Page 23 of Don't Call Me Sweetheart (Something Borrowed 1)

Chapter 7

Marley was freaking certifiable. It was the only reasonable explanation for why she’d agreed to drive him back to his hotel.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

She glanced away from the road for a second to look at him. He was taking up her whole passenger side and his shoulder was edging an inch from hers. Whether he was doing it on purpose or not, she didn’t know, but she hated the way his nearness affected her.

A horn blared and Luke jerked up. “Watch out!”

Marley turned the wheel in time to avoid a head on with a silver pick-up, who laid on his horn again angrily.

“I’m so sorry!” Marley panted.

“Jesus, I know I’m distracting, but maybe you should watch the road.”

Marley’s face burned and she wished that there was some place in her car to hide.

“Or, if you really can’t wait to get me alone, you could pull over and—”

“Not. Going. To. Happen,” she snarled.

“There she is. Thought you’d gone mute for a second.”

“You’re a jerk.”

“Now, come on. I’m just messing with you a bit. I know you aren’t attracted to me.”

Marley figured he was fishing, so she didn’t respond, even though her first reaction was to tell him not to be an idiot.

“Because if you were attracted to me, then there would be no reason for you to pull the plug on whatever was happening between us.”

Okay, that was just about enough of that. She made a hard left into the hotel parking lot. Once she’d slipped her car into an open space, she shoved it into park and turned to glare at him.

“Look, you’re hot and I get that you can’t fathom one single reason why that wouldn’t be enough for most girls to just hop into the sack with you, but I am actually thinking about the big picture here. You are coming up here every other weekend until your best friend gets married, and then you’re not coming back again. I am planning to move across the country come September. Sure, I could jump into bed with you and it might be great for a fling, but then again, you might be lousy in bed and then I have to deal with seeing you all summer, and it will be awkward and horrible and I just don’t want to take the chance.”

Luke had turned in his seat midway through her rant and now, faced her with an annoyingly amused smirk. “I can’t believe you imagined me in bed after one date.”

Marley wanted to reach out, grab him by those interesting ears and yank.

“Out of all that very clear reasoning, all you got was that I imagined sex with you? Believe me, you’re not that special. The other night while watching Supernatural I imagined a three way between me, Dean, and Sam.”

“That’s either kinky or disturbed. You know they’re brothers, right?”

Marley laughed before she could stop herself. “God, is everything a joke to you?”

“I’m sorry, I just assumed you were joking about fantasies involving fictional characters.”

“The actors are real.”

“And married,” he said. “I never pegged you for a home wrecker.”

“I would never! My whole point is that I think about sex with random people, especially if I go

on a date with them, but you are my friend’s fiancée ’s best man. That alone is a recipe for disaster. Can you just forget about that one, insignificant date and try to act like an adult about this?”

Luke got a naughty grin on his face, and he leaned forward, his lips mere inches from hers.

“I tell you what. If I kiss you right now, for fifteen seconds, and you feel absolutely nothing, I will treat you like I’ve never imagined you naked and writhing beneath me.”