Page 59 of The More I Hate

“I want to see if he will care.” I sat back and took a sip of my coffee.

“Then let’s turn this fire up a bit, shall we?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I’m going to use everything I have learned in every acting class I have slept through. I will channel my inner straight man, and we’re going to be disgustingly cute and in love.”

He made a face, and I couldn’t help the giggles that poured out of me. He grabbed my chair and pulled it around the small table so I was sitting next to him so he could lean and whisper into my ear, “This is so weird.”

I laughed again as he put his arm around me and pulled me in closer.

“Is pretending to find me attractive that much of a struggle?” I teased.

“Shhh, in my mind you are six-two with broad shoulders, a great ass, and a gigantic cock.”

I shook with laughter as I leaned into his embrace.

His body was warm and comforting, and Marco was very handsome, but I didn’t feel the same undeniable pull I did with Mr. Manchild.

Marco’s touch didn’t cause a fire to race through my veins or heat to flood my core. My body didn’t ache for him. Instead, he made me feel safe, protected, but the same way Harrison made me feel when he hugged me when I was little. It was a brotherly embrace, which was good, but not what I felt with Luc.

I hated that Luc was the only man who had ever made me feel like that.

“My friend,” he said under his breath, all but whispering in my ear. “If we are going to sell this, you have to look like you are at least enjoying my extremely awkward and unpracticed displays of affection.”

I turned to face him, pressing my forehead to his. “Sorry, I just thought of him for a second, but now I am back in this moment with you.”

“Good, because I need you to answer a very important question for me.” His hand reached up to caress my cheek before moving down to my leg. He slid his fingers under the hem of my dress, not inappropriately high, but high enough to imply intimacy.

“Anything.”

“What is the point of a man touching a woman’s thigh? If you were a dude, I’d be trying to figure out how big your dick is… but…”

I laughed so hard I had to sit back in my chair.

“There, that’s the smile we need to sell this.” He grinned at me, and I could feel my face heating as I turned a little red. “Now hold on to that and tell me what’s the real reason we are doing this. This can’t be just to make him mad. What do you want to happen here?”

That question hit harder than I expected.

I grabbed my coffee and took a sip to give myself a moment to think.

What did I want to happen? Did I want to make him jealous?

Would he even be jealous? He would be mad.

What I didn’t know was if he would be mad because another man had his hands on me, or just territorial because another man was touching what he thought was his.

Or did I just want to show him I had options, or maybe prove to myself I had some power over him?

Honestly, I wasn’t sure. Maybe if he thought I was with other men, he wouldn’t want to marry me.

He knew he was the first to have sex with me, but maybe if he thought my heart belonged to another or if he thought I was willing to let another man inside me since my virginity was now long gone, maybe I could get him to call off the wedding.

Mother would have a fit. It would be embarrassing, and my reputation may never fully recover, but it was something.

“I need to know if he really cares or if he is going through the motions. This isn’t a love match. I know that, and he knows that. It’s a business arrangement, but sometimes he makes me feel… something. Right now, I have to know if there is a possibility for a genuine marriage or if it truly is just a business arrangement. Hopefully, how he reacts to this will tell me what I need to know.”

“Explain something to me,” Marco said, moving my legs to his lap.

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