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“The rules are fine.”
I stand. “I’m not sure they are. Not for something more than a night of you being my girlfriend.”
“I’m not sure what would need to change,” she says.
Neither am I, exactly, but I do know it will need to be more if we actually want anyone who sees us on a semi-regular basis to believe it. Despite the influx of caffeine and carbs—or maybe because of it?—my brain is mush.
“I think we’ll need to discuss how to be more convincing,” I say. “Or how to behave at work. With the team. All that.”
Everything I’m saying is true, but I’m also not sure why I’m pushing this. To spend more time with Parker? To suss out what she really wants by pushing the fake angle? That doesn’t even make sense. Unless pretending could segue intonotpretending. Or at least help me figure out what Parker wants for real.
“Fine,” Parker says, playing with her thumb ring. She didn’t wear it last night but it’s back in place now, which strangely makes me feel more at ease. “We’ll discuss it in my office after filming?”
“Filming? You’re working today?”
She gives me the kind of chastising look that will serve her well one day if she ever has kids. “You’re working today too. You’ve got practice in an hour and then we’ve got our first big batch of filming after. Don’t tell me you forgot. Make sure you’re ready and pretty for the camera.”
I glower, and she laughs. Then, she hops up to the door and swings it wide open, gesturing me toward it.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to get rid of me,” I say, grabbing the Americano.
Or trying to get out of this conversation?
Her laugh is too loud. “I need to get ready. And so do you.”
She’s not wrong. But just like last night when we said goodbye, it feels like Parker is running away. Pushing me away as she goes.
I pause in the doorway. We’re standing close enough I can see the lighter brown flecks in her eyes, almost gold.
“I think the guys will ask questions,” I tell her.
“Felix already thinks I’m your girlfriend. What about the rest of the guys?”
“I don’t know. But we should probably make sure we’re on the same page about what this looks like.” I lean closer and lower my voice. “Because if you were mine, I’d be sure everyone knows it. There would be no question in anyone’s mind.”
Parker seems to sway a little on her feet. Her eyes seem fixed on a point behind me. I fully expect her to shove me out the door. To keep pushing me away, to keep running.
Then her gaze flicks up to mine. “And how would you do that, Logan?”
Lifting my free hand, I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. My fingertips sweep over her cheekbone, then along the line of her jaw. I watch color rise in her cheeks. I make note of the way her breathing quickens.
Fake, indeed.
“Many ways,” I tell her, dropping my hand. “I’d make sure people knew you were mine in so many ways.”
And it’s in that moment I decide to do just that. I might be a chicken and totally inexperienced in terms of how to have a relationship, but I’m going to make Parker mine. Maybe I won’t shove off the fake title yet; instead, I’ll use the guise of fake to get close for real. To make sure Parker knows what it would be like to be mine.
Parker blinks then, and as though waking from a dream, she shakes her head slightly and takes a big step away from me. Again.
“Save it for my office, Barnes,” she says sweetly, and then slams the door in my face.
CHAPTER20
Logan
If I hadany hopes that the guys wouldn’t have checked the internet before practice, they’re dashed immediately. But I’m surprised that instead of the guys trying to replace my clothes or something worse, I walk in to claps and cheers and slaps on the back.
They’ve even taped a whole group of congratulations balloons to my locker. Well—congratulations balloons and one that readsGet Well Soon. I hope that one is an accident and not a veiled threat from Nathan, who’s the only one not smiling and clapping.
