SWNOVELS Miss Belief: Chapter 13
“What the hell just happened?” I asked an empty room. I’d never seen Teagan react the way she had. So frazzled and, well, awkward. Had she freaked out about the impending kiss?
I blew air into my hand to double-check it hadn’t been my breath. Was she having second thoughts about doing this fake relationship? I knew I was. Almost daily. Not because I didn’t look forward to bringing her to the wedding but because of how my body had been reacting to hers.
Grab her ass.
I shook my head at her ridiculous request. Clearly, she’d been joking with me, but I wasn’t willing to cross that line. I wasn’t blind. Her ass was in fact spectacular, but appreciation and taking action were two different things.
It had been her idea to initiate the kiss, but maybe the thought of actually doing so with her boss had freaked her out at the last minute. Not for the first time, I wondered if putting her in this position was healthy for our work relationship.
Mulling it over, I became determined to let her off the hook. Attending the wedding solo would be difficult and somewhat painful, but it was only going to be a few days, and I was a grown man. I could handle seeing my ex and not let the pain over her betrayal dictate my self-esteem.
The next morning, I sent Teagan a text to cancel our gym meet. If I was calling this off, I’d do it in the office. Hell, that’s where this whole fake girlfriend idea had been born, so it was only fitting to end it in the same place. And something about donning a suit and tie made me feel more in control of this personal connection we’d been forming. It was one thing to become friendly with Teagan but quite another to fake kissing.
As soon as I saw the notification she’d logged in to her computer, I sent her a message to come into my office. The first thing I noticed was that she appeared tired. Maybe she truly had needed to go to a “thing” last night, and whatever it was had kept her out late. An expected tinge of jealousy hit me. I didn’t know what she did with her evenings or who she did it with. Did this have anything to do with the mark on her face? I had to remind myself it wasn’t any of my business. Especially if I was ending our agreement.
“Hi,” I started out, experiencing unexpected nerves.
“Hi. Sorry I’m late this morning.”
My lips tipped up. “You’re not late. I’m early for a change. How was your thing last night?”
“What thing?” she questioned before seemingly catching herself. “Oh, yeah, it was just a thing I had to do. I’d forgotten about it.”
I knew it. She’d been lying. “Mm, does this thing have a name?”
“Um, I was supposed to FaceTime my sister and niece and we set these times to eat dinner together—I mean dinner for me, breakfast for them because of the time difference, you know—so I had to go.”
“Ah.” Teagan was a terrible liar. She was rambling and wouldn’t meet my gaze. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately.”
Now her beautiful green eyes did focus on me.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea, after all, for you to go to the wedding and pretend to be my girlfriend. Please know I appreciate the offer, but I realized it’s asking too much.”
She arched a brow. “Are you fake breaking up with me?”
“It’s clear you weren’t comfortable last night. Asking you to kiss your boss is way too much.”
“It’s not too much. Here, let’s do it and just get it over with.” She moved closer to me.
“Here in the office?” My voice went up an octave.
“Why not? Not like I’m getting naked on your desk. Now kiss me, unless you’re the one freaking out about it?”