Act Like You Love Me (An Accidentally in Love Novel) (Entangled: Bliss)

by Madsen, Cindi

  “Maybe we should wait until after—”

  “No way. Who knows how long it’ll take me to get my body back. I want to wear this one while I can.”

  All the air had been sucked out of the room. Sawyer thought of his dad. What would Dad have told him? Sawyer could hear the lecture on responsibilities and doing the right thing. And as soon as he told his mom, she’d be so happy she probably wouldn’t even notice he wasn’t.

  Sawyer scratched at his skin. “Just…get whatever you want. I’ve got to grab a drink.”

  “Mr. Raines?” called out a voice.

  Sawyer shook off that bad memory and focused on the bag in Mrs. Marts’s hand. “Thanks.”

  Like that day with Zoey, he felt like he could use a drink. He decided to grab some lunch from the deli a few shops over before he headed back. For such a tiny thing, the bag with Brynn’s present suddenly felt heavy. He lifted it, wondering if he was getting in too deep. Minutes ago he’d been thinking about trying to make it work long-term, but one memory of Zoey and he was questioning his desire to get into a relationship again.

  He needed to get over it, though. Brynn wasn’t like that. She wasn’t someone who’d lie to his face, the way his ex had.

  …

  Brynn sat in the bridal shop with Wes’s mom, Kathleen, and his sisters, Audrey and Jill, as they waited on Dani to come out of the dressing room. When Dani had met Brynn out front, she’d said, “I need your help. I love Wes’s family, but they seriously don’t get when I say I want simple. So your job is to help me find a dress that doesn’t have any bows and isn’t foofy, or glittery, or lacey.”

  “So basically you want a tux,” Brynn had teased.

  Dani’s eyes widened, the cool collected girl she was normally, nowhere in sight.

  Brynn had put her hand on Dani’s arm and said, “No worries. We’ll find you something perfect.” They’d scoured the store and come up with three options, which Dani was trying on now.

  The door to the dressing room swung open. When Dani stepped out, a collective gasp went through the room. It did have lace, but it was a sheer overlay and had cute lace cap sleeves. Dani spun, showing off the keyhole back.

  “Wes did ask me to look for a backwards dress,” she said, peering over her shoulder into the mirror. She smiled. “I think this counts.”

  “It’s, seriously, perfect for you,” Brynn said.

  “Amazing,” Audrey added.

  Jill nodded, a huge smile on her face. “I think that’s it.”

  Kathleen started to cry.

  Within twenty minutes, they were all leaving the store, Dani’s dress ordered—she said why try on any others when she’d found the one. Brynn and Dani waved good-bye to Wes’s family.

  “Thanks so much for coming to help out,” Dani said. “I never thought I’d get this excited about a dress, but— Ah! I’m so freakin’ stoked!”

  Brynn laughed. She glanced down the sidewalk—she really needed to get back to the shop. But she froze when she saw Sawyer step out of the antique store. He glanced up, and when his eyes met hers, her entire body broke out in pleasant chills.

  He walked up and gave her a hug. His gaze moved to the doorway they’d barely come out of and his face fell. “Do you, uh, work, there?” He swallowed and it seemed like it took a lot of effort.

  “No, we were wedding dress shopping,” Brynn said.

  He scratched at his arm, his eyes darting around like a caged animal.

  “I mean, Dani was shopping. I was just helping. Remember Dani?”

  Sawyer glanced at her. “Oh, right. Hi.”

  “I’m getting married in a couple of months,” Dani said, and Sawyer seemed to go a shade whiter. It would’ve been funny if it didn’t make Brynn’s stomach take a nosedive. Maybe a small part of her had thought that Sawyer would stay in North Carolina. Not that she was ready for wedding bells, but he was staring at the bridal shop as if it’d been responsible for everything wrong with the world.

  “I’ll catch you later,” Dani said. “Thanks again. And next week we’ll go shopping for your br—” She looked at Sawyer, tilted her head, and then smiled at Brynn. “Beer.”

