Page 61 of Alive At Night

But Julian shrugged, unfazed. “We’ve already had some practice pretending. What’s a little more?”

A lot more. Did he not realize that it was going to bea lotmore?

My skin began to heat up when Julian crowded me against my desk, and I tried really hard not to think about those moments in his garage. In his bed. What it felt like when his—

“I know you, Juni,” he said, knocking over my defenses with the sheer tenderness in the sentence. It caressed my skin like his lips had that morning. I froze as he swiped a piece of hair out of my face. “If you think anyone could fake being your boyfriend better than me, you’re dead wrong. Name one guy who’s known you as long as I have. Who knows you as well as I do.”

I blinked. There wasn’t anyone. But that wasn’t my concern.

“Yeah, but you have to beniceto me.”

Julian smiled, and goddamn, it seemed genuine. “I can do that.”

“No, I mean the whole time, Julian.” Anxiety threatened to storm on me, waltzing straight over my already lowered defenses. “Not just in front of other people. I’m already nervous enough about this wedding without—”

“I’ll be nice.” There he went with that soft voice again, confusing all my senses. “I promise. But you have to do a better job pretending that you like me than you did in front of Greg Kennedy.”

I gulped, lifting my gaze only to get assaulted by the brightness in Julian’s. I fought the urge to look away, to shield myself. But his apparent sincerity washed away my last bits of doubt.

“I can do that,” I whispered.

The expression that blossomed on Julian’s face at my answer shouldn’t be allowed. Not in this office, not near me. It told me, in very explicit terms, that this was a terrible idea. And his next words only confirmed that.

“Should we practice?”

“Oh, I don’t think we have to practice.”

I needed him to drop this idea right now. It was a terrible one. Julian had to realize that, right? He’d been there, in that bed. He should understand why we didn’t need any more blurring of whatever lines existed between us.

Although maybe he hadn’t felt what I had this weekend. Maybe the large-and-in-charge thing that had landed between my legs was nothing more than a sign that Julian had a healthy, functioning nervous system and superior blood flow. You know, normal manly morning things. Or maybe he’d been thinking about the woman he seemed to think was in his bed—whoever was on his mind when he kissed me.

That might explain why Julian smiled at me and said, “I’d disagree.”

“Why?”

“Well,” he drawled, sliding in closer with his hands in his pockets. “For starters, you need to work on loosening up a little bit when I touch you.”

“I’m loose,” I said defensively, resisting the urge to smack the cockiness off his face. He was making it sound likeIwas the only one here who needed practice. “I’m relaxed.”

“Really?” His smirk didn’t let up.

“Yes,” I insisted, trying to prove it to him by perching on the edge of my desk nonchalantly.

My attempt to look at ease failed when I didn’t know what to do with my hands, though. Finally, I settled with folding them awkwardly in my lap, placing them tactically over the tummy roll that appeared whenever I so much as slouched.

Okay, so maybe I wasn’t loose. And goddamnit, he wasn’t even touching me yet.

Julian looked like he was trying really hard to hold in his laughter. And while I appreciated the attempt not to laugh straight in my face, it would have been better if it weren’t so obvious.

“You look ready to spring off that desk, Lily,” he said once he finally managed to swallow his amusement.

“Well, it isn’t exactly a comfortable position,” I snapped.

“Then stop shrinking away from me and come over here.” He raised a brow. “I won’t bite.”

He might not bite, but that didn’t mean getting closer to him was a good idea. We already had enough confusing moments dancing around in my head. We didn’t need to purposefully add more.

So I wrinkled my nose and snarked at him—my go-to first defense. “You don’t bite, but you do smell.”

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