glad I caught you alone,” he says. “Can we chat for a bit?”
“I’m needed back inside.”
“Come on, Verena, five minutes. We haven’t seen each other in six months. We have so much to catch up on. It’s like there’s this whole new version of you standing before me.”
“Wedon’t catch up, Jake. That’s not the way it works when you cheat on someone and break their heart.” I look up to the stars and swear, realizing I’ve made myself appear vulnerable to Jake and like I’m still in love with him.
He takes my jaw in his hand, tilting my head to face him. I have the greatest urge to whack his hand away but am caught off guard by the pained look that lives in his eyes. “That’s actually something I want to talk to you about. It kills me to know what I did to you. Sometimes we hurt the people we love.”
Holy hell. I’m not sure if Jake is about to apologize for cheating or bend forward and kiss me. Either way, I’m not equipped to deal with those scenarios.
“Ready to go, Vee?”
Jake’s hand drops by his side as a door swings shut and Adrian’s footsteps approach. Adrian wraps me in a hug from behind and kisses my cheek. Impeccable timing.
“Actually…” Jake begins, and from the tone of that one word, I know he wants to get me alone for a moment longer.
A higher power comes over me. I don’t think my actions through, and instead do the one thing that can free me from Jake. My head turns to Adrian, and I replace my cheek with my lips, kissing him on the mouth.
ChapterEighteen
Fuck! What am I doing?
Here I am, standing in front of Jake, breaking all of my rules and giving Adrian an open mouth kiss. Countless times I’ve fantasized about my first kiss with Adrian, the two of us swept up in passion and desire, our breaths tangling as one and his hands weaving through my hair. I’m supposed to feel an explosion of fireworks inside me. Instead, I’m jittery and panicked.
Adrian pauses, shocked for good reasons—I hope—and not because he’s thinking about Isabelle and that this kiss is wrong. He’ll play along when his mind catches up to him, I know he will, but I pray I haven’t ruined things between us like I was afraid of earlier in the day at Whitehaven Beach.
I’m mortified when Adrian pulls back. Not only am I about to die of embarrassment from Adrian’s reaction, but now I’ve made myself look like a complete fool in front of Jake—rejected for a kiss from my own boyfriend.
Adrian meets my gaze, studying my intentions. I don’t see any of the heat in his eyes that was present a moment ago when I whispered dirty talk into his ear. Just plain confusion, and I pray Jake can’t see it too.
After what feels like an eternity, the corners of Adrian’s lips tug upward into a smile. “Let’s get out of here.” He threads his fingers with mine and leads us toward our bungalow.
I’m too scared to look at Jake on my way past him. As soon as I’m out of Jake’s sight, I pull free of Adrian’s hand and walk faster than him so I can avoid all conversation and get to my destination quicker, which is floating face-down in our pool with a bullet in my heart.
When I arrive at the front door of our bungalow, my key card won’t work, no matter how hard I try to unlock the door. Adrian waltzes up behind me and takes the card from my hand, buzzing us in on the first attempt.
Smug bastard.
