by Cathryn Fox
“And that’s why you need to get laid.” She glances at Jesse. “And I know you agree, Jesse.”
“I…what?” He swallows. “I never said that.”
Tara stares him down. “You never not said that, either.”
Is this conversation really happening? “Okay, now I really do have a headache.”
“Wait,” Tara says, “I got it. I know how to get him to notice you without this.” She flicks the lighter before shoving it back into her pocket.
“I’m not—”
“I know guys.” She winks at me. “I know how they think.”
“Really now?” Jesse asks, and raises a skeptical brow. “This I want to hear.”
“Yeah, you guys are easy. So, here’s what you need to do, Olivia.” She leans into me conspiratorially. “Show him you’re the hottest girl in town. More than friendship material.”
My jaw drops open. “Uh…” I mumble, not even knowing what to say to that.
She shrugs easily. “Guys want what other guys have.” Jesse opens his mouth, but she reaches over and pinches his lips shut. “I suggest you and Jesse pretend you’re an item.” She chuckles. “He’s the hottest ticket in town, you know, right?”
Oh, I know, but I don’t say that.
“I don’t think—” Jesse tries to say between his pinched lips.
“That’s right, guys don’t think,” Tara says. “You two pretend you’re an item. Laugh, flirt, kiss in public, and act like happy lovers. Once Colin sees you in Jesse’s arms, believe me, he’ll take notice and it will open up all kinds of possibilities for you.”
“Why would he ask me out if I’m with someone else?” I toy with the plastic lid on my coffee cup, needing something to do with my restless hands. “I don’t get it.”
She stares at me like I might have a tumor, then shakes her head. “Don’t you see? Being with Jesse is just to get him to notice you. Then you guys can stage a breakup.” She lets go of Jesse’s lips. “I know you want to help her out, Boss. I mean, you want her to find someone as much as I do, and Colin is one hell of a catch if you ask me.”
One, no one is asking her, and two, when she phrases it like that, it leaves Jesse no back door to escape this insane plan. He’s a good guy. The best guy I know, and he’d do anything for those he cares about. But no way would I let him do this, and honestly, I can’t imagine he’d agree anyway.
I open my mouth to give him an out, when he blurts out, “I’ll do it.”
My jaw falls open, and I stare at him like he’s the one with the brain tumor. “You can’t be serious.”
He shrugs. “It worked in that romantic comedy you made me watch last night.”
“That’s not how real life works, Jesse.” Real life is messy, and complicated, and I’m not about to play with anyone’s emotions—mainly mine. My God, if I had to pretend to be Jesse’s girl, have him touch me, show public displays of affection, it would be emotional suicide at best.
“Well we’ll never know if we don’t try, right?” he says.
I angle my head, spot Colin coming our way. Tara makes a squealing sound. “Here he comes.”
I wince at the high pitch in her voice and before I even realize what’s happening, Jesse slides his arm around my waist and tugs me to him. My body meshes with his, and shivers of need zing through me. I pray to God he doesn’t feel it. His Caribbean blue eyes lock on mine as his head dips, his lips closing over mine.
Dear God, what is going on here?
I’m not sure, and my brain is releasing so many endorphins, I’m not able to think about it with any sort of intelligence. Nope, all I’m able to do is revel in the sweetness of his mouth, the softness of his lips, and the small moan climbing out of his throat. Here I thought I was good at acting. This man could win an Oscar for this performance.
From the corner of my eye, I briefly catch Colin cast a glance our way as he walks past and heads inside the pub. Jesse’s hands tighten around my back, and mine slide to his shoulders, taking pleasure in his muscles.
What the hell am I doing?
Tara’s chuckle snaps some sense back into me. I break away, and pray to God I don’t look or sound as breathless as I feel.
Tara grins. “Wow, for a second there, I didn’t think you two were pretending.”
I touch my tingling lips, and struggle to form a coherent sentence. “Of course we were.”
