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You saw the kiss?

Sweetheart, EVERYONEsaw the kiss.

If it looked anything like how it felt, then it was likely the greatest show of their lives.

Me

She’s incredible.

I dump my phone down on the bed beside me. So much of me wants to tell Sawyer about the arrangement Kendra and I made, and being honest, I don’t know why I haven’t.

I pick my phone back up and begin typing out another message.

Me

Can I trust you?

Sawyer

Have I given you a reason to doubt me yet?

True.

Kendra and me—well, we’re fake dating. I offered to take her to the gala to help keep Tyler off her back and so she wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable if he turned up with a random date. That kiss you saw earlier—it wasn’t exactly real.

I hit Send on the message and instantly feel like my efforts to be straight with him are anything but.Everythingabout that kiss felt real.

Sawyer

It’s real. Trust me when I say, you can’t fake that. I don’t care if you’ve won a hundred Golden Globes and Oscars line your trophy cabinets. That shit was real.

Me

I won’t deny that it was for me. I felt everything between us. I’m in deep with her. But how can you tell with Kendra?

Because that’s the way my wife used to look at me.

I feel the punch to my gut on his behalf. What can I say to a message like that? How can I—or why would I want to—argue with that kind of statement?

Reaching under my bed, I pull out the present I have wrapped for Kendra’s birthday tomorrow and then the card, all signed and ready to go.

The entire ride back was charged to fuck after the kiss, but neither of us spoke about it. And when we got back to my apartment, Kendra headed straight for bed without saying much.

I figured that would be the last time I saw her before she headed out for her game tomorrow. But when I see a dim light cast beneath my door and then hear hers close with a soft click, I realize she isn’t asleep.

Pulling off my shirt and bow tie, I throw on a training top, along with a pair of athletic shorts, and make my way toward the living area, but stop when I find Kendra curled up on my sofa, a couple of blankets thrown over her and the usualFriendsplaying quietly in the background.

“Can’t sleep?” I ask, knowing she hasn’t slept well since the day she got here.

She props her head up with her hand. “Looks like we’re in the same boat.”

I nod and make my way over to a chair on the opposite side of the room when Kendra sits up and pulls back the blankets.

“You promised me aFriendsbinge session, if I remember correctly.”

The blankets are already warm from her body heat when I take a seat next to her and pull them into my lap. “I also promised you shepherd’s pie.”

Her pink cheeks flush in the light casting from the TV. “I’m still waiting on your cooking. Eagerly waiting, if your overnight oats are anything to go by.”