His face twists. “No. I would never say that.”
I sigh and put my hands over my face. “I’ll think it, then.” With my hands cupped over my face, my breath is hot against my skin.
Then I feel a hand tug mine down, and Lucas is looking at me like I hang the stars. “Don’t think about my girlfriend like that,” he says so quietly I wonder if I heard him right.
My breath catches—he just named something neither of us has dared to. It feels like a wish spoken out loud.
“Girlfriend?” I repeat, hating how unsteady I sound. “Is that where the line is?”
“Hey, that’s my question,” he says, holding onto the hand he pulled from my face. His thumb rubs circles on the back of my hand, like he’s imprinting himself there. “And yeah, that’s clearly the line. Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is.” A smile pulls at my lips. “One week.”
“One week till you’re single,” he corrects. “Then we get to start this right.”
I’m about to whimper again when Lucas tips my face toward his.
“It’s okay. We’ll transition to ‘being friends,’ and then ‘hanging out,’ and before you know it, we’ll be making out on road trips.”
Heat surges from where we’re touching, electrifying every nerve from top to bottom. “I literally cannot wait.”
“Quinn, you have no idea.” He’s staring at my mouth, and his gaze only makes me flare hotter. I push up from the table, mesmerized by the hunger on his face.
“I promise you?—”
The door swings open, and before I can even jump back, I hear the sound of a phone camera clicking.
My stomach drops to the floor.
Above his phone, Jake’s face is brick red.
Lucas and I have frozen in place like statues—six inches apart, hands almost touching. Heat claws up my neck as Jake closes the door.
“We gotta talk,” Jake says.
Lucas takes a step in front of me, holding his hands up like he’s protecting me. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
Jake stalks up to him, his shoulders up around his ears in a way I know anyone else would find intimidating. When he reaches Lucas, Lucas stands taller as Jake tries to look past him at me.
“You’re not touching her,” Lucas growls.
“Touching—what are you talking about?” Confusion makes Jake’s forehead jump, and he tries to look past Lucas again to see me, but Lucas is blocking him. Jake rolls his eyes hard. “Stand down, bro. I don’t care about you guys. I care about you being idiots. Anyone could’ve walked into this room. Scot, you promised to help me.”
I bump my head against Lucas’s back, grabbing his arms and squeezing. “It’s okay,” I say before taking two steps around Lucas to face Jake.
I can feel Lucas behind me, the heat of him, the barely contained stillness of someone who wants to act and won’t. He promised me a line. He’s holding it even now, even here, while I step in front of him the way I always step in front of everyone.
I wonder if he recognizes what I’m doing.
I wonder ifIdo.
The three of us are standing in an awkward triangle, except Jake has dismissed Lucas from the equation entirely.
“So, anything to say for yourself?” Jake asks.
Irritation claws up my throat, but I swallow it down. “Nope. I’m just trying to survive fake dating you while I have feelings for someone else. No big deal.”
“I can’t afford for this to get messy,” he says. “This isn’t fair.”
