***
“Shit, this is really happening, isn’t it?” Steven asks as he hovers over me while I’m sitting in the driver’s seat of the Porsche.
“It will go a lot faster if you stop blocking my light.”
He stands up and out of the way of the overhead light he’s holding up. “Sorry. I just can’t believe that the last year of work is almost done.”
“Yeah, you and me both.”
I’ve been in the garage for over fourteen hours. Elliot insisted on driving us back to Blossom Peak after our conversation in that hotel room, and even though part of me wanted to let him control my body all night, the other part of me was stunned that he understood how important finishing the Porsche before the deadline meant to me. So much so that he drove all seven hours while I got a little sleep so I could start working the second we got home.
Letting out the truth about how his words affected me all those years ago nearly ripped me in two. And it wasn’t because it was difficult to say. No, what made it gut-wrenching was seeing his face transform as he realized that the reason we’ve never gotten along is because of something he said, that he didn’t even remember saying.
Watching him go through that made something in my heart shift. Maybe because now that I’m older, I realize how carelessly we throw around our words. Maybe because I can really see now that he was so young back then that he never could have predicted where we are now.
And maybe, deep down, I want to believe him when he says that he’s sorry, and that he would never hurt me intentionally.
Because the truth of the matter is, he didn’t back then.
It was a fluke I even heard him say what he said.
And he’s right. Nikko was a punk that Elliot was just trying to impress.
But it doesn’t change that my reservations about letting him in now are still there, and that’s because the stakes are much higher.
He’s making me feel things I haven’t felt since I was with Vinnie.
But it’s different too.
The question is, is this thing with Elliot differentenoughto make me want to trust someone else like that again? I survived heartbreak once, but I’m not sure if I could survive it again. And Elliot made it clear that this arrangement isn’t fake for him anymore.
But is it enough for me to believe it could really be something more?
“Everything else is complete, right?” Steven asks as I lift the dashboard and line it up to the holes where the final screws will go to hold it in place.
“I think so.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, Steven. I just feel like I’m forgetting something, and that never happens to me.”
“Well, you’ve been busy pretending to be a fiancée, so maybe that’s clouding your mind?”
I glare at him as I pick up the first screw and position it in place, moving my screwdriver to it and beginning to twist. “You know better than anyone that I don’t let men cloud my judgment.”
“I’m not referring to your judgment, Dilynne. And the last thing I would do is question your skills or abilities. I’m just saying that when things happen in our personal lives, it can affect everything else.”
“That doesn’t happen to me,” I argue.
Steven laughs. “Yeah, okay. There’s no harm in being human, Dil. Besides, if my fake fiancé looked like that in a suit, I’d be distracted daily too.” He points outside of the car, and that’s when my eyes catch Elliot standing in the garage, one hand poised in the pocket of his black slacks, the other holding a bottle of champagne.
“What the hell?”
“What’s up, Elliot?” Steven asks as he watches him walk toward us. Meanwhile my heart is hammering as fast as a hummingbird’s wings as I take in Elliot’s confidence and that smirk he wears so effortlessly on his lips.
“I figured a celebration is in order tonight, so I brought champagne.”
Steven glances back down at me, bouncing his eyebrows. “Fake fiancé, my ass,” he mutters before looking back up at Elliot. “Sadly, I’m not a champagne fan, but I know Dilynne likes a glass or two. If you give her three, though, she’s gonna turn on Def Leppard and start stripping to ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me.’”