Page 95 of Bridesmaid for Hire
I playfully push at his chest. “Stop it. No, you don’t.”
“No, I do. Because I wish it never happened, despite it being my best kiss that year. For the entire month of December, the boys sent me daily pictures and GIFs of Comet. It’s very triggering.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” I laugh some more and watch him finish off the drink between us.
“Okay, princess, your turn.”
The way he touches me is real.
The way he looks at me is real.
This is no longer a farce. This is a real date.
Taking a deep breath, I say, “An embarrassing story…”
“It has to be good. Don’t give me some bullshit that you tripped in front of a crush and dribbled your coffee on your shirt.”
The only crush I had in college was you, but you weren’t in college, and I shouldn’t be thinking about that, so…moving on.
“Darn it, you stole my story right from my lips.”
“Nice try. Give it up, Mitchell. Let me hear it.”
I don’t know why him calling me by my last name is such an aphrodisiac, but it is. It hits me hard. Makes me want to whip open my dress and offer him my breast right here, right now.
“Okay.” I twist my lips to the side. “I was doing some TA hours for my economics class—even though I have my own business now, economics was hard and I couldn’t understand it to save my life. So, during office hours with the hottie of the economics department—”
“Hottie?” Brody asks with a smirk. “Would you say hotter than me?”
No.
“Easily,” I say. That just makes him grin even wider because he can tell that I’m lying. “Well, my pen wasn’t working, but I’d just seen this thing online that if you sucked on it, it would start working again. So, I did. And when I tried writing with it, it worked.”
“Uh-huh…” he says.
“Well, it wasn’t until I got back to my dorm—five hours later—that I realized I sucked too hard and my teeth and lips were covered in blue ink.”
Brody rears his head back and laughs. “Oh fuck.”
“I went to class with blue lips and teeth, did a three-hour-long study session,andwalked around campus. Not a single soul told me.”
“That’s brutal.”
“It was humiliating, and I couldn’t believe the TA didn’t tell me. After that, he wasn’t so hot anymore—more of an asshole that doesn’t help a girl out.”
Brody shakes his head. “I would have told you.”
“Yes, you would have, and you would have pointed and laughed at me the entire time.”
He nods. “Yup. Accurate.”
I push at his leg playfully just as our waitress walks up to our table. “Are you done for the night?”
Brody sighs and nods. “Yeah, I think we’re done.”
“Lovely. I have Malana waiting by with your golf cart. She’ll drive you back to your bungalow.”
“Probably best,” I say as Brody stands from his chair before slipping his hand in mine and helping me down.
