He frowned. “Explain.”
“The sex was incredible,” she admitted, her cheeks flaming bright red. “I mean, like, wow incredible. It’s hard to regret something that came with that many orgasms.”
He laughed, then sobered. “Do you want to give up on the fake dating idea?” Tank kicked himself the moment he asked the question, because he wasn’t sure what he’d do if she said yes.
She sighed. “That would be the easiest solution, but I don’t think we should. We’ve already established ourselves as a couple, pushing it hard. Roger even got one of the network guys in the press box to zoom in on me sitting in the front row with Ainsley and Erika at the last home game, the announcer making a comment during a time-out about you, Blake, and Coulton being cheered on by girlfriends. FYI—I’m glad I didn’t know that camera was pointing at me at the time, or I would have thrown up.”
Tank wrapped his arm around her, giving her a quick kiss on the side of her head. “You’ll get used to the press eventually.”
“I’m very sure I won’t. On top of me getting splashed on network TV, the posts mentioning us as a couple on social media are lighting up with comments, and for the most part, they’re very positive. If we suddenly drop the relationship, it’s going to negatively impact all the work we’ve put in because it will reinforce the idea that you’re…”
“Incapable of maintaining a relationship with a nice girl?”
She crinkled her nose. “Ugh. Nice girl is as bad as the way Benny described me.”
“What did he say?” Tank asked.
“He said I give off girl-next-door vibes.”
Tank tried not to laugh because she clearly wasn’t a fan, but in the end, he couldn’t not. Her boss had hit that nail on the head.
“Asshole,” she muttered, with no heat.
“There’s nothing wrong with being nice, Mouse.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she said, brushing him off. “The point is, it’s too late to put the brakes on…” She paused, waving her hand around, searching for a word.
“TanKenna,” he helpfully supplied.
“I swear to God if you say that stupid name to Benny or Roger, I’ll key your precious Audi.”
Tank held up one hand. “Hey now. Easy on the threats toward my baby. You know I’m protective of her. So we’re staying the course on the relationship.”
“Fake relationship,” she said quickly, correcting him.
“Then it sounds to me like you’ve been working against us this week.”
“Yeah, I know,” she admitted. “It’s just…”
“Just,” he prodded.
“Just that I’m not a one-night stand girl. I’ve only ever slept with men I loved. I’m not good at separating sex and emotions.”
Tank knew it wasn’t her intention, but McKenna had just given him hope. Hope that she was feeling something for him.
But he also knew she was nowhere near ready to admit that—even to herself—given the way she kept insisting on calling this thing between them fake.
So, he would have to continue working that angle.
“What if I taught you how to separate it?” Tank wasn’t proud of that offer, because God knew the line between sex and his feelings for her didn’t even exist.
But she’d hidden from him for a week. He couldn’t go through that again.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“One-night stands don’t have to literally mean one night.”
“You want to have sex again?!” Her eyes were saucers, her question way too loud.
