“Don’t try to hide it.” I nudged her knee with mine.
She leaned onto her elbows, matching my posture. “I always assumed you were this grumpy, snarky, stoic person.”
“I am. But okay, it’d become a game with you. I admit it. To know that I could get under your skin is fun.” The corner of my mouth twitched.
“I started doing the same with you because I could tell you enjoyed annoying me.”
I tapped her fingers hanging close to my hands. Her skin was so soft. I couldn’t stop touching her. “What do you think of me now?”
She peered right into my soul with those beautiful, dark eyes. “I think you’re kind of nice. Maybe even rom-com cheesy.”
“That makes me boyfriend material, you know?”
“I thought you were my boyfriend.”
In all this fraud dating, I found myself wishing it weren’t so fake. That these sensations coursing through me were real reactions. That these moments were true, and that these sparks between us were everlasting.
“And what do you think of me now?” she asked.
I touched her bare knee, daring but irresistible. Her gaze darted to where we made contact, but she didn’t move away. “I think you’re still an effervescent smart-ass.”
“Lovely,” she jested. “Quite romantic.”
My thumb stroked the inside of her knee. Her breath hitched. Her eyes flashed to mine. “I love your reactions to me.”
“When you’re pushing my buttons?”
“Yep.”
My hand glided higher up her knee, moving to her outer thigh until I felt the underside of her chair and dragged it toward me. Bane squeaked, grasping my biceps as my right knee slipped in between her legs. Her eyes fluttered. Her chest moved in and out in mesmerizing bursts.
I leaned forward, touching my forehead to hers, my hands finding their way to her soft, warm thighs. Her hold on my arms tightened.
“I really want to kiss you,” I muttered against her cheek, where I could hear her panting. “So I need you to tell me not to.”
“I will do no such thing.” Her hand moved to the nape of my neck and clutched my hair.
“Bane,” I groaned.
She turned her head slightly, our mouths closer to alignment. “Yes?”
I dug my fingers into her thighs. “To be clear: You want me to kiss you.”
“To be clear: You want to kiss me.”
I chuckled, my lips grazing her jaw. “Smart-ass to the end.”
“All talk…”
“Yeah?” I dragged my lips down her jaw.
She gasped. “Yep.”
Until our mouths met. A slow, burning caress. A soft, tender kiss. It seemed to be something I’d waited my entire life for.
Her lips tasted like cherries, sweet, succulent. Her presence consumed me.
My left hand slid up, underneath the hem of her shorts, my other hand at her neck as she released a sigh against my lips. She was so damn perfect.
I opened her mouth with mine, darting my tongue inside, eager to find out what her tongue tasted like when she let out a moan.
And then her phone pinged in three rapid successions.
Flustered, Bane pulled back. “We…um…”
“Shit,” I mumbled.
“Right.” She jumped to her feet and hurried inside.
I dragged a hand down my face. I was such an idiot.
We weren’t really dating; that much was clear. We were coworkers returning to our real lives in a matter of days, to our bickering rivalry and competition for PM. This was all a fantasy, and we both knew what reality was like.
I was not her rom-com.
Twenty-five Bhanu
Oh my lord, what was happening? Why was my body on fire, my skin burning, my goodies aching, my wheels lubricated like they were trudging through a monsoon? I didn’t even know what to do with myself…I mean, sure, I did know what I’d do to myself if I were alone, or better yet, let Sunny finish what he’d started.
