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Cliff

P ulling up to Blazing Tacos, I take a deep breath and try to go over in my mind how I’m going to present this to Jade. And even though every part of me wants to deny this plan and not think about another man touching her, I know I need to put my pride away and do what’s right for Jade.

A knock on my window makes me jump, yelling, “Holy shit!”

I turn toward my window scowling while Jade is outside bent over laughing. “Ice queen, my ass,” I mutter to myself. Because this is the real Jade, the one who will play pranks on you, then laugh until tears are falling down her gorgeous face, which is what she’s doing right now.

As she continues to laugh her ass off, I ignore her. Turning off my car, I push open the door and climb out. “I got you good,” she says, still laughing while wiping the tears from her eyes.

I roll my eyes at her. “Whatever. But you know I’ll get you back,” I remind her.

“Yeah. Yeah. Whatever you say, big guy,” she says as she taps my chest with her hand, and like every time she touches me, I can’t help but heat from the inside out.

It’s all too much, especially since I can’t do anything about it. I take a step back to put space between me and her. I give her a small smile. “Want to go inside?”

Nodding her head, she turns and I can’t help it. My eyes go right to her ass as it moves from side to side in a pair of jeans that look as if they’re painted on. Her long straight brown hair reaches down to the top of her jeans, and I can’t help but feel my cock thicken. I try to think about anything ugly to make it go down.

People vomiting. Dogs pooping in the yard. Ugly hairless cats.

Thankfully, it works by the time we approach the door to the restaurant. I pull open the door, making room for her to walk in first. She brushes her shoulder against me as she mutters, “Thank you.”

Fuck. It feels like all the work I did to keep myself from getting hard just went out the door. She’s not trying to be sexy, she just freaking is. “You’re welcome,” I mutter.

The hostess shows us to our table and we both sit down on opposite sides of the booth. Jade’s deep brown, soulful eyes stare back at me, waiting for me to start.

A lump forms in my throat knowing that I’m about to suggest for her to date—for all intents and purposes—another man, when everything in me is screaming to tell her to give me a chance. But I can’t. I’m not right for her.

Clearing my throat, I start with a topic that should help ease things. “How was practice?”

“It was fine. I tried to talk to a few of my teammates,” she replies.

Before I can respond, the server comes over and greets us, “Welcome to Blazing Tacos. What can I get for you to drink?”

“I’ll take a beer,” I quickly tell her, because if I’m going to make it through this conversation, I definitely need a bit of liquid courage.

“I’ll have an iced tea,” Jade tells her.

“Great. I’ll be right back.” The server turns away, leaving us in an awkward silence. Instead of talking to each other, we both keep our eyes down on the menu. Neither of us really needs to look at the menu because we’ve been here enough.

Hating the silence, I look up at her to find her looking at me as if she’s searching for something. Instead of trying to figure her out, I go first. “Tell me how it was with your teammates today.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “Weird. I tried asking about things that weren’t basketball, but they didn’t really want to engage.”

Softening my face, I whisper, “It will take time.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t really know what to say to them either,” she says, waving me off.

Before we can dive any deeper, the server drops our drinks off, making eye contact with me. She gives me a little smirk, asking, “What can I get you to eat?”

Not wanting to be rude, I look over at Jade. “Do you know what you would like to order?”

“Yes, can I get the two cauliflower tacos?” she says never taking her eyes off the server, who isn’t really looking at her. Jade slams her menu closed and then shoves it into the server’s hands. Finally, the server looks over at her, plastering on a smile. “Thanks, ma’am.”

Jade’s eyes narrow at her, but I interrupt before it gets too far. “I’ll take the beef fajita tacos, three of them,” I say, handing over my menu.

She pushes her boobs toward me while grabbing the menu. “Anything else, sir?” she purrs.

I don’t respond, turning my attention back to Jade. Whatever this woman is offering, I don’t want. I only want one person, and I can’t have her. After a beat, she lets out a huff and walks off.

Jade looks at me curiously but doesn’t comment. Instead, she changes the subject. “What exactly are you asking me to do with this dating scheme?”

Okay, we’re jumping right in. I guess it’s time to pull off the band aid. “After talking with the owner of the Stars, I was spit balling ideas with Hunter and he suggested it. So, if you’re going to kill anyone, it should be him, but I can’t say I disagree.”

Jade crosses her arms over her chest, pushing up her breasts. That action along with the tight sweater and my eyes drop to them. I wonder what they might feel like in my hands. Probably like the most perfect set of grapefruits.

“What would that look like, Cliff?” Jade asks me, interrupting my thoughts of her perfect breasts.

Glancing up at her, I swallow when I see her. Every time I get a good look at her, I’m surprised by how gorgeous she is. I’m so fucked. This whole idea is shit, but I’ve got to do what’s best for her. “Well, I would find someone who would be okay with the situation. They would need to go to a few games, some dinners with a bit of PDA, and then a few events. After a couple of months, we can plan a breakup.”

Jade nods her head along as she listens to me, then she purses her lips. “What if I don’t want just some random person to do this with? This requires a lot of trust.”

I totally get her fears. Trying to calm her, I reply, “Don’t worry, I’ll vet whoever it ends up being and we’ll even have them sign an NDA.”

Her brow furrows when she looks up at me, and I’m not sure what to expect next. “Okay. But I still don’t think I could do it with just anyone.”

“What are you thinking?” I ask her, completely confused as to where she is going with this. Thoughts that she could already be seeing someone I didn’t know run through my mind. It takes everything in me not to demand answers from her, but I know I don’t have the right to.

Jade places her hand on top of mine. My eyes connect with hers and she whispers, “If I’m going to pretend to date anyone, I want it to be with someone I can trust. I want it to be you.”