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“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “Do you want to know this kind of thing?”
“Andy and I aren’t friends. I’m trying to figure out what you saw in him because I don’t have a read on you yet. And I need to if I’m going to play this game.”
“This game… right.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not normally someone who plays games like this, so this is pretty foreign to me.”
“Can’t say I’ve ever played either. So, Andy wasn’t what you expected?”
“No, the night I had to go into work, he was a jerk, whereas every other time I saw him, he was really sweet. Cocky yes, but nice. I was actually debating breaking up with him, which is why I wanted to go to that party.”
His jaw clenched. “What do mean why you wanted to go to that party? So you could meet some other players?”
“What? No, god.” She shook her head “I wanted to go to the party to see him with his friends so I could figure out which one was the real Andy, the sweet guy I’d met or the one who got all pouty and moody when I had to go to work. He was angry because I picked work over him, and it wasn’t like that. One of my kids got arrested and they couldn’t reach the parents, so I needed to pick him up. I wasn’t just going to leave a twelve-year-old kid in the police station. It boggled my mind that he couldn’t understand that.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Andy alright.”
“That’s what I was trying to figure out by going to the party.” She absently shifted some things on her desk, lining up the pads of paper in a neat row. “And well, you know the rest.”
“Was the kid okay?”
“What?” Her head snapped up. “What kid?”
“The one who was arrested.”
Peyton blinked at him several times, like she wasn’t quite sure what she was looking at. “He was fine, vandalism, stupid stuff. His mom was high, that’s why she didn’t answer the phone, so I ended up taking him to a foster placement for the night.”
What kind of life must that be for a kid? “That happen a lot?”
“Which? Having to go to the police station or the finding temporary foster care?”
“Either, both, I don’t know.”
Peyton smiled sadly. “Unfortunately, both happen more than I’d like.”
“That sucks.” He had to give her credit. It took a certain kind of person to want to do this work. There was no way he could do it on a regular basis. Just thinking about a kid not having enough to eat or a person at home to care for them made his stomach knot. He wasn’t sure if it was sadness or anger, but either way it wasn’t a feeling he wanted to experience every day.
Peyton flicked her hair over her shoulder. The light from the window caught on the blonde highlights, making them glisten in the sun. He cursed to himself. This would be a hell of a lot easier if he wasn’t so fucking attracted to her. How the hell was he supposed to fake date someone when all he wanted to do was dig his hands into her hair and pull her to him?
“So, here’s the thing. If I’m going to be pretending, we’re together you can’t fuck Andy or anyone else for that matter.”
“Excuse me. Who do you think you are telling me who I can and can’t date?” Peyton snapped. Her eyes burned with fire as she glared at him.
What the hell was her problem? “You literally just said you realized Andy was a tool.”
“He is and I have no intention of having anything to do with Andy, but need I remind you, this is fake dating. You don’t get to dictate who I sleep with.”
“Believe me, I’m very well aware this is fake. I’m not telling you who you can and can’t sleep with. I’m saying fake or not, I’m not going to be humiliated because my ‘girlfriend’.” He air quoted the term. “Is dating other people in public. So, for the duration of this so-called relationship, can you please not date anyone else publicly?”
“I have no intention of dating anyone else right now,” she muttered. “But that goes both ways, buddy.”
If he didn’t know better, he’d say the idea of him sleeping with someone else pissed her off. He crossed his ankle over his knee and leaned back in the chair. “You jealous, honey?”
Peyton snorted. “You wish.”
She was right, he did wish. Jesus, what was wrong with him? “So, we are agreed, for the duration of this little fake dating experiment, neither of us will be dating other people.”
“You sure you’re going to be able to go that long without sex, hotshot?”
He leaned further back in the chair and Peyton’s eyes lingered on his chest. Not sure if he was reading things right, he spread his arms and leaned back further, like he was stretching out his chest. Peyton’s eyes widened as she stared at him. She shifted in her chair and cleared her throat. Ryan bit back a smile. She was definitely not immune to him, despite how she wanted to play things.
