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“I do feel bad about the situation on the yacht. You shouldn’t have been caught up in that.” I stuck my hands in my pockets,needing to do something with them so I wouldn’t reach for her. Even with the anger, my attraction to her was off the charts.
Finally, Tris’s eyes softened. Her heart was too tolerant if that one admission was enough to forgive me for the shitty way I’d been treating her. Not wanting her absolution, I added. “And by helping you with this, maybe you’ll finally let go of me.”
“So I get a boyfriend, and you get … peace?” Her voice trembled on the last word. “Why?”
“Something like that.” I shrugged. “Things have run their course.”
Her nose scrunched in thought, and she stepped toward me. “What do you mean?”
“I won’t be your dating coach.” Her brows knitted in confusion. I was sure she wasn’t expecting me to change the terms so soon or knew where I was going with this. Shit, I barely knew. I was vomiting words at this point.
I reached for her, but she jerked away. Her mouth opened, then closed before she took a deep breath. “Okay, it’s probably for the?—”
“New plan. I’m not quitting.” Without a doubt, I had unresolved feelings towards Tris and I needed to work through them. And what better way than for us to spend more time together. I’d realize that the perfect girl I’d built up in my mind was a fantasy. A fantasy I didn’t need or want any more.
And if it fucked with Peter, all the better. “What’s the best way to get guys to notice you?”
She shrugged.
“By making you unattainable.”
She rolled her eyes. “And just how am I supposed to be unattainable?”
The more I thought about it, the better the idea sounded in my head. Time to test it out. “By fake dating me. Guys are always more interested in what they can’t have.”
“You’ve got to be joking,” she said, instantly dismissing the idea.
“Think about it. You’re not awkward around me. It’ll give us a chance to practice in a more realistic way. By the time we pretend to break up, guys will be lining up to date you.”
“You don’t date.”
That wasn’t a no.
I shrugged. “You convinced me otherwise.”
“I don’t know, Killian.” She paced a few steps away, then back to stand in front of me. “What would you get out of something like this? It’s way more than teaching me how to attract guys.”
“I have my reasons.” I couldn’t stop the joyful smirk that graced my mouth.
That one movement was my downfall. Understanding dawned in the widening of her eyes. “And there’s your reason. You want to hurt Peter.” She was too perceptive. But I couldn’t tell her the rest of it.
It didn’t matter that Tris was turning her attention to other guys. She knew that Peter would shit a brick knowing she was with me, especially if we were dating. And I fucking loved that in the end it would show him that his claim to her was over. “And what if I do?”
“I’m not looking to hurt Peter.”
“Even after he’s hurt you?”
“I … No. I don’t work that way, Killian.”
“Well I do. I hate what he’s done to you and your confidence. All the time you wasted. Let’s show him what he’s missing.”
“That would be wrong.”
“Then I guess you don’t want my help that badly.” I sat down on her couch and draped an arm over the back of the floral monstrosity. Creating a picture of nonchalance while inside my heart was choking. I found it very unlikely she’d say yes. Herinnate desire to please Peter would override everything as it always had, even her own needs.
I watched her face as she processed my response.
“Hypothetically … ” She closed her eyes, as if she couldn’t bear to see her mouth speak what was coming next. “How would we even pull something like this off?”