  So Brynn wasn’t the only one noticing he was freaking out. She was glad Dani diverted the conversation, though. “Yes, beer shopping. Can’t wait.”

  Brynn hooked her arm through Sawyer’s and tugged him away from the bridal shop. “So dress rehearsal tonight, and then you and I are going out for a nice dinner. You still good with that?” She held her breath, nerves dancing around her stomach.

  Sawyer nodded. “Yeah. Sure.”

  Brynn could feel herself losing him. She’d work extra hard tonight. No acting like she cared about relationships. No confessing that she cared about him or needed him—especially no admitting she loved him. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

  She waited for him to ask about it like he usually did—she’d decided she would say she worked at a tourist shop and her boss was coming down on her lately, which was mostly true.

  But Sawyer only nodded and said, “See you later.”

  She leaned in for a quick kiss. When she pulled back, Sawyer caught her arm. His features relaxed, and he seemed to morph back to normal. “I’m sorry, I was…somewhere else for a minute.” He leaned down and gave her a proper kiss, with lips and the perfect amount of tongue. She drank him in, from the feel of her body fitted to his, to the way his fingers tangled in her hair.

  “That was much better,” she said against his lips, eyes still closed. She felt him smile, and electric zips fired through her body. Never in her life had anything felt so right. And she knew she had to hold onto that while she could. It was all that mattered. She’d show him—show herself—that she could be the kind of girl to turn a guy’s head and make him drool a little.

  Tonight, she was embracing the siren persona hiding in the deepest corners of herself. She’d worry about what happened after…well…after.

  Chapter Fifteen

  After a thirty-minute fight with a flat iron, Brynn’s hair was shiny and sleek. The red dress she’d put on was low-cut, several inches above her knee, and nowhere close to anything someone in the Victorian Era would wear. If she had, she would’ve been shunned by high society. And low society. Basically, major shunning all around.

  The transformation was so extreme that Brynn barely recognized herself. That happened from time to time during dress rehearsals or when she saw pictures from the theater productions she’d put on. But this person was half her. The half of her that was getting lucky tonight.

  She glanced at her immaculate bedroom. She’d almost lost her mind and put flowers and candles around her bed, but that didn’t say she was the kind of girl who could sleep with a guy and then shrug it off if he didn’t call.

  Oh my gosh, what if he doesn’t call me after?

  Her hands shook, and this time when she looked in the mirror, she saw the girl Sawyer had turned down when she asked him to prom. The girl who made a fool of herself in front of guys. The girl who snort-laughed occasionally and spilled food on her clothes and— Her lungs strained for air and the room spun.

  No, no, no. I’m not that Brynn tonight. She closed her eyes, the way she always did before the curtain rose for the first time. When the audience was about to be introduced to someone who wasn’t her.

  Think Lola from Damn Yankees.

  Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets…

  Another deep breath, the curtain was rising and… Brynn opened her eyes and smiled at Lola in the mirror. Just in time, because the shrill doorbell rang.

  Time to go make Sawyer drool.

  …

  Sawyer ran a hand down his navy button-down shirt, hoping he wasn’t overdressed. Brynn had said a nice dinner. He noticed her porch light was sagging, a breath away from falling off the wall completely. He’d come over and fix that tomorrow while she was at—

  Brynn opened the door and he forgot what he was thinking. Hell, he forgot his name. And how to speak, apparently.


  The fiery red dress hugged her body in all the right places and showed off her legs. Her lips curved into a seductive smile as she leaned one hip on the doorframe, looking like some kind of sexy she-devil. His heart hammered against his ribs and he was tempted to just push her back through the door and carry her to her bed.

  Gone was the girl you took home to meet your mom. This was the kind of girl you tried to hit on—the one who brushed you off with a sneer. He liked it, but it seemed so…not like Brynn, and he wasn’t sure how to take that. But then he was lost in cleavage and all that creamy skin.

  She stepped so close he could feel her breath on his neck. “Are you ready?”

  He stifled a groan. Yeah. He was ready. Not for dinner so much, though.

  Her large eyes lifted to his and there was a flash of the Brynn he was used to there, a hint of vulnerability swimming in the green and brown.

