by Cindi Madsen
I slowed my steps and glanced up at him. “I’m just about done with the thinking.”
“Temporarily, or for good?”
I dragged a finger down his arm and shot him a smile. “It depends on how good you are at distracting me.”
Heat flared through the blue eyes that ran down my body before slowly coming back up to lock on to mine. Although he’d occasionally flashed me expressions that conveyed desire before, this was like that on crack, and I found myself cheering for crack usage.
Love crack, for the record. I felt like I’d taken a hit of it, too.
Needing to feed my addiction, I leaned in for a kiss and sighed when my lips met his. Intoxicating warmth flooded me, and as he tugged me closer and deepened the kiss, I decided that if there was ever a guy to take a chance on, it was this one.
11 Ethan
I’m definitely going to hell for this. Probably a little faster with each kiss, too—yet I couldn’t stop.
What with the way she fit against me so perfectly, and the amazing things she could do with her lips and tongue, I decided it’d be worth it.
Seriously, how was I supposed to resist this drop-dead gorgeous girl who also made superhero and humping-unicorn jokes?
It was like I’d made her in a lab, only I wasn’t creative enough to mix in some of the awesome things about her. That also sounded a bit too Frankenstein’s monster, so I needed to abandon that analogy. She wanted to be done with thinking, and so did I. I boosted her into my arms, my hands planted firmly on her ass as I rolled my tongue over hers.
She lowered her forehead to mine and made an mmm noise that made me feel like a rock star. Since there wasn’t anywhere for me to lay her down—probably a good thing, because my self-restraint was crumbling by the second and I’d never be able to resist crawling over her and getting lost for a while—I reluctantly lowered her to her feet.
The slow drag of her body ripped a ragged groan from me.
“Dinner?” she asked, the breathlessness in her voice only making me want to see just how breathless I could make her. “It looks like there’s a burger joint in the middle of that strip of shops, and I bet we could get the ice cream you owe me for dessert, since we survived and all.”
“Maybe now you’ll have a bit more faith in me.” Even as I said it, it stung. She shouldn’t have faith in me. She should kick my ass to the curb, and she undoubtedly would if she knew I was an imposter who was standing in for my brother. My brother who had stumbled into a relationship with a perfect girl, but was too stupid to see it, so he was letting her go.
Even worse, I was glad—I couldn’t stand the thought of Gwen being his girl and hugging and kissing him while I stood by and pretended it didn’t tear me up inside. The thought of any guy touching her made toxic jealousy seep into my gut.
Once again, I wondered how I could feel this strongly after knowing her for a couple of days.
How much more fun could we have if we had more time?
But that wasn’t a possibility, and nothing would change the fact that if she found out I wasn’t Evan, she’d be angry, and I couldn’t go on for the rest of my life pretending to be someone else.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, bringing me back to the sidewalk leading away from the carnival and making me rethink whether I could keep on pretending forever. Completely ridiculous, not to mention implausible, but I found the thought more alluring every minute I spent with Gwen.
“I was just thinking this day went by way too fast.”
“I was kinda worried that you’d be sick of me before we even reached Pennsylvania.”
“Sick of you? Pretty sure that’s impossible.”
“Pretty sure it’s not.”
“Oh, are you sick of me, then? Is this your way of hinting you need some alone time?”
She laughed. “Of course not. I just… I don’t know what’s gotten into you these past few days.”
I held my breath.
“But I like it.”
At least that was a small consolation. Did it absolve me? Hell no. I’d always been the rule-follower. The one who did the right thing and walked the line. Evan was the one who left wreckage in his wake, used guidelines as a jump-rope, and took off for this party or that one while I stayed behind to clean up his messes.
I figured if my brother could get away with a lifetime of breaking the rules and doing whatever he wanted no matter the consequences, I should get four little days. One was already mostly behind us, and I wanted to forget all the rules and enjoy the limited time I had with Gwen.
