Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
I snort.
He grins. “I’m sorry.”
“Look at you trying not to laugh.”
“I swear, it was never my intention to cause you pain,” he says as sincerely as possible while again holding back that fucking smile. The man is a triple threat, handsome, funny, and sweet. Liking him too much feels risky. My mind would rest easier if he was just less in general. “Have you always had a problem with hot food?”
“If you must know, I was at a sleepover when I was nine or so and got dared to drink some of their dad’s special chili sauce.”
“How’d that work out for you?”
“It was made with Carolina Reapers.”
He hangs his head, and a long strand of golden hair falls forward. “Fuck.”
“Fuck,” I agree. “I haven’t been able to eat hot stuff ever since. It’s like my body flashes back to that night.”
“Chili sauce trauma.”
“Yeah.”
Main Street is peaceful at this hour. There’s a sky full of stars above us. All the old buildings are silhouetted against the dark with the displays in the cafes and shop-front windows glowing. It’s so quiet. Just us and the wind and some horny insects calling for some company nearby. I don’t blame him for not wanting to leave. Port Stewart is kind of perfect.
“Are you sniffing me?” asks Connor.
“No.” I laugh. “I’m smelling the sea air.”
“Oh.”
“That’s okay with you?”
“It’s fine. Have at it.”
“Thanks. For a first date,” I say, “there was certainly a lot of crying.”
“That was unexpected,” he agrees.
“First your mother, and then Nicole getting misty eyed over our faux love story, and of course me.”
“You’re forgetting when Lulu laughed so hard at how red your face was turning that she cried.”
“Mm. Yeah. I’m not sure I want children.”
He gives me a long look and there’s something in his gaze. I thought I was getting good at reading him. But now I don’t have a clue. However, sitting here alone with him…the moment feels special for some reason. “Did I thank you?” he asks. “For doing this?”
“I can’t remember.”
“Thank you, Riley,” he says simply.
“You’re welcome, Connor.” I take a deep breath and look away. “Your ex arrives tomorrow, huh?”
He nods.
“How are you feeling about that?”
“Mostly like I don’t want to talk about my feelings.”
“Right. But you two were together for so long. Do you miss her…like at all?” The question is out of my mouth before the thought of boundaries can enter my brain. Curiosity is not always a gift. “You don’t have to answer that. Though you did say you’d tell me everything.”
Nothing from him.
“I’m going to be benevolent and let you off the hook on that one. You’ve already got half the town all up in your business. No need for me to be there too. Let’s pretend I never asked.”
He stares down the street and mumbles, “Okay.”
“Might be best from now on if I do the bulk of the lying. Making up stories is not your strong suit.”
He cracks his neck. “Agreed.”
“So, what’s the next step in establishing our coupledom? Got any ideas?”
“Guess now that we’ve done the family thing we should be seen in public,” he says. “How about dinner somewhere Friday?”
“The night of Ava’s welcome home party?” I think it over. “Just about everyone you know will be there, won’t they?”
He frowns. “Yeah.”
No way is he going to like what I have to say. But I would be an awful fake girlfriend if I didn’t say it. “If we were happy and in a secure relationship, we’d probably go to that, wouldn’t we?”
His gaze narrows on me.
“It would be all water under the bridge and so on. Because I know she’s your ex, but you’ve known each other forever and have a lot of the same friends, right?”
“I don’t know, Riley.” Guess he was only half frowning before. Because now he is all the way unhappy. “That would be…”
“The absolute worst?”
His nod is a terse jerk of the chin.
“I don’t know what went down between you two. But you’re not going to get a better opportunity to show people that you two are never getting back together.”
He says nothing for a while. We just sit on the hood of the car in the silence that is Main Street after dark on a weeknight. I stare at the stars and eat my ice cream while he thinks it through.
“I hate that you’re right,” he says finally. “We have to go to that party.”
I give him a small comradely smile and bump him with my shoulder. “Yeah. We do.”
“Fuck.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Connor: How are you doing this morning?
Me: Fully recovered.
Connor: Let me know if you need emergency ice cream or anything.
Me: Ha. Will do.
“Riley,” greets Noor in her husky voice. “I picked some chilis from my garden just for you, darling.”
“Thanks,” I say drily, pulling up a seat.
Joyce and Martha both laugh at me. Something I am getting used to.