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Oh, hell no.The only thing worse than Percy’s shitty attitude was Clark’s insecurity. The man clearly didn’t know his own worth.
On impulse, I grasped his chin and lifted his face to meet my gaze. “If one of us is leveling up, it’s me.”
He parted those pretty pink lips—probably to argue—but I couldn’t listen to one more deprecating word. I met his mouth with mine, silencing whatever he’d been about to say. Judging by the quiet behind us, it’d silenced Percy too. Good.
Clark’s mouth was soft and warm, more inviting than it should have been. He made a small sound, but he met my tongue with his, brushing along it almost shyly. It was strange to think of a kiss as shy, but there was no other word for it. He was responding to me beautifully, clearly enjoying the kiss, and I wanted to coax more of those small sounds from him.
But the clatter of a dish on the bar top and a laugh nearby broke me out of my stupor. I pulled back, heart beating too fast.
Clark lifted his fingers to his lips, his face flushed with color. “Um, I should…” He waved a hand toward his trivia team—who were all watching us.
I glanced over my shoulder. Percy wore a scowl, but he didn’t have anything more to say, so it seemed the kiss had convinced him. But he wasn’t my primary concern; Clark was.
My plate of wings had appeared on the bar while I was kissing Clark, so I grabbed them then walked with him toward the trivia tables. “Sorry,” I murmured. “Was that… Should I not have—”
“It’s fine.” He flashed me a smile, but I could see he was rattled. “It was bound to happen eventually, right? I mean, no one will question it now.”
“Right,” I said, my heart still beating a quick tempo. “It was pretty convincing, if I do say so myself.”
In fact, I was pretty sure it’d gone a long way toward convincing me that this was more than just a fake relationship.
Percy’s words hadn’t bothered me half as much as Clark’s dismissal of himself. I hadn’t been pretending when I told him I was the one leveling up by dating him.
Worse than that, I hadn’t been pretending when I kissed him.
There’d been nothing fake about how good his mouth felt or the way he’d responded to me. Or the way I was coming to crave his presence.
But Clark hadn’t signed up to be an experiment for a confused straight man who didn’t really understand what he was feeling. We were supposed to be faking this.
And until I got a better grip on what I wanted, I was going to have to get with the program.
CHAPTER16
CLARK
“I’m goingto need you to cancel on your hot boyfriend and be my date tonight.”
I paused in the act of sliding into my coat as Maisie blocked my classroom doorway, attempting to ignore the way my heart skipped when she called Hunter my boyfriend. “Why, what’s up?”
She smiled enigmatically. “Isn’t it more fun if it’s a surprise?”
“Not with you,” I countered.
She laughed. “Come on. You’ll thank me later. Please? You spend like every other day at Hunter’s place. People see your car there all the time. Surely you can spare one evening for your poor neglected Maisie?”
I rolled my eyes. Maisie should be teaching drama rather than English. I supposed I could indulge her just this once. Hunter and I hadn’t discussed any plans for tonight. I’d tutored Toby this week as usual, but Hunter took a work call Tuesday and was MIA for most of the time I was there. Then on Thursday he’d been busy sanding and sealing the porch.
We’d fallen back into our usual roles of parent and teacher during the week, with no more dates or public display of affection. But then, the kiss from the pub had done its job, so it wasn’t as if we had much work to do to convince people our relationship was legit.
Just thinking about that kiss sent a flock of nervous butterflies fluttering through my stomach. I knew Hunter had done it for show, to prove to Percy that he could be interested in me, but it’d felt so real.
He’d gripped my chin and tipped my face up, and before I could blink twice, his hot mouth had been on mine. I’d expected if that ever happened, Hunter would keep the kiss totally chaste. Just a brush of lips. But no. He’d flicked his tongue along my lip, and I’d made an embarrassing sound that surely gave away how much I liked being kissed by him. Despite my best intentions to restrain myself, I’d been half hard by the time he pulled back.
I’d desperately wanted to cling to those big shoulders and never let go. Wanted to beg him to take me home and kiss me in private. To more than kiss me.
But I couldn’t do that. I’d just assured Joe that I wouldn’t allow my feelings to get away from me. And no matter how much I enjoyed the kiss, Hunter wasn’t trying to seduce me, so I had to rein in these desires. For both our sakes.
Maybe a little distraction from the temptation of Hunter Rhodes wouldn’t be a bad thing.
