AllFreeNovel
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“We go out. I tweet our location. Photos are snapped and sold of us looking…cozy.” Her cute nose wrinkles. “Does that make you uncomfortable?”
“What? PDA?”
“Yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t want what we’re doing together to endanger what you had going with that other girl.”
See, now she’s trying to make it sound like she’s putting my needs ahead of the scheme, but I know what she’s really asking. Allie wants to know if I’m still dating Kim, and I can’t help teasing her.
“Kim’s pretty understanding. I’m sure if I explain you and I are just for show, she’ll be okay with it.”
Allie blanches.
“So transparent, Mini.” I laugh.
“You ass!” She reaches over and swats my knee, but her laughter holds a note of relief.
We’re separated by a table and ten years of not knowing each other, but there’s a recognition—a comfort—between us that can’t be denied. I don’t have to ask if she feels it, because I can tell. I could always tell with her. It’s like she’s part of me again already.
That’s a dangerous thought.
But. I can compartmentalize. Can and should.
Plus, this act that she’s proposing? Totally safe. We’re pretending to date while not actually dating. Big difference.
“I don’t know how good of an actor I am,” I admit. “But I’ll give it my best shot.”
“Just be yourself.” She lifts her beer bottle. “We’ll stage a kiss. Maybe a little hand-holding.”
“Stage it?” I can’t help sounding smug. “We’ve done a good job of kissing twice now and those weren’t staged.”
“True.” She shimmies in her seat like she’s excited. “No one said we can’t enjoy ourselves.”
Damn. Until now, I didn’t know I could look forward to something like this.
“Trust me, Mini. You’ll enjoy yourself. I’ll see to it.”
I pay for our food and beers and we exit. She grips my hand, weaving her fingers through mine as we walk across the parking lot. The sun is low in the sky and the trees blow in the soft, warm breeze. Corner Store is in the middle of a neighborhood filled with hundred-year-old houses that have seen better days. But it’s homey. Easy.
A lot like holding Allie’s hand feels.
I open the passenger door of my truck and she climbs in. I’m caught by the need to kiss her, transfixed by her beauty as much as the wistful hint of nostalgia being with her brings.
“Good night, Jax!” comes a shout from the other side of the parking lot. Allie turns her head to look and I wave at Joe, a guy I know from the bar. Trance broken, Allie slips the seat belt over her torso, no longer waiting for me to kiss her.
Guess I’ll have to kiss her good night at her place.
—
“Can I see your house?” she asks after we’re on the road.
“You want to see my house?”
“It’s not a come-on.” She holds both hands up. “I’m curious what it’s like. Are we close by?”
“Yeah. We’re close.”
Windows down, we drive past bars, houses, gas stations, and restaurants, and stop at four stoplights that dot the busy road leading to my neighborhood. In my driveway, I park and we ascend the porch steps.
I unlock my front door, oddly nervous about her seeing my place for the first time.
