Oh, Keep Your Shirt On - Michelle Pennington Page 0,46

totally usual thing. Luckily, the waitstaff had begun serving dinner. “Oh, good. Steak.”

Damien laughed. “I’m glad this isn’t affecting your appetite.”

I unfolded my napkin and draped it over my lap. “Are you kidding? I’m starving. All this acting takes a lot of energy.”

“Yeah.” His voice had taken on a defeated tone I didn’t understand.

Hadn’t we just rocked this whole fake-relationship thing?

Since I didn’t know the bride and groom, I only took a cursory interest in all the toasts and speeches. Damien listened intently, though, and laughed and clapped with enthusiasm. All too soon, I’d cleaned my plate while he’d only taken a few bites, so I began to eye his food.

The groom stood, his glass of champagne in hand and began a long, sappy declaration of love for his new wife. I took the chance to swipe a piece of asparagus off Damien’s plate. As I chewed it, I began to wonder if he’d notice if I stole part of his steak. I looked up at him to see where his eyes were. He must have felt my gaze because he immediately shifted his eyes to meet mine.

As our gazes held, I heard the groom say, “And now, let’s get this reception over with. I’m ready to get Isabella all to myself and get the rest of the night started.”

The room burst into laughter. Damien chuckled too, his eyes darting away momentarily to the front of the room again.

I took the opportunity to swipe his untouched roll.

But Damien caught my wrist. “Oh no you don’t.” Then he pried my fingers open and took it back. But since he was a sweet guy, he tore it in half. He even offered the top half—the best part—back to me.

“Thanks. If there’s anything else you feel like sharing…”

He ended up giving me half his steak and several roasted red potatoes. By the time we’d finished his food, the lights were dimmed and half the guests had moved to the dance floor. All at once, his mom was at the table.

“Damien, come dance with me.”

He glanced sideways at me with a very speaking expression but dropped his napkin on his plate without another word and stood up. “Of course.”

I watched them dance, trying to figure out how I felt about his mom. She was a pretty woman for her age, and as much as she’d made it clear that she didn’t like me, I couldn’t doubt that she truly loved her son. And he obviously loved her too, even if she was currently annoying him by trying to manage his love life. No doubt she was a perfectly lovely woman to Victoria.

Sitting in the back, in the dark, I felt very much like an outsider looking in. Which was what I was, but I still hated the feeling. Why did I feel so possessive and protective toward Damien? It wasn’t good, and it was definitely something I needed to nip in the bud.

But then the song ended, and Victoria came up to Damien and his mom. The two women must have planned it, because all at once, they were obviously pressuring Damien to dance with her. Short of walking away from them, there wasn’t much he could do.

It was the one thing Damien had specifically asked me to protect him from, but for some reason I wanted to see the two of them together. It was sort of like when I was a little girl and used to hold my finger close to the flame on a candle to figure out when it would start to hurt.

Victoria was taller than I was, especially in her heels, and with her full chest and tiny waist, she was the perfect complement to Damien’s well-built, masculine lines. They were yin and yang, the perfect representation of an ideal couple. And Victoria knew how to make the most of her long lashes as she looked up at him. But Damien? He was looking at me.

“They make a beautiful couple, don’t they?”

I didn’t jump at the sound of Damien’s mom’s voice, but I did flinch. Where had she come from?

“In an artistic sense, sure,” I said. “But since he doesn’t love her, that’s as far as it goes. Sorry.”

Was I being harsh? Sure. But she had come over here to put me in my place. So I wasn’t actually sorry.

“You’re so sure he loves you?”

I pulled my eyes away from Damien and looked at her. “Let me save you some trouble. I know you plan to point out every