Page 55 of Three Pucking Words
“It was so nice meeting you,” she tells me, squeezing me once. “You and Bodhi are really cute. The way he looks at you…” I blush at her wistful sigh. “I’m happy for him.”
Unsure of what to say, especially because of Bodhi’s looming presence behind me as he listens to her gush about her “cuteness”, all I squeak out is, “Thank you.”
And when she and Alex are walking hand in hand down the sidewalk to an Uber he ordered for them, I finally turn to the man whose body heat is soaking into me. “How did I do?” I ask, looking up at him.
Thankfully, my nipples calmed down between the entrée and dessert when Bodhi’s hands were too focused on eating to be anywhere near me.
His eyes are already pointing down at my face, studying it in a way that I feel all the way down to my toes. “If this were a real date, I’d kiss you right now.”
The words make me suck in a silent breath.
Was he feeling it too? The torment of being close to him? The tiny sparks shooting down his limbs as he stroked my skin in a casual caress? It seemed like nothing to him—as if I were the only one who was going mad. As if everything he did in there was to play up whatever this was between us for Olive. Not for me. Not for him.
Am I wrong?
Bodhi clears his throat, backing away. I’m almost sad about it. “But I won’t,” he promises, mistaking my silence for discomfort. What he can’t tell is that disappointment lingers in my chest, even though I shouldn’twanthim to kiss me. I shouldn’t want him to touch me, either, but I certainly wasn’t minding.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he glances into the restaurant window where Sebastian is still talking to a couple who’d called out to him as we made our way to the exit. “I really appreciate you doing this for me.”
The fact he’s not going to acknowledge the kiss comment makes me force myself to forget it. At least until I’m homealone where I can obsess over it and then overthinkwhyI’m obsessing.
I already know the answer.
I haven’t been kissed in years.
Literal. Years.
Two, to be exact. It was a sad, sad fact I’d thought about all too often toward the end of my marriage. Intimacy had flown out the window long before then. Even when we had sex, Max didn’t kiss me. It was veryPretty Womanof him, minus the prostitution, romance, and money.
And the happy ending.
“You were really playing it up,” I compliment, glancing down at Puck. I had to take him out halfway through the dinner, mostly as an excuse to get away from Bodhi’s barely-there touches that felt way too good.
Bodhi’s brows pinch. “Was I?”
As if he doesn’t know. “You were very touchy feely. Olive definitely bought that there was something going on. So, you did it. You convinced her.”
He gives me a blank stare that I can’t decipher, and I’m not sure what he’s thinking.
Sighing to myself, I shake it off. “I’m looking forward to our next fake date,” I say, regretting it the second the words are out of my mouth. “Not that I think there needs to be one. She did think we look cute together.”
His eyes flash with something unreadable but happy before a slow smile curves his lips. “Good to know.”
Before either of us can speak again, Sebastian walks out and beelines for Bodhi. “So…” He looks between us with an inquisitive eye that makes me squirm a little. “What exactly is going on here?”
My eyes widen at Sebastian’s sharp, suspicious tone. It’s not me he’s looking at, but Bodhi.
Bodhi simply smiles at him. “Honor and I were just talking about getting dinner sometime. Again. Just thetwoof us.”
The implication that we’re planning a date—like arealdate—has me gawking at Bodhi, who doesn’t seem to notice my gaping expression.
“It’s about time you pulled your head out of your ass,” Sebastian says, shoving Bodhi’s arm.
What does that mean? “Uh…”
Sebastian crosses his arms on his chest. “But do you want to explain to me why my little sister seemed to think you were together before you told me? Yourbest friend?”
Doubleuhhhh.
