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“Elliot,” he breathed, angling his head forwards—
“Oh, my! What do we have here?” A loud, slightly slurred voice ripped us right out of our bubble, both of us jumping away from each other as if we’d been electrocuted. My mum and my aunt were standing in front of us, both with identical expressions of open curiosity.
Shit.
Ander was the first to recover. “Jean! Sadie! Take a seat.” He practically yanked my aunt down into the booth with us, my mum having no choice but to follow suit since she was hanging off my aunt’s arm. As soon as they’d collapsed into the booth, he was ducking forwards, his voice lowering. “Listen carefully. There’s a man sitting in the booth across from ours—no, don’t look until I’ve finished speaking—who has taken an unhealthy interest in our Elliot. I’m his boyfriend—” He accompanied the word with an exaggerated wink and nudge. “—and my presence is letting him know that Elliot is unavailable.”
Their faces cleared, and they exchanged looks that could only be described as gleeful. Oh,fuckno.
“Say no more.” My aunt returned Ander’s wink. She raised her voice to a level that I was certain foghorns would struggle to achieve. “Oh, we’re just so delighted to have Ander as part of the family, aren’t we, Jean? We were all so happy when we found out that you were Elliot’sboyfriend.”
“Yes, Sadie. We weresohappy. It was a dream come true! Ander issucha lovely boy, so polite and handsome.”
This had to be a nightmare. Imagine the worst soap opera actor ever, then imagine them being a hundred times worse. That was how bad my mum’s acting was. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she accompanied her little speech with a series of winks and smiles that I genuinely had no words for.
I buried my face in my hands. Next to me, I could feel Ander’s body shaking with suppressed laughter.Bastard. His hand made soothing circles on my back, though, and when I finally felt able to raise my head, my cheeks hot, he moved it back to my shoulder, continuing the soothing motion with his thumb.
“I’ll get rid of them,” he whispered with a grin, leaning into me again.
“Boys, we need to celebrate this occasion. Champagne all around, I think!” my aunt announced, already flagging down one of the bar staff and asking for a bottle and four glasses. I couldn’t help the wry smile that twisted my lips, and this time, it was my turn to lean into Ander.
“Looks like we’re stuck with them for now.” As I spoke into his ear, he tilted his head, and suddenly, my lips were brushing across his soft skin.
We were so close that I both felt and heard his breath hitch. His grip on my shoulder tightened briefly, and his eyes fluttered closed for a second.
What?
I was fascinated. Very, very fascinated. I wanted it to happen again.
“I hope they don’t blow our cover,” I whispered, keeping my head exactly where it was so that my lips continued to touch his ear.
A noise came from his throat that almost sounded like a whine. He grabbed his pint, tipping it to his lips and downing the rest of the contents. Slamming the glass back down on the table, he turned to look at me, and his eyes were dark and unreadable.
“We’d better make it convincing, then, hadn’t we.”
I held my breath as he slid his hand across the table to cover mine.
His touch set me on fire.
Threading his fingers through mine, he moved both of our hands down, off the table, and onto his thigh.
My hand was on Ander’s thigh.
I could feel his muscles shifting under my grip as I dared to run my thumb over the denim of his jeans. He was so quiet next to me, his hand moving from my shoulder to the back of my neck, where he brushed over the short strands of hair there. I shivered at his touch.
“Such a lovely couple!” My aunt’s exclamation cut through the haze oflustwantneedthat had descended over me. Blinking a few times, I reminded myself that none of this was real. We were playing a game. That was all.
I caught my mum’s eye. Her expression was thoughtful and far too lucid for someone who was as tipsy as she’d been acting. When her lips curved into a smile that I knew from experience meant she was up to no good, I steeled myself for whatever was about to come out of her mouth.
“Theyarea lovely couple, aren’t they? It’s a shame that Elliot’s dad isn’t here to see this. We’d better take a photo for him.” She brandished her phone, her smile widening, looking increasingly shark-like. “Smile for the camera, boys. Now, get closer. Elliot, lean into Ander more…yes, hold that pose.” She snapped a series of pictures while I warred between wanting to burrow into Ander’s warmth and run far, far away from this situation.
“I think we should have one of them kissing, Jean.” My aunt winked, clinking her champagne flute against my mum’s. She then gave a very unsubtle glance towards Gary, who thankfully wasn’t paying us any attention. “That would certainly convinceeveryonethat this relationship is the real deal.”
Ander froze at my side, and then he slowly turned to face me. His gaze was searching, but whatever he saw on my face made his expression clear.It’s just pretend, he mouthed, and I gave a small nod, leaning in at the same time as his hand slid up from my neck to cup the back of my head.
It was the softest, quickest press of lips, but it sent sparks fizzing through my entire body. I slammed my eyes closed because there was no way I could look at him and hide the way I felt, not after that.
“Our work here is done.”
