her soft lips.
“I guess kissing you wouldn’t be the absolute worst, most disgusting experience of my life.” She sniffs. “That would be the time I had to dispose of a dead skunk that lost a fight with our rooster.”
“Aw, keep sweet-talking me like that and I’m really going to fall for you.”
She replies with a fake, on-camera smile. “Can we just hurry up and get it over with?”
And just for that, when I lean in to kiss her, I give it my all. I cup her chin in my hand and caress her cheek with my thumb as my tongue caresses hers.
Our mouths melt together, and after a moment’s hesitation, she yields to me. When she lets out a low moan, it undoes me. I forget that we’re just acting, and I tangle my fingers in the back of her hair—or rather her wig. I wish I were holding her real hair. I remember its soft silkiness sliding through my fingers on a sunny day, and an intense longing fills my aching, lonely core.
Everything in the world falls away as I kiss her. All my problems and responsibilities melt to nothing, and hot desire rushes through my body. She tastes like wine, and my tongue leads hers in an intimate dance as I probe the silken cave of her mouth.
The lights of flashbulbs burst like stars against my closed lids. Somewhere, dimly, I hear the waiter loudly ordering people to stop, but I don’t care.
And then Callie pulls away and a faint chill drifts over me.
“Dessert?” I mutter, trying to gather my thoughts.
“I’m pretty full, but thank you.” Her eyes have a dazed expression, and it makes me glad to see that I wasn’t the only one who was affected.
I pay the bill quickly. The waiter apologizes profusely for the reporters who snuck in and who are now being escorted out, and also, again, for the water incident. I tell him it was nothing, and I sign my napkin for him. “You’re Juan in a million! Best wishes, S.M.”
Callie gives me a quick, surprised smile. “That was nice of you, to personalize it like that.”
Warmth wraps around me. She noticed. “I do it for every autograph I sign.”
“Really? What if his name was Sam?”
“I’d probably say ‘Sam’s the man!” I wince. “That’s kind of corny and stupid, I know.”
“Not at all.” Her sweet, genuine smile of approval pours over me and nourishes me in places that have been barren for so long I’d forgotten they existed. “It doesn’t have to be fancy. The fact that you take the time to do that is enough. I bet it absolutely makes their day. It’s very thoughtful of you. What if it was a woman named Rhonda?”
“I’m fonda Rhonda.”
She giggles behind her hand, and my heart sings. We’re walking past the reporters and I barely even notice them.
“Okay, that is pretty corny,” she admits. “What about a guy named…Linus?”
“Linus is the finest.”
She throws her head back and laughs out loud.
“Keep feeding them to me,” I say as I open the limo door. “I could go all night.”
For once, I’m not handing her a corny line. And I’m hoping she takes me up on it, because I don’t want this night to end.
Chapter Nine
Sebastian
“Operation Fake Date was a success,” Callie says as we pull away. “Don’t you think?”
Surprisingly, yes.
“It went pretty well.” Liar. That kiss blew your socks off.
“Let’s just drive for a while,” I say to the limo driver.
“What are we doing now?” She takes off her sunglasses and tucks them into the glasses case in her purse. Then she pulls out her phone and switches it back on. She turned it off for the duration of the dinner, which I appreciate.
“Meandering around town until the paparazzi get bored and stop following us.” That’s only partly true, though. My limo driver knows how to shake the press. I’m just coming up with excuses to prolong the date.
I put my arm around her as we drive. After an awkward minute, she relaxes and leans in. This time, the silence doesn’t feel awkward. It’s like it was back when I first met her, when we could just sit there in my van together, reading, listening to music, doing nothing, and the hours would fly by like seconds.
She looks around at the skyscrapers streaming past us, her expression dreamy. “So many lights. It’s like a field of stars.”
“Do you like the city?”
She purses her lips in thought, and I fight the urge to bend down and