Chapter Ten
Jay felt her stiffen beside him, and he wondered if no one else had ever asked her the question. But after a barely perceptible hesitation, Alyssa said, “I hide my scars because they’re ugly.”
He scowled into the darkness. “Who told you they’re ugly?”
“I didn’t need to be told—I’ve seen them.”
But he knew her well enough now to sense that there was more to the story, and he hated to think that anyone had ever made this strong, beautiful woman feel as if she was anything less than that.
“Show me,” he said gently.
She immediately shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“I know you’re probably thinking I just want to get a closer look at your breasts, but that’s only part of the reason.”
She smiled. “I’m going to change the subject now and tell you that I had a good time tonight.”
And because he’d never wanted to make her uncomfortable, he followed her lead. “I did, too—for the most part.”
“Does your mom really not cook?” she asked curiously.
“She really doesn’t,” he confirmed. “I ate a lot of pizza and cold cereal growing up.”
She looked so horrified, he had to laugh. “I’m kidding. Not about my mother not cooking—that’s the truth. But Celeste, the housekeeper-slash-nanny, made sure there was a hot meal on the table every night.”
“We really do come from different worlds,” she noted. “And, in my world, morning comes early.”
“I should be more aware of school nights when I’m dating a teacher,” he remarked.
“Fake dating,” she reminded him.
Except that this pretend relationship with Alyssa was starting to feel more real to Jay than anything else he’d experienced in a long time.
* * *
After dinner with Jason’s family, Alyssa got the sense that something had changed in their relationship. She’d seen a side of him she’d never noticed before, observed some interesting family dynamics and glimpsed vulnerabilities she never would have guessed lurked beneath his veneer of self-confidence. And the more she learned about him, the more she liked him.
Of course, watching him with his parents and sister, she also couldn’t help but compare his family to her own. She hadn’t grown up with the kind of wealth that was evident in every brick of their home and every designer thread on his mother’s back, but she’d never had cause to doubt the love or support of her family.
Which only made her feel guiltier about her deception. And the closer it got to the date of her parents’ visit, the more nervous she was about introducing them to her boyfriend. She wanted them to like Jason, though she knew it didn’t really matter whether they did or didn’t, so long as they believed Alyssa liked him.
And she did.
She was also powerfully attracted to him.
Spending time with Jason, being touched and kissed by him, made her body ache for so much more. Maybe she didn’t fully appreciate the pleasures that could be shared by a man and a woman, but she yearned to know. And with each day that passed, that yearning continued to grow.
“When are your parents getting in?” Jason’s question drew her back to the present as they hit the halfway mark of their run Friday morning.
“Their flight is scheduled to land just after two o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”
“We’ve got a big event on Saturday, but I can ask Matt to cover for me, if you want me to go to the airport with you.”
“No,” she immediately responded. “I appreciate the offer, and I know my mother’s primary incentive for making this trip is to meet you, but I think it’s probably best to limit the amount of time you spend with them.”
“You don’t think I can be a convincing boyfriend?” he challenged.
“I want to minimize the opportunities for missteps.”
“So when am I going to meet them?”
“About ten minutes before we leave to go to The HideAway for dinner Saturday night.”
“I thought you were going to make a reservation at Diggers’.”
“I was,” she admitted. “And then I realized that it was less likely we’d face questions from friends and neighbors if we went out of town.”
“Well, if we’re going into Battle Mountain, El Aguila would have been my choice,” he remarked. “They have the best burritos north of Mexico.”
“You only think so because you haven’t had my grandmother’s burritos,” she told him.
“Have you ever been to El Aguila?” he asked.
“I can’t say that I have,” she admitted.
“Then we’ll have to go sometime.”
“I’d like that, but...”
“But what?” he prompted.
“I think you’re forgetting that, after this weekend, you won’t have to be my pretend boyfriend anymore.”
“But you still have to be my pretend girlfriend until Matt’s wedding.”
“The original agreement was simply for me to be your date.”
