Page 20

First Kiss

Abi

I couldn’t believe I’d asked for it, but more than that, I couldn’t believe what he was delivering. Instead of giving me a quick, polite kiss, Declan slanted his mouth over mine and his tongue slid across my bottom lip and into my mouth.

And not in an obtrusive, unwelcome way.

Dear Lord, it was like being drugged.

One minute we’d been two separate individuals, and the next, our mouths were fused together and it was madness inside.

His teeth nibbled, his tongue went deep, his lips dragged.

It was smooth and hot, like his mouth was casting spells that made mine instantly desperate to accept the offering, regardless of where we were. Yes, sir, may I have another?

It was overconfident and decadent, like the man himself.

His big palms were supporting my back, but they’d somehow slid underneath my sweater, so I felt the caress of his warm fingers over my sensitive skin. When I sighed into his hungry mouth, he answered with a low groan.

This was no chaste, we-are-in-public kiss; this was the final kiss in a movie where the two main characters end up together .

Declan wasn’t completely lost in it, though, because he was aware enough to walk me backward while we kissed, moving us toward a hallway. I don’t know if we both forgot about pretending, or if we didn’t give a damn, but we were wildly kissing in the Employees Only hall.

“What is this?” I murmured into his mouth, my hands finding his hard jawline. “What are we doing?”

“Lust,” he breathed, opening those sexy green eyes to weaken me with his calm response of, “Innocent lust that is no big deal.”

“Right,” I managed. We kept kissing and I said against his lips, “I suppose as long as we both know this is just for fun right now, there’s no harm, right?”

“That’s right,” he said, nipping at my bottom lip. “This is no different than us holding hands while walking in front of the shareholders.”

“Excellent, excellent,” I said, sliding my fingers up into his thick hair to anchor him in place. “Because this is way more fun than holding hands.”

“Hey, can you guys break it up? This is a public place.”

I gasped and pulled away, turning around to see a very attractive man smiling at us. I looked back up at Declan, who had cleared his throat and smoothed his hair before his eyes flashed with recognition.

“Roman,” Declan said with a sheepish grin, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him toward the guy.

“Hey, Abi,” the guy said, smiling in such a genuine way that I was dying to know who he was and how we supposedly knew each other. “It’s so nice to see you again.”

“You, too,” I said, my cheeks on fire as I wondered how I was supposed to play this one.

I was also mortified that he’d caught us making out in the hallway.

“How the heck have you been?” I asked with a smile, trying to sound breezy and light.

“Good,” he said. “My sister was going to come with me but she’s home with the baby tonight.”

“Ah,” I said, shrugging and going for it, laying it on even thicker. “Lucky girl.”

That made the stranger and Declan smirk at each other, confirming my suspicion that this guy was fully aware of what was going on with the whole fake-dating act.

As if hearing my thoughts, Roman leaned in and said, “Thanks for doing our boy this big favor, by the way.”

“Anything for our boy ,” I muttered, wondering what Roman thought of me and what exactly he knew.

“We were just about to head out,” Declan said to his friend. “Are you bailing as well?”

“I wasn’t going to, but now I feel like I must,” Roman said with a dramatic eye roll. “You’re the one who gave me tickets.”

“You can stay all night; I don’t give a shit.”

Apparently permission was all Roman needed, because a minute later, when the three of us returned to the crowded showroom, he waved a hand before turning away from us and joining the shoppers.

“Let’s say goodbye to Warren,” Declan said, and as we approached the old guy to say our farewells, I actually felt guilty lying because I liked him so much. He seemed like a genuinely good human, which was a little confusing when he was a billionaire.

There was no way for me to make that work in my head.

“We’re going to take off,” Declan said. “Abi’s got to let the dog out before he rips up the place.”

Oh right, my dog.

Did he have a name? I couldn’t remember.

“Have a great night, Abi,” Warren said, giving my arm a little pat. “And that necklace looks beautiful on you; Dex did good.”

“Thank you,” I said, looking down at it. “He really did.”

I was surprised when Warren went in for a hug.

I was equally surprised that I didn’t hate it.

As soon as he let go of me he said, “You’re running in the 5K tomorrow morning, right?”

Declan had explained to me that the Shareholder 5K was a big family event that Hathaway employees really turned out for. There were a lot of runners who registered because they liked racing, but there were just as many attendees who walked with kids and strollers.

He’d told me the last part as if he thought I couldn’t run, which had prompted me to trash-talk about how I could actually run circles around his ass.

Even though I couldn’t.