“Yeah, yeah we were,” Jesse adds, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
I put a shaky hand on my hip. “Jesse and I are friends, Tara, and this was your ludicrous idea.”
“Ludicrous? I think not.” She jerks her thumb over her shoulder. “Did you see the way Colin was looking at you?”
Not really, I was too busy kissing Jesse.
“Yeah, he was looking,” I say. “I don’t think…” I turn to Jesse. This is such a bad idea, and bad ideas are not good, right? He probably realizes that now, too. I expect to find him edgy, unsure, but no, he’s swiping his tongue over his bottom lip like he’s savoring the taste of me. What the ever-loving hell is going on? Either I’m being punked, or I’m having some strange sex dream about my neighbor—again.
Tara grins. “This is so going to work.” She turns from me, and I swear to God I hear her mumble something about Jack being right.
“What was my father right about?” I ask. They better not have been discussing my love life.
“What?” she spins back around. “I never said anything about your father.”
“I’m pretty sure you did.”
“Oh, I said, Colin was jacked.” She lifts her arms, and showcases her biceps. “He’s so big and muscular. I can see why you like him.” She winks. “Rumor has it the hot firefighter is great at rescuing kitties.” She does air quotes around the word kitties.
“I don’t have a…” I stop, and groan when my brain catches on to what she’s really saying. “Oh my God, Tara.”
“And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I won’t let anyone know you’re…” She pauses to put her fingers in the air before adding, “pretending.”
“Why did you just do air quotes around pretending?” I ask.
She blinks innocently. “Oh, no reason.”
“Time to get back to work, Tara,” Jesse says as he shakes his head.
“Okeydokey.” She flashes us a bright smile before disappearing inside, leaving Jesse and me standing there.
A new kind of energy arcs between us, and his knuckles brush mine. “Hey,” he says. “I hope that was okay. I mean, I was just trying to help out.”
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” I tell him, working to calm my racing heart.
“I know. Maybe I want to.”
“I feel like a damn charity case.”
“You’re not. Far from it. I think Tara might be on to something, actually. Colin really was taking notice.”
My God, what have I gotten myself in to here?
“We can’t let people think—”
Before I can finish, Colin steps outside, and Jesse pulls me to him again. His lips find mine, and I whimper as he kisses me. This time his tongue slides inside, soft and leisurely at first, but then he deepens the kiss, exploring the depths of me.
My God, I like this. I like it a lot.
But pretending we’re a couple to get a guy I like only as a friend to notice me is insane.
Insanely delicious.
Nevertheless, I’m a smart girl and giving up these hot kisses would be foolish, right? Especially when I’ve been dreaming about them forever and they’re so damn perfect. Maybe for the next couple of weeks before I head out west, we could keep on making out in public. Maybe I could simply enjoy this intimacy between us, and maybe, just maybe, it will help me get Jesse out of my system once and for all, and when I move away, I can start fresh. And hey, maybe this is what Jesse needs to. Something to shake up his world, and get him living again. Yeah, maybe I’m doing this for him more than I’m doing it for myself.
Maybe I do
have a brain tumor.
His lips leave mine, and I can barely breathe as he glances over his shoulder to watch Colin move toward his fire truck. “Women really have a thing for firefighters huh?”
True. Although some have a thing for the boy next door.
“Yeah, I guess.” I narrow my eyes. “Why would you do this, Jesse? What’s in it for you?”
He opens his mouth, then closes it again. He glances down, like he’s in deep thought and when his eyes meet mine again, he says, “I get to help out a friend.”
Why do I get the sense he was going to say something entirely different?
“Too bad the sun is shining today,” Tara says, coming out with pitchers of drinking water for the firefighters. “We could have turned this into a wet T-shirt contest. Now that would have raised some serious bucks.”
Jesse shakes his head. “This is a family event, Tara.”
“Well, I’m just saying. It might not be a bad fund-raising event some evening.”
“Count me out,” I say, and when I turn back to Jesse, his gaze has dropped to my breasts. Why do I get the feeling he likes what he sees?
