First and Tension (Summersweet Island 4)

“Cut that shit out,” I snap in a low voice. “Her name is Emily. Use it.”

The only person who hasn’t been cool during all of these interviews is Tyler. Every time I’ve walked out of another radio station the last two days, he’s referred to Emily by anything other than her name. The crazy redhead, the mess we’ll never be able to clean up, the wolf in sheep’s clothing, the ticking time bomb…. I was a fucking ticking time bomb with each new shot he took at Emily, and now I’ve finally had enough.

“I love you, man, but if you don’t start being more respectful toward her, I will knock you the fuck out.”

Tyler shakes his head at me, smoothing out his suit coat and straightening his tie when I drop my hands from his chest and step back from him.

“Jesus Christ,” he mutters, looking up and down the empty hallway to make sure no one saw anything. “You really like her. I thought it was all supposed to be fake, because you’re a dipshit who couldn’t tell Jeanie the truth.”

“Do you want to tell Jeanie the truth?”

“Fuck no! She scares the hell out of me.” Tyler shudders. “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll try to be nicer.”

With a nod, we both start walking down the hallway again. I’m not the type of guy to hold grudges. And Tyler isn’t the type of guy who apologizes. As long as he holds up his end of the bargain, I won’t have to rearrange his face. I’m already on edge enough after meeting Emily’s parents, hoping I didn’t fuck everything up for her with them. I have never met two people I’ve been more disappointed in. They don’t even see the absolutely amazing person they created, and I couldn’t just sit there and listen to her mother call what she does a hobby one more time. I couldn’t watch the beautiful, smart, talented, strong woman I’ve gotten to know look so defeated when it came to the people who were supposed to love her unconditionally and support all of her dreams.

And I can’t even think about that goddamn kiss, or my head will explode. Both of them. I knew kissing Emily, really kissing her, would be an otherworldly experience, but I didn’t expect it to almost knock me on my ass. Or for her to just melt into me, kiss the hell out of me right back, and then still think it’s all pretend. Being around her day after day and not being able to kiss her like that again, constantly reliving every minute of her mouth on mine and her body pressed against me, has almost driven me insane… and definitely driven me to a lot of jerking off when I get back to my cottage.

Good thing I’m persistent….

“It’s not fake for me,” I finally tell Tyler when we both slide our sunglasses on, push through the double glass doors at the front of the building, and walk out into the bright sunshine. A smile finally takes over my face, thinking about all our text conversations. “Everything I say and do with her is the real me and how I really feel about her. It’s just easier for her to keep telling herself it’s fake, so she doesn’t fall madly in love with me.”

Tyler throws his head back and laughs, walking around to the other side of the black SUV waiting for us in front of the building. When we both slide into the backseat, he gives the driver the location of the next radio station we have to be at and then actually turns in his seat to make eye-contact with me when we pull away from the curb.

“How long are you planning on letting her think this is all pretend?” he asks me quietly when the driver answers a call on his Bluetooth earbud.

“Until she realizes it’s not.” I smile at him. “Maybe tonight will finally be the night.”

Although, I doubt it. Her stubbornness is one of the things I like most about her. And I do enjoy a good game. I’ve lost enough of them to her at this point.

“You know you won’t be able to say ‘no comment’ anymore if you show up to this thing with her,” Tyler reminds me.

“That’s my plan. And you better do nothing but kiss her ass tonight, or I will fire yours.”

Tyler sighs heavily like it’s such a big chore to be nice to someone. “Fuck! Fine. It doesn’t mean I have to trust her, but I’ll be on my best behavior with the island girl.”

When I ball my hand into a fist and start to aim it in Tyler’s direction, he quickly throws his hands up in the air and scoots his back up against his door.

“Emily! I meant Emily!” Tyler quickly amends. “I just got Botox! Don’t you dare hit me.”