She nods. “Yes.” Then she brushes her hair behind her ear and blushes. “You remembered.”
Oh hell. Telling them that we’re dating was supposed to kill this kind of behavior. Clearly, I need to turn it up a notch.
I place my hand on Simon’s chest and lean into him. “Early doesn’t bother us. We’re happy to have you.”
I kiss his cheek again and step toward Marcy. “Should we go see what the boys are up to while Simon finishes setting up?”
“Oh,” Marcy waves a hand. “I’ll go check on them so that you can help Simon.”
With that, she spins and heads outside.
As soon as I’m sure she’s out of earshot, I cross my arms.
“Why didn’t you text me?”
“Because.” He lets his eyes linger on me a moment longer and then shakes his head. “Shall we?”
He moves past me, but I’m hot on his heels.
“This won’t work if you blindside me again.”
“I don’t plan on blindsiding you again.”
“Um, the party starts at one and has no end time. We could be here all night dodging questions.”
“Just come up with generic answers as close to the truth.”
He reaches into a cabinet to pull out paper plates.
“Sounds so romantic. Should I add in how the first two times we kissed, you stopped it to apologize?”
He turns to face me slowly, a scowl on his face as he crosses his arms.
“I thought we cleared that up.”
“Did we?”
“Yes,” he answers and continues setting things up on the table.
“Weird, because the only thing I understand right now is your need to hold dominance in the bedro?—”
He moves so swiftly, when his hand covers my mouth, you can barely hear my gasp.
“Good. At least we’re on the same page for that. As for the other stuff, just wing it. Can you do that?”
I nod.
He removes his hand, and his gaze drops to my lips. He takes a breath and one of his hands brushes my hips.
“Besides,” he says, stepping around me. “We don’t need to be romantic.”
“Simon,” I shake my head. “You write romance novels. You know how to be romantic, and it will be a total letdown if you have no romantic skills in real life. No one wants that.”
“Perfect.” He shuts the cabinet and looks me in the eyes. “Maybe they won’t hit on me anymore. Isn’t that the whole reason for this plan?”
I hold his gaze and nod. “Well, personally, I’d never date a man who isn’t a romantic.”
“We aren’t dating.”
