Page 81 of Blue Jean Summer

I leaped off the bed and accidentally toppled into the wall. But hey, that worked too. I looked over my shoulder and whispered, “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m making him think we’re doing what most couples do on their wedding night.”

“Are you drunk?” he asked with a mix of exhaustion and annoyance.

“No,” I hissed. “I’m keeping up the ruse.” I hip-checked the wall and let out a dramatic moan that was loud enough for Lewis to hear.

Maybe he’d get grossed out and leave for the night, but the probability of that seemed slim.

I grabbed the bedside table and shook it, but the thing was solid. “Oh, Hayes! Yes!” I squealed a little too enthusiastically.

“Oh my god,” he grumbled under his breath as he shucked off his suit jacket and cuffed his shirtsleeves.

Hello, arm porn.

“Hey, Judgy McJudgerson. If you’re not going to help, you don’t get to comment. Acting isn’t my strong suit.”

“What was your talent when you competed?”

“Played the piano,” I said as I crawled back on the bed to add a few headboard-rattling jumps to the mix. “I started with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major and then mashed it up with ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!’ ”

Hayes stifled a smile.

“It’s a real crowd-pleaser,” I said between labored breaths as I crawled off the bed. I pounded my fist against the wall and let out a guttural moan. Fake sex was more exhausting than the real thing.

“Dear God,” Hayes said with a groan as he rose to his feet. “Is that what you sound like when you’re having sex?”

“If you’re not going to help, then keep your mouth shut. At least I’m having enthusiastic fake sex over here.”

Warm hands slid onto my hips and an expansive chest pressed into my back. “Sweetheart, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but if that’s what you think good sex sounds like…” He chuckled. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re doing it wrong.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” I said. “Should’ve picked a fake wife who was a better actress.”

“Catherine.” Hayes’s voice was rough and thick, making a meteor shower of goose bumps flash across my neck. His mouth grazed the shell of my ear. “Tell me that’s not what you sound like when you’re having sex.”

My breath caught in my throat.

Hayes turned me to face him, then leaned forward, trapping me between his body and the wall. He rested his forearm above my head. With his eyes on mine, he pounded his fist against the wall.

My sharp intake of breath was louder.

A devilish smile quirked the side of his mouth. “That’s what you should sound like, darling.”

He stepped forward again, pinning me flush against his body, but his hand never left the wall. Something thick and long pressed against me. Oh my god. He’s turned on…and huge.

With my eyes locked on him, I stretched my hand out to smack the wall. Hayes was faster. He grabbed my wrist before I could hit the wall and pinned it over my head, making the sound by proxy. The rough maneuver was softened by the slow slide of long fingers against my palm as he laced our hands together and gave mine a gentle squeeze.

I bit my lip.

“Don’t hide it,” Hayes whispered as he cupped my chin and pulled my lip free with his thumb. “Gotta keep up the ruse, right?”

I didn’t give a flying fuck about the game we were playing. I pushed up onto my toes and rocked my hips against his.

“Greedy,” he growled as he released my chin and slid that hand up the back of my neck. One by one, he pulled out the pins that held my hair in a bun until it spilled down my shoulders.

“As if you aren’t,” I panted.

Slowly, Hayes tangled his fingers in my hair and tugged at the roots. Sparks zipped down my spine and across my scalp as he ghosted his lips across mine. “As if I wouldn’t be greedy when it comes to you.”

The notion made me gasp. Then Hayes’s mouth was on mine, kissing, sucking, and tasting. I took and gave just as much as he did.