“Play along?” I repeated.
“Right.” Bennett nodded. “I’m going to kiss you.” He enunciated the words slowly, like he was exercising a great degree of patience. It was truly ironic, considering how much patience dealing with him required.
He dipped his head, lips nearly brushing my ear, and I fought the most ridiculous urge to lean in closer. “You need to at least pretend to kiss me back.” His warm breath danced along my skin, sending a thrill through my body. I told myself was just a physical response to the sensation; nothing to do with him.
“But we said—”
“No sex,” he finished.
I blinked slowly while my brain worked overtime to process what he’d said, but staring at him only further impaired my ability to think. Because while our contract said no sexual activities, I hadn’t defined what that meant.
Naively, when I pictured a fake relationship, I’d envisioned G-rated activities like dinner dates, holding hands, and hugging. Maybe a slow dance or two at Adam and Quinn’s wedding. You know, a level of physical contact appropriate for a Hallmark movie.
What I hadn’t accounted for was the honeymoon period. Most new couples still in the throes of lust were all over each other—and they definitely weren’t keeping it G-rated. Especially not someone like Bennett. If we wanted to sell this, kissing was a more than reasonable expectation. It was a requirement.
His lips tugged into a smug grin. “If you’re worried a kiss will lead to sex, allow me to clarify. Generally, sex involves removing at least a few key layers of clothing, not to mention this thing called foreplay, where you both—”
“I’m familiar with that process, thanks.” The sudden mental image of Bennett getting undressed—or him undressing me—did little to set my nerves at ease. If I was being honest, it did something else entirely.
“If you’re not comfortable, we can pull the plug on our deal.” Bennett shrugged. “No hard feelings.”
Although he was doing a respectable job of acting indifferent, I knew it was a bluff; Bennett needed me as much as I needed him. If this went up in flames, so did he. It would validate Callaghan’s objections about his unstable personal life and kill the deal. Even worse, it would send Callaghan straight into Adam’s arms.
Bennett raised his dark eyebrows, waiting for my response. From the distance, Quinn’s laugh carried, and a low male voice muttered something indecipherable. Time was running out: it was either make nice or risk everyone thinking this sham of a relationship was already in peril.
“Fine,” I hissed. “Kiss me.” Heat shot through my body, panic mingling with the slightest hint of curiosity.
“You know, women usually sound a lot more enthusiastic when they say that to me.”
I had the nearly overwhelming urge to drown him in the Koi pond next to us. But sadly, he was more useful to me alive than dead.
“Are you trying to ruin this whole thing?” I yell-whispered.
His grey-blue eyes darkened from denim to steel. “I think you’re doing a fine job of that on your own.”
Bennett closed the distance between us, looming over me. We stood nose to nose, mouths inches apart. Breathing the same air, close enough to kiss. I looked back up at him, refusing to show any emotion, but inwardly my stomach was pole-vaulting like it was the summer Olympics.
“Thay?” Quinn called, her voice drawing closer. “There you—”
He wrapped one hand around my lower back, caging me in, and cupped my chin with his other hand. My eyes fluttered shut as his lips captured mine, knocking the air out of my lungs and taking with it any shred of self-control I had going in.
I don’t know why I parted my lips and kissed him back. Why I let him push inside my mouth, skilfully caressing my tongue with his. Nor could I explain the effect it had on me, which could only have been described as a kill switch for my brain. It was some kind of physiological reaction that circumvented my frontal lobe completely.
His fingers gently tilted my face, deepening the kiss. When his tongue swept against mine again, a sudden, unexpected electric shock of desire hit me. My knees went soft, and I clutched his shoulders with my fingertips to steady myself. A small sound of appreciation rumbled from the back of his throat as he pulled me closer.
For a brief, divine moment, nothing else existed; not my sister, not the garden, and definitely not the stupid dinner party. The only things in the world were Bennett’s firm, athletic body, pressed up against my body; Bennett’s strong hands, holding me firmly in place; and Bennett’s delicious mouth, claiming mine. It was like drowning while breathing, flying while falling, a blessing and a curse. I hated it and I never wanted it to stop.
After some indeterminate length of time, Bennett slowly, reluctantly pulled away. Or maybe the reluctance was on my end, though I’d never admit that to him. Either way, our mouths had stayed locked together far longer than any stage kiss could have reasonably required.
He stroked my cheek with his thumb while he looked over my shoulder, scanning the garden. “They’re gone,” he murmured.
I nodded silently, and the truth hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest. Bennett didn’t kiss me because he wanted to, he kissed me because he was playing the role of doting boyfriend—and giving an Oscar-worthy performance at that. After all, there was a reason I agreed to this crazy scheme: Bennett excelled at manipulating people, myself included.