That probably made me responsible for every kiss and touch we exchanged, regardless of initiation. They’d all be admissible in court, so at this point, what did I have to lose? I might as well accept my guilty status and live it up before the sentence got handed down.
Gwen paused mid-bite, and hot fudge from her sundae dripped off her spoon and onto her lip. The restaurant had that whole fifties-era vibe. Black and white checkered tile, red vinyl booths, and a jukebox in the corner that crooned oldies, which I’d teased was better than her music. Despite being stuffed from our burgers and fries, she’d insisted we still needed ice cream. Who’d argue with that?
She blinked and then swallowed, her hand going to her throat. She rubbed the skin there.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I feel… weird. And my mouth’s fuzzy.” She dragged her spoon through her bowl like she was searching for something. “Like I ate something with peanuts. But I told the waitress about my allergy, so maybe I’m just psyching myself out?” She scratched at her neck, leaving lines of red, and worry bound my lungs.
“What happens if you eat them? Will you go into anaphylactic shock? Do you have an EpiPen, or do I rush you to the ER, or—”
Gwen put her hand on mine. “Don’t freak out.”
I was about to argue that I wasn’t freaking out, but the wheeze at the end of her sentence and thinking about her not breathing made me freak the fuck out.
She seemed to be doing an assessment of her body, lifting her arms, and then taking breaths that came out too shallow. “I think I would’ve tasted it, but maybe the hot fudge covered it up?”
Our waitress rushed toward us, and my instincts screamed this was about to get worse. “I think I mixed up the ice creams,” she said, her voice bordering hysteria. Her eyes widened when she noticed both of our bowls were nearly empty, and my stomach plummeted down to my toes.
I whipped out my phone. “I’ll call 9-1-1.”
“That’s freaking out,” Gwen said as she reached for her purse. “I’ll just pop an allergy pill, and I’ll be fine.” She dug around in her bag, and I wanted to snatch it out of her hands and search for it myself, even though I didn’t know what her medication looked like.
“Don’t you have an EpiPen?”
“I do, but it’s expensive as hell and only for emergencies, not to mention the side effects blow. I couldn’t have”—wheeze—“ingested that much.”
“Who cares how much it is? I’ll pay for another EpiPen. And if you think this is freaking out, this is nothing if you go into anaphylactic shock.” I glanced at the waitress, hoping she’d know what to do, but the horrified expression on her face made it clear she didn’t.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “It was so busy, and the orders got mixed up, and—”
Gwen pulled a bottle out of her purse and shook it, the pills rattling together. “Look, I found my Benadryl. As long as I cut it off ASAP, it’ll all be okay. I’ll take two just to be extra safe.” She washed the pink pills down with water, then turned to me. “I’m gonna get super tired, so let’s hurry and check into a hotel. That way, I’ll at least have a bed under me when I go into my Benadryl coma.”
I handed a wad of cash to our waitress, my gaze still on Gwen as I tried to gauge her breathing. “See, you say the word ‘coma’ like a joke, and it makes me want to throw you over my shoulder and charge into the nearest ER.”
“That’d also be too expens
ive, especially since I’m fine.” She reached into her purse and went to digging again. “How much was the bill? I don’t expect you to pay for all my meals.”
“We’ll save that fight for later,” I said, scooting away from the table and extending a hand to her. “Come on, let’s get you to a hotel.”
The waitress told us there was a nice one a few miles down the road, and I took Gwen’s hand and rushed us out of the restaurant.
“Okay, now I’m guessing you’re the Flash,” she said. “But I’m not, so can we slow down?”
My patience stretched as thin as my nerves, and I was ready to plow over everyone who was out and about, moving way too fucking slow. “This isn’t funny.”
“It’s a little funny. It’s also keeping with my walking disaster personality.”
“I never should’ve ordered the ice cream with peanut butter cups,” I mumbled. I was never eating peanut butter around her again, that was for sure.
Since it would only be for a few more days, it wouldn’t be a huge hardship, but instead of that consoling me, it only added to the frustrating ticking-clock sensation.