“I like this girlfriend-boyfriend arrangement better,” he told her. “But even when it’s done, we’ll still be friends, won’t we?”
“I guess we will,” she acknowledged.
“And we’ll go to El Aguila,” he promised.
“Okay,” she agreed. “But right now, we need to kick it up a notch or I’m going to be late for school.”
“When you say things like that, I feel like I’m a teenager again. Although back then, the math teacher only wished she was dating me.”
She sent him a sideways glance. “Really? Because Carter told me you had Mr. Donald for math in high school.”
He responded by kicking it up several notches, leaving her in his dust.
But she was laughing.
* * *
Before Jason headed to Adventure Village Saturday afternoon, he showed up at Alyssa’s door with a six-pack of his favorite brew and a framed photo of himself in climbing gear, hanging off the edge of a cliff. Though he was obviously wearing a harness, the image still made her stomach dip as if she was the one suspended in midair.
She looked from the photo back to the man. “Thank you?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t a woman usually want a picture of her boyfriend around so she can look at it when she’s not with him? And his favorite beer in her fridge so that he’ll want to stop by for a drink?”
“They’re props,” she realized.
“All part of the service,” he told her.
She tucked the beer in her fridge and put the picture on her desk, beside her computer monitor. She picked up the sweatshirt she’d borrowed and carried it back to the foyer.
“I almost forgot you had that,” he admitted when she handed him the freshly laundered and folded garment.
“I wanted to wash it before I returned it,” she said.
“Appreciated but not necessary,” he told her. “And maybe you should keep it for a few more days.”
“Why?”
“Another prop to add to the relationship illusion,” he pointed out. “The boyfriend’s sweatshirt, casually discarded over the back of a chair.”
“My mother would be appalled that I hadn’t tidied up before their visit.”
“Maybe neatly folded on top of your laundry basket, then,” he suggested.
“A much better idea,” she agreed, taking back the garment.
“Have you checked their flight status?”
She nodded. “Everything’s on schedule.”
“So when are you heading out to the airport?”
“In about ten minutes.”
“That isn’t a lot of time, but I can work with it,” he said and hauled her into his arms to kiss her.
He’d kissed her often enough over the past few weeks that she should be accustomed to the feel of his lips on hers by now. But still her heart raced and mind blanked.
Every. Single. Time.
She had no defense against the sensual assault of his mouth. She wanted none.
She only wanted Jason.
And yet he always seemed completely in control. He occasionally did a little tactile exploring while she was being thoroughly seduced by his lips, but always through the barrier of fabric. His ruthless restraint tempted her to abandon her own. To shed not just her inhibitions but every stitch of clothing to feel his hands on her bare skin. His body against hers.
It was almost embarrassing how much she wanted him. So far, she’d managed to resist begging him to take her, but the words echoed temptingly in her mind as he continued to kiss her. The sensual flick of his tongue sent flames of heat licking through her veins, making every part of her burn.
“If I don’t leave now, we’re both going to be late,” he said after he’d eased his lips from hers.
“Late?” she echoed.
That incredibly talented mouth curved. “That’s what was missing.”
“What?” How was she supposed to concentrate on what he was saying when her head was spinning?
“Now when you meet your parents, you’ll look like a woman who’s thinking about her man,” he said.
Of course, he wasn’t really her man, but the whole point of this weekend was to convince her parents that he was. The harder task would be remembering that it was just a game they were playing and not letting him into her fragile heart.
* * *
Alyssa was more apprehensive than she’d expected to be about her parents meeting Jason—not just because she worried that they’d uncover her deception, but because she really wanted them to like him. Renata seemed invested in the idea of her youngest daughter falling in love with Diego, and Alyssa worried that her mother might have already decided she wasn’t going to like Jason. Although she believed Miguel was less likely to prejudge her beau, she felt anxious anyway.