But with our audience gone, there was no reason to continue our charade. No explanation for the way his hand lingered around the small of my back, seemingly reluctant to let go, and no excuse for my palms to remain spread flat against his chest, mapping the taut muscles beneath his impeccably tailored dress shirt.
Seconds passed and neither of us moved. The white marble fountain bubbled in the background, punctuated by the odd, faint outburst of laughter from the dining room. Our gazes locked and my heart stuttered.
Bennett smirked. “I don’t think you mind our arrangement nearly as much as you claim.”
“False,” I said, careful to keep my voice low. “I still hate you.”
“Is that so?” He released me, leaving a patch of cold behind where his hands had been. A chill ran through my body, and I bounced on the spot to warm up. In the autumn twilight, the temperature in the atrium had turned cool.
“Just like I know you hate me.” To be accurate, I hated him even more now. What was he trying to prove with that remark anyway? Did he want me to hate kissing him? We were supposed to be on the same side, not trying to get the upper hand on one another.
Suddenly feeling vulnerable, I broke eye contact with him, and my gaze dropped to the pale apricot Juliet roses dotting the bush beside us. I couldn’t believe it when my mother had mentioned the price tag—well over a million dollars for the rare floral hybrid. Now, that seemed perfectly reasonable compared to what I’d gotten myself into.
“I just find you’re better in small doses.” Bennett shrugged off his navy suit jacket, placing it around my bare shoulders. The satin inner lining rested against my skin, leather and warm vanilla of his cologne invading my senses again. It took me straight back to our kiss moments before and somehow increased my level of irritation with him.
I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t bullshit me. You froze me out me in high school and you pretended I didn’t exist in college. Specifically, you hated that we ended up at the same college.” He opened his mouth, and I held up a finger to silence him. “You barely deigned to speak to me the entire time I dated Adam.”
Bennett glanced down, straightening the cuffs of his shirt and meticulously rolling them up. “I wasn’t aware you were so desperate for my attention. I could have penciled you in.” He reached up, loosening his tie and removing it before unbuttoning the top button of his white dress shirt.
Infuriatingly, the end result was even more appealing.
“You could have started with being civil,” I said. “Every time you saw me at your place in the morning, you turned around and left.” Bennett had lived with Adam, and he had gone out of his way to be as hostile as humanly possible.
“I’m not a morning person,” he deadpanned.
“You acted like I didn’t even exist. It was rude.”
My teeth set on edge, triggered by the combination of memories and his current, callous behavior. A simple apology would have gone a long way. Beneath it all, I still didn’t know why he froze me out, either. But my pride wouldn’t let me ask.
“I’m not sure whether you’ve noticed,” he said, “but you’re not exactly Miss Manners yourself sometimes.”
It was mighty high-handed, considering the source.
I shook my head and looked away, smoothing a wrinkle in my black silk dress. As tempted as I was to try to win the argument, Bennett was known for his knife-edged tongue and for going straight for the jugular. While I had formidable emotional walls, they weren’t indestructible—I wasn’t sure my self-esteem could withstand the damage if we kept sparring.
Before he said anything further, I turned and inclined my head for him to follow. “Let’s go back to the party.”
FOLLOWING OUR LITTLE VERBAL ALTERCATION, Bennett managed to get Callaghan alone, effectively throwing me to the wolves by myself. Adam was mysteriously missing, which was a positive for both our sakes, if borderline suspicious.
I drained my third glass of wine, handing it to a server passing by. As I did, Quinn strolled over, placing a hand on my arm.
“Mother and I were just talking about you,” she said. Her bright violet dress cut to a deep V in the front and looked like it was straight out of the pages of Vogue. She looked about as thin as a runway model, too, if not thinner. It had been a constant trend with her lately—one that concerned me.
“Really.” My eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for a tray carrying drink refills. “And why is that?”
Though, I was afraid to know the answer.
“Because we are totally onto you.” Quinn gave me a knowing smile, waggling her sculpted brows.
I laughed, trying to act like I wasn’t at all having an internal panic attack. The effect was more crazed than carefree. “What do you mean?”
She steered me over to a burgundy leather couch off to the side, pulling me to sit down beside her. I sank down uneasily, searching our surroundings in vain for an alcoholic beverage source.
“Bennett,” she said, crossing her slender legs. “You two are so obvious.”
Code Red. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill.
“We are?” My voice came out strangled.
