Fake Boyfriend - Miley Maine Page 0,9

I wanted to lay my head on his shoulder, but I restrained myself. I opened the album I was most proud of.

There were an array of photos. A few that were local, like the botanical gardens in Atlanta, and a few national landmarks like the waterfalls in Yosemite, and the view from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Then he got to my international photos. I had a dolphin in Belize, the iconic Amalfi Coast in Greece, and a cafe in Belarus.

“Is that Minsk? In Belarus?” he asked, pointing to the photos.

“Yes. I visited with my dad. He had a business trip to Poland, so we made the rounds. I’m assuming you’ve been to that cafe if you recognized it.”

Jackson didn’t say anything. His eyes looked kind of far away. I didn’t think we had any troops in Belarus, but what did I know? Something had caught his attention. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said, but he didn’t keep scrolling through the photos.

I was a master at changing the subject. “You want those photography lessons now?”

He rubbed his face. “Yes.”

I felt bad. That photo had obviously bothered him, but I was going to act like nothing happened. That was always a reliable strategy. “First, do you have any photos you can show me? So I can see what we need to work on?”

He pulled his phone out and scrolled for a few seconds then handed it to me. “Hmm. I see what you mean.” All of his photos were really far away. “I can’t tell who anyone is. I can definitely teach you.” For the next forty-five minutes, I explained techniques to him. How to frame a shot, and the best way to capture the focal point.

By the time I was done, he didn’t have that weird look on his face any more. “Just wait. Everyone’s going to be really impressed when you start taking great photos.”

He laughed. “I’m sure my team will really appreciate it. Actually, my buddy’s wife will. She’s always getting onto us because she says we all look the same in the pictures. Next time we’re deployed I’ll make him do a photoshoot and I’ll send them to her.”

“Are you married?” I asked. It felt a little personal, asking that, but if he was married, I’d back off. If I were Jackson’s wife, I would not be happy to see another woman sitting so close to him. Especially if I knew she was fantasizing about him, and trying to stay close enough to breathe in the scent of his cologne.

“No. No wife,” he said.

“Girlfriend?” Now I was just being nosy.

“No. No girlfriend either. What about you?”

“I’m single. Very single.”

“Recent breakup?”

“Nope. No breakups.”

“None at all?” he asked.

“I’ve dated. But I’ve never had a serious relationship.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“No. There’s not. But it’s not because I chose it. I would have happily dated. But my overbearing parents made it tough,” I explained.

“You are twenty-two now. You can tell them to leave you alone. Or just not tell them what you’re doing. That’s what most people do.”

That wasn’t an option until now, thanks to me not putting my foot down. And while my parents had never threatened to cut me off financially, or quit paying for my college tuition if I didn’t do what they wanted, the threat was implied. “You know, it took me awhile to get there, but I’ve finally arrived.”

“That’s great. No one should live by someone else’s rules.”

“Perfectly said. So, tell me. Do you have any dating advice?”

“Are you asking me because I look old?”

“No! You don’t look old. How old are you anyway?” I could tell he was over thirty, but I wasn’t sure of his exact age.

“Thirty-six.”

Oh fuck. That did something to me on the inside. I pressed my thighs together as a familiar liquid heat rushed through my body. Interest had never been a problem. I’d always been interested in men, especially men that were significantly older than me.

In college, the professors were the ones that turned me on, not the annoying frat boys. I’d even had a few hot bodyguards that I’d have been thrilled to kiss during college, but that would never have happened. My dad wouldn’t have had them killed, but he’d have made sure they never worked again in the United States.

There was no way I could jeopardize anyone’s career like that.

Besides, Jackson was far better looking, and had a far better personality than any of those guys had.

“Are you too shocked at my old age