Was the joke too sexual or did he really want to look? I swayed my hips and peeked at him. Yep, he looked. But most straight guys would. It only meant he liked my ass. If he was actually interested, he would’ve asked me out or kissed me in the basement. I brushed off the urge to test what’d happen if we got that close again.
Heaven knew his shoulders were too broad for us to walk side-by-side in here, so who went first really didn’t matter.
When we got to the kids, Joon was trying to open a closet door while May held it fast from the inside.
Zack strode over and tugged him back. “Hey, stop that.”
“She started it,” Joon said.
“I’m sorry,” she wailed.
“You all need to cool off. Maybe we should take you outside,” I joked.
“For a snowball fight?” Joon's eyes lit up.
“No,” Zack said.
“Yes.” May yanked open the closet and smiled. “I like snowballs. Shelby said they brought her love.”
What the hell? I thought she’d met her boyfriend on a coffee run.
“Throwing things does not bring you love,” Zack said.
“In our case, it was a lemon.” I smiled and flexed my empty hand. Maybe a snowball fight would let out some of the tension in this house.
He pinned me with a serious look. “The lemon was later. A pair of shoes brought us together.”
My heart thudded against my chest. Did he mean Theo’s transgression or Shelby’s party princess outfit?
May gaped at us. “Wow. You’re like Cinderella and the prince.”
“Maybe a little bit,” I said. We’d danced on New Year’s Eve and parted ways soon after the clock struck midnight. Then, we sort of got back together, at least for this arrangement. But there was no kiss, no shoes, and no drama–er, romance.
Zack rubbed his earlobe. “I may not have a kingdom, but she’s always welcome at my place.”
“Thanks. Likewise, Mr. Beefcake.” I play-punched his arm to smash the flutter in my chest.
He grinned, his ears and neck red. He was so fucking cute I wanted to hit him again.
“Who puts beef with cake?” Joon blanched.
Zack and I locked eyes, then burst into laughter. Yeah, he’d definitely need an escape from these kinds of questions.
We probably weren’t on our way to a happily-ever-after with this arrangement, but at the very least, we might end up with a very real friendship.
29
Matriarchs
During dinner, it became even more obvious why Zack enlisted a fake girlfriend to hold off his family.
Shelby’s mom got on me about modeling. “Are you hired by companies or posting to social media for free?”
“I’m…I have some regular clients,” I said.
“They pay well?”
“Auntie, you can’t ask people about money,” Zack chided.