I gripped the edge of the smooth leather seat. Our story was falling apart. Quinn knew the truth, and once we were done with this conversation, she’d tell everyone else how my relationship with Bennett was a sham. Everyone would know I’d lied, I didn’t have a boyfriend, and I was undateable—and once word spread, I would stay that way forever. I would be forced to flee the city in a cloak of shame, ruined socially and forever alone.
And our mother? Our mother would have a conniption. Bad enough that this would ruin my own reputation, but it would tarnish hers right along with it. She’d never forgive me.
Quinn nodded. “Everyone can tell. We’ve been talking about it all evening.”
Survival instincts kicked in, and I drew in a breath, steadying myself. I had to salvage this. There was no other option. Even if she had some inkling of what was going on, I could perform damage control. Bend the truth, explain away any inconsistencies, and sell the Chanel out of this charade.
She looked at me expectantly, waiting for my response.
What would Bennett do? Normally, that was the last principle I would use to guide my choices in life, but in this case, he was right—he was the perfect role model. The master manipulator himself.
I’d spent enough time with him lately to know the answer: he’d offer some vague platitude and keep the other person talking to see exactly how much they knew.
“That’s interesting,” I said. In a delivery from the heavens, a server passed by, and I grabbed a glass of champagne, downing half like it was the antidote to poison.
Quinn gave me a sly look. “I can’t believe you thought you could pull one over on your own sister.”
My heart skipped a beat or three.
“You two have been an item for way longer than you’re saying.” She batted my arm playfully.
Giddy relief washed over me, and I took another sip of champagne, thanking the heavens for the false alarm. Crisp bubbles with a side of relief had never tasted so good. There might be penance to pay later, and I’d gladly do it.
But on that note, obvious? How? Because we bickered like an old married couple? At least married couples had loved each other at one point. We didn’t even have that going for us.
“Oh, well…” I shrugged. “You know how it is these days. Have to make sure they’re really committed before you go public.”
“Right.” She nodded. “That makes sense. I did the same with Adam.”
For lack of anything useful to offer, I nodded and hummed in agreement. On the other side of the room, Bennett reappeared and struck up a conversation with Charles and my mother. Charming the hell out of both of them, from what I could gather at a distance.
“I’m so glad this isn’t awkward,” Quinn confessed. “You were weird about it when Adam and I first started dating. I guess I should have asked you first, but I thought it would be okay since you were the one who broke up with him, and it was so long ago. You seemed to have forgotten about him completely…” she trailed off.
I didn’t know what to say to that.
Maybe I was “weird” because Adam and I fell back into bed together a month before he asked her out. Having never had a one-night stand before, it was entirely out of character for me. I’d justified it to myself by reasoning that it wasn’t really a one-night stand if he was my ex—but that didn’t take the sting out of it when he blew me off the next day.
The whole ordeal left me feeling used, not to mention more than a little foolish. That’s why I was too embarrassed to tell anyone. Then things went full circle four weeks later when Adam showed up on Quinn’s arm at a mutual friend’s party.
And proposed to her two months after that.
There’s moving fast, and there’s traveling at warp speed.
“But then I realized, you were probably just lonely.” Quinn took a sip of her Merlot. “I’m glad that you’re serious with someone too. I feel so much better about everything knowing you’re happy.”
I forced a smile. “I guess it all worked out.”
Bennett crossed the room and came to stand in front of the couch, shooting me a questioning look. Beneath his calm exterior, I could tell he was as emotionally exhausted as I was; it was evident in his eyes. “Are you ready to go, Thay?”
“Sure, just let me say goodbye to everyone.” I stood up, quickly promising to text Quinn later, and we did a quick round of farewells around the room. Several people gave me knowing smiles, which was probably a nod to my pending ‘engagement’ news.
Bennett’s hand landed on my lower back, gently guiding down to the door. “All good?” he asked under his breath.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “She totally bought it.”
As we departed, my sister shot me a sidelong look, like she thought we were about to go home and have crazy hot sex, which couldn’t have been a more preposterous idea.
Sure, objectively speaking, Bennett was attractive. Especially tonight in his tailored white dress shirt with its sleeves rolled up halfway, revealing his firm, muscled forearms. And especially with the way the dim light cast shadows across his face, highlighting his strong jaw and drawing your eyes to his lips…
“What?” he asked, brow knit.
I averted my eyes and looked forward. “Uh, nothing.”
Oh my God, was I just ogling him? What the hell was I doing? When it came to Bennett, the outside was never the problem; it was everything else. Clearly, the alcohol had gone to my head. It was the only possible explanation.
Well, that or the kiss.
There was only one solution: we must never kiss again.
