“Daniel,” I cut him off. “This is Aaron,” I blurted out, pulling away from him and nestling myself a step further into my fake boyfriend and personal human-sized shield.
Daniel’s furrowed eyebrows signaled his confusion. Probably because I had switched to English more than because I was introducing him to someone I was supposedly dating.
“Hi. I’m her boyfriend,” Aaron said politely, stretching his hand in front of him. “Su novio,” he clarified in Spanish for Daniel’s sake. Which was completely unnecessary and kind of cocky, and in some parallel reality, it would have pulled a snicker out of me. But my lips remained pressed into
a tense line. “It’s nice to meet you, Daniel.”
My ex and sister’s fiancé’s best friend stared at Aaron for a brief moment and then broke into a wary but amiable smile. “Sí, claro. Nice to meet you, Aaron.” Daniel finally took Aaron’s hand and shook it. “I’m an old friend of Lina.”
Something pulled tight in my stomach at Daniel’s definition of what we had once been.
As soon as both men retrieved their arms, Daniel returned his attention to me, and Aaron’s palm returned to my back.
“How have you been, Lina? You look so … different.” Daniel’s smile widened. “Different, but good. You look amazing actually.”
His eyes kept assessing me, as if he couldn’t believe that it was me. And I wasn’t really sure how I felt about that, so I forced my lips to curl up.
“Thanks, Daniel. I have been fine, busy with work and … life.”
“That’s right.” My ex nodded his head. “You are living the life in New York City. I always knew you had the potential to do great things, to get very far in your career.”
He had been my professor for a whole year before we started properly dating, and during that time, I had been a highly motivated student. An overachiever. Things had changed after that.
“And you did.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. My mind filing away all kinds of complaints. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
Aaron cleared his throat lightly. “It is,” he said softly. So much that I thought he had said it just for me. But then he kept going, “Lina leads a considerably large team of people in one of the most successful engineering consulting companies in New York. That is, by all standards, a big deal.”
“Wow.” Daniel smiled tightly. “That’s amazing, Lina. It is.” His lips turned somewhat more relaxed. “Congratulations.”
I muttered my thanks, still feeling flushed over Aaron’s words.
There was a long and awkward moment of silence, and then Daniel’s eyes bounced quickly between Aaron and me. “So, this is him, huh? The American boyfriend.”
My head reared back, shocked by Daniel’s word choice. With my shoulders tensing, my mouth opened with the intention of asking what that had been, but I felt Aaron’s hand trailing up my back, stopping at the nook between my shoulder and my neck. His thumb brushed the skin there very gently. That touch—that thumb caressing the side of my neck—almost made me forget about who was in front of me and what he had said or if he had talked at all. His finger swiped right and left one more time, making a shiver run down my spine.
Closing my eyes briefly, I pulled myself back into the conversation and decided to ignore Daniel’s last comment. “Congratulations on the engagement.” I made my lips tug up. “I’m very happy for you, Daniel.”
Daniel’s eyes, which had been somewhere where Aaron’s palm was, met mine. He nodded and flashed that dimple I had been so familiar with in the past. “Thank you, Lina. I’m extremely grateful she said yes. It’s not that easy to deal with me sometimes. I get lost in my head a lot when I’m working,” he said, slipping his hands in his pockets. “Well, no need to explain that to you. You know that already.”
Yes, I did. Everybody here knew I did too. He hadn’t needed to point that out. Not after downgrading our past to old friends.
My fake boyfriend’s palm spread and shifted down my shoulder, his fingers trailing down my arm and reaching my hand. It was so very distracting, the way he touched me. And yet, he managed to keep me grounded, all at once. Every time my head had threatened to roam away, Aaron had pulled me right back before my feet could lift off the floor. Those gentle brushes against my skin had that power, I realized. And judging by the way my voice came out when I spoke next—breathy, weak—they also came at a price.
“Well, I wish you two the best.” And despite myself, I meant that. “Will she be joining us today?”
Aaron’s fingers wrapped around mine, awakening in me something that urged me to turn around to look at him. I suppressed it, keeping my gaze on Daniel.
“Unfortunately, Marta won’t be able to make it. A last-minute work thing. She’s also a professor, and she was called to a conference to cover for a colleague.” Daniel shrugged his shoulders.
And I made a note to talk to my sister later. I was under the impression the bride would know if someone had canceled.
“It’s all good though.” Daniel’s eyes jumped to Aaron’s hand one more time, his expression distracted. “Attending a wedding alone is not all that dramatic. Plus, I wouldn’t want to make it about me.” My ex pinned me with a look.
And was that … accusation that I saw in his eyes?
“I …” I trailed off, second-guessing myself. My cheeks burned, and I couldn’t do much else but gape.