  “You look amazing,” he said. “Absolutely stunning.”

  The seductress was back in an instant. She placed both hands on his chest and brushed her lips across his. “Let’s go, then.”

  When she started down the steps he let out a shaky breath. Holy shit. He wasn’t going to be able to drive, much less walk into a restaurant if he didn’t get himself under control. Which meant he should probably stop staring at her ass.

  Sawyer rushed down the sidewalk, opened the car door for her, and bit the inside of his cheek when he stared down at her bare legs. As he drove toward the restaurant, he thought a hundred times about putting his hand on her thigh, but knew it’d ruin the control he was barely hanging on to. Apparently the woman wanted him completely unraveled tonight, and it was definitely working.

  As they walked into Dressler’s Restaurant, he put his hand on the small of her back, wanting everyone to know she was with him. Still not quite believing it himself. Within a few minutes, they were seated.

  Sawyer glanced around the upscale restaurant. “I’ve only been here once before. Right before prom my junior year.”

  Brynn’s smile faltered.

  He put his hand over hers. “Already this night’s much better.”

  She just blinked at him a few times, and he noticed she looked a little paler than usual.

  “Brynn, are you okay?”

  “I’m great.” She straightened in her chair and swiped her hair behind her ear. He still couldn’t get over how different she looked. It almost felt like he was cheating on her with…her. And again, he wasn’t complaining, but she’d hardly said a thing the entire drive, which wasn’t like her. His nerves were starting to bounce around inside his gut, but his hormones were still firing at full speed, and the combination was giving him heart palpitations.

  The waiter came and took their order, and when Sawyer turned back, Brynn leaned her elbow on the table and licked her lips. He almost tipped over his glass of water reaching for it. He finally got it to his lips—right as she slid the toe of her shoe up the inside of his leg.

  He choked down a gulp and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Um, I…” He reached into his pocket and withdrew the miniature music box. “I saw this today and thought of you.” He set it on the table in front of her.

  Brynn picked it up. Her eyes lit as she turned the box from side to side, studying the images. Then she cranked the handle and the tinny music came out, slow and steady. His Brynn appeared in that moment, the smile that brought out her cheeks and the uninhibited excitement over something so small. His heart swelled. There was the girl he fell in love with.

  He swallowed. He wanted to tell her.

  But he didn’t want to tell her.

  She deserved to know.

  “I…”

  Brynn pushed away from the table so quickly, she teetered on her black high heels. “I’ll be right back.”

  Are those tears in her eyes?

  “Brynn,” he said, starting to stand.

  She waved him off. “I’m fine. I’ve just gotta go find the restroom.”

  He slowly settled into his seat again. The music box sat between the gleaming silverware on her side of the table. Now he was even more confused. She liked it, right? Was this one of those times when tears were a good thing?

  …

  Brynn used a tissue to dab her eyes, trying to wipe the tears without making a mess of her mascara. “What are you doing?” she asked the girl in the mirror. “Lola doesn’t cry.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the wide-eyed expression of a woman reflected over her shoulder. The lady washed her hands in the other sink, glancing at Brynn like she might attack at any moment, and then rushed out of the bathroom, her heels clicking against the tile.

  “No, what am I doing?” Brynn dropped her head back. At first it was fun seeing Sawyer’s awestruck expressions, thrilling to know she could actually have that kind of effect on a man. But it was so much damn work, and she didn’t feel connected with reality anymore. Not in the way she used to in high school, though, where her own world was a nice place—the kind of romance found in novels, and chivalry wasn’t dead. This was the kind where she felt like fiction.

  She boosted herself onto the sink and took a few deep breaths. As much as she wanted to seduce Sawyer—not just to prove she could, but also because she wanted to take that next step with him—this wasn’t who she was.

  Another woman came inside, gave Brynn an uneasy glance, and bolted into a stall. Nope, I don’t belong here. I’m not this girl.

  The sensation of cold wetness against her skin made Brynn shoot off the counter, so fast her stupid high heels slipped on the tile. She had to brace herself on the wall to keep from going down, but she was too late—she could feel the wet fabric on the seat of her dress.

