I sense her turning her face toward me in the dark. “Hey, we were helping each other. It’s been fun for me, too.”
“But I got the Chasing Love pressure off my back. Our fake relationship has only made Ryan more determined.”
“It’s fine,” she says, even though we both know it isn’t.
“Yeah,” I say, eyes locked on the lights below, “it will be.”
She doesn’t miss a beat. “What does that mean?”
I forget how well she knows me. “Don’t worry about it,” I say, not wanting to tell her about the meeting I had this morning. Not yet. Not here, while we’re stuck in the dark and I can’t see her face.
“Now I’m worried,” she teases.
“Don’t be,” I reply. “Just promise me something.”
“What?”
I can feel her watching me in the dark. My eyes have adjusted, and I can make out her face and those wide, watching eyes.
“Promise me the next guy you date is the one who’s gonna give you that house full of kids and the white picket fence on your vision board. Someone who treats you the way you deserve to be treated. Someone who makes you laugh and listens to all your nerdy facts.” The words I don’t speak seem to hang between us.Like I do.
She scoffs lightly. “I know I want that stuff, but right now I’d settle for a boyfriend treating me like I’m not just an accessory.”
“I mean it, Serena. You deserve someone who will spend every single day making sure you know how special you are.”
Her voice, when she speaks, is barely a whisper. “Do they even exist?”
I turn my face toward her, so we’re only inches apart. My pulse thrums like a drumbeat in my ears, and every instinct I’ve spent weeks trying to bury rises to the surface.
I shouldn’t. And yet I can’t stop myself.
My hand lifts before I can think better of it, like my body’s moving on instinct while my brain screams at me to hold back. Slowly, I reach up, brushing my thumb along her cheekbone. Her skin is warm, soft. My heart pounds with everything I want and everything I’m afraid of. This isn’t fake. It’s me, teetering on the edge of something I have no business wanting.
“Yes,” I whisper.
She doesn’t move. Doesn’t pull away. My fingers slip into her hair. My face is so close to hers, I can feel her breath on my skin.
“There aren’t any cameras up here,” she says, like she knows what I’m thinking, what I’m doing.
“Rules are meant to be broken,” I say in a low whisper, knowing that the last few times I’ve kissed her have had nothing to do with PDA and everything to do with how much I want this woman.
I lean in, pulse hammering through me like I’ve just made a sixty-yard run and I’m standing in the end zone, breathless, heart racing. My focus is locked on Serena and the way her lips part just slightly in the darkness, like she’s caught in the same gravity pulling me to her. The air between us crackles with all the things we’ve been pretending aren’t real. This isn’t about the rules, or the plan, or anyone else. This is me about to kiss theone girl I’ve never allowed myself to think about as anything but a friend. Never let myself fall for. Until now.
My hand moves around the back of her neck, needing to close the final space between us. Needing to feel her lips against mine, explore her mouth, whisper that she’s mine again. Then just as suddenly as the ride shut down, it jerks to life again. Lights and motors and movement and we’re dropping down, back to the start. Back to reality. Back to a world where we’re just friends.
Serena laughs as she turns back to look over the fair. “You still owe me a truth or dare,” she says, like the last few minutes were still just pretend.
But I feel the truth deep in my body: I don’t want this to be fake anymore. I want Serena. I want to be the man who listens to every weird fact she’s got to tell. I want to feel what it’s like to have her body beneath mine. To worship every inch of her with my mouth, to kiss and taste and tease until she’s breathless and begging. I want to push her to the edge and pull her over it, again and again, until my name is the only word she remembers.
I want it all.
Even if I shouldn’t want it. Even if I can’t have it. Even with the voice shouting in my head:Don’t get too close.
I want her.
And fuck if I’m not in trouble…
EIGHTEEN