Page 20 of The Naughty List

“I just spoke to your mom briefly and she said something about the annual Flowers family ice-skating event tonight?” He smiles and it feels like fifteen butterflies awaken inside my belly.

“Yeah, that’s the tradition, I’m afraid. How are you on the ice?”

“I don’t want to brag but let’s just say my teacher told me I was a natural and gold medal contender.” He gives me that signature cocking wink.

“You took ice-skating lessons? For how long?” I want to laugh when I picture him in tight stretchy pants and a blouse covered in a shiny sequins and bright feathers.

“From six to ten. Shhh, don’t tell anyone or you’re fired.” He holds his finger to his mouth as if he’s hushing himself.

“Scout’s honor,” I say as I lift my hand in the Girl Scout symbol. “Well, we usually have lunch as a family, go skating, and then hit up the Christkindle market in the town square for hot cocoa and pretzels. What time is it now?” I ask, reaching over and checking the time on my phone.

“Looks like we’ve got some time to kill,” he says when we see it’s only going on nine. “I have an idea.” He reaches out and grabs my hand. “How about you show me around town? I want to see where Kate Flowers grew up and raised hell.”

* * *

“You did not!” Damon says as he throws his head back and lets out a loud belly-aching laugh.

“I swear to God!” I say, his laugh making me laugh in return.

“So how long before they found it was you who put it on the marquee?”

We stand outside The Times, our local theater that has since shut down. The new cinema is located in the mall and this relic has been turned into a historical landmark. I’m telling him about the time I caught my best friend Grace’s high school boyfriend Mark making out with Cherish, the head cheerleader, so I took revenge on him. He happened to work at the movie theater so I borrowed my dad’s ladder. Grace borrowed her dad’s truck and we snuck out and changed the marquee to read: Coming soon, Mark Teeter’s teeny peen starring in Cheaters are Douchebags.

“Not long. Mark obviously knew Grace was involved since he worked at the theater and she had access to the letters when she’d come visit and he’d sneak her into the back to make out and fool around. She didn’t tell him she knew about Cherish so the last time she visited him she stole the box of letters and the rest is history.”

“You guys get in trouble?”

“Not too much. We both had to apologize to Mark and his parents but after we told Mark that we’d tell his parents and everyone at school that he was a cheater, he told us it was water under the bridge.”

We stand face-to-face on the sidewalk. Our laughter has died down and Damon is staring at me. Normally it would piss me off or make me uneasy that he’s staring at me, his body so close to mine, but this time it makes me warm and fuzzy. It feels like he can read my thoughts with only his eyes. I’m about to do something stupid like grab him and kiss him when the buzzing in my pocket snaps me back to reality.

“My mom just texted. Ready for lunch?”

“Very,” he says, reaching down and lacing his fingers through mine as we walk toward Murdoch’s Bistro after spending the morning walking around my hometown. Damon was insistent I show him my high school, the theater where my plays took place, and all my favorite hot spots. Of course, I have to remind myself for the four hundredth time that this all means nothing, and it’s just an act. He’s making the best of being my fake boyfriend—fiancé I guess—now, but once we’re back in the office, the mask will fall away and we’ll be right back to being oil and water.

Lunch goes well. It’s easy and casual, and several times I catch myself smiling and telling stories and sharing laughter with Damon and my family like this is reality. I slip to the restroom after lunch. I’m washing my hands when I stare at my reflection. I look—happy. Panic grips me when I realize that I’m letting myself fall. Fall for the lies that we’re both telling, fall for the fake romance that’s brewing between us. I shake the thoughts from my head and step out, running smack into Damon’s chest.

“Sorry—” I say, stepping backward without looking up to see who it is. In an instant he’s grabbing my hand, pulling me toward him and kissing me like his life depends on it. I’m so shocked, I almost push him away, but I don’t. Instead, I lose myself in the kiss, his hands cupping my cheeks, then one gripping the back of my neck as the other travels down my body, gripping my ass through my jeans and hiking my leg up around his hip. Holy shit, this is hot.

“Never be sorry,” he says breathlessly as he pulls away for a second, peppering my lips with nips and kisses as I feel his hardened cock pressing into my center. I want to pull him into the restroom and rip his clothes off, acting out a repeat of last night. He kisses me one more time, deep and heated, his tongue swirling around my mouth as he releases his grip from my ass and places his hand on the wall beside my head. I’m about to ask what the hell that was about when I glance past his hand and see Chad staring right us.

“Look who joined us,” he says without looking over at him and my heart sinks. That’s what this was about, marking his pretend territory. I want to push him away, to slap him and tell him to leave and stop playing with my emotions, but I don’t. It’s not his fault I agreed to go along with this sham.

“Lovely,” I say with a faint smile as I release my hands from his chest. “Can’t avoid him forever.” I push past him and walk back toward my family.

11

DAMON

I see the look on her face and I know she thinks I’m only doing this for show, but I’m not. I mean, yeah, I want that douche Chad to be jealous; I want him to see what he lost when he fucked up with Kate, but I also want her to see what’s been right here in front of her this entire time.

I watch as she walks back to her family, a smile plastered on her face as she hugs Chad, and it makes my stomach sick. I know it’s not my job to fix her life or make her happy. Hell, I guess it’s insanity for me to even think that she’d look at me and see anything other than a grade-A asshole who’s done nothing short of terrorize her for the last three years. Can I change that? Would it even do any good to tell her that what I’m feeling for her is very real, that all the past behavior was my way of simply projecting? I realize how fucked up it all is when I think it through. What kind of woman would want a man that was so insecure and scared he made her feel like shit just so he could feel better about not having her. I slam my hand against the wall, shake off the frustration, and make my way back to the table. I’ll just have to do everything I can to prove to Kate that I’m more than just her asshole boss and apologize to her for what I’ve put her through. She has to see that I’m worth a second chance.

“Hold my hand,” I say as we step onto the ice and Kate’s baby deer legs slip beneath her.

“I swear I do this every year.” She laughs as she grabs my coat with both fists and clings to me for dear life.

“I’ll just tell myself you’re pretending you need my help to boost my ego.” I maneuver us so that her arm is looped through mine and her hand is in mine.

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