by Carr, Mari
“Sunnie, have you seen the video of us?”
She appeared surprised—and then unnerved—by his question. And his suspicion was confirmed.
“Of course I have.”
“How many times?”
She turned away from him, looking out the passenger window. “I don’t know. Why does that matter?”
“How many times?” he pressed.
Sunnie did her usual duck and cover. “How many times have you seen it?”
“Too many. Fucking Miguel pulls it up on his iPad pretty much hourly at work, doing this running commentary for anyone who will listen.” It was one reason Landon wasn’t surprised by Beverly’s comment about the look. It was Miguel’s favorite part of the video, the place he always paused and made sure to point out Landon’s million-dollar heartthrob moment.
Miguel had mistaken it for some sexy move on Landon’s part.
Landon now recognized it as something different.
Love.
Sunnie giggled. “I’ll have to get Miguel to do the color commentary for me.”
“How many times, Sunnie?”
She faced him, annoyed. “Landon.”
He waited at a stoplight, the red light giving him a chance to look at her, to show her he wasn’t going to let the subject drop.
“Once,” she admitted quietly.
Landon frowned. “One time? You’ve only seen it once?”
“I was there,” she said, her words a weak defense. “I saw it all in person. Why do I need to watch the video?”
He didn’t have a clue what to make of that confession. Sunnie had approached the whole viral thing with an unbridled enthusiasm, enjoying the limelight.
So why wouldn’t she embrace the video that brought her that fame?
Sunnie’s gaze darted away a split second before the light turned green. The reaction told him exactly why she hadn’t watched it.
She was afraid.
What he didn’t know was what had spooked her.
The kiss?
The look?
Or had she realized the same thing as him?
That nothing between them was make-believe, and he would never think of Sunnie as a sister ever again.
Chapter Eleven
Landon sat on a padded chair on the sidelines of the high school gym where the charity basketball game was about to start, looking hotter than any man had the right to in gray Under Armour shorts and a navy-blue T-shirt.
He hadn’t seen her yet, which gave Sunnie a minute to try to get this strange initial reaction to him under control. She’d noticed that every day since they’d started pretending to be a couple, there was this brief period of honest-to-God nervousness right before he arrived at the pub to pick her up. It was an insane feeling, considering it was Landon who was making her feel so…twittery.
It was the only word she could come up with to describe it.
Pushing that aside, she fluffed her hair and turned to Yvonne. “You ready for our grand entrance?”
Yvonne nodded, while Jessica, one of the nurses from the hospital, tried to tug down her skirt and said, “We should have told them we were planning to do this.”
Sunnie grinned. “Ruins the surprise if you warn people.”
Yvonne laughed as Sunnie led her squad into the gymnasium. Both teams had just claimed their half of the floor for warm-ups when the cheerleaders entered.
Sunnie had managed to come up with six uniforms and Aunt Lane had helped her emblazon three of them with the Baltimore police emblem, the other three with the firefighters’. They shook their pom-poms, lining up on the end of the court where Landon and his cop buddies were taking turns shooting layups.
Landon froze mid-shot, nearly falling down when Miguel, who hadn’t seen them yet, ran into him, expecting him to shoot and move.
“What the hell, man?” Miguel said before spotting them. “Sweet Jesus. My high school wet dreams just came to life.”
Landon dropped the ball, walking toward her. Sunnie gave him a pretty decent herkie, shaking her pom-poms as she did so.
“We thought the game could use a cheer squad,” she said as he got closer.
He didn’t acknowledge her comment with words or a wave. Instead, he just kept coming.
Gripping her by the waist, he pulled her to him and gave her a kiss that definitely would have gotten both of them sent to the principal’s office if they were really in high school.
It took a second before either of them heard the whistle that continued to grow louder. Landon released her two seconds before her dad—the coach—gave him a slap to the back of the head.
“What the hell are you doing, boy? We got our asses handed to us last year by the firefighters. I don’t intend to lose again. Get out there, warmup, and pay attention to the ball!”
Landon returned to the court, but from the constant glances he kept shooting over his shoulder, she wouldn’t say his head was in the game.
“Sunnie, Yvonne,” Dad said. “You look great, but I’m telling you right now, if you distract my team, I’m sending you out of here.”
“Dad—” Sunnie started.
Her father grinned as he leaned closer. “Have mercy on poor Landon.”
He walked away as Yvonne stepped next to her. “That guy has got it bad for you.”
Sunnie shook her head, trying to disregard her family’s nonchalant attitude to her and Landon and all these pretend—why didn’t they feel like pretend?—kisses. She didn’t want to think about what any of that might mean.
Especially considering Landon had actually pulled back since that interview, kissing her only in public and not initiating any more of his killer orgasms.
Not that she’d asked for them.
She’d barely held it together at the end of that damn TV interview, not sure how to respond to Beverly’s comment about the way Landon had looked at her in the video. It was the same thing Pop Pop had said, and it had freaked her out.
Sometime during the ride home from the television station, it felt as if they’d both sort of realized they shouldn’t cross the line anymore. So…it had been nine days of nothing but fake dates, hand-holding and tame good-night kisses.