Her parents were reserved but not unfriendly, and over dinner, they all chatted easily. Her father seemed sincerely interested in Jason’s business and asked all the questions about Adventure Village she knew his own father had not. And when her mother expressed curiosity about the battle that had given the town its name, Jason sketched out a brief history lesson that hit all the important highlights.
Any concerns Alyssa had that Jason might try to oversell their relationship proved groundless. He was attentive without being too obvious and deferential without being submissive. While they were eating, he snagged a mushroom from her plate, as if it was common for them to share food; as they walked across the parking lot, he linked their fingers together, as if the casual gesture was an ingrained habit.
After they returned to Haven and the triplex where they both lived—a revelation that created a furrow between Renata’s brows—they sat outside for a while to enjoy the starry night. Jason introduced her dad to “Icky” while Alyssa and her mom each had a glass of wine.
When Miguel said he was tired and heading to bed, Renata, of course, went with him, leaving Alyssa and Jason sitting out on the deck under the stars twinkling in the sky.
He moved closer, putting his arm around her and pulling her against his body.
“What are you doing?” she asked him.
“Snuggling with my honey bear.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why?”
He put his mouth next to her ear, as if whispering sweet nothings. “In case they’re peeking out the window.”
The warmth of his breath raised goose bumps on her skin and heated her blood. “You think my parents are spying on us?”
“I think, if they have any doubts about our relationship, they might be looking for evidence of a deception.”
“My mother’s interrogation over dinner wasn’t very subtle, was it?” she asked, struggling to stay focused on their conversation—not an easy task when her hormones, stirred up by his proximity, were clamoring for action.
“I think I handled her questions pretty well. But I also think, even if they’re one hundred percent convinced, they would expect their daughter’s boyfriend to take advantage of their absence to steal a few kisses—maybe even cop a feel.”
She laughed, as he no doubt intended her to do.
“I’m thinking that this pretend dating thing might be better than real dating,” she told him.
“Why would you say that?” he wondered.
“Because it’s fun without the pressure and expectations.”
“It has been fun,” he agreed. “But it hasn’t been easy.”
“I know you’ve had to do a lot of juggling of your schedule this weekend,” she acknowledged. “And I’m sincerely grateful.”
“My schedule was the least of it.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “It’s my problem, not yours.”
“Except that I dragged you into this,” she reminded him.
“I wasn’t completely unwilling.”
“Obviously we have different recollections of how this all began,” she remarked wryly.
“I wasn’t completely unwilling after the chicken marsala,” he amended. “Despite the fact that you made me eat asparagus.”
She smiled as she tipped her head back against his shoulder. “You’re a good sport, Jason Channing.”
“I would have said ‘savvy negotiator.’”
“We can go with that,” she agreed. “But I think I got the better end of the deal.”
“Just make sure you’ve got July 14 marked on your calendar.”
“What’s the—Oh, right. Your friend’s wedding.”
“For which you’re my plus-one,” he reminded her.
“Only because Kevin backed you into a corner.”
But Jay knew that wasn’t entirely true.
Maybe Kevin’s challenge had been the reason for the initial invitation, but there wasn’t anyone else he wanted to take to Matt’s wedding. After only three weeks, he was tempted to abandon the pretense. Because this make-believe relationship was more real than anything he’d had in a long time.
Or maybe he just wanted to think that was true, to alleviate any lingering guilt over the fact that he’d kissed the girl that one of his best friends had been crushing on.
Or maybe he was just tempted to think they could make a real relationship work because their fake dating had been, as she’d noted, fun. On the other hand, he suspected it had been fun only because he hadn’t been thinking about how to get her into bed. In fact, he’d been trying very hard not to think about Alyssa in his bed.
Instead, he focused on the purpose of their charade. It was all about deception: Alyssa wanted her parents to believe she was in a relationship so they wouldn’t worry about her living so far away—and so her mother would stop trying to set her up with other guys; and Jay was willing to play along because pretending to be infatuated with his neighbor had seemed the quickest way to earn forgiveness from Kevin.
