Basketball was surprisingly exciting when seven-foot guys kept running by you with a piece of hard rubber that could break your nose. Connor had a rough time staying in his seat as things got tight. He was all but trying to rush the court to help as we fell behind.

Most of the fun was from just hanging out with him. He’d been right about us going low key and not having to worry about people. Being in the VIP section meant there was an invisible fence around us.

He spent a large portion of the night trying to win me over to the world of the sports obsessed. I was less than sad to disappoint him. At halftime, Connor pulled it together enough to ask me what I wanted to eat.

“Can I have a beer and a pretzel with cheese sauce?”

“A beer and a pretzel?” He looked like I’d asked for filet mignon and champagne.

“Well, I saw those other people with beer and pretzels and nachos and that looked good.” It felt very what-you-eat-at-a-game to me.

He gave me a smile like I’d bought him a gift. “Do you want nachos too?”

“I don’t think I could eat that much.”

“We could share them.” He waved over the server who seemed to appear out of the nowhere.

“You’d share your nachos with me?” Most of my boyfriends weren’t much on sharing food.

“Sure. If we eat it all, we can just order more.” Connor gave our order to the girl. He turned back to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder while he grinned and kissed my temple. “You are the best girlfriend ever.”

I laughed, surprised that was all it took to make him happy. A basketball game and beer and nachos.

When the game ended, I was afraid of Connor getting mobbed, but we were pointed toward an underground exit just off to the side of the court.

We wove through the small crowd of people in the secure tunnel, pushing through the heat toward the cool night air.

“That was so fun. I can’t believe I’ve never been to a game before.”

“Well, sorry to have ruined you for all other games, but sitting courtside is pretty much the only way to do it.” Connor smirked, proud of himself for doing what no other guy had done…get me to a basketball game.

“That was a great way to spend one of our nights out.” Which, yes. I was keeping track in my head. A countdown back to normalcy, if you will. I needed it to stay grounded. “Thanks.”

“I was thinking we could grab some coffee and pie at The Brew on the way home. See what kind of chaos Abby is creating tonight.” Connor flagged down a cab, which of course stopped right in front of us.

Golden boy.

“Actually,” I put a hand on his arm to stop him as he reached for the cab door. “I have to go home and work. I need to get this outline and proposal to my editor by the end of the day tomorrow and with everything going on I’m behind.”

“Oh.” Connor looked at me as if this was a new idea. That I might actually work. “Right. You have to do stuff.”

“Work stuff,” I added because he looked as if he thought I was trying to blow him off. Especially since part of me was blowing him off. After talking to Kasey I realized I needed some space. I got that we were on a mission, but I’d never spent this much time with a new boyfriend and I just wanted some time away from him.

It wasn’t that I was falling for him. It was that I wanted to make sure I didn’t. Space was a good thing. For any type of relationship. Ever.

And moving to the Arctic was shockingly not an option.

“No. I know. Work stuff.” He grabbed the handle, and motioned for me to slide in before him. “I’ll just drop you off and you can see how much you can get done tonight.”

He gave the cabbie my address then picked up my hand, running a thumb over the back of it. As the lights went by, I rested my head against the back of the seat, trying to get myself in writing mode before I got home. I was behind. The downside of my faux boyfriend was that, unlike a real one, I couldn’t put him off for a few days. The deal with Connor meant meeting my obligations to the T.

Plus, he was just so much fun. I enjoyed hanging out with him.

“How far behind are you?” he asked, sounding a little worried. Which was sweet.

Again with the sweet.

“Not horribly. If I just work late tonight and then deal with all of it tomorrow, I’ll probably have enough to hand in.” I was never late. I might push the very boundaries of what that looked like, but I was never late.

This wasn’t going to be the first time.

The cab pulled up in front of my house and Connor let me out on the sidewalk side, leaning in to tell the driver to wait.

“I’ll walk you up.” He motioned toward the door and waited for me to lead the way.

“You don’t have to do that.” Because, why should he?

“Yes. I really do.” Connor gave me a small push against my lower back to get me moving and, at the front door, took my keys to let us in.

We climbed the stairs, me already in my story world, Connor climbing behind me. At my door, he used my keys to let us in and paced the floor for a moment. I watched the nervous energy get caged while I hung my coat up and tossed my purse into my room, hoping it hit the bed so I could find it again later.

“What exactly are you doing?” I asked when he did another lap around my little living room.

Connor stopped, glanced my way, and shook his head. “I’m thinking about how long it would take me to say goodnight to you if we were really dating.”

Yeah. Eye roll.

“Okay, got it.” I shoved him toward the door. “Out you go.”

“No. No way.” He stood his ground, becoming an immovable object. “There’s no way that if I was kissing you goodnight, you’d kick me out that quickly.”

“You’re paying a man to sit in a car and wait for you. Do you know how much that costs?”

“Less than my reputation.” He shot me a grin, as if his reputation were really worth all this and not the reason he was stuck pacing my apartment in the first place.

I stared at the clock, wondering just how long it typically took him to say goodnight. “There’s something wrong with you.”

“Right. We already established that.”

I rolled my eyes because, well, if he already knew there was something wrong with him, my work here was done.

“So, I’m pacing around your living room, wondering…just how serious are you about my body.”

“Excuse me?” I didn’t glance at said body as I set my kettle on the stove to make tea and crossed to turn my computer on.

“I’m here, saying good night—”

“Paying a cab to wait.”

“Right, because, you’re worth it.” He winked at me and went back to pacing, which, with his long legs was three steps one way, three steps back. “And, I have to wonder, just how long I’d be willing to humor you and those crazy wandering hands of yours while I was paying this cab.”

I just stared at him, wondering how exactly that incredibly intelligent brain came up with this stuff. Giving him a push toward the door, I figured, there was only one answer.

“Again,” I said, as I pushed him out the door. “There really is something wrong with you.”

Or me, because unfortunately, I was beginning to think the idiot was adorable.