  Maybe it won’t be noticeable.

  Brynn stood on tiptoe to study her backside in the mirror. Yep, there she was: the girl who sat in water and had a large wet spot on her butt.

  Thanks for the reminder of who I truly am, universe.

  She punched on the hand dryer and scooted under it.

  On the bright side, the music box Sawyer gave her proved that he knew the real her. The one who loved antique treasures and kissing. Those blessed butterflies rose up, floating and spreading warmth through her entire body. She loved Sawyer Raines.

  And he certainly acted like he loved her back.

  All the doubts that’d been holding her back disappeared, and a weight lifted from her shoulders.

  The woman came out of the stall, and instead of avoiding eye contact or hanging her head in shame, Brynn flashed her a wide smile and waved. She laughed when the woman took off without even washing her hands—not very sanitary. The dryer went off and she punched it again.

  The more Brynn thought about it, the more sure she became. She’d fooled herself about love before, had told herself lies so she could try to make it work with decent guys. But what she and Sawyer had was real. Her heart spoke to his, and his to hers. He was the guy she’d been waiting for.

  A dozen happy emotions swirled through her. She did one more check—the fabric looked dry, even though it felt a bit damp.

  Time to drop the act.

  She was going to get the guy, and she was going to get him by being herself.

  …

  Sawyer wiggled his foot, tapping it against the leg of the table in a steady rhythm. He worried Brynn was crying in the bathroom and he was just sitting out here like a chump. Of course, he didn’t want to be the chump who went into the ladies’ bathroom, either. He was giving her one more minute. Then he’d at least find a female employee to go check on her.

  He glanced at the time and started to scoot out his chair. Then he spotted her winding her way around tables, coming toward him. She looked like the same girl he’d picked up, yet somehow she was back to herself. Smiling shyly when he caught her eye. Man, he loved her. He wasn’t sure what to do about it, but when he was with her, the world made more sense.

  He stood, planning on going old school and pulling out her chair in for her. Bu
t then someone stepped into her path. An older gentleman with white hair, who started talking to her.

  “Raines?” someone asked from behind him.

  Sawyer turned toward the voice.

  “It is you! How the hell you doing, man?” Dirk Markham, the quarterback of the high school football team, clapped him on the back. A couple of the cheerleaders used to refer to him as Dirk the Jerk, and Sawyer remembered thinking the title fit pretty well. “I heard you were some big-shot movie guy now.”

  “I dabble, anyway.”

  “So how long are you in town? We should at least grab a beer.”

  Sawyer didn’t want to be having this conversation. With most anyone else from the team, sure, but not a guy he could barely stand in high school. He wanted to get back to Brynn. He could see she was trying to break away from the elderly gentleman talking to her.

  “Holy shit.” Dirk ran his eyes up and down Brynn, and Sawyer’s blood heated. He cleared his throat.

  Dirk looked at him and then back to Brynn. “Dude, are you here with McFlasher? Not that I’d blame you. I mean, who knew she’d turn out hot? She’s still got those big fish eyes, but if she’d like to drop her skirt again, I could definitely help her with that.” He nudged Sawyer in the ribs with his elbow.

  Brynn moved around the man she’d been talking to. Her face paled when her gaze landed on Dirk. She took a few fast steps toward the table. “Sawyer.”

  McFlasher. Sawyer’s brain was trying to put the puzzle pieces together. Where had he heard that bef— It hit him hard, a bolt to the mind. High school. The girl in the play. Everyone started calling her McFlasher after that.

  No. Way.

  “You’re from…here?” he asked Brynn, his eyes locked onto hers.

  “Looks like we’ve got our own little high school reunion going on,” Dirk said.

  Sawyer could see Brynn retreating into herself, the way she had when he’d first met her. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders and lowered her head. “I can explain.” She glanced at Dirk. “Once we’re alone.”

  Dirk held up his hands. “I can take a hint.” He nudged Sawyer with his elbow again. “Good luck, man.” He started to retreat and then spun around. “See you around, McFlasher.”