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“Uh-huh. You think you can pass the boyfriend test?”
“Oh, you have no idea,” he responds with a wink. “Every person in this room will be convinced that you belong with me.” And he punctuates that statement by reaching out to gently intertwine my fingers within his. The warmth of his hand urges goose bumps to pepper my arms and the teeniest tiniest shiver to roll up my spine.
I ignore the odd sensation and chalk it up to the fact that we just walked four blocks in the cool, late-fall air and my hands and face feel like ice cubes. Surely, a little bit of his warmth will do my chilly body some good.
“Ava, darling.” A French-accented female voice fills my ears, and I turn around to find Meadow Moon, the owner of the gallery, walking toward us. “I am so glad you could make it tonight.” She steps forward to press two European-style kisses to my cheeks, and I don’t hesitate to return the gesture.
“I wouldn’t have missed it.”
It doesn’t take long before she notices Luke standing beside me, our hands still linked. “And who is this handsome, strapping man?”
“Luke London. This beautiful woman’s boyfriend.” Luke doesn’t hesitate to respond, and I almost choke on my own saliva when the word boyfriend falls from his lips.
Holy hell, we’re really doing it, huh?
Luke is pretending to be my boyfriend. In public.
“Well…” Meadow reaches out to gently grasp his bicep and flashes a surreptitious smile in my direction. “Aren’t you two just the most delectable sight?”
An awkward giggle jumps from my lips, because what in the hell am I supposed to say to that?
But Luke is so freaking confident in his role that he doesn’t even falter.
“I think we can both agree that my Ava here is the sight. I’m just the lucky bastard who gets to stand beside her,” he says, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to my forehead.
My Ava.
My cheeks flush, and my knees feel a little unsteady for a thirty-three-year-old woman with zero health problems.
Meadow lets out a swoony, breathy sigh.
And Luke? Well, he just grins down at me, his brown eyes warming when they meet mine.
Someone toward the back of the gallery gestures for Meadow, and she nods in their direction. “If you’ll excuse me,” she says, glancing between Luke and me with a look I can’t quite determine. “It was a true pleasure meeting you, Luke. And Ava, please let me know what you think about the exhibition.”
“Of course.”
Meadow walks away, and Luke smiles down at me.
“So, how am I doing, Ace?” he asks, his voice a mere whisper.
“Uh…great,” I say, tripping around my words a bit.
Oh yeah. So great, in fact, that you might start forgetting this is all pretend…
“Yeah?” he questions, and a handsome smile consumes his face. “I fit the boyfriend bill?”
“Mm-hmm,” I reply, and as we walk toward the first painting of the exhibition, our hands still gently locked together, my mind can’t stop thinking, So, this is what boyfriend Luke is like…
Affectionate.
Sweet.
Kind.
Attentive.
Basically, everything every woman on the face of the planet looks for in a man.
No wonder his old girlfriend Dana was so fucking clingy…Our first official practice date went off without a hitch. Luke stayed by my side the entire time, carefully looking at each painting of the exhibition with me, and never hesitating to offer little public displays of affection.
A hand to the small of my back.
A tender kiss to my forehead.
His eyes and smile only directed toward me, even when female patrons inside the gallery flashed intrigued looks his way.
And none of it felt forced. It was all just…natural…comfortable…normal. Like we’ve been in a relationship for years.
Frankly, my mind is still reeling from how easy it was.
But certainly, it has more to do with our decade-and-half worth of friendship than anything else.
You sure about that? my mind questions, but I blink it away and focus on the now.
“Who was your favorite artist tonight?” I ask Luke just as the cool air brushes across my neck, and I adjust my scarf tighter around it. After spending two hours of our evening in Half Moon, night is officially upon us.
“Probably Callahan O’Malley.” He grins down at me as we head up Madison Avenue. “Although, I know his pieces weren’t your favorite.”
I scrunch up my nose. “How do you know which ones were my favorite?”
“Get real, Ace,” he says through a soft chuckle. “I even know which one was your absolute favorite.”
“Okay, Mr. Know-It-All, which one?” I challenge.
“The one titled Over-under-conscious.”
Instantly, I stop in the middle of the sidewalk and gawk at him.
“How on earth did you know that?”
Luke smirks, taking two steps back to wrap his arm around my shoulders. “I could tell by the way you were looking at it,” he says and gently nudges us back into motion. “Trust me, I’ve seen you look at enough art over the years to know when your eyes fall in love.”
