Needing Happily Ever After - Elena Aitken Page 0,26

Damon he’d always been. Their relationship was exactly the same as it had always been. Friends. There was nothing between them. It was pretend. That was all.

And that’s what she kept telling herself as she threw her clothes and her school books into a duffel bag. By the time she was done packing and had rejoined the others in the living room, just in time to say goodnight, she’d actually convinced herself of it. They were only friends. There was nothing between them. Nothing real. Just a little lie that they needed to keep playing at for a little bit longer and then they could go right back to being Damon and Katie, best friends.

They said their good-byes and were almost home free as they walked away from the house toward Damon’s truck and freedom from what had been the hardest part of the whole deception so far when Damon paused with his hand on the truck door he’d been about to open for her. “They’re all watching,” he said through his smile. “Let’s give them something to watch.”

Before Katie could ask him what he meant, he pulled her close with one hand while the other cupped her cheek. And then he was kissing her. Really kissing her. In an instant, everything fell away and Katie forgot about the fact that her family was watching them, or that it wasn’t supposed to be real. Her knees actually buckled a little, but Damon held her tight. He tasted faintly of the coffee they’d had after their meal as his tongue slipped between her lips and found hers. There was nothing pretend about this kiss. Absolutely. Nothing.

It was as real as it got and when he finally pulled his mouth away from hers, she was completely speechless. Her breath came in short bursts and her heart raced.

“That was perfect,” Damon whispered against her lips before pulling back, and opening the truck door for her. He helped her up and inside, and somehow she managed to regain her senses long enough to buckle her seat belt and wave out the window as they drove away.

It was perfect, all right. Katie swallowed hard and forced herself not to look at him.

And that was going to be a problem.

Okay, maybe he didn’t have to kiss her.

But with her family standing there watching them, it wasn’t a bad idea to make sure that they really looked like a young couple in love, right?

That was the story Damon told himself all the way back up the mountain to ElkView while they drove in silence. He’d kissed her just to keep up the act. Nothing more. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that ever since the first time his lips touched hers, his entire body had yearned to have her in his arms again.

No. It had nothing to do with that.

And he was a big fat liar.

Damon bit his lip and said a series of completely inappropriate things to himself in his head as he punched in the code for the gate and steered the truck the short distance to the cottage. He was being an asshole. A selfish asshole, which, as far as he was concerned, was the worst kind. It was bad enough he’d asked Katie to participate in this ridiculous lie for his personal benefit, but to confuse the situation even further by being so completely attracted to her? That was over the line. He needed to rein himself in. And fast. It wasn’t fair to Katie.

“Here we are,” he said in an overly cheerful voice that sounded brash and obnoxious in the silence of the truck. “Can I grab your things?”

She looked at him for the first time since they’d left the ranch and shook her head slightly, as if she’d just come out of a daze. “It’s okay. I’ve got it.”

Damon jumped out of the truck and ran around to the back to grab her bags, at the same moment that she got there.

“I’ve got them, Damon. Really.”

“No.” He reached for her duffel at the same time she did. “I in—”

His hand touched hers and a shock went through him at what should have been an innocent touch. Her fingers lingered on his hand. He looked first at her hand, and then into her brown eyes, wide with shock. Did she feel it too? Was it…what…

“Okay,” she said quickly as she pulled her hand back and broke whatever little spell had come over them. “If you insist. You’re welcome to