My throat goes dry as I try to deflect all attention away from the way my cock just sprang to life.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I guess we kiss.”
She blows out a breath. “I’ve been thinking about this.”
I’ve been trying not to.
“If we don’t pull it off just right, Haley will know something’s up,” she says. “But is it necessary? Or is there a way around it? Or do we just use it to break the ice?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure. We have to really sell people on this, you know?”
“Right.”
She mulls this over. I don’t offer any additional thoughts, because I want her to be comfortable, and if she comes up with something on her own, she’s more likely to be okay with it.
“We have to sell this to Jobe too,” she says, picking at her hem again. “He’s cool with this and all, but if he thinks I married you for money, he’d probably kill both of us. Mostly you. We’ll end up being a Dateline special.”
“Great,” I mumble.
I exhale long and loud as I try to figure out how to handle this. It’s trickier than I imagined, considering she’s the first woman I’ve been attracted to whom I can’t sleep with.
Because I can’t.
I cannot sleep with her.
Touching her, kissing her, feeling her—all that will overly complicate this.
Finally, Sophie sits up.
“I think we just try to be adults and be as normal as possible,” she says. “I mean, it shouldn’t be hard. It’s not like we can’t keep our hands off each other.”
She follows this with a tight laugh.
And no eye contact.
The car suddenly seems close and stuffy. I pull at the collar of my shirt, wishing I had a bit of fresh air and some bourbon.
“We’re like brother and sister,” she says. She lies. “If we have to kiss, we keep it modest and clean, and we’ll be fine. Right?”
“Right,” I agree roughly.
She looks up at the front entrance to the flower shop. The tattooed guy walks out. He stops on the stoop and looks our way before heading to a truck across the street.
“Haley is waiting on us,” Sophie says. “You ready?”
I remove the keys from the ignition and climb out of the car. By the time I get to the front, she is standing on the sidewalk and waiting for me.
My palms start to sweat as I approach her. “Let’s do this.”
She looks up through her eyelashes before looking down again. I want to tip her chin toward me and promise her this will be okay. But before I can, she starts off in the direction of the shop.
“Hey,” I call after her.
She slows her pace. “What?”
I step in front of her and wrap my hand around the door handle. Glancing down at her, I grin. “Nice justification that we’re like brother and sister. You’re so full of shit.”
“Hey!” she exclaims.
But I cut her off by opening the door.
A squeal from inside the flower shop breezes our way, and Sophie’s torn about where to put her attention. I make the decision for her.
I toss her a wink and step inside.
CHAPTER TEN
SOPHIE
Holden holds the door open for me. His lips are twisted into a full-blown smirk as he watches my reaction to his last sentence.
If I could look away from his stupidly gorgeous green eyes and kissable lips—the bottom one with a slight line running down the center, making it look poutier than it even is—I totally would. That’s what I need to do. I know that. I just . . . can’t.
And not just because he’s devilishly handsome, standing there and waiting on me to come inside and marry him.
No. What’s truly intoxicating is the bubble that’s captured the two of us. It descended around us at some point between the car and the doorway, bringing us closer together with our shenanigans. It’s like it’s him and me against the world.
And I kind of like it. No, I like it a lot. More than I’ve liked anything in a long time.
“Bastard,” I whisper as my feet finally move.
His chuckle reverberates across my skin as I walk by him.
“Sophie!” Haley shouts.
I look up to see her heading across the room with her arms wide open.
She’s as pretty as ever with her long, black hair and glossy lips. As soon as she reaches me, she pulls me into a warm hug.
“How are you?” she asks as she pulls back. Glancing over my shoulder, she grins. “Looks like you’re doing pretty dang good from here.”
I swipe at her shoulder. “Stop. Don’t embarrass me.”
“I’d never think of doing such a thing.”
Before I can get my wits about me, a hand lies on my shoulder. I don’t have to look at it to know it’s Holden’s.
The gesture catches me off guard, and I think I jump. Haley doesn’t seem to notice as her eyes are set on him. I watch her light up as she takes him in like the tall drink of water that he is.