Page 22 of If the Suit Fits
“You’re very lucky.” She pulls away and studies my eyes, her lips curling into what she’d have me believe is a smile, but her eyes glitter with emotion. And though I’d like to think it’s a good emotion, my heart squeezes with an ache my soul recognizes. “To have been raised by this kind of love? To know exactly who you are and what you mean to the world?” She exhales, her breath feathering my chin and touching my neck, then she shrugs and lowers her eyes so all I get to see are the tops of her lashes. “I wonder what kind of person I could be if I grew up in a different home?”
“I think you graduated from the Hamilton mini-society with a strong sense of what youwouldn’tbe like.” I set my finger beneath her chin and force her back up. Because fuck it, I want to see her beautiful face. “I think you mourn not knowing who you are but forget you know exactly who you won’t be. And though it’s not a perfect outcome, this isn’t a perfect world. Personally,” I show hermy beaming smile, which only grows more pronounced when her eyes drop to the movement, “I think you’re pretty fucking perfect the way you are.”
“You’re good at this, you know that?” Giving up on me, she leans in again and rests her cheek on my heart. “That’s why you were so confident when we met. You knew you could play the role I needed and do it so well, it almost seems real.”
“Shhh…” Chuckling, I slide my hand along her back and bring my fingers to the column of her neck. If she won’t let me see her, then she’ll let me bring her comfort. “You can’t mention the deal out loud, Princess, or you’ll blow our cover.”
“What led you to here?” She swallows, so I feel it beneath the pads of my fingers. “You’re intelligent. Handy around the home. You were raised by strong women, and you know how to make a partner feel special. How did you end up at thirty-two years old, unmarried, single, and answering an ad about a week-long ruse? Have you not found love in all this time?”
“Maybe I’m bitter,” I tease. “Or maybe I don’t believe in true love.”
“Yes, you do. You absolutely believe in love. There’s no waythisis your family, but you skipped out on the desire for marriage, passion, kids, legacy. I’m not buying it.”
“Maybe I fell in love when I was young,” I offer instead. “And it didn’t work out.”
“Is that what happened?” she wonders. “Young love that went wrong? And now you’re not willing to give it another go.”
Bringing my hand around, I set my thumb on her bottom lip and pull it free of her teeth. I’m not even sure she realizes how often she abuses them. Then, shrugging, I study the marks left behind on her plump bottom lip. “I’m willing. When it happens,it happens. And in the meantime, I’m having the time of my life hanging with you.”
“And at the end, you get two-grand and the ability to leave my drama in the past.”
Frowning, I hate how she so easily hurts her own feelings. “I don’t consider you drama, Princess. And I’m not running away. I’m sitting right here, aren’t I? Iwantto spend time with you. Ilikebeing around you.”
“Even though I’m fidgety and anxious and weird and, clearly, possess a soul-deep character flaw, considering my need tohirea boyfriend just so I can attend a social gathering I don’t evenwantto go to?”
“Character flaw?” I counter. “Or intolerance for everyone else’s shit? You’ve spent twenty-nine years surrounded by fakery and pretense. I’ll admit, at first, I thought your ad was a little strange. And then I met you and thought for sure you must’ve been a vapid bitch, since you were beautiful enough to land any dude you wanted. But now that I know where you come from, I see it. People can’t be trusted to be honest, and entertaining a relationship with a guy you don’t even like is hardly worth the price of admission.”
“Vapid bitch?” Her lips twitch as she circles back to my earlier thought. “Really?”
“You’re hot!” I laugh, drawing eyes from my watchful, but thankfully, poor of hearing, Abuela. “Women who look like you can literally say ‘I need a man’ three times in front of the mirror and conjure six thousand willing ponies in an instant. The fact you’d need to hire someone for the role told me your personality must’ve seriously been…”
She wrinkles her nose. “Horrible?”
“So color me surprised when I take the deal and move in, only to realize you’re hot,andsmart,andkind,andyour biggest flaw isn’t you at all. It’s the doubt that was hammered into your psyche since the day you were born. They robbed you of the confidence you fucking deserve. You’re a goddess, Melanie. So beautiful. So perfect. You deserve a man who bows at your feet and knows he’s touching magic when he’s near you. You’re a gift, but you believe you’re a burden.”
“Kiss!” Elena announces from the edge of the dance floor, a glass of wine lifted in the air and her eyes drilling against the side of my face. “Kiss her, Bello Lolo! My brother is finally in love.”
Mel’s eyes widen with panic. “Nick?—”
“We have to.” I cup her jaw and inch closer. “Unless you want them to realize we’re liars.” I hold her steady when her body breaks out in a violent quiver that travels through my arm and into my long-ago-healed shoulder. Then, I close my lips over hers and swallow her gasp of surprise when it bursts from her lungs. I sample her flavors on my tongue and take more when her eyes flicker closed.
Whether she means to or not, she brings her arms up and drapes them over my shoulders, cinching me in and whimpering when I pry her lips open with the tip of my tongue.
Why the fuck not?
For this week, she’s all mine.
I slide my thumb over her jaw and down to her neck, so when she thinks my time is up and attempts to pull back, I control her movements and drag her back in. “Not yet.” I taste her lips and swallow her whimper when she can’t keep it in. And when she squirms against the porch wood, rubbing her legs together sodiscreetly, I know I’m the only one who sees, I tuck that knowledge away for the future.
“I said kiss!” Elena cackles. “I didn’t say eat her face. Oy.”
Mel startles back, breaking our contact with a gasp and bringing her shaking hand up to cover her lips, like she thinks I’ll dive in for more. Then she looks around, her cheeks blazing red and her heart thundering in her chest. “Oh my gosh.”
I lean in close and chuckle. “I’d say we sold it, huh? We look the part.”
“I’m—No… Excuse me.” She climbs to her feet before I can think to hold her down and turns so fast, her perfume fills my nostrils and travels to my lungs. But more than that. I smell her desire, too. She’s a steak dinner, and I’m a starving man. But she takes off inside the house, her self-inflicted humiliation followed by Elena’s cackling laughter and Anna’s obnoxious “woop, woop!”
But I don’t look their way. I can’t meet my sister’s eyes while my cock is hard and my balls are ready to empty, so I keep my head down but push to my feet and turn to follow mygirlfriendthrough the house. She plans to hide, and while she’s there, she’ll repeat her parents’ words back at herself.
