Page 60 of Fake Dating Adrian Hunter
I pick up the two coffee cups, desperate to return inside and be on my own. “Darius and I have a long day ahead of us with dress fittings. I have the ceremony rehearsal too.” Not wanting to leave the conversation in an awkward place, I say, “Maybe we can have lunch together?”
“Sure.” It’s the most lifeless answer he could give.
Darius steps into the doorway, folding his arms like I’m in trouble, paired with a mischievous look in his eyes. “I’ve run us a shower, baby. Get inside now. Don’t make me carry your sweet ass into the water with me.”
Darius and I are still in our robes, and I have no doubt from the new crease between Adrian’s brows that he’s noticed. It probably looks like Darius and I had sex last night. How did I wind up in a mess this deep?
“Coming,” I call.
Adrian swears under his breath.
Once Darius disappears inside, I turn back to Adrian. “You and I are good, okay? I’ll meet you at the restaurant at midday.”
“Ah… actually… I’m not sure about lunch. Isabelle said she wants to see me today. I think we’re having lunch together.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, sorry, I forgot until now.”
My fingernails dig into my palms, and I swear I’m about to burst into a swarm of angry flames.
But…
Hang on a second…
Adrian’s jaw ticks and a flicker of bitterness crosses his eyes. The irritation in his features lasts for five seconds at most, long enough for me to catch onto its meaning.Adrianis pissed atme. The only question is why?
“Baby,” Darius calls from inside the bungalow, “you have one minute before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you into the shower.”
Adrian pulls out his phone. “I should call Isabelle and ask if she’ll spend the morning with me too.” He almost says it as a countermove to Darius’ words.
All the cogs in my mind suddenly click into place and, finally, I can see things clearly. Adrian only mentioned lunch with Isabelle after Darius made that whole scene about having a shower with me. Now Adrian is announcing that he’ll call Isabelle, right after Darius threatened to carry me inside.
Is Adrian… trying to makemejealous?
Thereisno lunch date planned with Isabelle, is there? Who forgets about a lunch date with the woman they’re desperately in love with and trying to win back?
I want what we used to have. I want…
Adrian was going to finish that sentence by saying he wantsme, only he didn’t have the nerve to be honest. Winning back Isabelle isn’t on his agenda at all. At least, not anymore. How can it be after the connection we shared last night?
But then what was that interaction Darius pointed out between Adrian and Isabelle on the beach? Adrian never shared any of the details; I just assumed it was romantic. For all I know, he could have gone to Isabelle to break any remaining ties between them, like I’d originally hoped. After all, we had just slept together, and it was good.Sogood. The most intense sex of my life. I know he felt the connection too.
An explosion goes off inside my head. I’m mind-blown at the intricacy of this situation we’re in. Let me see if I’ve got this straight: Adrian and I are using each other to make our exes jealous, all while I’m using Darius to make Adrian jealous; at the same time, Adrian is using Isabelle to makemejealous.
My mind takes a minute to process that logic.
There’s some serious next-level scheming and double-crossing going down in this bungalow. I can’t be making this up. I can’t be. It’s laughable what he’s doing. What we’rebothdoing. I’m glowing with a smug kind of pride that I’ve figured him out. For someone else, this might seem like a far-fetched conclusion to make, but I know Adrian’s ways.
He wants to make me jealous? All right, fine. We’ll do this his way. I can play that game.
I know I should be the mature one and share my feelings, but there’s too much trauma from the past for me to be vulnerable with Adrian. The past isn’t all that’s holding me back. What if, on the odd chance, I confess how much I like him, and it turns out that I’m wrong about everything and he really does love Isabelle? I mean, I don’t think I’m wrong, but that little voice in my head that sayswhat if?has me in a chokehold. I can’t tell Adrian how I feel.
Instead, I laugh to myself, preparing to return inside the bungalow. If Adrianistrying to make me jealous, this could be quite the show. I want to see how badly he wants me and what lengths he’ll go to get me undressed and moaning beneath him again. My groin tightens at the thought. This could be… fuck… really damn hot.
“Well,” I play along, “I hope your morning and lunch date with Isabelle go well. I guess Darius and I will have some more alone time.”
When I’m back in the bedroom, I close the door behind me and race to the bed, working up a sweat as I throw pillows to the ground and rip pristine sheets from the mattress that haven’t been slept in once since the start of this vacation.
