She nods and continues to eat. A comfortable silence falls between us as we eat our meal, the fire cracking and popping in the background. When she’s done, she sets her utensils down and looks up at me.
“I think we need to set some ground rules.” Her hands are crossed in front of her and it suddenly feels like I’m sitting in a business meeting.
Wanting to tease her, I bring my hands on top of the table and fold them together like she has hers.
“I’m happy to negotiate with you,” I say, giving her a serious look. She glances at my hands and bites back a laugh before picking up a vegetable from her plate and throwing it at me.
“I’m serious, Nick. I think we need to talk about what’s okay and what’s not over the next few weeks as we work to pull this off.”
I take the potato she threwat me and pop it into my mouth. I don’t miss the way her eyes linger on my lips a few seconds longer than they should.
“What kind of rules are we talking here?” I ask, tipping my head at her.
“First, no kissing on the lips. I think we can get away with being a pretend married couple without that.”
“You want to convince the town that we’re happily married and in lovewithoutkissing?” I ask skeptically.
“Yes.” It’s a full sentence.
“Okay, these are your rules.” I shrug my shoulders trying to play it cool. I already hate these rules.
“Next, we only act like a married couple when we’re out in town or with people we know. When we aren’t being seen by other people, we keep things…friendly,” she finishes.
“Friendly?”
“Yeah, like we act like friends. Not like we’re married or are a couple because we aren’t.”
“According to the civil courts of Boston we are,” I remind her with a smirk.
“Nick,” she threatens. I raise my hands in defense.
“Okay, okay. Only friends when we’re not out in public. Got it. So I guess that means no sleepovers?” I joke and immediately see the blood rush to her face.
“Nick!”
“What? Friends have sleepovers! I had sleepovers with my friends all the time growing up, I know you and Eve did too. It’s a fair question,” I argue playfully, trying not to laugh.
She tips her head to one side and rolls her eyes. “That would be anoto sleepovers.”
“If that’s what you want,” I reply with another shrug. “Anything else?”
She furrows her brows and thinks about it. “No, I don’t think so. I think that’s plenty.”
“Perfect. Then I’d like to make my own rule,” I announce, sitting up in my chair and smirking at her.
“Why do you want a rule?”
“If you get to make a couple of rules I think it’s only fair that I get one too.”
Her eyes fall to the top of the table before looking back at me. “I guess that’s fair.”
My smile widens. “My rule is that ifyoubreak any of your rules, even once, then I get to break them as many times as I want.”
Her mouth falls open. “No!”
Crossing my arms in front of me, I lean on the table bringing myself closer to her.
“What’s the matter, sugar? Scared you won’t be able to abide by your own rules?”
