Dane kissed me like he wasn't planning to let us pull away, and I realized I didn't want to either.
8
DANE
The drive back should’ve cleared my head. That was usually how this worked.
You drove long enough, rolled the windows down, let the night air hit you in the face a little, and eventually your thoughts untangled themselves into something manageable.
Mine apparently hadn’t gotten the memo, because all I could think about was Seth and our first kiss, and how amazing it was. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
Amazing didn’t even cover it. I could still remember exactly how Seth had sounded when he’d inhaled softly against my mouth. The warmth of him pressed close.
Then I remembered the conversation we had before the kiss. His ex of five years. I blew out a breath slowly.
That wasn’t some casual relationship that fizzled after a couple months. That was real history. Hell, Seth had said they’d been friends before they even dated.
Friends first, then together for years. No wonder he’d looked wrecked talking about the wedding.
A quiet little voice in the back of my mind asked something I absolutely did not appreciate.Do you even have a chance?
I frowned at the windshield.
“That’s not the point,” I said aloud.
It didn’t matter in the long run, because what we had wasn’t real. The fake dating thing had started because Seth needed a wedding date and I needed my mother to get off my back.
That was it. It was supposed to be simple, somewhere between pretending to be Seth’s date and actually kissing him, things had apparently stopped feeling simple.
Which made things deeply inconvenient. I groaned softly and scrubbed a hand down my face.
“Get it together,” I told myself.
The truck rolled up the driveway a few minutes later.
The house lights were still on, warm against the dark, and for half a second I considered just sitting in the truck until my parents went to sleep.
Unfortunately, my cabin was still under renovation. The second I stepped into the kitchen, I knew I’d made a tactical error.
Mom was sitting at the table with a cup of tea like she’d been waiting for me. Predator behavior.
“There you are,” she said brightly.
I immediately narrowed my eyes.
“Why do you sound prepared?” I asked.
“So Levi mentioned to me you saw Seth today,” she said, tone casual.
My brother was an absolute traitor. I mentally added Levi to my growing list of siblings I might eventually fight in a parking lot. To be fair, I had technically texted him earlier.
Mostly because he’d asked what I was doing, and I’d stupidly responded with, “Out with Seth.”
That should’ve been harmless information. Unfortunately, my mother could probably extract state secrets from my brothers with enough persistence and baked goods.
Didn’t she have hobbies? Actually, she did. Unfortunately, one of them was apparently monitoring my romantic life like it was a full-time occupation.
I reminded myself she meant well. Mostly.
