Page 25 of Love is Fake (Love is Everything #1)

Chapter

Eleven

I take one last look in the mirror, again questioning if the shirt Kiara’s picked out shows a little too much cleavage for a first date, if you could even call this a date. It’s just dinner, I tell myself, two colleagues getting to know each other.

Women pay for tits like yours, babe. Own them.

Kiara’s assertion makes me chuckle and – as she’s no doubt intended – makes me feel a little more confident.

My eyes skate towards the evening dress hanging on the back of the door, knowing I’m going to have to explain to Declan how the designer dress I was only borrowing got ripped and I’m so not looking forward to that conversation.

The events of the night before start replaying in my mind; the feeling of Lennox’s hand on my lower back, the shiver of anticipation just before he kissed me and then the kiss.

That kiss. My fingertips go to my lips as if I can still feel the ghost of his mouth against mine.

It was a kiss I felt throughout my whole body.

It’s just as well I remember it as well as I do, because it’s never going to happen again. It can’t.

I give myself a little shake – I shouldn’t be thinking about him when I’m going out with someone else. In fact, I shouldn’t be daydreaming about him at all.

If only it were that easy…

“Izzy, you are hopeless,” I sigh out loud, wondering for the hundredth time why the only guy I’ve ever felt this way about also happens to be the guy I very much can’t have.

Grabbing my purse, I search around for my phone, but it’s not in its usual place on the nightstand. After minutes of searching it’s clear it’s not anywhere in the apartment.

Dammit, where the hell is it?

I run through where I’ve been today and my stomach drops as I realize where I’ve left it.

Kai and I spent most of the day watching old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer back to back while I nursed my hangover.

Of course, I only agreed to hang out once Kai confirmed that Lennox was going to be out all day.

In the late afternoon, when I heard his car pull up outside I rushed back to the pool-house, thankful to Kai for not commenting on my shady escape.

My eyes go to the main house, trying not to think about the person inside I’m trying desperately to avoid. I entertain the idea of just leaving my phone behind, but my responsible brain reminds me I’m about to go on a date with a guy I don’t really know. Safety first, Izzy .

But what about the danger Lennox presents? Surely that should factor into the equation.

Sighing deeply, I check the time and know it’s now or never if I don’t want to be late.

Letting myself in through the empty kitchen, I virtually tiptoe down the hall to where I last saw my phone, breathing out a sigh of relief when I see Kai is still alone in the TV room. I don’t think I could handle a run-in with Lennox right now. Scratch that, I know it for a fact.

Kai lets out a low whistle, giving me a nod of approval. “Looking good, Iz-meister. But you didn’t need to get all dressed up for me. I like you just the way you are.” He taps me on my nose like I’m a puppy and I swat his hand away, laughing.

“Good to know, Kai.”

“But seriously, where are you going all dressed up and if it’s with that hot boss of yours can I come too?” Kai waggles his eyebrows and I can’t help but laugh.

“I’m going out and, no, not with Kiara, but if you want to ask her out, it’s not like you don’t know where she works,” I point out.

Kai’s eyebrows move up so high on his forehead they almost fall off. “She’s single?”

“At the moment,” I confirm, smiling as his eyes light up like a kid at Christmas.

Kai sidles up beside me, looking the picture of innocence. “You know, you could just give me her number?”

“Nuh-uh, no way.” I shake my head. “I don’t just hand out my best friend’s number to random guys.”

He winces as though my words really and truly pack a punch. “Random? You wound me, Izzy.”

I watch him, nonplussed by his Oscar-worthy performance. “If you want her number, Kai, you’re gonna have to grow a pair and ask her for it.”

“Fair point, well made.” He nods and slaps me on the back like I’m one of the guys. The gesture, regardless of how simple and how natural it is, makes me smile. His easy friendship is a welcome relief from the intensity of whatever the hell has been going on between Lennox and me.

“So where are you going looking all fine and shit?” Kai repeats his question, watching me as I retrieve my phone from the shelf where I left it.

“I, my inquisitive friend, have an actual date.” Something I wish I was a little more excited about.

