She pushed that thought from her mind. For tonight, she could pretend she really was getting engaged to Bellamy. She could pretend the ring meant something. And she could pretend they would live happily ever after.
She allowed herself a smile and breathed out the one word required of her. “Aye.”
Bellamy slipped the ring on her finger with ease, no fumbling or shaking, as if he’d done it already a dozen times. He probably had seen dozens of engagements in his lifetime as he’d accompanied Oscar to matches. What was he thinking of theirs? That he was sorry his special moment had to be just an act? Was he wondering how he’d gotten mixed up with her like this? Or was he trying to make the best of the evening too?
He finished settling the ring on her finger and then offered her a small smile that seemed to tell her not to worry. His smiles were always so heart-melting, though. This one was no exception. Her heart turned to warm liquid in her chest.
As he rose, everyone began to clap. He didn’t release her hand right away. Instead, he continued to face her, likely waiting for the clapping to stop and for the moment to be officially over.
“Kiss!” someone shouted from another table.
Bellamy didn’t move, and his expression didn’t change, almost as if he hadn’t heard the suggestion.
“Oh aye!” This came from Oscar with a laugh. “Give her a kiss, Bellamy, and show everyone how it’s done.”
Oh, sweet saints. She could feel a blush blooming in her cheeks.
Someone else echoed Oscar, and Bellamy tossed the fellow a grin.
With more calls of “kiss” rising in the air, Bellamy glanced down at her mouth. Then he met her gaze, and his eyes contained an apology.
She knew as well as he did they had no choice but to kiss. If they refused, they would look petty and raise all kinds of questions. Besides, if she was honest with herself, she didn’t want to turn down the opportunity to kiss Bellamy. For as rocky as her relationship with him was, she couldn’t deny she’d enjoyed kissing him and had dreamed about it often enough that she wanted to kiss him again.
“Kiss her!” Oscar’s voice boomed above all the other guests calling for the same thing.
Bellamy bent in, and without another moment of hesitation, he touched his lips to hers.
As he did so, the world around her disappeared, and she was swept away to paradise where kissing him was the only thing that mattered. His lips were firm and commanding, just as they’d been last time, but more so. And her lips meshed with his, like they’d been made to fit there.
He was still holding her hand, and he slid his fingers through hers, languidly intertwining them and bringing each of her fingers into contact with each of his. The intimacy of the touch sent shivers of delight skittering along her arms. At the same time, his mouth covered hers more thoroughly, as if he needed more of her because what he had wasn’t enough.
Something in his craving stirred a deliciousness inside her—a desire to keep kissing him, to make it her life’s mission to have this pleasure with him every single day. Was this what it was like for Finola and Riley, Enya and Sullivan, and Kiernan and Alannah? Was this why she caught them kissing so much?
More clapping rang out around them as well as cheers.
Bellamy broke the kiss just as suddenly as he’d started it. He took a rapid step away from her, releasing her hand in the process. But he grinned widely at the guests, as if he’d won a bet and was pleased with himself.
Had he liked the kiss as much as she had?
With a flourish, he pulled out her chair and helped her sit back down. Then he took his place beside her while accepting the congratulations from friends and family good-naturedly. When the chatter and conversations at the tables began again, he leaned in.
“How am I doing?” he whispered with a charming grin that didn’t reach his eyes.
What did he mean?
“With my acting?” he clarified, as if he’d seen the question in her eyes. “Was I affectionate enough?”
So everything had been just an act? He’d been pretending it all?
A strange disappointment settled in her heart. His touch, his looks, his kiss had felt authentic. But she should have known it wouldn’t be real to him, that he’d just been following her instructions to do a better job at feigning to like her.
Well, he’d done it. In fact, he’d almost fooled her. As he turned away to joke with someone, she could only sit beside him, breathless and aching and longing for more—more from their relationship and more from him than this acting.
16
“So you’ll be cutting off our supply of beer entirely now?” came a frustrated call from the crowd of tavern owners and shopkeepers who had assembled for the meeting.
Bellamy stood among them on Charles Street in the afternoon drizzle that was only cooling off the city a little, not enough to clear out the foul vapors and humid air.
