Page 34 of Attached At Heart
I gave his arm a playful smack. “You arenotbeing helpful.”
“I’m trying to beconsiderate.”
“Such a gentleman lately,” I murmured beneath my breath, and Blake rolled his eyes. But when he didn’t say anything further, I shot back, “Why don’tyoutell me what you’re okay with to make this marriage believable? You’re the one who wasdragged into this, and it’s your family that we’re going to see tonight.”
Blake sighed heavily.
And then, without looking away from the road, he said seven words that shocked me almost more than the kiss had. Seven words that made it feel like lava had replaced the blood flowing through my veins. Seven words that absolutely could not mean what they sounded like.
“You can do anything to me, Delaney.”
His voice was low, barely audible above the thrum of the car engine. But there was no hesitation, no consideration. I traced the angles of his handsome face while he stared straight ahead, searching for any signs that he might not be telling the whole truth. But I couldn’t find a shred of evidence that he wasn’t.
“Careful what you sign up for,” I said with a laugh for levity. “I’ll end up writing medical terms all over you again.”
But Blake just shook his head, remaining as serious as ever.
“Fine by me. And any public displays of affection that you think will help are okay with me, too,” he clarified. “Physical touch doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable, not from you.”
I nodded because that made sense.
“It doesn’t really feel weird to me, either,” I said honestly.
“Good,” he husked, and I noted how relieved he looked.
A pang of guilt hit me; I hadn’t meant to make him feel like he’d done anything wrong. Being close to Blake wasn’t strange. And it didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. In fact, it had always been the opposite. I could relax around him in ways I couldn’t with anyone else.
But being romantically close to Blake, even if just an act, wasdifferentthan I was used to. And I didn’t know how to handle it.
I cleared my throat and asked, “Can you maybe just give me a warning if you’re going to kiss me like that again?”
“Wow,” he chuckled, but it was humorless. “It really bothered you. Fuck, I’m sorry.”
“No, it didn’t—” I broke off with a grumble of frustration. “I’d just appreciate a heads-up, that’s all.”
Blake frowned. “Saying ‘I’m going to kiss you now’ wasn’t enough of a heads-up?”
“You’re right.” He was absolutely right. Hehadwarned me. I’d known he was going to kiss me, but that wasn’t the problem. Blake clearly wasn’t getting it, and I didn’t want to spell it out for him that the issue wasn’t the kiss; it was that it had felt real. Because maybe the reason he wasn’t getting it was that it hadn’t felt real tohim. He’d probably thought it was unextraordinary. This was apparently ameproblem and nothing more. “Never mind. I’m just going to…shut up.”
A dreadful silence settled over the car before Blake spoke up again.
“You, uh, sure you’re okay? I’ve never seen you so flustered before,” he commented lightly, but I heard the deeper questions in his tone.
“We’ve never done this before,” I tossed back, trying to keep my tone just as casual. But I was sure Blake noticed the way I squirmed in my seat as he pulled up to the curb outside of a brownstone I assumed was Natalie’s. “I don’t really know how to act.”
“That’s fair.” Blake put the car in park before turning in his seat, giving me his full attention for the first time since we’d started this conversation. I felt my cheeks heat as his eyes roamed my face, searching it for…something.
He seemed to find whatever it was because when he spoke next, it was businesslike. Authoritative.
“How about you follow my lead, then. Does that sound good to you?”
I nodded.
“Okay, here’s what’s going to happen.” He paused to rake his hand through his hair, and I watched it flop perfectly back into place afterward. Magical. “We’re going to go in there, say hi to everyone, ask Natalie if she needs any help, and after she says no because Natalie never lets anyone help, we’re going to go sit down. Noah will probably have some kind of sports playing on the TV. I’ll sit down on the couch, pull you onto my lap. You’ll put your arm around me. We’ll pretend to be sickly obsessed newlyweds until it’s time for dinner, where we’ll sit next to each other. I’ll scoot even closer to you than is necessary before tucking your hair behind your ear and staring longingly at you instead of remembering to eat.” His lips tipped up in amusement before he shrugged and finished with, “Before we know it, it’ll be time to leave, and we’ll say our goodbyes. Are you okay with all of that?”
A flush had worked up my neck as Blake spoke, but I couldn’t exactly say why. He wasn’t saying anything scandalous; in fact, everything he was saying was very matter-of-fact. A perfect plan, all laid out. I could appreciate that because it was how he spoke about medicine, and it put us back into a realm that my brain could make sense of. Even if the words themselves didn’t make any sense at all.
“Yes.”