“With a real-life man?” Kai raises his eyebrows in shock. “I thought you ‘didn’t date’,” he adds, using air quotes for emphasis.

“I don’t date people I work with,” I correct him. “There’s a difference.”

Kai follows me out of the room, keeping pace with me as I head towards the front door at speed. “Does Nox know?”

“Does Nox know what?” The deep voice makes me stop in my tracks.

Ah, hell no. I curse under my breath. I was so close to a clean getaway.

Lifting my eyes, slowly, I see Lennox standing between me and outside, between me and safety away from this conversation.

He looks achingly good in his low-ride jeans and black shirt.

Seeing him standing there is giving me flashbacks of last night, how he pulled me against his body, how I ran my fingers up and down his strong chest.

Stop, Izzy. Stop right there. No daydreaming about the man who apologized for the best kiss of your entire life, as if it were something he was ashamed of.

“Does Nox know he doesn’t get to butt in on everyone’s life?” I look right at him, seeing the way his jaw ticks in annoyance.

Kai looks between the two of us, sensing the tension ratcheting up a few notches. He starts to ease his way backwards, slowly like you would if faced with a charging elephant.

“I – um, forgot I left…the couch…on fire.” He turns on his heel and heads in the opposite direction, like he can’t get away fast enough.

I have an idea to do the same, seeing the thunderous expression on Lennox’s face, but I also know the worst thing you can do is turn your back on an angry elephant, or bear, or Lennox. Better to face the danger head on.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” It’s not a question, it’s an accusation.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I mutter under my breath, but the look on his face tells me he’s heard me.

“I came to find you earlier – but you’d run back to the pool house.”

My chin lifts even as my face burns at little. Busted . “I didn’t run. I needed to get ready.” I shrug.

“You have a date?” Lennox’s lip curls in distaste as he looks me up and down with his self-important stare.

“Yes, I have a date!” I throw my hands up in frustration. “Why is that so hard for everyone to believe?”

I may not look like a Victoria Secret model, but I don’t think I look like I live under a bridge either!

“If you’re fishing for compliments, Isabella, it doesn’t suit you.

I already told you last night that you’re a beautiful woman.

” Lennox manages to make even that sound like an insult and I flush, hating that he’s made me feel like a little kid again.

There’s also the fact that we’re back to the formality of ‘Isabella’.

His eyes dip to my exposed cleavage and I blush even harder, resisting the urge to pull my top all the way over my damn head.

“Who’s the lucky guy?” he asks, and his sarcasm is like a punch to the gut.

The tidbits of anger it fills me with is what propels me to answer, even though I know I shouldn’t, I shouldn’t even be entertaining this ridiculous back and forth.

“Dr- Harris.” I say the name like a challenge and watch with no small amount of satisfaction as Lennox’s expression turns furious right before he explodes.

“ My fucking surgeon, that’s who you’re going out with?” He looks at me in shock. “When?”

“When what?” I shout right back at him, because loud appears to be the only volume level he understands.

Lennox advances on me like a lion stalking his prey but I stand my ground. “When did he fucking ask you out?”

“Last night,” I admit, managing to keep the trembling out of my voice as he gets dangerously close.

“Last night,” he repeats, his voice dropping. “Last night when you were with me. Last night when I was kissing the fucking color out of your lips. Last night when you were grinding on me like….”

“Last night when I was your fake plus one,” I cut in. “Last night when you made it very clear that I was a business arrangement and definitely not a date. So what the hell has you all bent out of shape now?”

I stare at him. Really, stare at him. The anger I see boiling in his eyes is…

God, it’s infuriating. And I know. I know that it may be a little bad form to go out with someone the day after kissing someone else, but when Jack messaged me, it seemed a good antidote to the Lennox problem.

A friendly face, someone easy to talk to, no expectations and no complications.

I didn’t do it to piss Lennox off. I did it because…

because I needed to get Lennox out of my damn head.

“You haven’t asked why I was coming to find you,” Lennox notes, leaning casually against the door I need to get through.

His tone now, is different. It’s as if someone reached into him and flicked a switch, disconnecting all the wires that were firing within him.

