I knew he’d be there soon, but I wasn’t expecting him to be there before I’d finished getting dressed. The intercom buzzed while I was wrapping a towel around myself. He knocked on the door while I was rummaging through my suitcase in search for a sundress. I dropped my options and made my way to the door, not bothering to look through the peephole before opening it. Seeing him standing on the other side made my pulse quicken. It was insane. I'd been seeing him since we were kids. How was it physically possible for my body to still react this way?
He thrust a hand out and I blinked down to see that he was handing me an iced white mocha. My lips parted. “How?”
“How long have we been friends?” He smiled.
“Too long.” I took the cup from his hand and sipped. “So good.” It wasn’t until his gaze dropped to the white fluffy towel around me that I realized I was still naked. I pressed a hand to my chest. “Shit. I’ll go change.”
He swallowed, nodding. “I’ll . . . wait out here.”
Once I was dressed, we went in search of a good place.
"If we were in Brooklyn, we would've found a place that held more than a three-star rating within a mile, but beggars can't be choosers," he said, pointing down the block. "I think there's a decent deli here."
“That’s perfectly fine with me. I need a bagel and bacon, so if they have those things, we’re good.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Going all out today, huh?”
“I need to repent for last night’s sins.”
“It was an interesting night.” He smiled, holding the door open for me.
We walked in, ordered our food, and stood off to the side. I never understood how such small areas held so many people inside. It had to be a fire hazard. Our arms were touching as we stood there, and I tried so hard not to react, but then he grazed my hand with his long fingers and I felt my pulse kick. I blinked up at him, eyes wide.
“I miss you.” They were the same words he’d said to me last night, but somehow they felt more intimate, even in this tiny, crowded deli.
I swallowed. “I miss you too.”
“No, Ev.” He shook his head slightly, his gaze heating as it held mine. “I mean, I really miss you.”
“Cor –“
“Cory York! Order for Cory York!” The guy behind the counter snapped us out of whatever this was. I took my hand back quickly, clearing my throat as I looked forward. I could feel his eyes on me still, but when the guy yelled out his name once more, he finally kicked into gear and got our food.
We took our food outside and found a little-unoccupied bench right beside a young couple with a baby. As we ate our bagels, the baby waved at me, and I waved back with a smile. He threw his toys in my direction, I picked them up and set them on the table in front of him, and he repeated the move again and again.
“I’m so sorry,” the mother said. “He’s recently discovered that if he throws things someone will pick it up for him and he thinks it’s the best game in the world.”
“Feel free to leave it on the floor,” the father said.
"It's totally fine." I smiled at the cute, brown-eyed baby. "It's good for his development. Keep throwing things."
The parents laughed as they stood up and lifted him out of his seat. “Thanks for entertaining him.”
“My pleasure.” I smiled and waved at them and the baby.
“I can’t believe you still find it in you to smile at babies even though you’re working with them all day now,” Cory said.
“And all night.” I took a sip of my water. “I love them though. I love helping them.”
“Have you seen anything scary?”
"Everything seems pretty scary when it comes to kids." I lowered my eyes to look at the half-eaten bagel in front of me. "We had a five-year-old come in with really bad asthma that had a lot of us worried. He's totally fine now, but it was a scary twenty-four-hours. A colleague of mine works in the NICU. He delivered a stillborn. It was heart-wrenching to hear him go through the process at the end of the day. We try to keep it clinical, but certain things really affect us."
Cory set his hand over mine. “You know you can call me when you have a hard day, right? I’d be there to listen.”
“You’ve been busy too.” I offered him a meek smile.
“I’m never too busy for you, Ev. Never.” His gaze held mine as he said the words. “I don’t want to go another month without talking to you.”
“Then don’t act like such a jerk when you call me.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just . . . I didn’t know how to handle not having you around all the time. I sort of freaked out. I was being one-hundred-percent childish and petty. There’s no excuse for it.”
“I’m not going to lie, it feels good to hear you say it aloud.”
“I’ll be sure to apologize a lot sooner next time.” He chuckled, lifting my hand and kissing the top of it. I shot him a look. “What? I said I was sorry, I didn’t claim I was perfect.”
After leaving the deli, Cory insisted we look for a dress for Monica’s wedding.
“You know, especially after a month of not talking, I don’t believe for a second you were going to tell me about the wedding.”
“I was,” he said from the other side of the dressing room door.
I shrugged as I tried on the second dress of the five I’d picked out. “I don’t believe you.”
“Well, I wish you would,” he said. “I don’t lie to you about things and I have no reason to start now.”
I looked at myself in the mirror. It was a black dress, fitted to accentuate every curve on my body. Most importantly, it made me feel sexy. I opened the door and put a hand on my hip to show Cory, who was typing away on his phone. When he looked up, eyes filled with lust, I knew this was a keeper.
“Damn,” he whispered, clearing his throat. “Turn around.”
I did, rotating a full one-eighty. When I stopped, I smiled at the look on his face. “So it’s a yes?”
“It’s a hell yes,” he said, his voice husky and low. He stepped forward, closing the gap between us, and put a hand on my hip. “You’re so fucking sexy, Ev.”
