Hot SEAL, Heartbreaker - Cat Johnson Page 0,28
handed the bottle of red wine he’d brought to Jen. “My contribution to dinner. I hope it’s okay. I didn’t know if there was vegan wine or not.”
She waved away his concern. “No worries. We’re not true vegans. Yet. It’s just so much healthier, I decided to try out a few recipes.”
“And lucky you. You get to try it with us.” Jason had leaned in close to deliver that, proving he wasn’t as excited about the menu as Jen was.
He smiled. So this was what having siblings was like. Not much different from having teammates from what he could see, so maybe he wasn’t missing all that much by being an only-child.
“Get you a beer?” Jason asked, hooking a thumb in the direction of the kitchen.
“Sure. I’d love one.” He noticed Jen had already whisked Alicia off in that direction and added, “I’ll come with you.”
Alicia would probably need his help by now. She wasn’t the smoothest when it came to deception.
When he entered the kitchen right behind Jason, it was to see a wide-eyed expression of panic on Alicia’s face.
Shit. That hadn’t taken long.
All eyes on him, he moved next to her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders.
“What’s going on in here?” he asked with an air of casual interest.
“I was just asking Alicia what your last name is since Jason and I were talking before and he was wondering if you have any Navy friends in common,” Jen said.
“And I told her that I couldn’t give her your last name because you’re a SEAL and those sort of things are classified,” Alicia added.
His lips twitched with a smile at her bullshit attempt to cover the fact she didn’t know his name.
Of all the things they’d covered, all the rules they’d made for this fake relationship, he realized now they’d never exchanged last names.
“It’s okay, baby. I don’t think your family is a security risk. It’s Anderson.”
Jason nodded and handed him the beer. He took it and said thanks before Jason went back around the counter to help Jen open the bottle of wine.
He took that time to lean down and kiss Alicia’s cheek, mainly so he could whisper, “Good try.”
He decided it might be fun to remind her of something else.
“And I don’t know your last name either.”
Her eyes had already been wide with terror at nearly getting caught in a lie over something as simple as not knowing his last name. But when she realized he didn’t know hers either, they got comically larger.
Finally, she got herself together and after a glance at her sister and brother-in-law, who were now in the midst of arguing over if the lasagna should remain covered with foil or uncovered in the oven, she mouthed, “Lopez.”
Enjoying this second fake date even more than he had the first, he smiled. “Good to know.”
That could be ticked off the long list of all the other things he’d like to get to know about Alicia. And hopefully would be able to in the course of their fake relationship, which was proving more fun than he’d ever imagined.
He should have started fake dating years ago.
Although there was one problem with this fake dating stuff. The lack of sex was definitely not ideal.
He was entering blue ball territory between his celibate deployment and now his sex-less fake relationship.
That was something he thought a lot about as he drove her home after dinner, dropped her off without so much as a good night kiss and as he drove back to his own lonely apartment.
Unfortunately, all that thinking didn’t yield an acceptable solution.
The idea of a fling with a stranger while fake dating felt like cheating.
He didn’t want to end the good thing that he had with Alicia, even if it was sexless. But as long as he stayed with her he didn’t feel right being with anyone else. Even for one night.
By the time he crawled into bed, alone and needy, he’d changed his mind. Fake dating sucked.
THIRTEEN
“Are you ever going to have time to hang out with me again?” Shelly asked.
“Me?” Alicia’s eyes flew wide. “You’re the one who canceled on me twice in a row. And who worked late tonight.” Which was why they were catching up about their respective weeks on the phone instead of drinking at McP’s.
“And you’re the one who just told me you had couples’ night at your sister’s Sunday with your new man.”
So many things were wrong with that statement she didn’t know where to start. “He’s not my