Page 46 of Can’t Say No

He scrubs a hand over his face like I’ve really blown his mind.

“Damn. You fooled me. All the pictures and interviews. It seemed like the real deal.”

His eyes narrow a little and he leans across the table.

“Did y’all hook up?”

Fucking typical. That effectively squashes any remaining butterflies that he’d managed to stir up. I tip my chin up so I can look down my nose at him.

“Why would you ask that? Are you hoping you’ll get the same benefits?”

Connor rears back like I’ve slapped him.

“No, Lanie. No. And I’d never put it so cheaply.”

“Put what so cheaply?” I ask.

Connor’s eyes darken, and his reply is low and gravely.

“A chance with you isn’t a benefit, some bonus on the side. If you were mine, really mine, it would be a fucking honor. We wouldn’t be hooking up, Lanie.”

His words send a shiver down my spine. I can barely whisper out a reply.

“What would we be doing?”

He doesn’t waver, doesn’t break eye contact.

“We’d be in love.”

My heart skips a beat as my jaw pops open. That’s the most shocking combination of words I’ve ever heard. Then I gulp down anything, and everything, he could possibly mean by that and reply with a laugh.

“That’d be crazy right? Us together. For real?”

He holds my gaze for a beat too long. Then blinks and that wide, easy grin returns to his face.

“Yeah, Delaney. So crazy.”

17

CONNOR

Something about Delaney takes every rational thought in my head and puts them through the shredder, leaving me with incoherent ramblings and caveman tendencies. Case in point, telling her I’d only fuck her if we were in love.

Who in their right mind says that to their fake girlfriend?

Another important consideration: who in their right mind has a fake girlfriend?

The thought of her hooking up with any of her previous PR relationships made me see red. Just the possibility of someone taking advantage of a situation like that… God, it just makes me sick.

I meant it when I said that it would be a privilege to be with her. But Delaney isn’t ready for that conversation yet, and the reality is, she probably never will be. Not with all the years between us. Sure, she’ll flirt a little, get into some back and forth with me, but I can’t imagine a world where she’d cross that line. And after years of being played and manipulated, the last thing she needs is me trying to turn this fake dating thing into something more.

I have to get my mind right. I owe it to her to uphold my end of the deal without letting my feelings get in the way and complicate things.

As we file back onto the bus after our long day at the theme park, I vow to go for a run when we get back to the lodge, followed by an ice-cold shower. Burn off some energy, freeze out the memory of her lips on mine that’s been haunting me. That should be enough to stuff any hope of more back into the neat little box I’ve been carrying around for a decade.

An elbow hits me with a sharp jab. “Hey, Earth to Connor. Mrs. Crane just asked you a question.”

“Sorry, lost in thought,” I mumble to Delaney before turning my attention to Mrs. Crane. “What’d you need, ma’am?”