The Almost Romantic: How to Date Your Fake Husband by Lauren Blakely

Author:Lauren Blakely [Blakely, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lauren Blakely Books
Published: 2024-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

22

A LITTLE CAVEMAN

Elodie

Sticks and Stones closes at midnight, so the place is still bustling when we grab a booth in the far back, past the pool and Ping-Pong tables. In seconds, a woman with a pixie cut arrives to take our order.

“Rosemary fries and a chicken sandwich with sriracha times two,” she says after we place it. “Aren’t you two lovebirds the cutest?”

Gage startles for a second. Then he adjusts, adding a mostly genuine smile. Ohhh. His employees don’t know this is fake, of course, but he’s still adjusting to people assuming we’re a couple. He drags a hand through his hair, a sign he’s a little stressed, but I hope she doesn’t know his tells like I do. “Yup. We both just have good taste,” he says to her.

“We do,” I second, then she heads off. When she’s gone, I ask, just to be sure, “She doesn’t know?”

“Nope. And I feel bad lying.”

“I get that.”

“Well, except to Sebastian,” he says with a growl.

I still feel like I need to take a shower because of that guy. But I want to deal with the tension between Gage and me first. I can’t let it take up so much real estate. I’ve been noodling on his we good comment since this afternoon. I didn’t want to get into it then. I do now, especially after the awkward moments between us tonight, the uncertainty in how we spoke to each other.

But before I can even begin, he takes over with, “Elodie, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you earlier.”

His tone is laced with regret. But I don’t know exactly what he’s talking about. “What do you mean?” I ask carefully.

He rakes his hand through his thick hair a second time, messy at this late hour, unkempt and a little wild. A lot sexy. “You were worried you didn’t have enough chocolate, and I made it seem like your concerns were nothing. I was only focused on me. And Celeste. And then I didn’t even know how to handle her. You saved me with the sparkling water. Thank you. I was in a big hole there. Felt like I was on the mound with the bases loaded.”

I can’t help it. I smile. “Is this where I’m the catcher again?”

He leans back in the booth, a little chagrined but also owning his sports speak. “You can take the man out of the baseball game, but I guess you can’t take the baseball out of the man.”

“We helped each other,” I say. “I was seriously grateful for your save with the chocolate race. That was amazing.”

“But I should have listened to you sooner,” he says, like he’s beating himself up over this. “I was obsessed with Celeste and the location. I can get a little single-minded.”

He’s so self-aware, it’s refreshing. “I noticed,” I say softly, exonerating him. “And I understand.”

The other day when he shut down after he touched me, I was hurt. I felt as if I’d made myself vulnerable because, well, sex is vulnerable.

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