“Excellent. We’re good here.”
Jake’s gaze drifts to the champagne bottle, and his face goes even redder as he snaps his mouth shut.
I know that face.
That’s the face he wears whenever anyone offers him a bottle of wine that costs more than thirty dollars.
He was about to offer the best wine in the house, on the house, but he can’t top Dom Pérignon.
He can’t come close.
He always relies on everyone around him not knowing that he’s passing off fifteen-dollar bottles as hundred-dollar bottles. Every time we were invited to someone’s house for dinner, he’d grab something with a label that looked high-end enough to convince them that he’d paid the world for it.
In retrospect, that should’ve been a clue that he was all show.
But right now, I could kiss Simon.
Right here. In absolute gratitude for his pettiness.
At the same time, it’s putting me on guard.
Will the petty end here? Or is there some petty coming for me too?
As if I’m one to talk.
Karma is going to bite me on the ass for this.
But at the same time, I’m starting to have fun.
And Iwashaving fun with Simon before Jake showed up.
One more surprising thing about tonight.
“If you need anything, anything at all, you just ask for Jake.” Jake slides another look at me. “Including finding yourself a better date.”
Okay, yes.
Regrets are over.
Jake can choke on a bag of dicks.
Simon barks out a laugh. “Ah, you’re a funny one, aren’t you? A better date. When mine is this stunning, inside and out?” He takes my hand and presses it to his lips, and an involuntary shiver glides up my arm, making me break out in goose bumps for at least the second time tonight. “We’re perfectly fine, thank you. And I’m hopeful this is the first of many, many more opportunities to enjoy your—ah, this lovely woman’s company.”
Butterflies flit through my stomach.
He’s acting, I tell myself.
This is a game, and he’s winning, because he’s known all night—he has to have—and I’ve been sitting here sweating over if I’m the asshole for not telling him.
But that’s a problem for later.
Right now, my rage is coming back.
Find you a better date.
Jake deserves this.
“Could I ask for a favor, though?” Simon says pleasantly.