To be honest, it makes me a little dizzy – the way he can go from high to low in a frickin millisecond.

“That’s because you were too busy being an ass,” I smile at him, saccharine sweet.

“Cute,” he snarks right back. “I wanted to let you know you don’t have to worry about Roger anymore. He’s done.”

“What do you mean…done?” I ask, fearful of what Lennox might have done giving the murderous look in his eyes last night.

“I mean he’s out of a job,” Lennox clarifies. “I told my sponsor I wouldn’t work with them if they didn’t step up and get rid of a guy they must have known was a complete fucking pervert. So, they let him go. And I’m going to make damn sure everyone in the industry knows exactly why.”

“That’s…that’s…” I’m overwhelmed that Lennox would have gone to bat for me like that and I feel a swell of pride in him for being the kind of man who would do that.

It’s a whole different ballgame he played than the one in high school where he wasn’t loud enough or active enough in dispelling his ex-girlfriend’s insults.

“Thank you,” I finish and it’s not lost on me just how inadequate my gratitude feels.

“Did you think I would just let it slide?” Lennox’s eyes flash with remembered anger. “I wouldn’t let a guy treat any woman like that, least of all you.”

When the last word falls he stands up straight and takes a step towards me, locking me in his gaze.

I feel pulled towards him even as my rational brain knows I shouldn’t.

But before we can get closer than comfort allows, I hear a car pull up outside and I thank the good Lord my date’s a punctual man because this is getting worse by the second.

“That’s Jack,” I tell Lennox, stepping around him to get to the door.

“You shouldn’t go out with him,” he growls, wrapping a hand around my arm, stopping me.

“Oh yeah, and why’s that?” I ask, whirling on. “Since when do you get to decide what I should and shouldn’t do? You’re my client, Lennox, not my damn keeper!”

“Is that all I am, your client?” His dark eyes flash and then he’s coming closer and closer until his lips are pressed against mine and oxygen becomes of short supply.

I’d call it a kiss, but it’s more of an owning, a possessing than it is anything else.

It’s a claiming and it’s so damn hot it makes everything inside of me clench with need.

Without even realizing it, I’ve curled my fingers into the front of his shirt, bringing him closer to me, but it’s still not enough.

Lennox makes a growly sound deep in his throat, his hands squeezing my hips and I want more, so much more.

But you can’t have it with him, Izzy.

A thread of logic manages to make its way through the haze of lust I’m feeling, reminding me that this isn’t right. I shouldn’t be in a lip-lock with this man, no matter how damn good it feels.

It takes all the willpower I can summon to break the kiss, pushing myself away from him. He keeps hold of my waist for a split-second before letting his arms drop to his sides. I ignore the warm imprint I still feel as if his hands were still on me.

“You don’t get to just do that.” I glower at him, my lips still vibrating from the power of his kiss.

I’m cheered to see the way his chest heaves as if he’s just run a marathon, like he’s just as affected by the kiss as I am.

“You should stay. You know you want to.”

What I want right now is to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off his face but that would require getting closer to him than is safe at the moment because as much as I’m pissed beyond belief, all my body seems to want to do is jump him.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You might be out with him, but you’ll be thinking about me. I’ve made sure of it.”

I shake my head at the ego of the man. I’m grateful for what Lennox did; getting rid of Roger the Pervert and making sure he doesn’t treat other women the way he did me, but that doesn’t cancel out how he’s acting right now.

“You’re an arrogant asshole, you know that?”

“Tell me I’m wrong,” he challenges, his dark eyes virtually black.

“I don’t have to tell you a damn thing.” I step around him, opening the door and hot-footing it out of there before one of us says or does something that can’t be smoothed over in the morning. We still have to work together somehow for Christ’s sake.

I’m proud I don’t trip on my heels as I stalk away from the house and away from Lennox. I would never be able to live it down if I fell flat on my face.

I should feel a sense of elation at having – for once – said exactly what I meant to, exactly when I wanted to.

I should feel excited about going on a real date – the first in a long time.

But I don’t feel any of those things, all I feel is disappointment; I’m disappointed and angry and confused as all hell.