Page 79

This wasn’t going to be a real relationship between us, and I needed to remember that.
He grinned, his smile transforming his face. For a moment, I caught a glimpse of the boy from long ago, hidden beneath the hardened exterior of the man sprawled on my sofa before me.
The curve of his lips felt so familiar it tugged at my heart. Memories of shared laughter and joy flooded my mind. What in the world was I getting myself into by agreeing to fake date Killian?
I took a deep breath, to center myself. “Killian, we need to talk about boundaries.”
His smile faded slightly, replaced by a scowl. “Boundaries?”
“Yes, boundaries,” I sunk into the worn armchair across from him. “If we’re going to make this work, we need to establish some ground rules.”
Killian sat up, his elbows resting on his knees as his shuttered eyes met mine. “I’m listening.”
I swallowed hard, suddenly remembering how intense his gaze could be. “You don’t make unilateral decisions about my life. We discuss them first.”
He opened his mouth to protest.
I held up my hand. “I’m not saying I won’t consider your suggestions, but I can’t have you steamroll over me.”
Killian’s jaw clenched. “I’ll try. Anything else?”
“We need to also be clear about … physical boundaries.” I squirmed in my seat. Even though my face and chest were onfire, I forced myself to continue. “If we’re going to convince people we’re dating, we’ll probably need to have some, um, contact.” Why was this so difficult to talk about? “We should know what each other is comfortable with.”
Something flashed in Killian’s eyes too quickly for me to interpret. “Agreed,” he said hoarsely. “Anything else?”
I took a deep breath. “We need to be honest with each other. No hidden agendas, no secrets that could hurt the other person. Deal?”
Killian was quiet for a moment, his eyes never leaving mine. Finally, he nodded. “Deal.”
As we sat there, the air charged with unspoken tension and I couldn’t help but wonder if I was setting myself up for pain. Because as much as I was attempting to keep us at a distance, I felt drawn to Killian in new and surprising ways that had nothing to do with our fake relationship.
Knocking on the door made me jump. Killian stood, his movement fluid and graceful. “That’ll be Max with my things.” He must have had a bag packed in his car already.
Jerk.
As he went to answer the door, I stayed seated, thinking things over. What had started as a simple favor was quickly becoming complicated. And while I watched Killian interact with Max, his protective instincts on full display, I realized I was headed for dangerous territory.
Because as much as I’d deny it, with every last breath in my body, Killian acting possessive and domineering had awakened something deep within me that I didn’t know what to do with.
Or what it meant between us.
Chapter Twenty-One
KILLIAN
The light from the TV cast flickering shadows across Trissa’s living room, creating an intimate atmosphere. I tried to focus on the movie we had selected, but her presence next to me was increasingly harder to ignore with each passing minute.
I settled further into the couch, stretching my legs out in front of me, hyper-aware of her. The scent of her—a honey lavender— teased me and stirred up the memories again. The heat of her body called to me, begging me to touch her.
Fuck.
Our new fake dating situation was not going to help me stop thinking of her like that.
“We should talk about what we’re going to do until the gala,” I suggested, concentrating on keeping my tone neutral.
Trissa half-turned her body towards me. I watched her chest rise and fall, and then zoned in on the soft curve of her neck as she tilted her head. When she spoke, she had my full attention. “Okay, so if the gala is our big splash into society, what are the subtle ways we can start piquing other men’s interest before that?”
The mention of other guys hit me like a bucket of ice water. I ground my teeth together, hatred for these unnamed faces bubbling up inside me.God, I thought I despised Peter.But the idea of helping Tris get closer to anyone else made me want to punch a wall. I needed to survive this charade, then cut Trissa out of my life for good once she had a boyfriend.