Aunt Laura places her hands on the end of the table, looks at both Jordan and me, and offers a simple smile. “Are you falling in love with our Jordan?”
It takes every fucking ounce of control I have not to expel my breath in one loud exhale. It takes that same level of control to not squirm like a four-year-old who is about to pee his pants. Somehow I school every one of my facial muscles to remain as loose and confident as I was a moment ago.
On the inside, I feel none of it. On the inside, I have no idea how the fuck I’m supposed to answer that question without looking like a complete jackass. If I say yes and then we fake break up, I’ve broken Jordan’s heart, and I’m an asshole to all of them. If I say no, I’m definitely an asshole and Jordan has to pretend to be hurt.
This is a lose-lose situation. There are no good answers. I’vebeen duped. They planned this from the beginning, and I’ll bet if Jordan and I had been doing better at competing they would have thrown this question at me a long time ago.
Fuck.
“Auntie, you can’t ask him that!” Jordan is quick to defend me.
Yet I find myself shaking my head, my arm sliding from her shoulders to move around her waist to pull her closer to me. “No, it’s okay, Jor. I’ll answer it.”
A hush falls over everyone, every sound in the entire place ceasing to exist. My heartbeat is roaring through my entire body. I can hear it, feel it, and hell, if my dry mouth is because of it, I suppose I can taste it too. This was a dumb fucking idea.
Here goes nothing.
“The first date I ever went on was with Jordan. I’ve never wanted to date or settle down, so this entire thing is brand new to me. I’ve never known love to know if I was in or falling into it.” Angling my body towards Jordan, I cup her chin between my fingers, gazing down at her. “But I know that if there’s one person on this planet for me, it’s her. If there’s one person that could convince me that love is worth it, it would be her.”
She grabs onto my hips, her teeth catching her bottom lip.
“So while I don’t know that I’m in love with her, or even falling in love with her, I know the potential is there. I know I’d trust her with my deepest, darkest secrets. And I know that life would never be the same without her.”
Tilting my head down, I come close to pressing my lips to hers until I realize that we’re still in a room full of our friends—and Nate—who know this is all a sham. At the last second I swipe my lips along her cheek until I reach her ear.
“I’d kiss you right now if it wouldn’t completely give usaway.”
“It’s better this way,” she whispers back.
It’s then that I realize her entire body is shaking. Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her in for a tight hug, the most I can offer her with everyone around, hoping to give her comfort for whatever she’s thinking or feeling in this moment.
“I’m calling it now,” Aunt Shirley says. Turning my head to look over at her, she’s got a lovesick expression on her face as she stares at the two of us. “They’ll be the next ones to get married.”
That sends everyone into uproarious laughter. Or at least one half of the crowd is laughing. The ones that know the truth. The entire older generation, however, is looking at us knowingly. It’s unsettling.
“Another round, Liam?” Aunt Laura asks.
“Hell no!” My answer is immediate. “One round with the two of you is all one man should ever have to face in his lifetime.”
That has everyone laughing. The aunts know how they are.
Jordan is still buried in my arms, and I give her a tight squeeze. “Why don’t you see if Hailey and Luke want to play Jenga? Bet Hailey our tab. I need a chance to win my money back.”
Jordan tilts her head up to me. “Where you going?”
“Hit the head.” I press a chaste kiss to the tip of her nose. “I’ll be right back.”
With a soft smile she nods her head. For a second I drink her in. Her eyes have a slight glaze to them, her cheeks a rosy flush, but it’s the smile that really gets me. I’ve never seen this smile. It’s dreamy, like she’s sitting on cloud nine, and doesn’t plan on coming down anytime soon. It’s beyond beautiful. She’s ethereal to me.
I damn near don’t want to let her go. My chest constricts, and my stomach muscles tighten. It feels like that moment right beforean orgasm, but also the moment right after, all rolled into one, except the feeling is tenfold. I don’t understand it, but I know that I like it.
And that scares the ever-loving fuck out of me.
I give her a quick kiss to the forehead and then release her, watching the dreamy look blink away from her eyes as I step away. Then before anyone can stop me, I’m striding through the casino to the nearest bathroom as quick as I can, wondering what the fuck that was.
“Liam!” A voice calls from behind me. “Wait!”
Part of me wants to break into a run to get away from whoever is following me, but the part of me that still has a thread of control stops to see who’s coming. Quinn. Suddenly I’m glad I stopped. Talking to her will push any thoughts that were creeping into my head about Jordan and the feeling in my chest away.
