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“We shouldn’t be kissing,” she blurted, stealing his thoughts and the words he couldn’t find. “I don’t know why I did that! We’re not dating.”
Slowly, he nodded his agreement. “But it was nice,” he said.
She frowned and slapped his arm. “It was better than nice, you jerk.”
She had no idea how much better than nice it was. It was heart stealing, soul mending, nice. It was perfect. Maybe they should take this fake relationship into the real zone. Except she didn’t want real. She was only doing this for him. He was her rebound guy.
He got what he asked for … what if it wasn’t enough?
He recalled the time he’d asked his mother for a chocolate cake for his birthday. He was sure she believed he meant to share it. He didn’t. He ate the entire thing by himself and suffered the consequences later. To this day, he heard her quiet voice saying, “Be careful what you wish for. Sometimes you don’t want what you think you want.” Lesson learned.
The incident was a perfect reflection of this fake relationship. He got what he wanted and now he wanted more and didn’t know how to ask for it.
Chapter 18
Today would be their seventeenth fake date. Not that she was counting.
Heather was waiting inside the lobby of her building when a lovely, bright green Camaro pulled up. She hurried out immediately when Zander exited the vehicle.
“Wow. Nice car.” She stroked her hand down the fender. “What happened to your truck?” Like the car, his truck was top of the line, but was perfect for hauling his supplies. He’d raved about that feature more than once.
“I don’t use Betsy very often,” he confessed with a self-deprecating grin. “She’s for long hauls. And dates.” He winked.
“Is this a date?” she teased, wishing it were.
“Danged if I know.” He scraped a hand through his hair, disturbing its perfect style. “Honestly, if the truth were told, and if I wasn’t protecting myself, or worried about potential fallout hurting your employment with my brother .…” His pause was agonizingly long. His face ran through several different expressions and stopped on a hesitant grin. “Yeah, it’s a date. A real date. Nothing fake about it.”
She felt a happy grin growing. Then, he didn’t shut up.
“I like you. A lot. Probably too much. I’m busy. I have so much on my plate that I don’t have time for everything. Particularly not dating. I’ve got staff to train, animals to look after, wild critters to rehab, a family to supervise. Dating takes too much time.”
“Are you done?” she asked in a huff. “I get it. I’m not worth dating time. Can we just drop it?” Hurt squeezed her chest until she could barely draw a breath. Tears brimmed in her eyes. Thankfully, her sunglasses hid them. “You know what? On second thought, I think this whole fake dating thing isn’t working for me. Thanks for the fun times we had, but I think I’m done. Later, Zander.” She could barely force the words out past the lump in her throat. She gave him a careless finger waggle and turned to go back inside.
She’d only gone two steps when he called out, “Wait!” The crack in his voice stopped her cold. She froze but didn’t turn back toward him.
“Heather. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I’m trying to be honest with you,” he sighed.
“Honestly is always the best policy,” she quipped trying to sound unaffected by this ridiculously painful conversation. She curled her toes in her sandals to keep from turning to face him.
“If I’m honest,” he went on. “I don’t know what the heck I want. I don’t have enough hours in the day, but I’m damned if I can stay away from you. You draw me like a tick to a dog.”
She whirled round to glare. “Now I’m a tick?” The man had gall, that’s for sure.
“No.” He scraped a hand over his face. “I’m messing this up.” He took three audible breaths. “Heather, I like you. A lot.”
“Yeah, you said that.” She couldn’t contain the snarky response.
He hurried around the car and gripped her hands. “I think we should stop fake dating.”
“Isn’t that what I just said?” Her heart clenched and for a moment, she was sure she could feel it bleeding into her chest, filling her lungs, stealing her breath. Could you die from a broken heart?
“No!” He shouted. “I mean, you did say that, but that’s not what I meant.” He muttered low under his breath. “I’m messing this up.”
“Ya think?” As painful as this conversation was, there was something endearing about his inability to get his words together.
“Heather, we’ve been on a lot of fake dates now. Something isn’t working. I don’t want to fake date you.” He held up a hand to stop her from interrupting. “I want to for-real date you.” He winced again and stepped toward her. “No lies. No subterfuge. Just two adults spending time together to see where it goes.” He squeezed her hands in his. “Heather Olsen, would you go steady with me?”
She was torn between laughing at the childish question and throwing her arms around him in joy.