“Yeah, I think she’d win too, Boss,” Tara says, and my head jerks up.
“I didn’t mean…I’m not…” Jesse says, stumbling over his words, but there is no denying he was checking me out. Yeah, clearly this man isn’t getting out enough and has to start dating again. Maybe pretending to be my guy will make him realize he does need a woman in his life. That thought almost makes me snort. What kind of woman wants to stir the libido of a guy she’s crazy about, so he can find himself a new woman? A crazy one! Yeah, that’s me. Next time, though, I need to help him pick someone who will stick around, and care about him and his son as much as I do.
4
Jesse
Apparently, I am a masochist.
I have no idea why I kissed her, or why I agreed to this ridiculous plan. Okay, maybe that’s a fucking lie. Maybe I do know, and it’s because I’ve been dying to press my mouth to hers, taste her sweetness, and feel her lush body meshed up against mine, even if it was for show. I’d been able to bury those wants, but seeing her naked was like a catalyst. The sight of those sexy curves set off a nuclear explosion inside my body, awakening parts of me that had been dormant for far too long. Now I’m on fire—for her—and there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it.
This is so fucked.
I shouldn’t want my friend like this and when it comes right down to it, she’s into Colin, not me, and that’s a good thing. A damn good thing. There can be no future for us—not that either of us want that. As long as I keep our public displays of affection, well…public, I should be okay. This is about helping her wake Colin the fuck up, not about my cock.
Yeah, I’ve got this.
“I’d better get at those pancakes,” she says, her soft, low voice sliding over my skin and massaging my thickening dick. Christ.
“Yeah, I, uh…I’ll be right in to help.” I gesture with a nod. “I need to check with the guys to make sure they have everything for the demonstrations.”
I catch Colin chatting it up with some pretty brunette. Olivia and Colin have been friends for a long time. Since childhood. We all have, in fact. But he’s a player, out to bed as many women as he can. What I do know, however, is that when a guy meets the right girl, it can change him. I’ve seen it firsthand with many of my friends. I wouldn’t quite say Kylie changed me. Yeah, I might have been a bit of a player, but when I’m with a woman, I’m monogamous. We were only together for a few months when she got pregnant, but I wanted to do the right thing and marry her. She up and left before that ever happened.
“I should go,” Olivia says, bringing me back to the present. She darts away and I turn to Tara, who’s grinning at me like she knows something I don’t. But she’s wrong. That kiss was more than it should have been, and yeah, I know that too.
Maybe I don’t got this.
“I’ll take those over,” I say, and take the two big pitchers from her hands.
“Whatever you say, Boss.”
I walk over to the firefighters, and check to see if they need anything. I’m about to head back inside when Colin nudges me.
“You and Olivia, huh?” He smirks at me, and glances past my shoulders like he’s searching for her.
“Yeah, me and Olivia.”
He tugs off his helmet and wipes his brow with the back of his arm. “How long as that been going on?”
“Kind of took me by surprise,” I say.
He nods and tugs his helmet back on. “I always thought you two were good together.”
What the hell? Really?
“Yeah, well, it’s nothing serious.”
“No?” he asks with hope and interest lighting his eyes, and before I realize what I’m doing, my fingers curl. I like Colin. I do. He’s a nice guy, but he has a wicked reputation with the ladies. Olivia might want him, but the last thing I want is for him to hurt her. If I’m setting her up for disaster, I’d never forgive myself. “So you two are just messing around?”
“Something like that.”
He nods, his brow furrowed in thought. “Hmm.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. I guess she never seemed like the type. She’s different, you know. Growing up, she was always so quiet. She didn’t party with us, or go to the football games. I just never thought…”
Shit. I don’t like this. Not one bit at all.
“Yeah, well she’s all grown up now.”
A crooked grin curls the corner of his mouth. “I’ll say.”
“She’s a nice girl, Colin,” I say, wanting to make that perfectly clear.
“Yeah, so don’t go fucking hurting her, okay?” he says.
