Page 47 of The Casanova Complex

It’s real.

The first real, genuine laugh I think that I’ve heard from her since we met. And fuck, I’m… enchanted.

That’s the cheesiest shit I’ve ever said in my life, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

Stabby Merritt is beautiful. Stunning, really.

But this version of her is breathtaking. Literally, I’m having a hard time sucking in air right now.

Even though she’s laughing at what I just said to her as if it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard in her life.

Yeah, sure, it might be kinda crazy, but I dunno what’s funny about it.

But it’s definitely the first time I’ve ever asked a girl to fake date me, and also the first time a girl has ever laughed at the prospect of dating me in any fashion.

Consider me humbled.

Well, as humbled as I can be, that is.

“Wait…” Merritt mumbles through her dramatic fits of wheezing and laughter. She sits straighter and sobers slightly. “You’re being serious?”

“Why would you think I’m not being serious?” I counter, lifting a brow.

She stares at me for a beat, her expression as if I’ve lost my mind. “Oh, I don’t know. Because you’re you? And because that’s fucking insane?”

“First of all, I would never joke about something as serious as our fake relationship. Second, I am capable of being serious about shit, Mer Bear. And I am serious about this.”

I shift on her bed, exhaustion creeping in as the adrenaline from tonight’s game has started to fade, leaving me so fucking tired.

“Yeah… no,” Merritt sputters with a half-hearted laugh. “No. That’s insane. Actually, you’re insane.” She shakes her head, her long, inky waves billowing. I resist the urge to reach out and wrap a silky piece around my finger.

I bet it would be so fucking soft. Just like her pale, creamy skin.

Focus, Bennett. For fuck’s sake.

“Need I remind you that you kissed me first?”

Her jaw flies open, the smooth space between her brows crinkling adorably. “Oh, so now suddenly I’m to blame for your insanity?”

My mouth twitches. “I mean…”

Suddenly, a lime-green pillow is hurdling toward me, smacking me directly in the face.

She threw a pillow at me.

A laugh tears out of me, and I toss it onto the bed, holding my hands up between us in mock surrender. “I was just joking, woman, chill!” Her brown eyes narrow, and her lips tighten into a scowl. “About it being your fault, I mean. Not about the fake dating part. And honestly, could you blame me though? That kiss…”

That fucking kiss.

I could say a hell of a lot more about kissing her, but I’m not that stupid. Next thing she throws will probably be that metal water bottle sitting on the nightstand beside her, and that one will definitely hurt.

Merritt rolls her eyes. “Okay, that’s it. Time for you to go.” She slides out from beneath the blankets and off the bed, giving me a delicious view of her smooth thighs that makes my dick twitch.

Jesus, she’s fucking perfect.

Not a word I throw around without merit… get it?

Focus, you asshole. Merritt’s legs are off-limits. No fantasizing about what they would feel like holding you in place between her thighs…