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When he squeezed my side in warning, I flashed a pretty smile at him. His eyes narrowed into little slits and his teeth clenched. I guess I hit the target with that one.
Scotty turned on the charm. “That’s just a joke, Lara. Don’t worry. There’s no problem there, I assure you.”
Mom twittered like a bird. “Oh, well, that’s a relief.”
Yuck. This was kind of gross. Time to ditch this guy. “Well, Scotty, I wasn’t expecting to see my parents today — what a surprise! So, I’ll have to take a rain check on our plans. I’ll, uh, call you later.”
“Nonsense!” my mom exclaimed. “Your father would love to meet Scotty, too. I told him I’d pick us both up a coffee while I came to see you — our flight was so early. We can bring the coffee back to your apartment so your father and I can get to know Scotty better.”
The hundredth lie of the day flowed from my tongue quite easily. “Oh, that would be nice, but Scotty has an important meeting this morning with his club. It’s a heritage thing, you know, leprechauns and man-skirts and stuff. He can’t miss it.” I patted his biceps. “Isn’t that right, Limpie Pie?”
The muscle in his jaw clenched. “I would like to get my coffee first, if that’s okay with you, Bouncy Bumpkin?” He held the door open as we entered the shop. We’d finally made it inside.
The coffee shop was fairly chaotic inside. I asked my mom a million questions, generally trying to keep her busy and away from Scotty. I had no idea why he’d gone along with my crazy deception, and I didn’t really care. As soon as I could, I’d whisk my mom away from here and never see him again. If I played everything right, my parents would never find out that Scotty was a fake. If they planned on staying more than a few days, an unexpected breakup with my fake boyfriend was in the cards.
Scotty stood behind my mother and me as if he was the next customer in line, which was exactly what he really was. He wasn’t really paying that much attention to us anymore. For some insane reason, that disappointed me. I liked our crazy conversation and silly insults, and I certainly didn’t mind getting attention from a sexy guy. But I knew I couldn’t trust myself around men like him. And this one unquestionably looked like trouble.
While I was paying for the four drinks I ordered (I figured I owed Scotty a coffee for his trouble), I noticed my mom had cornered Scotty and was talking animatedly with him. I felt a moment of panic when I couldn’t get over to them to run interference. What was she saying? What was he saying? I couldn’t hear anything over the din of the crowd.
As soon as I could, I stepped over to my mom and locked arms with her, drawing her away toward the counter to wait for our order. When it was up, I handed Scotty’s coffee to him and spoke to him pointedly. “I know you need to get off to your meeting before you’re late.”
He had a naughty glint in his eye. “Can’t keep the leprechauns waiting. Thanks for the coffee.”
“No problem.”
My mother gave him a big hug. “I look forward to getting to know you better, Scotty.”
He nodded to my mother and then flashed me a mischievous smile. Before I could take my next breath, we were kissing. He caught me by surprise, so I didn’t have time to turn my head to reject him. He captured my lips thoroughly with his and lingered a few seconds longer than a chaste goodbye kiss should last. Both my hands were filled with coffee, so I couldn’t even shove him away.
Sweet holy hell! The kiss left me breathless. Buzzing and fluttery. Aching in a place that felt long dormant. I couldn’t even move.
His answering smirk was all-knowing. “Later, my wee bouncy bumpkin.”
I was too gobsmacked to put him in place with a sarcastic retort, and then suddenly he was gone. He flitted in and then out of my life like some kind of sexy apparition. What the hell?
My fingers traced my lips. The simple kiss couldn’t have been that good. I was just so sexually repressed right now from swearing off men like a nun. And that ‘no man’ plan had worked out well. Life was orderly. Even. Successful. In a few days, I’d forget all about the drop-dead gorgeous stranger who’d pretended to be my boyfriend for a hot five minutes. And I’d forget about that kiss — the no-tongue five-second lip contact that had my lady bits clenching with need.
Chapter 3
Knox
Ihadthewholeday to myself, so why was I just wandering aimlessly around the city? During my haphazard exploration, I found a furniture store and bought a new sofa. The place didn’t look particularly high-end, but I wasn’t picky. I found a dark brown leather sofa for $5,000 that could be delivered to my flat the next day. The salesman couldn’t hide the glee in his eyes when I’d said I’d take it. I guess I was supposed to haggle with him about the price, but I didn’t really give a damn. I had no idea how much furniture cost, let alone if it was quality or not.
After that, I stopped at a tavern with outdoor seating that was serving lunch. I sat in the back corner of the patio with my hat on and no one bothered me. I was relaxing my guard a bit. Last night, when I was out with Ghost, things were a lot different. We’d been approached dozens of times and bombarded twice to the point where security had to step in. It’d been impossible to have any fun until we’d gone to this obscure club where no one had recognized us.
I pulled down my ball cap and crossed the busy intersection when the traffic light changed. What the hell was I going to do with the rest of the day? I was itching to play some guitar, but I didn’t want to go back to my flat and hang out alone. For the past two years, I’d spent almost every waking second of the day with my bandmates, and now one was busy raising a kid by himself, one was married with a newborn, and one just got engaged. Naturally, Ghost and I, the last two standing, had grown closer.
I texted Ghost, asking him what he was up to. A reply came right away. He texted,come check out my new placeand left an address. I hailed a yellow cab and gave the driver Ghost’s new address.
Ten minutes later, I was dropped off downtown in front of one of those mirrored glass skyscrapers. It was a far cry from his old place. He just moved out of the upstairs apartment in a house owned by two little old ladies. The house was old and quirky and Ghost had lived there ever since I’d known him. This modern monstrosity seemed nothing like him.
The security team the band used, Vector Security, had been pressuring Ghost to move from the moment our mega-hit single,Okay Babe, was released. His old place was too hard to secure. At some point, after our tour ended, fans had learned his home address. Once they descended on the house and harassed the landladies who lived downstairs, he relented and agreed to move. I had a better inkling why he’d chosen this place after it took an arm and a leg for me to get through security. Finally, I was heading up the elevators to his new apartment.
He left his door cracked open, so I knocked on it a few times and stepped inside. The place was spacious, clean, and modern with an open floor plan, pure white walls, dark hardwood floors, lots of lighting, and large windows that looked out over the city.
“Ghost?” My voice echoed through the empty space.
He appeared somewhere from the back, where I assumed the bedrooms were located. “My new place. What do you think?”
