Page 117 of The Great Dating Fake Off
“I will not forget.” My blood pumps harder as I turn in my seat. “I’m glad you said it. I feel the same way, Sebastian. This is real for me, and my feelings aren’t going to change.”
He tightens his grip on the steering wheel. “I can’t pretend I’m not thrilled to hear you say that.”
I manage a weak laugh, even as an intense uneasiness brews in my stomach. “Okay, but your tone does not sound thrilled. Is there more you want to say?”
“I don’t mean to sound—I’ve just got a lot on my mind. That’s all.” His jaw ticks as he grabs my hand and laces his fingers in mine. He lifts my hand to kiss my knuckles. “You make me so happy, Nor. Like no one ever has. You know that, right?”
All I can do is nod and pretend I don’t notice how tightly he grips my hand all the way back to my apartment, or the stilted small talk that is clearly his attempt to broadcast everything is fine! even as worry lines form in his forehead.
He shifts into park. The light affixed to the side of my old brick apartment building casts our bodies in an eerie glow through the glass windshield.
“Come here.” He reaches across the center console and slides his warm hand behind my neck. Our foreheads fall together as he strokes my hair.
His kiss is slow enough that I have time to pay attention to the little things; the way his eyelashes brush mine when he angles his face just right. The tenderness of his hand as he maps my neck, jaw, and cheek. Almost as if he’s memorizing it. “Goodnight, Nora.”
Disappointment wraps me up and squeezes. He doesn’t want to come inside my apartment, at least for a little while? He’s never even seen the place.
I force myself to smile. “Okay. See you soon?”
He nods. “I’ll be at the store with tutoring groups, then you could come to poker night?”
That’s three days from now. A flash of hurt works through me that he’s willing to wait that long to see me when our days are numbered. I don’t need to be alone with him, but I do want to be able to talk to him. Poker isn’t really a good time for that.
But I stuff that down, too. Emotions are heightened after Ro and Enzo’s fight. I’m tense, and I’m projecting it on him.
That’s all this is.
We expressed how we truly feel tonight, and I should be over the moon. I just wish I could shake the feeling that there’s even more he’s not saying.
Things I won’t want to hear.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Nora
Three days, as it turns out, is far too long to wonder what the hell is going through a man’s head.
Tairn and I guard the bookstore’s checkout counter all through Sebastian and the other mentors’ tutoring shift. I’ve kept to myself back here so the kids could concentrate on their studies without me hovering.
But have I been able to concentrate on anything other than Sebastian and trying to read his mind across the store? No.
His texts have been sweet the last few days. Normal, I think. But they’ve done nothing to shake me of the mounting dread as the days and hours tick by without quality time.
When the last mentor exits, leaving Sebastian and I alone in the store, I march up to the front door and lock the deadbolt.
Sebastian halts in packing up his computer in the café area. His hair falls in a perfect wave, and his facial hair is a touch long, like he’s been letting it go. “Closing early today?”
“I’m the manager, so I call the shots.” I strut toward him and grab him by the wrist.
He stumbles over his barely laced work boots as I drag him toward Benji’s office. “Am I getting another tour? What is this?”
I shut the heavy wooden door behind us, securing us privacy from the store’s bay windows, and back him into it.
He flips our positions on a dime, caging me in.
His breath is hot on my skin as he skates his lips across my jaw. “Hi. Fuck, I’ve missed–”
“We’re running out of time,” I blurt, fisting his cotton T-shirt as his mouth roams to my neck. “You say you’ll never stop wanting me, but you didn’t want to see me for three days when we have only weeks left together? You didn’t want to come inside and see my place? Help me understand what the hell is going on, here. I’m going out of my mind.”