“Cory.”
He shook his head, his eyes on mine. “I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t stop missing you. I can’t stop wanting you.”
My heart soared, because I felt the same way, only more. Instead of responding with words, I stepped up on the tips of my toes, wrapped my arms around him and kissed him. He groaned against my mouth, a sound I felt directly between my legs. He licked the seam of my lips and nipped the edges, he put his tongue in my mouth and rocked against me, letting me feel just how much he wanted me. I felt like I was on fire like I would die if I didn't have his mouth on mine, and when he pulled away, I pulled him back and kissed him harder. He pulled away again.
“Ev, we need to get out of here.”
My eyes were heavy with lust. I could barely keep them open. I shook my head. “I want you. I want you so badly.”
He growled against my mouth, pressing his lips to mine again as he reached behind me and unzipped the dress. His hands came up and peeled it off of me until I was standing completely naked before him.
“Fuck.” He let out a harsh breath as he drank me in. “I don’t know how the fuck I let you go.”
I opened my mouth to say something, I didn’t even know what, but then his mouth was on mine and his hands were on my body – his fingers tweaking my nipples, his hands palming my breasts, making their way down to my core, the heat between my legs. He started moving his fingers along my folds.
“You’re so wet for me, baby,” he whispered against my lips.
I mewled as I nodded, panting. “I need more.”
“I’ll give you more. I’ll give you everything.”
He spread my legs further apart and his fingers made their way inside of me, pumping slowly as his thumb circled my clit. I clawed his shoulders, my head tilting back in ecstasy as I chanted his name.
"Shh. I
got you." He said the words against my throat as he licked me, sucked me, and I felt myself spasm against him. Every bone in my body seemed to soften as he continued to draw small circles against me, kissing my throat, my mouth, my cheek.
In the five minutes it took me to get dressed once he left the fitting room, I convinced myself that what had happened was an awful, terrible idea. The reason we were in this weird stage of friendship was that we'd let the lines blur before. I couldn't let them blur again, not when I was leaving in a few weeks. I still had two more years of my residency to go before I was finished and could move back here. Who knew what was happening with Cory's love life. It wasn't like he would tell me now after we'd hooked up again. Still, I couldn't deny the attraction between us. I couldn't deny the butterflies in my stomach as I thought about his lips on mine, his hands on me, the way he looked at me and growled against my lips. I sighed. I needed an intervention, but who was supposed to intervene when your best friend was the one you needed an intervention from? I had to call Yvette.
Five
“I’m surprised he dropped you off,” Yvette said.
We were sitting across from each other in her dining room and I’d just spilled my guts about what happened in the fitting room. She didn’t seem surprised at all. Amused, possibly, but not surprised.
“Well, he had no choice. His dad called asking him to go over with some questions about some design they’re working on.”
“Does that mean he’s coming back later?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t tell him to.”
"How do you feel after the hookup?"
“Like an idiot.” I gnawed on my lip. “I don’t want this to become a booty call. I mean, that’s what I was trying to avoid when I left and even if I wanted to entertain that now that I have no time for anything, I live too far for that to work.”
“Maybe now would be a good time to him how you feel?”
My eyes widened. “It’ll change things.”
“Don’t you think it’s too late for that?”
I sighed, nodding. She was right. Everything had changed. I couldn’t stand beside him without feeling this electricity between us. I couldn’t hold his hand without my pulse quickening and I definitely couldn’t kiss him and pretend it meant nothing to me. I took a deep breath and let it out.
“Next time I see him, I’ll tell him.”
“Good luck.” She stood up and gave me a quick hug. “I have to run. Devon is meeting me at the brewery to discuss flooring.”
“That sounds fun.”
“I would ask you to come with, but I think you seriously need to catch up on sleep.”
“Good call.” I yawned and headed to the guest bedroom.
* * *
I woke up to my phone vibrating beside me and answered it without looking at the screen. Only three people called me: My mom, Yvette, and Cory, so when I heard his voice say hello, I wasn’t surprised.
“You were sleeping?”
“Hm-hmm.” My eyes were still closed and the room was dark. “I haven’t slept that much in like a year.”
“Nine months,” he countered. “When you were living here you were sleeping just fine.”
My eyes popped open at that statement. “So, what’s up?”
“I want to come by and pick you up.”
“Oh.” I looked around in the darkness, at nothing in particular. “For dinner?”
He chuckled. “I can take you to dinner, yes, but I meant so you can stay at home, with me.”
“At home?”
“At our place.”
“Your place,” I said. “My name isn’t even on the lease.”
“Do you want it to be?”
“What? No, of course not.” I frowned. What were we even talking about right now?
“Of course not?” He sounded offended.
“Cory.” I sighed. “I don’t even live here.”
“But you will, right? You’re coming back once you’re finished with your residency.”
“Right, but that’s not for another two years.”
“One and a half,” he said. I felt my eyebrows raise in surprise. Someone had been paying attention after all.
“Why do you need my name on the lease? Are you planning on getting abducted by aliens?”
“No, I gave up hope with that. If it didn’t happen when we built that fake spacecraft and slept in the backyard for two days, I highly doubt it’s going to happen at all.”
