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“You look so beautiful, B,” she starts in a tone that has me immediately nervous. “And I’m begging you not to kill me here, but other than Mom, Dad, and me, nobody else here knows about the whole fake dating thing. That means it’s showtime,” she says, far too happily for my liking.
She planned this—it’s obvious. The conniving, youngest Hutton sibling has asked for hell from her brother, and as much as I want to be upset with her, I don’t think I ever could be.
Maddox scowls. “What? I’m not lying to our family.”
She rolls her eyes and pops a hip. “Auntie Gracie can’t keep a secret to save her life, and neither can Jamie. You let them know the truth about this, and it will get out within the day. Now, it’s either do this here where you can deal with everyone’s reactions in person or over social media when you’ll have to deal with countless calls and texts. I’m surprised they’ve left you alone after I posted that photo of us.”
“Not everyone is as addicted to their phone as you are, Addie,” he grumbles, levelling her with a stern look. “You should have warned me about this. We aren’t prepared to do this yet.”
“I feel bad lying to everyone. Your parents are okay with this?” I ask, worrying my lip.
“Totally. And I’ve already told Cooper to keep his mouth shut when he gets here too.”
Maddox blows out a long, deep breath and watches me over his sister’s shoulder. He arches a brow, and I shrug, leaving the ball in his court. This is his family, so what we do next should be his decision.
“Fuck. Fine,” he relents, and Addie claps excitedly.
“I’ll leave you to it, then. Remember, make it believable, or it will have been for nothing.” She tosses me a wink before slipping out from between us and rushing—no, more like skipping—off.
“Is it really necessary to convince my family? Whether they believe it or not, it won’t change how the public sees me.”
I swallow the ball in my throat and take a step toward him. With the distance between us shrunk in half, I don’t feel nearly as confident as I did walking in here.
His looming, strong frame makes me seem tiny in comparison, and I almost laugh. Tiny is not a term I’ve ever used to describe myself, yet in the presence of the world’s hottest man, I can’t think of a better description.
“Are you scared you can’t pull it off?” I ask. “Say the word and I can fake a stomach ache and leave. But just so you know, everyone is watching us right now. They’re expecting to see something.”
His eyes tighten at the corners, and suddenly, he’srightin front of me. I’m poking the bear, but I feel the furthest thing from scared.
Tilting my head back, I slowly track my gaze up his front before finding his waiting eyes. The heat behind them has me on the brink of paralyzed, and when he lifts one hand to cup my cheek and jaw, I think my knees shake. His palm is so hot against my skin, yet I shiver like it’s ice-cold.
“I can pull it off. Can you?” he counters, and the next second, he’s swiping his thumb across my bottom lip and sucking in a pained breath. “Lean up for me, Curly.”
I do without hesitation, obeying his command. Planting my hands on his chest for balance, I swallow a moan at the feeling of hard, toned muscles. My fingers move on their own, taking advantage of the moment by exploring the planes of his chest one ab at a time. He shudders when I drag my hands up, up, up and use them to grab his neck and pull him down toward me.
Voices wrap around us, hints of curiosity and surprise only adding to the heightened emotion inside of me. Everyone is watching, and it only fuels me to take this further. All the way.
The moment our lips are a hair apart, I bump my nose to his and whisper, “Make it believable, Dox. Kiss me like you love me.”
His other hand cups the opposite side of my face before he leans me back and follows the curve of my body forward, bringing our mouths together. Like sticking a fork in an electrical socket, my body bursts with sparks, starting from my lips and spreading outward until I’m burning from the inside out.
I twist my fingers in his T-shirt and fall into the kiss. Our first kiss. Our fake kiss.
Fake.
The word repeats in my mind, but I ignore it. Shove it away into a box and lock it up tight. This feels anything but fake, and when Maddox’s chest rumbles with a deep groan, I release a whimper into his mouth. He swallows it eagerly before parting my lips with his tongue and delving deep.
Our mouths move at a quick pace, and the kiss turns dirty, desperate. Years of anger, frustration, and betrayal battle with childhood love and longing, turning what should have been a quick show of fake affection into something meant for quiet, private nights tangled in bedsheets.
I nearly tip over when he rips his mouth away, and hot, angry puffs of air hit my face. A flush works its way up my throat to my cheeks and ears as he glares down at me, his pupils blown.
“Are you okay?” I ask softly, cautiously. The fingers clenched in the material of his shirt relax as I pull them away and drop my hands to my sides.
“No.”
A hand on my back makes me jump, and Maddox’s eyes leave mine to glare over my shoulder. I try to collect myself, but I’m all over the place, my mind in shambles.
“Get it together, guys. You’re going to blow it.” It’s Cooper.