And so far, it had been fun. Except for the cold showers. Those had not been fun, and he’d been suffering through them before bed almost every night—and frequently after running with her in the mornings, too.
But as uncomfortable as it was to stand beneath the icy spray, it was necessary. Because as much as he wanted to explore the attraction that simmered between them, he didn’t dare make a real move. If he ever got naked with a woman who was his neighbor and a friend, it would be all kinds of awkward when the relationship ended.
The possibility of a mutually satisfying relationship that didn’t end never crossed his mind, because he didn’t do happily-ever-after. He didn’t even do long-term. Maybe someday, but he wasn’t ready to settle down just yet.
But the more time Jay spent with Alyssa, the more he realized he didn’t want anyone else, and that realization made him uneasy. Thankfully, her parents were going back to California the next day, and the status quo would be restored.
* * *
Jason showed up at Alyssa’s door just after lunch on Monday to accompany her and her parents to the airport. She was grateful to have his company for the trip back, not to mention that the action scored major points with her mother. They stood together and watched Renata and Miguel go through the security line.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked.
“Only the longest three days of my life,” she said, waving to her mom and dad as they disappeared from view. “But at least it’s done now and we can go back to our respective lives as if this weekend never happened.” Her tone was upbeat, but she couldn’t deny that the prospect left her feeling a little disappointed.
“Just when I was getting the hang of this boyfriend thing,” he lamented.
“You were the perfect boyfriend,” she confirmed.
“Handsome? Attentive? Charming?”
“All of the above,” she agreed with a smile. “But most important—temporary.”
He stared at her. “You really aren’t looking for a relationship?”
“Why does everyone seem so surprised by that? Why is it okay for a man to not want to be tied down, but a woman is always expected to want a husband and a family?”
“Are you saying that you don’t want a husband and a family?”
“Well, sure I do, someday,” she admitted. “I’m just not in any hurry for it to happen.”
“In that case, you just might be the perfect girlfriend,” he decided.
“Look at us—a match made in heaven.”
“Haven,” he corrected.
She laughed. “But on a more serious note, thank you, sincerely, for this weekend.”
“It’s not quite over yet,” he noted. “And I’m hungry.”
“You need to work on your subtlety,” she told him.
He shook his head. “I’m not trying to wrangle another meal from you.”
“You’re not?” Her tone was skeptical.
“In fact, I was thinking of cooking for you—if grilling counts as cooking,” he clarified. “We can pick up a couple of steaks, some potatoes, open a bottle of wine and celebrate the conclusion of a successful weekend.”
“I appreciate the offer,” she told him. And she was undeniably tempted, but—
“I don’t want to hear any ‘buts,’” he said.
She closed her mouth, reconsidered her words and tried again. “However—”
“Nope.” He cut her off. “‘However’ is the same as ‘but’ just with more syllables, so I don’t want to hear that, either.”
“What do you want to hear?”
“Something along the lines of ‘that sounds like a great idea and I would love to have dinner with you’ would work.”
“That sounds like a great idea and I would love to have dinner with you,” she dutifully intoned.
“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
“No,” she admitted. “I just expected that, after all the time we’ve spent together over the past few weeks, you’d be grateful to have some space.”
He shrugged. “It turns out I don’t mind having you in my space.”
She put a hand on her chest. “Oh, Jason—you’re such a romantic.”
He grinned. “Let me know if you’re going to swoon, so I can get in position to catch you.”
“Unless we travel back in time two hundred years, I’m not going to swoon,” she assured him.
“Modern women don’t swoon?”
“No more than contemporary men solve disagreements with pistols at dawn.”
“We prefer paintball at dusk,” he acknowledged.
“Speaking of which—are you sure you don’t want to head back to Adventure Village?”
“Hmm...let me think about that.” He tapped a finger against his chin. “Hanging out with a bunch of sweaty guys or some one-on-one time with a pretty girl...that is a tough choice.” He took her hand. “But I choose you.”