That made me laugh. “You’re probably right. We used all of your mom’s aluminum foil on that spacecraft.”
“It’s a wonder we didn’t get electrocuted.” The smile I heard in his voice made me smile too. “So? Dinner and then our place?”
“Your place,” I whispered. “Our place makes it sound like we’re together.”
I couldn’t believe I’d said that aloud. He was quiet for a moment, which only further proved my point that things were going to change the minute I told him how I felt about him. When he spoke again, it was to say, “I’m outside.”
“What?” I sat up in bed. “I haven’t even agreed to dinner.”
“Ev.” He chuckled. “When have you ever turned down food?”
I scowled as I got out of bed, but he had a point. Food was my weakness. There was no use in denying it. Besides, he was acting normal now, as if he'd forgotten about what happened in the fitting room just hours ago. Maybe it was time to put the messiness behind us and act like friends again – real friends, not the kind that casually hooks up. I still had the phone pressed to my ear even though neither one of us was saying anything when I reached the kitchen.
“I’m buzzing you up.” I pushed the button and heard the click on the other end of the line. “For the record, I don’t think we need to go back to your place after dinner.”
“We’ll discuss that in a bit.”
“There’s nothing to discuss. I already said what I had to say about it.” I was getting irritated at this entire thing, mostly at myself because I didn’t know how to just come out and tell him that I couldn’t do this back and forth thing any longer because I couldn’t bear to see him with another woman. “If you need someone to co-sign, as Veronica. I’m sure she’d be happy to oblige.”
He chuckled into the line. I rolled my eyes, getting more upset by the second.
“I’m glad you find me amusing, but I’m dead serious. I don’t need more complications in my life right now. I’m tired, overworked, and –“
“Evelyn.”
“What?”
“Open the door.”
I let out a breath, walked over to the front door, unlocked and opened. He was standing on the other side with a grin on his face. A sexy, charming grin that was unlawful and shouldn't make my insides quiver the way it did. I hung up the phone, and opened my mouth to continue my rant as he lowered his own phone and put it in his pocket, but he stepped forward, grabbed me by the back of the neck and kissed me. It was an unexpected kiss. I closed my eyes only when I felt his tongue slide into my mouth. Then, I lost all hesitation and gave into the kiss. It was soft, yet needy as if he couldn't get enough of my mouth. It was a plea, though I couldn't imagine what he'd be asking. My heart was pounding so hard, the butterflies in my stomach so alive, that I could barely part from the kiss, but I did because I had to. I had to stop this madness. His eyes were as wild as his hair, which I'd completely disheveled in the midst of the kiss.
“We can’t do this anymore,” I said, nearly panting. “We can’t just keep – “
He cut me off with another kiss, this time deeper, wilder. He moved and pushed me against the closed door, my head thumping against it loud enough that I was sure if there was someone walking by on the other side they’d hear it. My legs came up on their own accord and wrapped around his waist. He was a ventriloquist and my body was his puppet, following orders given by his touch. I ground against the hardness I found in his jeans and moaned.
“Ev,” he said, a warning against my lips.
<
br /> And that was all I needed to push me over the edge. The way he said my name fueled the part of my brain that couldn’t see reason when it came to him. It egged me on, making me continue to grind, continue to take what his mouth was offering, what his fingers were promising as they inched under the loose collegiate t-shirt I was wearing.
“Please don’t stop,” I said against his mouth.
"Won't." He set me down for a moment, but only to peel down the tiny shorts and underwear I was wearing. Then, he was lifting me up again and devouring my mouth, his fingers on my nipples as I reached for his jeans, unbuttoning and unzipping. "Tell me you're still on the pill." He pulled back slightly to look at my face. I nodded. "You know I – " I broke into his sentence with a kiss as he lowered his jeans and boxer briefs. I didn't need him to confirm that he was clean. I didn't need him to confirm that he didn't have sex without a condom. I knew him well enough to know those things. I definitely didn't want to know whether or not he'd had sex during the time we'd been apart. It's not like we'd ever set boundaries to this fake engagement. We hadn't made promises or . . .
All train of thought left my mind when he pushed inside of me. I gasped loudly, I’d forgotten how he felt, his girth, his length. I’d forgotten how easily he could take my breath away with just one thrust.
“Ev, look at me.” His mouth was on mine, his tongue delving in for a long, mind-blowing kiss. “I need you to look at me when I’m inside of you.”
He groaned as he continued to thrust deep inside of me, his hands gripping the backs of my thighs to keep me up and match his relentless rhythm. I looked at him then, even though I didn’t want to. I wanted to keep myself reserved, my emotions at bay. I wanted to make this about sex – just sex, which I hadn’t had in exactly nine months, with him. I wanted to wish my feelings for him away, but it was impossible. It was impossible to not get lost in the vastness of his blue eyes. It was impossible to ignore the emotions I saw reflected back at me. It was impossible, as he fucked me against the door of my best friend’s apartment, to think about not doing this again.
“Cory, I can’t. We can’t – “ I started to say, but then he brought a hand between us and started to draw circles over my clit as he slowed his tempo.
Fake Love: NYT Bestselling Author Page 3