Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Wes,” I replied, frowning at the idea of lying to friends and family. “Rory is going to know it’s not true, then Finn will put two and two together and we’ll end up making things more complicated than they need to be.”
He leaned back. “How so? And why do you think Finn and Rory would question it? They both know we’ve been spending more time together. Wouldn’t it just be natural to explore something more?”
I shook my head. “Why can’t we just tell the truth from the get-go then? Why pretend? Just tell Rory and Finn we’re pretend dating so that you can win your ex-girlfriend back?”
Something moved across his face, and for a hot second I thought it was regret. Was he regretting the plan, that it wasn’t working fast enough? I wanted to ask him, but I pressed my mouth into a tight line instead.
“You want me to tell my family I talked you into helping me make Mandy jealous by pretending that we’re together? My mother would kill me, my brothers would never let me live it down, and who the hell knows what Angie would do. How hard could it be to convince everyone we’re dating?”
“It doesn’t feel right lying to them.”
“And pretending we’re only ‘dating’ to get Mandy back does?”
“That’s different,” I said with an uncomfortable laugh. It wasn’t different, and I knew it as well as Wes knew. The whole pretending to be with Wes to make his ex jealous was something I was only going along with because it allowed us to spend time together. I was having fun hanging out with him, and a part of me didn’t want to lose that. Did it make it right what we were doing? Not at all. The bottom line was we were lying, and the outcome of that lie would be to break up a couple.
Wes stared at me for a few moments. As if able to read my mind, he said, “What if we weren’t pretending to date.”
The invisible weight that had been sitting on my chest lifted slightly.
“What do you mean?”
Wes rubbed at the back of his neck before he looked at me. “We date for real.”
My heart started to pound in my chest, and before I could ask about Mandy and the plan, he spoke first.
“I mean, I enjoy spending time with you, I think you enjoy spending time with me. So if that makes Mandy jealous, then that’s all the better.”
I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut.
“And if she leaves Ron?” I finally asked.
Wes looked everywhere but at me.
When he didn’t say anything, I stood. “We should probably clean up this mess before they send someone to find us.”
He let out a tired-sounding laugh. Was he regretting this whole thing? What had he been thinking about dating for real. What would that even mean? Would we kiss? Would we have sex? My lower stomach pulled with desire, and I quickly pushed those thoughts away.
Wes cleared his voice. “Yeah, I think I ate too much of the cheesecake, I feel sick.”
Laughing, I pointed to the half-eaten cheesecake. “You ate nearly half of it.”
He smiled as he looked at the dessert, then to me. His smile slowly faded and those eyes of his grew darker as he stared at my mouth. Wes took a step closer, and everything inside of me screamed to turn away from him, but I couldn’t. I was frozen in place. My heartbeat started to pound in my ears, and my breath grew faster.
“You’ve got a little cheesecake there on the side or your mouth.”
My tongue darted out at the same time his finger moved to swipe it away. We both drew in a breath at the contact, and before I knew what was happening, Wes was in front of me. A wicked smile on his face as he leaned down and whispered, “Let me get that for you.”
His tongue darted out and licked at the corner of my mouth as I reached for the island to hold myself up. Wes slid his arm around my waist, pulled me to him, and covered my mouth with his. I instantly melted against his body and moaned when I could taste the cheesecake on his tongue. It was like a second round of dessert—but only better.
Wes’s other hand went to the back of my neck where he held me in place as he deepened the kiss.
What in the hell are we doing? Someone’s going to walk in and see us kissing.
Ignoring the inner battle in my head, I placed my hand on his chest and my brain told me to push him away, but my heart won out, instead. I held onto him as if he was a lifeline that I needed to stay afloat in the storm of emotions.