Page 47 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

“So you came on the show to flex your competitive skills?”

Her laughter faded into a muted grin as she stared at me.

“You know why I came on the show, D’Vaughn. You just want to act like you don’t for some reason.”

Suddenly, I felt like we had been transported into a room with no window or doors, where the air was vacuumed out of it. My chest heaved as I returned her gaze, wishing I could look away but her intense brown eyes preventing me from doing so. Of course, I knew the reason she’d come on the show. Well, I knew what she told everyone that first night, and I’d strategically avoided mentioning it since then for all of the reasons I initially didn’t want to be matched with her and also because I was an s-word that rhymed with bared. Just as I’d predicated, Kris had the type of personality that could make a girl lose her head quickly.

I swallowed down a lump in my throat as Kris pushed off of her car.

“I’m just wondering,” she murmured as she took measured steps toward me, “why is that.”

When she touched my car, placing a hand on either side of my head as she licked her lips and waited for my response, I wondered what exactly that li’l play-prayer I’d said during my first Jitter Cam had gotten me into. Kris was walking sex and the wetness between my thighs demanded to see her in action.

“The camera...” I whispered, trying to remind myself as much as her.

“Fuck that camera,” she said nonchalantly, her plush lips curved up enticingly. “Answer my question.”

“Um...what was the question again?” I may or may not have been distracted by her face being so close to mine and just wanted to see those lips moving again.

“Why you playin’ with me?”

Finally giving in to my body’s incessant demand to touch her, I shook my head as I settled my hands at her waist.

“I’m not. Your mouth made me lose my train of thought.”

Her grin widened and she leaned closer to me, moving from her hands to her elbows but still managing to leave a foot of space between our bodies.

“I asked why you keep pretending that you don’t know why I came on the show.”

“Oh yeah,” I murmured, rubbing my hands up and down her sides. “It’s not that I’m pretending that I don’t know... I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do with that information.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. You came on the show to find the love of your life. Okay. I know that. Now what?”

“Now you let me do my thing.”

I laughed. “Let you? Kris, how could I stop you from doing anything? Outside of our families and close friends, no one knows about our engagement. You’re kind of free to do whatever you want, as long as you’re discreet. I mean, the contract didn’t say anything about us dating anyone and we don’t even see each other outside of these scheduled tasks. The ring comes off and you’re free to find whatever you’re looking for without me hindering you.”

It was safer to let her know up-front that I would be cool with her searching, instead of being blindsided like I’d been in the past. I’d been that foolish girl who thought I was in a committed relationship only to find out that my girlfriend was prowling for someone who didn’t tuck away their terms of endearment when around their family. This situation wasn’t exactly parallel, but try as I might to deny it, I was already feeling way more than I should for Kris and there was no way it didn’t end badly for me. If the cameras weren’t around, I was certain that she would have turned back the first time I stepped away from her, when my mama climbed out of her car earlier.

For a moment she didn’t say anything, just stared at me with her brows furrowed as if she didn’t understand what I’d said. Maybe she hadn’t expected my response, but I couldn’t fathom answering any other way. How ridiculous would I look trying to lay claim to a fake fiancée? Even with all of our chemistry and the way her lips fit so well against mine, she wasn’t truly mine, despite the secret whispering in the back of my mind that said she could be if I wanted her to. I knew better than that optimistic voice. A woman like Kris had to have a certain kind of woman on her arm and I wasn’t anything like that woman. I mean, not even half an hour earlier, I’d been prepared to run across the parking lot just to put some space between us because I didn’t want my mama to see me being hugged up with another woman.

No. I felt fairly confident that the woman Kris would fall in love with would be someone who was bold and secure in who she was. Not someone like me who saved my more outgoing self for the bedroom.

“Okay,” Felix drawled, his voice breaking through the awkward silence that had fallen over us. “That’s all I need.”

Grateful for an excuse to peel myself away from Kris’s piercing stare, I turned to him and smiled.

“You were right. That was only a few minutes.”

His eyebrows rose and he flicked his gaze from me to Kris, who lowered her arms from my car and went back to leaning against her own.

“Yeah. It seems like that was actually too much time.”

“Shiiid,” Kris drawled, “you ain’t lyin’.”

After passing a narrowed look between the two of them, I pulled out my phone to check the time.