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Julian didn’t even glance back as he said, “She’ll have The Dick.” My jaw dropped open. “With Bavarian cream.”
The woman glanced over to my look of shock and then snorted. “Absolutely.”
He grinned at me devilishly. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said with an embarrassed laugh.
He ordered a dozen other doughnuts, paid, and took the bright pink box to carry back with us. We stepped outside, and he opened the box and held out my doughnut on a napkin.
“I cannot believe you ordered that for me.”
“Go on. Eat it,” he teased.
And I couldn’t keep myself from cracking up as I took a giant bite of the chocolate-covered dick doughnut. White cream exploded out of the end, spraying onto the sidewalk in front of us. I was sputtering with laughter at the display.
“Oh my God,” I gasped.
Julian stepped forward with a napkin and wiped the cream from my chin. “It’s polite to help clean up.”
“You’re ridiculous.” I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Ah, but you’re laughing now, and that’s better.” He tossed the napkin into the nearby trash. “I thought you might be freaking out.”
“I…” I paused.
He was right. I had been freaking out.
He smiled intuitively. “And there’s no reason to, Jen. This was supposed to be a fake date, and now, it looks complicated. It doesn’t have to be. Let’s just keep it casual.”
“Casual.” Could that even work? I took another bite of my doughnut, so I didn’t have to ask the hard questions.
“I’m having fun. You’re having fun, judging by how you’re devouring that dick doughnut.”
I sputtered again. Fuck this fucking doughnut.
“It’s delicious.” I challenged him by taking another bite.
He chuckled. “So, let’s just, you know, have fun. Okay?”
My mom’s words echoed in my head. That I liked him more than he liked me and I was going to get hurt. She was probably right.
But I wanted this anyway.
Part III
Casual
15
Julian
Hollin spewed drink all over the barn floor. “You made a dick joke?”
“I know.” I pushed my computer back across the bar. “You’re cleaning that up.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hollin said. He was still laughing hysterically as he grabbed a rag and started to mop up the floor. “I just…can you run me through it one more time?”
“Ass.”
“I’m serious. I don’t know how you got here.”
“We hooked up, and the next morning, I could tell she was all squirrelly. Like she was going to give me some big speech about how we couldn’t date.”
“Seems fair.”
“So, I ordered her a dick doughnut and made her eat it.”
Hollin tried to keep a straight face, but he lost it again. “Holy shit, man! The great Julian Wright. The charming, charismatic, flirtatious jackass that gets every girl in the place falling all over themselves. And you went with a dick doughnut?”
“I panicked, all right? She throws me off my game.”
“Throws you off is a fucking understatement. You resorted to base humor. That’s some shit that I’d pull. Next thing you’re going to say is that you’re going to dress like me, too. Need some new cowboy boots, bro?”
“I hate you,” I grumbled. “Why did I tell you anyway?”
“I don’t know, but, man, you’re never living this down.”
That seemed to be apparent.
No matter how stupid I felt about the whole thing, it had worked. Jennifer had calmed down. She didn’t open her mouth again about breaking up our arrangement. Her mom had seemed surprised when we walked back into the house, laughing and cutting up. That woman was a new breed. I’d seen plenty of moms like her in Vancouver, trying to get their perfect princess to marry a prince. But this was different. She actually enjoyed cutting Jennifer down. I was glad I’d been there for her during that.
And a hell of a lot more than saving her from a controlling mother. The sex had been out of this world. She’d enjoyed it, even if she wouldn’t talk about it. I’d count it as a win and figure out where to go with her from there. I still had a few weeks until the gala.
“When are you seeing her again?” Hollin asked.
“I don’t know. I drove her home yesterday. Maybe at the soccer game next week. But I said casual, so I can’t exactly look eager.”
“You’re Julian Wright. Why the fuck not?”
I glared at him. “Did you miss the entire conversation? If I push, she’ll spook.”
“You’re so difficult,” Hollin said. He dropped onto the stool next to me and pulled his own laptop across to him.
Despite both having offices in the cellars, we gravitated toward the quiet of the barn. The tours were closed on Sunday, but the staff was still in the building. I’d spent too many years locked away in an office. It was nice to be out in the open with Hollin, not worrying if my boss was going to come down on me…or my brother.
“What would you know?” I asked him. “You haven’t dated anyone longer than three dates the whole time I’ve known you.”
