He leaned into me as we walked toward the car parked in his driveway. Liam got out of the driver’s seat and whistled at Kit. He opened the car door for us, almost salivating at the sight of my date. It might be a pretend date only, but for the moment, he was all mine, and the way my friend ogled him stirred something dark inside my gut. A little Gollum in my stomach, whispering, “my precious.”
This feeling…it wasn’t right. Not with what I knew about myself.
“I’m starting to think Sullivan has the best part of this job,” Liam said. “Kit, you look absolutely ravishing.”
“It’s just a little makeup and the three-thousand-dollar outfit,” Kit said.
“Don’t underestimate the value of the boy underneath all that.” I nudged Liam aside to hold the door for Kit. “After you.”
When he was seated comfortably, I climbed in after him. “Liam’s acting as our driver tonight. I like to keep our missions to as few people as possible.”
“Makes sense.”
“Now remember, all you’re expected to do is smile, socialize, and stay with me,” I reminded Kit.
“Got it, but I have a question.”
“Shoot.”
“Do we have a backstory of how we met and so on?” Kit asked as Liam backed out of the driveway. “We want to keep our story straight, no?”
Damn, he was right. How did I forget to bring this up? We were supposed to have gone through the information after our shopping spree, but I’d been too distracted after seeing him half-naked. Again.I’d bailed on him to take some time to think about all these new feelings I had. I hadn’t come any closer to finding an answer.
“A mutual friend introduced us,” I said. “It was a double date, and we’d never met before, but it was a perfect fit right away.”
“That sounds a bit boring.”
“But easy to stick to and believable.”
“I guess. So how long before we slept together?”
“What?”
“I assume we’re sleeping together in this made-up story. How long did it take for me to convince you to sleep with me, and how long have we been dating?”
In the front of the car, Liam was snickering.
“I don’t think anyone will ask us that.”
“But what if they do?”
“We’ve only been dating a couple of weeks.”
“Still plenty of time for us to have sex.”
“Bait, no one’s going to ask you about our sex life.”
He shrugged. “All right, if you say so, but do you think it’s appropriate to call me ‘bait’ when I’m your date?”
“I’ll know when to turn it off.”
“Why do you call me that anyway? Liam calls me Kit. Why can’t you?”
To remind myself that’s all you are.
“To keep our relationship strictly professional.”
“I see.” He fell silent.