Sunnie had hated every minute of the…platonicness—she didn’t care if that wasn’t a word. So she’d come up with the cheerleader idea. Smart or not, Sunnie was going back in for another orgasm. Her brain had been overruled by her vagina, and the diet ended today. With any luck, it would be a spectacular cheat.
The game started, so Sunnie and the police half of her squad claimed the first row of the bleachers, standing up whenever the score got tight to lead the police department fans in a cheer. The other half went to cheer for the firefighters. Twice they’d started a wave that made it all the way around the gymnasium.
At halftime, the firefighters were up by two. Typically, halftime was a ten-minute break where the coaches for each team gave their players a pep talk from the sidelines, and the fans just socialized or purchased baked goods donated to add more money to the charitable contribution. This year, Sunnie had something special planned. She glanced over her shoulder and spotted Finn in the press box. The announcer for the game handed him the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Finn said, pausing as everyone got quiet. “As you know, we’re here today for a very good cause. All the money raised will be contributed directly to the Children’s Cancer Foundation. Today, we have a special treat for all you fans. Our nursing cheer squad has prepared a special halftime show. Put your hands to together for the nurses…and Yvonne,” he added, as everyone laughed.
Unbeknownst to Landon, she and the nurses had spent the better part of four days getting ready for this, practicing on every break they had at work. Last night, they’d done a dress rehearsal for the kids in the pediatric oncology ward and, despite a few missteps, they’d been a hit, the kids laughing, singing, and dancing as much as they were able. Her nursing supervisor warned her they’d want an encore every week. Sunnie assured her that woul
dn’t be a hardship at all.
Sunnie ran toward the middle of the floor, nailing her roundoff. Jessica managed a pretty decent cartwheel, and damned if Yvonne didn’t sink down into a legit split. Once they’d all made it to their places, she looked at Finn, who gave her a thumbs-up. Then the music started.
Sunnie made sure she was watching Landon when the first few notes of the song came on, and she laughed the second he recognized it and rolled his eyes.
High School Musical had been Sunnie’s jam for the better part of middle school. She’d seen the movie—and sequels—no less than a thousand times, and she knew the original movie’s show-ending dance number by heart.
She had roped Finn and Landon into learning it with her one summer when they were all bored, and while both boys grumbled, they’d given her the better part of an afternoon, and then agreed to perform a “show” for their parents, Pop Pop and Bubbles after dinner that night.
When the chorus to “We’re All in This Together” came on, Sunnie, Yvonne and the nurses started the routine, all of them laughing when Miguel ran from the sidelines to join them. Miguel had gone out with them maybe a dozen times over the course of the last year, ever since he’d moved to Baltimore and joined the force. He was great fun and easy to be around, but when he started dancing and proved he knew every single step, Sunnie decided right then and there, he was going to be her best friend forever.
Glancing up, she saw Finn doing a few of the moves in the press box, feeling secure that no one was looking at him. During the turn, she realized Finn wasn’t completely unnoticed.
Miguel was watching her brother too.
Then she looked at Landon, standing relatively still on the sidelines, his eyes locked on her. When she threw him a wink and raised one eyebrow in challenge, he lifted his hands to do the wildcat scratch in time with the song.
Oh yeah. He remembered it.
Of course, unlike Miguel, who was relishing the cheers and attention, Landon was content to just watch her.
“Those are my babies!” Sunnie heard Bubbles yell from the bleachers. A quick peek in that direction proved her entire family was on their feet, bouncing in time to the music, laughing and cheering them on. Even Pop Pop was doing a little shuffle, reaching over to grab Darcy’s hand and give her a spin in place.
They got a standing ovation once the song ended.
Landon started to walk toward her, but before he got there, she felt a hand slide over her eyes, a deep male voice murmuring, “You look hot in that skirt.”
Sunnie pulled the hand away and turned, surprised to see Naked Ned standing there. She and Ned had dated a few years earlier, the relationship lasting almost five months, which put him at the top of the list in terms of longest boyfriend.
“Ned. What are you doing here?”
“My cousin is playing for the firefighters. I got here halfway through first half. Thought that was you sitting across the court.”
Her family and Landon had nicknamed him Naked Ned one night after they’d all gone club-hopping together. Ned had come back to the apartment with her, the two of them turning in early. At some point, Ned—sans clothes—had decided to venture to the kitchen for a snack. Finn, Landon, Colm and Padraig had still been awake. Apparently, Ned hadn’t felt any compunction in having a conversation with the four of them, his balls swinging in the breeze. The chat had ended when Sunnie had come out, spotted him, and asked why the hell he was naked.
The nickname stuck, but Ned was gone before dawn the next morning.
“Yeah, I’m here cheering for my dad’s team.”
The buzzer sounded to announce the end of halftime. Sunnie looked over her shoulder to find Landon staring at her. Miguel slapped him on the shoulder to grab his attention, and Landon took his spot on the court as she and Ned walked to the sidelines.
“It’s good to see you,” Ned said, his gaze sliding up and down. It took everything Sunnie had not to roll her eyes at his ogling.
Guys and cheerleaders. So typical.
