Page 35 of So Wrong It's Right

I shake my head. “I’m not responsible enough.”

“Is that what you think?”

“I’m a mess, remember? Immature. Too much glitter. Not enough substance. You’ve said so yourself.”

He frowns. “We should see this relationship through to the end. Wedding. I mean wedding.”

He pushes the hair out of my eyes, and his hand lingers near my face. The ache hurts more when he’s like this because it isn’t real. I didn’t realize how much I wanted it to be real. Everything slows down. I can feel my heartbeat in my ears and am sure he can hear it, too. He’s looking at my lips. I ...

“Oh, you two...get a room.” My sister’s voice cuts through the moment, and he rests his forehead against mine for a brief second.

“Megan, what are you doing here?” I ask, moving out of the near embrace that was going to cost me so much.

She picks up a construction paper heart and makes a face. “We have a fitting remember?”

I didn’t remember. Well, I remembered earlier today. When I checked my calendar. And then forgot again. With all the burning flesh and almost kissing.

“My fault,” Christopher says. “She told me she had to go, and I was doing my best to distract her.” He pats my back. “Have fun.”

“I’ll be in the car,” Megan says.

As soon as the door closes, I turn to him. “I’m telling her the truth.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“You patted my back like I’m your buddy or something. Christopher, nobody is going to believe this, and I look twice as pathetic every day I carry it on. It’s like exponential humiliation math.”

“I’m not big on public displays of affection. I’d be the same if we were really dating.”

“Let’s just let this go. It will be better for both of us. I’ll ...use your damn plain paperclips and black pens, and I’ll stay out of your way until Dr. Anderson comes back. It’s obvious that I’m not your type and—” I stop because he’s grabbed my shoulders in his big hands and squeezes gently. “What are you doing?”

“I’m about to kiss you. Senseless. Can you shut up for thirty seconds?”

“No.”

He chuckles, his dimple making a quick show, and then he’s kissing me. And I don’t know what it means. Nobody is in the room. We’re not impressing anyone. But he tastes like Altoids and he smells like spices and lemon hand soap. I’m trying so hard to not fall too far into it, but the lure of his mouth is undeniable. He pulls back. “Don’t break up with me until after the wedding. Please. We can do this.”

I nod in a daze. My sister honks the horn. “I have to go.”

When I get inside her car, she’s smiling. The way the Grinch does when he gets a horrible, wonderful idea. “You should marry him.”

The lightning bolt spears right through my heart this time. Only it’s cold. So cold. “Goddess, Megan. We’re barely just dating. I don’t think it’s going to last through the summer.”

“He’s totally into you.”

I shake my head. “We’re all wrong for each other.”

“He’s good for you.”

“He’s too set in his ways. He likes calm. He likes—”

“He likes you, idiot.”

Well, she’s right about one thing.

I’m an idiot.

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