A sound, almost like a snicker, hit my ears and I whipped my gaze up to see Aiden standing behind Violet. “He’s not happy about that young buck out there eyeing up his girl.” He walked further down the bench, laughing darkly.
“His girl?” Violet’s eyes widened and her lips parted as she stared back at me. “Oh.” Her demeanor changed, switching to the actress role I’d come to recognize when others were around, and she waved off the comment. “Don’t worry babe, I only have eyes for you.” She stepped closer, placing her palms against my chest and popping up on her tiptoes.
Not this time. She was going to fake kiss me, keep it all within the act we needed to keep up, but I wanted to find out how soft her lips were for real.
I reached up and cupped the back of her head, holding her a few inches from my face. “Everyone’s watching,” I whispered, not knowing if anyone was actually watching or not. Either way, I didn’t care. “Better make it good.”
Her brows rose high on her forehead. “Yeah,” she breathed out.
I brought her closer, tilting my head, and slowly brushed my lips against hers. Once, twice, a third time—just because I wasn’t ready for it to end yet. She sighed against my mouth as I broke the kiss and pulled back.
Now that I’d gotten a taste, a real taste, I wanted more.
I shouldn’t. I couldn’t. But I did.
Chapter Twenty
VIOLET
“Like, hekissedme, kissed me.”
I finished laying out the amethyst points on my coffee table and looked across at Hattie. I really didn’t think she understood what I was trying to say. Not that I even understood how I felt. Other than when he’d kissed me it made my body tingle in all the right places, and then I had to act like it didn’t just make my legs feel shaky. Luckily, I didn’t have to endure standing there and overanalyzing the way he looked at me afterwards—like he wanted to do it again—because we got another out and I had to head to the outfield.
“Oh, I know. I’m pretty sure the whole town saw that kiss.” She picked up each crystal, turning them over in her hand. “These are gorgeous.”
“You like 'em?” I’d asked her if I could make amethyst necklaces for all the bridesmaids, to go with the purple dresses she’d picked out the prior weekend. She loved the idea, and I was thankful I had something else to focus on besides my asshole ex, my fake relationship that was starting to feel not so fake, and the arson investigation that had stalled again.
“Yes. They’re perfect.” She picked up her wineglass and brought the rose-colored liquid to her mouth, taking a sip. “So what’s your problem with the kiss?”
I shook my head, not sure how to explain it. “It, umm, didn’t feel fake, and I can’t stop thinking about it.”
She chuckled. “And how is that a problem?”
I rolled my eyes. “Wanting to kiss my fake boyfriend for real kind of defeats the purpose of the whole plan, remember?”
“Or you change the plan. Give yourself the opportunity to explore whatever is between you two. Because based on what I saw, there’s definitely something there.”
It was more complicated than that. Neither of us were in the right place for a relationship, right?
“He’s getting over an ex, too. And maybe the kiss didn’t affect him the way it did me.”
Hattie laughed. “Girl, Dylan said he thought Seth was going to stomp out onto that field, throw you over his shoulder, and go all caveman on poor Daniel.”
At first, I didn’t even understand why Seth was glaring. Once Aiden mentioned it, I just assumed he was playing his part. Then he kissed me and my mind turned to muck. And now? Now I wasn’t sure of anything. Maybe he was just better at this pretending crap than I was.
“Look, stop stressing.” Hattie reached over and covered my hands where I was focused on twisting the wire around one of the crystals. “Just let things unfold the way they’re meant to.”
“Now you sound like me.”
“Good. Bring on the positivity and joy and good luck of all your stones and the universe.”
I chuckled. “We’re supposed to go out again Friday night.”
“What crystal did you say is good for opening the heart to new love?”
I pointed to the delicate pink stone that sat in one of the trays. “Rose quartz.”
“Wear that Friday night,” she said with a wink.
