Page 17 of The Best Bad Decision

They’d gotten the timing wrong.

Their dramatically slow walk to the car and the way Valerie carefully lowered herself into the passenger seat took up more time than they’d expected and it seemed like Atlee had gotten off work earlier than even I’d guessed. He was as smart as he was sexy and didn’t miss their theatrics as he leaned against his car, catching the last of their performance.

The way he crossed his arms over his chest and glared was sexier than he probably understood, so he had my motor running before he’d started crossing the street. By the time he got to the porch, I was itching to have my hands on him but had to behave. “They put on quite the show.”

He grumbled something low under his breath but got control of his frustration as he climbed the stairs. “Are you okay?”

Oh, he was adorable.

“Yes, their performance was focused on looking pathetic and shifting the narrative. I’m sure they’ll try loud and obnoxious next time.” I hoped so at least. That’d be more fun. “For some reason they thought I’d be stupid enough to let them in my house.”

He frowned, rant stopping before it could get started. “What?”

“I know.” Shrugging, I reached out and grabbed his tie to pull him closer. “They need to do better at planning next time. They had no idea what to do when I said no.”

Every plan needed contingencies.

That finally had a smile peeking out as he stood right in front of me. “Did you have fun making them feel like idiots?”

He was starting to know me too well. “Yes.”

My honesty got a laugh and a quick peck from Atlee. His confidence was growing and it was sexy too. “I know you handled it perfectly yourself, but I’m sorry they’re…ridiculous.”

That was one word for it.

“You’ll just have to make it up to me later.” We both seemed to be ignoring the whole fake relationship aspect as he kissed my cheek again. “That’s a start.”

Something was brewing behind his eyes, but I wasn’t going to randomly guess. Besides his obvious frustration with the drama queens, there was nothing in his behavior that said he was stressed with me. In fact, a tiny smile peeked out as he sighed. “I’ll have to try harder then.”

Interesting.

Before I could tease him again, his expression shifted to slightly more thoughtful. “But I have a feeling you’ll be able to tell me exactly how to please you.”

Hmm.

Was he finally ready to stop dancing around the whole not really that vanilla conversation? He’d been in a mostly processing kind of mode since our first date, so I hadn’t wanted to rush him.

“I’d be more than happy to spell that out for you.” And I’d love to get a peek into what he was thinking as well. “First, I think I need to feed you, though.”

I’d quickly come to learn that he had a bad habit of skipping lunch to get more work done and he looked a bit too worn down, even for a Friday.

Yes…there was that sheepish smile.

“What sounds good to you?” He tried to distract me and it shouldn’t work, but I thought his hand in the cookie jar expression was cute. “You mentioned steaks the other day.”

He had a very good memory for little details because that’d been a tiny comment when we were checking the mail at the same time.

“That sounds good.” Part of me wanted to suggest staying home for a quiet evening but I wasn’t sure where we were at.

Fake dating needed public dating…but real intimacy and BDSM needed privacy at some point.

“Great.” His bright expression was so cute I couldn’t help giving him another kiss before releasing my hold on him. “Give me about twenty minutes?”

Hmm.

“You’re very distracting like that…I need half an hour if I’m handling business myself or twenty if you’re helping me handle it later.” His head cocked and for a moment he had a confused puppy expression.

That quickly shifted as his eyes went wide and heat flashed through him. “I.”