“Of course I am,” I said, uneasy at the thought of it. Still, I said, “Any opportunity to embarrass Dex in public by beating him is my favorite thing in the world.”

“She can’t beat me,” Declan corrected, shaking his head like I was adorable. “She wishes.”

“We shall see,” I said, feeling lightheaded when he shot me a teasing smile.

With that mouth that I now knew was incredibly skilled.

The odds of me beating him were slim. I ran every day, but I’d seen Declan with no shirt and dear Lord , the man must spend every waking hour that he wasn’t in the office at the gym. When I’d seen him in those low-hanging pants with the buckle not fastened, I’d nearly fainted dead away.

That being said, it sounded like a fun, wholesome activity, and I was a pretty good runner so I knew I could hold my own.

We said our good nights and were approaching Declan’s car in the parking lot when Roman reappeared, jogging toward us.

“Hey, Dex,” he said as he ran up. “Hold up.”

“Yeah?” Declan turned toward his friend, and I couldn’t stop myself from stealing a glance at his profile.

Had that man really just kissed me?

I just couldn’t get over it.

“Sorry, Abi—quick work question.”

I shrugged. “No worries.”

“I’m going to forward something that just came in like an hour ago,” Roman said, looking more serious than he had since I’d met him. “But I don’t want to wait. Take a look at it as soon as you get home and let me know ASAP if it’s got your approval.”

“I didn’t know you worked for Hathaway, too,” I said. It was a little impressive that they’d been friends for so long and worked together. “I thought you were just a personal guest.”

“I don’t and I am,” he said. “We just have some investments together.”

“Ah,” I said, realizing yet again that I knew nothing about what rich people did with their time and money.

“So tell me, kiddo,” Roman said to me with a grin, which was funny since he looked like he was my age. “How does this work? Does he drop you off at his building before he reports to his hotel? I just love this so very much.”

“Shut up, asshole,” Declan said, rolling his eyes. “The particulars of our deal are none of your bus—”

“It’s just so beautiful, though,” Roman interrupted, nudging me like we were in cahoots. “Please tell me you sleep on his pillow and eat potato chips in bed, Abi.”

“I haven’t yet, but I might have to tonight.”

It was a little freeing, talking to somebody who knew what was going on, that I was basically a stranger to Declan. The honesty felt relaxing. Liberating.

Although I was a little embarrassed that he’d seen that kiss, and I wondered again what he thought of me.

“So were you two, like, boarding school roommates or something?” I asked, my eyes roaming over his stylish suit.

“No, we met in college; I was his poor friend.”

“You don’t look poor,” I said, revisiting the suit.

“Compared to Declan, everyone’s poor,” he explained, giving me a look.

“That checks out,” I said, sharing a smile with him.

We talked to Roman for a few more minutes before he left us to rejoin the event, and I realized as I watched him walk away that I genuinely liked him.

Liking Declan’s people had not been on my fake-dating bingo card.

I got into his car, and my seat belt was barely buckled when Declan spoke up.

“About that kiss,” he said, his face unreadable. “I want to apologize if I took it too far. It was all part of the act, just a fun part that I thoroughly enjoyed playing, but I would never want to do anything that made you feel uncomfortable or that you hadn’t consented to.”

“Oh.” I was surprised by his words. “No. I was the one who started it, and hard same for me. I got into our act and just had a little too much fun with it. I think our tequila shots gave me a little boldness that usually isn’t there.”

“That’s kind of what I assumed,” he said. “But just know that I’m happy to sleep somewhere else tonight if I made you feel compromised in any way.”

“No, but I appreciate the consideration.” I was shocked by how concerned he was. I hadn’t had that on my bingo card, either. “Thank you for being cool, bro.”

He rolled his eyes, fully aware I called him “bro” just to mess with him.

Things were relaxed on the rest of the drive home because we’d cleared the air.

It was refreshing to candidly discuss things instead of letting them fester.

We’d kissed, explored why and what it meant, and now there was no reason to feel weird about it because we’d both admitted we were just having fun and it was nothing to care about.

When we got back to his place, we quickly ran through our plan for the morning, like what time we’d be leaving for the race, and then we said good night.

But after I washed my face and changed into my pajamas, I started worrying all over again.

About everything. Even though he’d been nice, what if he thought I was angling for more when I kissed him?

Like I was trying to wriggle my way into his life with my mouth…

or something like that. I was already asking him to pay me a small fortune for pretending to be his girlfriend; what if he thought I was trying to deepen the relationship in order to get more from him?

I hated the thought of that. I tossed and turned for a while, unable to sleep, until finally I had enough.