The room falls quiet, and the energy shifts. I peek at him through my fingers, finding him staring at me with a darker look in his eyes. He holds a throw pillow against his lap. He clears his throat while glancing away and shifts his hips.
“Listen, I’m not gonna pressure you to do anything. You want to win this guy over? The fastest way is to get him jealous.”
I sigh and drop my hands from my face.
I need to quit being so dramatic about this. Aiden is willing to help, and I can’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
“What’s in it for you if we make this deal?”
Shadows creep over his face and disappear as quickly as they appeared. He locks away whatever emotion he’s feeling and turns a cocky smile toward me. “I’m on hiatus from situationships at the moment. I have some chicks frothing at the mouth to get with me, and I’m not interested.” He leans forward, pillow still on his lap. “You pretend to be my girlfriend, and it’ll get them off my dick for a while. I’ll help you. You’ll help me. It’s a win-win for us.”
Nodding, I say, “Okay. It’s a deal. But we need to lay some ground rules. Like boundaries and whatnot.”
I can’t believe he’s convinced me to do this, but I trust him.
Aiden grins and tosses the pillow aside. “We can do that. I’m good at making rules, since I already have a few of my own.”
“What kind of rules?”
He snorts a laugh and sweeps his fingers through his messy grey hair. “You don’t want to know them because they centeraround sex, and we’ve already established that we won’t fuck. So the rules don’t apply.”
“Oh.” I let out a laugh and wave my hand. “Never mind, then.”
Aiden bites his bottom lip to hide a smile peeking through. He cocks his head as he looks me over. “You’re curious about them, aren’t you?”
“What?” My laughter dies and I shake my head. “Pff. No. Your sex life is none of my business.”
I’ll never admit to him that I sometimes wonder. It’s always against my will to imagine him sleeping with other women, though I’ve overheard him fucking some of the women he brought home. It’s kind of hard to ignore when our rooms are next to each other and she’s screaming like she’s being murdered by his dick.
I snort out a laugh at the thought of being killed by cock.
“Okay, so you don’t want to know the rules I have with other women. But we need some of our own.” Aiden’s smile widens, but he doesn’t question why I’m laughing. “So forourrules...”
I sober and clear my throat. “No sex.”
Aiden raises an eyebrow. “Right. You made that clear the second time you said that.”
“We only act like a couple when we need to. Other than that, we continue our sibling relationship.” I hold up two fingers to mark the rules.
Aiden nods. “Got it. Anything else?”
Deep in thought, I bite my bottom lip. A condition rises to the surface of my mind, and I glance away from him. I don’t think it’ll happen, but I’ve read enough fake-dating manga to know it could.
“Nova?” Aiden’s gentle tone drags my gaze back to him.
“If things get weird between us, the deal is off.” I stare straight into his eyes.
“Weird how?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and groan under my breath. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but if one of us catches feelings, it’ll make it weird.”
I don’t want to lose my brother. He’s the only family I have, and I’m afraid if one of us catches feelings, the other will get hurt. I can’t let that happen.
Aiden hums in response. “Okay, I have a few rules to lay out too.”
I peek at him. “Yeah?”
He nods and holds up a finger as he lists his rules. “Anything we do together is only to help you learn. If you want me to teach you anything in the bedroom, you’ll have to follow myotherrules. And most importantly, you can’t fall for me.”
