Page 42 of The Omega's Fake Mate

I wasn't sure why I was telling her all of this. Perhaps for no other reason than that she was there and I needed to make sense of the chaos that had broken lose inside my head the moment Nick walked into the store with Conner last week.

“I actually thought I was over it until I saw him again,” I told Mrs. Fawnston. Sure, I occasionally thought about him while I was writing my books, but that was different. Wasn't it?

“When was that?”

“He's in town right now.” Staying a little bit longer than intended so we could fake being married in order to visit his brother together.

I couldn't believe this was my life.

“He's around?” Both of Mrs. Fawnston's eyebrows went up. “Have you talked to him?”

I licked my lips. “I’d say we did a little more than talk.”

Mrs. Fawnston looked at me with question marks all over her face.

“Remember how I told you my mother wanted to set me up?” I couldn't stop myself from telling the story. A captive audience was my downfall. “I brought him to Thanksgiving dinner with me and told my mother we were together. We had to make it look convincing, of course.”

“Oh Zander, what did you do?” She talked to me like a mother to her child—which was a rather novel experience for me. My mother had never much sounded like a mother.

“I kissed him,” I said with a shrug, trying too hard to appear casual. “Once for practice and once in front of the family. I think it convinced them.”

Mrs. Fawnston tilted her head. “And? What was it like?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but didn't know what to say. After a moment, the words came to me. Just the right ones. “It was everything,” I said.

Mrs. Fawnston smiled softly. “You still love him.”

I shook my head. “I don't know if I'm in love with him or a memory.”

“You can't kiss a memory, boy.”

She had a point there.

“How long is he staying in town for?” she asked.

“A few more days, and then we'll go on a sort of road trip together.”

“A road trip? Sounds fun. But that also means you'll be spending plenty of time in close quarters.”

“I suppose so.”

“You have to tell him.”

I inhaled. “I was afraid you might say that.” Running a hand through my hair, I tried to consider this calmly. I’d confessed to Nick before, and it hadn't done me much good. In fact, it had pretty much marked the end of whatever it was we had.

What if that happened again?

Outside my little office, the door bells chimed.

“Mr. Kerner?”

That was Conner.

I sighed. Why did I even bother putting up aClosedsign? I got up from my desk and walked into the store. “I’m on my lunch break.”

“But it’s already ten past 1 p.m. You usually re-open at 1 p.m. I’ve waited.”

Glancing at my watch told me that he was right. “I suppose I got caught up chatting with a friend.” I gestured at Mrs. Fawnston stepping out of the office behind me.