We finally reached the car, and I jerked open the passenger door.
“What? I don’t get to drive your Camaro in my peanut-inebriated state?” Gwen flashed me a smile, dimples and all. Then she placed a hand over my heart. “Come on. I don’t want this to ruin our amazing night. I thought that tonight might be the night we…” She sunk her teeth into her luscious bottom lip and dragged her hand lower, and desire mixed in with the worry, doing its best to overtake it.
The lights from the carnival rides played on her features, highlighting one and then another, like they couldn’t decide which one was the prettiest. I couldn’t, either. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m sure.” It would’ve been a lot more convincing without the wheeze.
12 Gwen
Okay, so I wasn’t totally okay. My tongue still felt fuzzy, and judging from my past experiences with the evil death-nut, I wouldn’t be completely back to normal until tomorrow, possibly even tomorrow night. But the medication was starting to kick in and the tightness in my lungs lessened, allowing for deep, full-breaths. Noisy deep, full-breaths, but a win all the same—especially since every time one rattled out, Evan frowned and asked yet again if I was sure he shouldn’t take me to the hospital.
The allergy attack would wear off. The disappointment over tonight not ending the way I wanted it to would be harder to shake.
Maybe if we get there soon enough, I can still follow through with my plan. It was high time I had sex with my smoking hot boyfriend. Conflicted thoughts and emotions over that decision no longer plagued me. Anticipation danced across my nerve endings instead.
Or maybe that was itchiness from the peanuts hitting my bloodstream. Hey, why not both? Now, if only the lights would stop blurring together and my eyelids would stop being so damn heavy, that’d be great.
We’d check into the hotel, and I could dig out some of the lingerie I’d brought, and we’d cap off the perfect day with taking that next step.
What if he finds my sexy-times moves boring? That’d make tomorrow so freaking awkward.
Shit, do I even have moves? And did I really just refer to it as sexy-times?
My lungs felt tight again, but this time because my insecurities rose up to bind them. I lifted my hand to swat them away.
“What are you doing?” Evan asked, panic tingeing his voice. “Is there a bug? Or are you hallucinating? Or is that a sign you can’t breathe?”
“No.”
“No to which question?”
Vaguely I noticed the car was turning, and man did it make the world spin. I reached for the oh-shit handle over the door, but there wasn’t one, so my arm just flopped back down on my lap. “Just no.”
He sighed, nice and loud, and I knew what was coming next, so I cut it off at the… bud? Wait, that was nipping. Anyway… “I’m sure I don’t need to go to the ER. Like sure times infinity.” I stretched across the console and kissed his cheek. Then I dragged my nose down his stubbled skin and sniffed his neck. “You smell amazing. Did I tell you that before? That I like the new cologne you’re wearing? Or did I just think it?”
The car lurched to a stop, and I clamped on to his arm as the world spun again. Whoa.
Evan’s hand came to rest on the side of my face and I automatically leaned in to the warmth of his palm. “You smell amazing, too, but those pills are obviously kicking in. Good thing we’re at the hotel. I’ll come around and help you out of the car, okay?”
“I can walk,” I said, but when I opened the door and stood, I had to grip the door to steady myself. I shuffled a few steps, about as gracefully as a zombie from The Walking Dead, and then braced a hand on the car.
Evan frowned, concern etched on his features, and I thought it might be funny to add a zombie moan just to mess with him. But I wanted to spend the night lying in bed next to him, not in an ER while nurses and doctors poked and prodded me before declaring me fine. Yeah, fine until I get the bill in the mail and have a heart attack.
“Do you need anything in your suitcase right now?” he asked.
I thought of the silky black chemise I’d packed, the tiny one I’d decided to slip into tonight to buoy my confidence. “I do. But I can get it.”
Hopefully checking in and walking to our room will help wake me up.
“Yeah right. There’s no way you can carry—or even drag—anything in your current state.”