I laugh, but I like that he’s protective of her. “You’re one to talk.”
“Hey,” he says. “The ladies know what they’re getting into when we go out, Jesse.”
He’s right, they do, and I give him credit for that. A little girl comes running over with her mom, and one of the firefighters gives her a boost into the cab of the truck. My heart squeezes at the delight on the child’s face. Kylie had been hoping for a little girl. Me? I was good either way as long as the baby was healthy, and I love my son more than life. I’d like to give him a sibling, but don’t see that happening any time soon or ever. I bite back a humorless laugh. I don’t even have a woman in my life, and dating or finding one is not on my agenda, making future kids out of the question.
“So you don’t want to settle down, have a family?” I ask Colin.
He gives a noncommittal shrug, shades the sun from his eyes and glances around as cars fill the parking lot. “If I meet the right girl, sure.”
Could Olivia be that girl?
I want that for her, and if she can have it with Colin, a guy she’s totally into, then great. So why then, is my fucking stomach twisted into knots. It makes no sense.
I check my watch. “It’s getting busy. I’d better let you get at it, and get my ass inside to help with the pancakes.”
“You coming to the game tonight?”
“Probably not,” I have to say, I do miss playing cards with the guys on Saturday night, but my grandmother is not getting any younger and she does enough for Lucas and me as it is. “I don’t have a sitter.” It’s not like I can leave my son with just anyone. Any kind of disruption is hard on him.
“Why don’t you ask Olivia to watch Lucas?”
“I’m not about to—” I shut my mouth when the sound of Olivia’s voice stops me.
“Not about to do what?”
She sets a stack of pancakes, syrup and paper plates beside the pitchers of water, and Colin forks a couple onto one of the plates.
“Jesse never gets out to play cards anymore,” Colin says. He winks at Olivia. “I miss taking all his dough.”
“Asshole,” I say and give him a shove. He laughs as he takes a big bite of his pancake, but it turns to a moan after he swallows.
> “These are delicious,” he mumbles, cutting into the fluffy pancake.
Olivia smiles up at him. “Thanks.”
His head lifts and the corners of his mouth turn up as he looks at Olivia. “I never knew you were such a good cook.”
“They’re just pancakes, Colin.” She gives him a hard eye roll and turns to me. “What aren’t you about to do?”
“Colin suggested I ask you to babysit Lucas tonight so I can play cards with the guys, but I’m not—”
“Sure, I’ll do it.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I don’t mind at all. It’s the least I could do for you considering…”
“Considering what?” Colin asks, nosey bastard that he is.
“Nothing,” I say quickly and pull her to me. I press my lips to hers and her hands automatically go around my back. Since I don’t like to do anything half-assed, I kiss her. Hard. Like a man possessed. Yeah, if she wants me to play the part of adoring boyfriend to wake Colin the fuck up, I damn well plan to do a good job of it.
“Whoa, get a room already,” Colin says, laughing.
I break the kiss and Olivia’s cheeks are pink. “What was that for?” she asks quietly as a group of women come over and Colin walks away with them. Man, that guy is like a match to dry tinder, setting fire to all the women around him.
“For show,” I tell her.
“Oh, well. I didn’t know we had to kiss again so soon.”
“You want Colin to stand up and take notice, right?”
“Well, yeah.” She tugs her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Then this is what we have to do.”
Yeah, kissing her just now had everything to do with Colin and our fake relationship. It had nothing to do with those lush lips of hers and how they’ve been occupying my thoughts since I first tasted them.
Whatever you need to tell yourself, dude.
“Okay, um, so yeah. I’d be happy to watch Lucas tonight.” She pokes my chest. “You should go out with the guys. You don’t have any fun anymore.”
Kissing her was fun.
But I keep that thought to myself.
“If you’re sure,” I say. I hate to ask too much of anyone. Lucas is my responsibility, not hers, but I haven’t left the house in so damn long. A night with the guys will help clear my thoughts. I’m sure of it.