“Perfect!” I say, clapping my hands together. “I guess that means you can come to family dinner Saturday night.”
“What?” Emery asks, panic laced in her voice. I was planning on telling her about Emma’s invitation tonight, but I didn’t know her sister would be in town. Knowing Emery, I bet she was planning on avoiding me all weekend. She should know she can’t escape me. But not in a creepy way…unless she’s into that.
“Sorry, babe,” I apologize, taking a giant step forward. I give her a pointed look before she nods, permitting me to crush her into an inescapable side hug. “But I couldn’t say no. Emma has already started prepping for tomorrow. She’s a little too excited.”
“Already meeting the family, Ree?” Eve questions, quirking a single brow. “I thought you weren’t that serious.”
Emery stiffens against my side. “We’re not,” she says, tripping over her words. She glares up at me for back-up.
I grin wide. “That depends on what you consider serious. If being utterly obsessed with someone counts, then yeah, I’d say we’re pretty serious.”
Eve looks down her chin and analyzes me carefully. It’s the type of look that would make most guys sweat, but it’s a good thing that I’m not most guys.
“You’re a freak,” Emery hisses under her breath, trying to break away from me, but I squeeze her tighter.
“A freak for you, babe,” I say, leaning down and giving her a quick butterfly kiss on her nose. When I pull back, she looks like she wants to kill me, and weirdly, that makes my heart flutter.
“So, family dinner,” Eve says slowly, pulling our attention back to her. “Sounds fun. We’ll be there.”
Emery shoots her sister a look, and they exchange one of those secret telepathic conversations with lots of flared nostrils and pointed stares.
“Eve, can you give us a second? I need to talk to myboyfriend,” she says sweetly, pinching my hip enough to make me yelp and jump away. Why did this woman enjoy hurting me?
“Sure,” Eve says, surprising me with the ease of her answer. “I’m going to head back to your place. The sexual tension in here is starting to make me uncomfortable.”
She has no idea.
Emery cranes her neck to make sure Eve is out the door before taking both hands and shoving me away. “Are you crazy?”
I let out a small chuckle and shake my head. “What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is,” she begins, taking one finger and poking my chest. “I told my sister we weren’t serious, and now you’re inviting her to a family dinner. I didn’t even want to tell her about us, but you fucked it all up. I thought I could take a short break from our fake relationship, but now I haveto lie to her the entire weekend. I hate lying to my sister, Knox.”
Her voice trails off at the end and her stare sinks to the ground. Without thinking, I reach out and hook a finger under her chin, lifting her eyes to mine.
“Hey. I get it. But I’m not asking you to do this by yourself. We’re in this together, and if she starts drilling you with questions, I’m happy to take the attention off you.”
She relaxes, and I drop my hand to my side, still keeping close. “You do love attention,” she laughs, making my heart beat faster. I love it when she drops the hard-ass act.
“Exactly,” I smile, searching for more words to help ease the stress clearly visible on her forehead. “Plus, it’s only until Sunday. After that, you can tell her you dumped my ass because I’m too sweet or too hung. I’ll let you decide.”
Emery’s cheeks turn an innocent shade of pink, but she tones it down with a classic eye roll. “You’re an idiot.”
“Technically, I’m your idiot for a few more weeks,” I wink, leaning into the sweet scent of cherries and white jasmine, “and you better get it together before tomorrow. You’re meeting my dad, and he’s the one we really need to fool.”
“Right,” she says, sucking in a nervous breath. “I’ll just give you permission to touch me now, so we don’t have to deal with any awkward pauses.”
My hands shake at my side, already itching to take her up on that offer. She is truly playing with fire, and I’m tempted to test every boundary tomorrow night.
Almost as if she can read my mind, she says, “But none of that cringey stuff. No Knoxery. No butterfly kisses. And absolutely no talking about being obsessed with me. It’s a little much.”
“Oh, come on, Bambi,” I tease, tilting my head. “Don’t tell me you don’t like it when I act like I worship the ground you walk on.”
I’m not a relationship expert, but I thought that’s whatgirls liked. Hell, I’ve even used it to get what I want more than once. However, Emery is different. She isn’t the type who needs over-the-top confessions of love all the time.
“Whatever,” she says, making her way toward the door. “Just don’t make me regret this.”
I smile and let her walk away, biting back the urge to tell her just how wrong she is. I will never let her regret me again. But for now, I settle for being the idiot she loves to hate.