I just need to find a vending machine and choose the soda with the most caffeine. I can totally save this night. I refuse to be boring and fall asleep.
Evan declined my offer for me to carry one of the bags, wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and guided me into the lobby. It was late enough that the lights were dimmed, and only one female clerk manned the desk.
“Womaned the desk, more like. Why do we say ‘manned?’ It’s obviously an old, sexist term, and don’t even try to tell me that it means ‘all mankind’ so it’s encompassing enough.”
“What?” Evan asked, leading me to believe I’d said that out loud. Keeping my eyelids propped open became even harder, and I think I lost a minute or two because suddenly we were at the desk and Evan and the clerk were clearly in the middle of a conversation.
“…she okay?
I was leaning a considerable part of my weight on Evan, eyelids drooping as I barely resisted the urge to drop to the tile floor and take a nap on the cold, hard ground, so I could only imagine how rough I looked.
“Give me one second, sir. I’m going to have my manager come up and help me get you checked in.” Her eyes moved to mine, a protective gleam in them, and I realized she’d gotten the totally wrong idea.
While I appreciated that she had my back, I didn’t want one more person worrying over me, and I especially didn’t want security to come over and escort away my… escort. I probably shouldn’t use the word escort or there’ll be a whole different kind of misunderstanding.
Were date-for-hire males called escorts? Or did that only apply to females?
Focus, Gwen. Focus. “I’m fine. I just had an allergy attack, so I took two Benadryl…” I lifted my fingers, confirmed that I was holding up two and then turned them to her. Not really sure why I felt the need to do that, and the harder I tried to show how fine I was, the harder it became. “He’s my boyfriend, so it’s not like he’s drugged me and dragged me here to take advantage of me. And look at him…” I poked his cheek, taking in his handsome face with a longing sigh. “Really it’s me taking advantage of the chance to be with a guy this ridiculously hot.”
Evan grabbed my hand and folded it into his. “I, uh, think that’s enough helping, babe.”
The exasperation in his voice sent a twinge through me—hello, I was just trying to help! But then he smiled down at me, dropped a quick kiss on my forehead, and tucked me closer, soothing my momentary hurt feelings.
“She’ll be fine as soon as she gets some s
leep,” he said. “I’m going to watch her closely, and if she doesn’t improve, I’m taking her to a hospital, I swear.”
“It’s true. He’s been a pain in the ass about trying to get me to a hospital for the entire drive here. However long it was.”
Evidently she believed us or decided it was above her pay grade, because she began typing away on her computer, inputting the information Evan gave her. My attention drifted, my thoughts going hazy, and my damn eyelids tried to close again.
Okay, they succeeded.
The jostling of Evan reaching for the hotel keycards jerked me back to semi-consciousness.
“You’re all set, Ethan,” the desk clerk said, her voice way too perky. “The elevator is right around the corner, and breakfast is from six to ten-thirty.”
“Evan,” I automatically corrected, even though where to get breakfast tomorrow was obviously the most important part of her spiel.
“Enjoy your stay.”
I patted Evan’s firm chest. “Oh, I plan to.”
13 Ethan
My blood pressure was still way too high as I pushed inside the hotel room. I thought I was busted when the receptionist called me Ethan. Didn’t they usually address people by their last name?
Not that it was her fault I wasn’t being totally honest with my “girlfriend.” When she looked at Gwen, half-asleep and clearly drugged-up on something, I’d been sure that I was about to take a trip down to the police station. It spoke to how far gone I was over this girl that my biggest worry in that scenario was that I wouldn’t be able to monitor her with my own eyes so I could know for myself if she was truly all right.
“Okay, here’s the bed.” I lowered Gwen into a sitting position. With her all but passed out, I was tempted to carry her back to the Camaro and take her to the hospital, just to be sure she was as fine as she claimed. Her breathing had evened out, replacing that awful, rattling wheezing she’d been doing, and I didn’t see any hives. She didn’t look puffy, either, just super tired.