“You too.” She endured a few minutes of small talk as Ned chatted about his job, hinting strongly that he was newly single again.
“Sunnie!”
She turned at the sound of her dad calling her name. She spotted him standing on the sidelines, hands on his hips, scowling. Then he jerked his head toward the court where Landon was playing…badly. One eye on the basket, the other on her. A quick glance at the scoreboard told her the cops were now down by six.
“Duty calls,” she said to Ned, grateful for the chance to get away from him.
“Maybe we can—”
“We can’t,” she said, heading him off at the pass. “I’m dating Landon.”
She saw the look of surprise on his face and tamped down her annoyance that Ned seemed to consider that relationship so unlikely.
Sunnie sat next to Yvonne, who said, “If looks could kill, Ned would be a chalk outline on the floor right now.”
“Very funny,” Sunnie murmured, secretly pleased to think Landon was jealous.
She shoved that pleasure away when she realized that was actually a bad thing.
Jesus.
She was twenty kinds of fucked-up right now.
With her safely back on the cops’ side of the gym, Ned on the other, Landon turned on the heat, nailing back-to-back three pointers in the last quarter to propel his team to victory.
Dad had appointed Landon team captain, though neither of them was sure if that was a nod to Hot Cop, or as punishment for all the shit that viral video caused. As a result, a reporter from the newspaper, there to write about the game, pulled him aside as the rest of the team headed to the locker room.
Sunnie hung back with her family, chatting for a little while as the crowd thinned. When it looked like the interview was wrapping up, she started to approach him.
Two other women beat her there. Sunnie hadn’t noticed them hovering on the sidelines, but it was clear they were part of the Hot Cop fan club.
“You got a ride, Sunnie?” Dad asked.
She’d come with Yvonne, but her cousin had left right after the third quarter because she was waiting tables at the pub tonight and needed to shower.
“Yeah,” she lied. “Landon is bringing me home.”
Dad glanced at Landon chatting with the two women and gave her a curious look. She was relieved when—rather than question her about it—he simply nodded and said goodbye.
She walked toward Landon and the women, surprised that, rather than trying to get away from them—as he had every other overzealous groupie who’d approached him since they’d started to pretend date—he was actually taking part in the conversation.
Sunnie saw red when he smiled at the very pretty blonde, laughing at something she said.
“You ready to go, Landon?” Sunnie asked, grasping his hand and tucking herself close to his side. He’d told her she was going to be a jealous girlfriend, part of her job description when he had proposed this plan. She dismissed the other women with barely a glance, intent on pulling him away.
Landon actually shot her a surprised look and didn’t budge. “Sunnie,” he said, wrapping his arm around her waist to hold her still. He glanced around the gym, then pierced her with a look that seemed…angry. “Where’s Ned?”
His question sparked her own temper. How dare he play high and mighty with her when he was standing here flirting with two women?
“Gone.”
“Um, hi, Sunnie.”
Sunnie was taken aback when the blonde said her name, then she recognized her as a girl who’d gone to high school with her and Landon. “Cathy.”
“I was just telling Landon how happy I am that the two of you are finally going out.” Cathy reached over and took the other woman’s hand. “My girlfriend wanted to meet the two of you. We figured you’re as close to famous as we’re going to get here in Baltimore.”
The two women grinned. They were clearly in love…and it was obvious now that they’d merely wanted to say hello.
Sunnie felt bad for her possessive behavior. “I would hardly call us famous. How have you been?”
They chatted for a few minutes as Sunnie tried to get her emotions under control. Landon didn’t seem to be doing any better than she. He radiated heat and his arm tightened around her waist, his fingers gripping her in an unbreakable hold.
Cathy and her girlfriend said goodbye, leaving the gym…and Landon and Sunnie alone.
“Landon,” Sunnie said, trying to shrug out of his hold.
“Not one word, Sunnie.”
“What?” she asked, surprised by his tone.
Landon grasped her hand and tugged her from the gym and into the nearest locker room. The other guys had already showered and left, the place empty.
He pressed her back against a row of lockers and kissed her as if his life depended on it.
She returned the heated embrace, nipping at his lower lip, causing him to jerk back and, holy shit, growl.
Sunnie gripped his hair, pulling his face back to hers. As they kissed, his hands drifted under her sweater, his fingers roughly pulling her bra down until her breasts popped free. He pinched her nipples, causing her to gasp, their lips parting.
“You have no idea what that sweater is doing to me.”
“Cheerleader fetish much?” She was trying for a joke, reaching for some way to calm down. It didn’t work. Especially when he pinched her nipples again.
“What did Ned want?”
She snarled. “Nothing. Just saying hi.”
“He didn’t ask you out?”
Sunnie was in over her head, still irrationally angry at him for talking to Cathy and her girlfriend. Knowing the women were lesbians and not flirting with Landon wasn’t helping.
“None of your business.”
He ripped her sweater over her head in one swoop, sucking one of her nipples into his mouth. He pulled on the tight nub until she saw stars. Her pussy clenched hungrily.
Landon released her with a pop, his face coming up until their lips were a mere inch away. “We have a deal.”
“Funny,” she said. “I don’t remember any orgasms this past week.”