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“Hello, James.”
“Andi,” he says, though it sounds like he choked on his own spit as he said it. His face is also now as white as his shirt.
“Hey there,” I say as she steps next to me, giving me her hand. I do her one better and let go, only to put my arm around her waist and pull her into my side, while also placing a kiss to her temple.
She looks up to me, a huge smile on her face. “Hey, you.”
“Oh, will you two knock it off?” James snaps and points to me and Max. “No one believes this. You brought him here because you saw I’m engaged and you couldn’t handle it.”
“Believe it, buddy, this is more real than you and I ever were,” Andi says. “But what I don’t know what to believe are your stories. Which is true? What you just told Max? Or what you said to me about why we weren’t getting married? Or is it what you told Cheyenne about suddenly being single? Because I have a feeling that one isn’t the same either.”
The confidence in Andi’s tone is fucking sexy. I watched her listen to every word he said. I watched the reactions on her face go from shock to anger to indifference. I’m also not fixating on the fact she said we were real. Which, might I say, I’m pretty proud for not doing.
“Fuck you both. You can have her. You’re nothing Andi. Nothing.” He turns on his heel but I grab his arm, refusing to let him have the last word.
“Get your hand off me,” James says.
I pull him in closer making sure he’s looking dead in my eyes. “You will never, and I mean ever, talk about Andi like that again in your life.”
“Or what?”
“Or,” I say, progressively squeezing his arm tighter. My action causes his Adam’s apple all but to pop out of his mouth. “I will end you. You don’t fucking deserve to breathe the same air as her, so starting now you’re not going to speak to her. You’re not going to look at her. You’re not going to think about her. Actually, no, I take that back. I want you to remember her. And me. Us. I want you to think about us when your new wife is lying in bed like a limp fish, hating her life, but won’t divorce you because you made her sign a prenup she couldn’t understand, all while knowing that I’m making Andi scream so loud we’re waking the neighbors. That we’re happy. We’re together. A team. And your miserable ass is going to be wishing for what could have been. Because that’s what she is to you—the past. She’s my present. My future. Not yours. Mine. And after today, we won’t ever, and I mean ever, think about you again. But we’ll live in your head rent free every day of your pathetic life.”
I shove James a bit as I let go of him, but he doesn’t fall. He does stumble before he fixes his jacket and walks away, Cheyenne running after him as she tries not to spill her drink.
I turn to look back at Andi, who seems a bit shocked. Shit. I went too far.
“Andi, I’m sorry. I?—”
I don’t even get the words out of my mouth. I mean, I was only apologizing because I probably caused a scene or embarrassed her. But I’m guessing by the fact that she’s kissing the hell out of me right now, she didn’t mind what I just did.
Holy shit, Andi is kissing me! Her lips are on mine. Her hands are on my cheeks, holding me close and lighting a fire inside of me.
Holy shit, Andi is kissing me…
I pull away, but only because we are in public, at a cocktail hour, and I’m pretty sure that kiss was heading somewhere not appropriate for this venue. Plus, I’ve caused enough of a scene for the day.
“Come with me.” she says, grabbing my hand.
“Where are we going?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “But we need to get out of here. Now.”
CHAPTER FIVE
ANDI
~~ Rule #3: Closet sex is a fine way to thank your fake boyfriend ~~
I’m a woman possessed.
That’s the only explanation as I drag Max inside the reception hall in search of somewhere private.
Because for the first time in my life, I have the feeling that if I don’t have sex with a man in the next five minutes I might die.
And I’m not being dramatic. What Max said out there—how he not only defended me to James but also let me take the lead when I wanted—was something no one has ever done for me before. In that moment, I realized that Max is not just the flirty bartender. He’s not just a friend. He’s a man I could see myself with.
That is, if he wants me.
