Page 35 of Hide and Sneak
Everyone stops, not wanting to leave her behind. “What are their names?”
“Ah…” he hesitates. “I haven’t given them one yet. Just got them.”
Judging by his slurring voice, he may wake up tomorrow surprised he bought two rabbits.
“Well, they’re adorable!” Louise coos, giving them one last pet before leading the way inside.
“Well, we know she has a thing for rabbits,” Lila says under her breath, exchanging a look with Maren and Cara before allthree burst into giggles. I’m not privy to whatever inside joke she made, but she grins at me when I look at her.
She’s been acting like nothing happened, but if she thinks for a moment that she’s fooling me, she’s crazy. Her reaction to that kiss was fucking hot. It was a spur of the moment decision and not only to get rid of Fiona. She looked up at me with those gorgeous eyes and sexy lips and I went for it. I would’ve bet I had a fifty fifty chance of her either pushing me away or playing along for a second as my fake girlfriend. What I didn’t expect was for her to kiss me back. The chemistry between us was unbelievable. Now that I’ve tasted her lips, I need to do it again.
There are eight of us, so we take the large circular booth in the corner that spans two tables. This place will be packed when the bars close but there are only a few other customers scattered around now.
A manager emerges from the kitchen with a large cardboard box for a lady waiting at the counter. “Will this work?” she asks.
“Perfect. Thanks so much.” The lady accepts the box and rushes outside. While Cara and Row chat with his old boss, and everyone else looks over their menus, I glance out the window to see her help the man put the rabbits into the box. He gives her a quick kiss, and a moment later, they re-enter, sitting in the booth across from us. The box gets placed on the seat beside him.
After we all order our food, Louise leans across the aisle. “Clyde is a great name for a rabbit.”
“They could be Bonnie and Clyde!” the woman says, then beams at her boyfriend.
“Couldn’t be more perfect,” he agrees.
Louise keeps up a conversation with her new rabbit owning friends once our food is delivered. A little frown crosses Lila’s face when the waitress walks away.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Nothing. I forgot to have them switch the sausage to bacon. I don’t care for sausage. It’s fine.”
She scoots the sausage to the edge of her plate like it might infect the other food and digs into her waffles. All problems should be so easy to solve. I stab her sausages with my fork, drop them on my plate, then move my bacon to hers.
It earns me a side eye of suspicion. “Do you like sausage better?”
“Not particularly.”
“Then why did you trade me?”
“Well, clearly, I have some ulterior motive when it comes to your pork products. Can’t you just say thank you?”
Her lips twitch as she fights a smile. “Fine. Thank you.”
Cara doesn’t quite cover her mouth in time to stifle a laugh. “That sounded like it hurt.”
“Nah, I had to pretend to be his girlfriend. The least I’m owed is bacon.”
Shrugging, I douse my waffles in syrup. “Hey, if you want to sit there and pretend it wasn’t the highlight of your night, go right ahead.”
She’s too busy munching on the bacon to reply, but Maren asks, “What was that about? Your ex is that crazy?”
“She basically stalked me when we were together to make sure I wasn’t cheating and kept it up for months after we broke up. Now that she finally stopped, I didn’t want to give her any opportunity to start again.”
“Were you cheating?” Lila asks.
“Are you trying to victim blame me, Delilah?”
“No, I didn’t say you deserved to be stalked. I asked a simple question.”
“No, I’ve never cheated on anyone. I’m just addictive. I mean, who could say no to all this,” I tease, gesturing to my face.
