Page 65 of Fake Dating Mr. Prince
Me: Ok.
He must think I’m an idiot. The least I could do is come up with something clever to say.
Dean: I missed waking up next to you this morning.
Now my heart was in grave danger of melting. I had to say something.
Me: Me too.
I hit send and almost dropped my phone like it burned me. Why was I admitting that to him? Sure, he’d said it first, but he probably meant he missed the sex, whereas I missedhim.
A smiley emoji popped up on my screen from him.
Dean: I’m guessing you saw the paper.
Me: Yeah.
My heart broke a little that Elaine ruined this moment. I wanted to celebrate that his plan was working and promise he’d get the promotion he deserved. His happiness was starting to mean a lot to me.
Dean: My dad called me this morning. He’d seen the paper and said he and my mom want to meet you.
Shit!I hadn’t thought about that part. We wouldn’t only be fooling the board.
Me: Oh.
Dean: You okay with that? It’s hard to tell through texting but...
Me: Yeah, sure. Of course.
Dean: You free this week for dinner with them?
Me: Yeah, I’m not working Thursday or Friday night.
Dean: Great! So I’ll see you tomorrow night at work {wink emoji}
Me: Yup.
Unease at the deception Elaine was forcing upon me rolled through my body like a deep, dark wave.
Dean: O-kay. So I have a few events coming up. I’ll send you the itinerary so you can make sure you have the day off.
Me: Awesome.
My brain sputtered and didn’t release anything besides one-word answers. How had this day gone downhill so fast?
Dean: Cool. I’ll text you after I send you the email.
Me: Thanks.
What was wrong with me? This incredibly hot guy was sweet and flirty with me, and I froze. The guilt of fooling his parents and Elaine was crashing down around me. How was I going to keep this up for weeks?
I stared at my phone. The three dots that showed me he was typing something appeared and disappeared before finally getting his last message.
Dean: Do you want to grab lunch today?
Me: I really can’t. I’m super busy right now. Another day?
I added a smiley face emoji even though it was nothing like how I actually felt. Stella wouldn’t have a problem changing our lunch hang out to a dinner one. Hell, she’d encourage me to see him again after how happy I was when I’d gotten home after our date.
