Page 33 of Fake It For Love (Faux Love)
RYAN
Iknew they were all looking at me. The dark sunglasses gave me the benefit of being somewhat shielded. They couldn’t see me looking at them.
The women that were currently ogling me were not what I was looking at. It was Tony Pike. He was in the pool with his buddies. A few minutes ago, they’d been playing football, which was a dick move in my opinion. They were totally monopolizing the pool. They were making it impossible for anyone else to enjoy the water. But that was the way he and his buddies operated.
Tony had the football in his hand. The guy was squeezing it so tight it looked like he might pop the damn thing. I would have laughed if it wouldn’t have given away the fact I could see them. I wasn’t going to lie. I wanted Tony to be a little intimidated by me. I wanted him to see me for the man I was and not the lanky teen I had been. By my view, I would say he’d put on a few pounds and they weren’t muscle. It had taken me a long time to grow into my body, but I finally did.
“Are you doing this on purpose?” Claire whispered.
I turned my head to look at her. “Doing what?” I asked.
“You know exactly what you’re doing,” she hissed. “You want everyone looking at you.”
“Not really.”
I recognized Norah’s laugh. “Oh Claire, leave the guy alone. A body that fine should not be hidden under clothes.”
I watched Norah sit up in her chair and turn her body to face my chair. Claire remained stretched out between us. Norah was a gorgeous lady. There was no doubt about that, but she did nothing for me. Not anymore. She still looked the same as she had back then. Claire, on the other hand, was hard not to look at. Her ample breasts were the kind of softness a man wanted to bury his face in.
“Thanks,” I said with a cocky grin. I sat up and turned to face her. “How are you, Norah?”
“I’m good, Ryan. I would ask how you are, but it’s pretty clear you are doing very well for yourself.”
I smirked. “I’m doing alright.”
“I take it you finally got to be the pilot you always dreamed about becoming,” she said.
“I did,” I said. “Right out of high school actually. All that studying paid off. I was able to get my license and started flying right away.”
“What exactly do you do for a living?” she asked.
“I own an aviation business.”
“That sounds exciting,” she cooed.
“Norah,” Claire said in a warning tone.
I glanced over and saw Tony and his pals watching us from the pool. I didn’t know what game Norah was playing, but I was on board. I owed Tony a little payback. He had taken a great deal of pleasure in trying to make me jealous back in school after she dumped me. If I could give him just a little taste of his own medicine, it would be worth it.
“What about you?” I asked Norah. “Besides getting married, what are you doing with your time these days?”
She offered a dainty shrug. “A little this, and a little that.”
The coy thing had always worked for Norah. She was an expert flirter. That was how I fell for her all those years ago. When a beautiful girl turned her attention on you, it was hard not to feel like you were the only person in the room.
“Great,” Claire muttered.
I heard the telltale sound of wet feet slapping against concrete. A herd of wet feet followed by tall shadows blocking out the sun. I looked up to find Tony and his crew standing directly in front of our chairs. Tony was doing his best to look intimidating. The guy was tall, but he’d gotten a little soft. A couple of his buddies were on their way to full-fledged dad bods. Their intimidation games no longer worked on me.
“What’s up?” I said with a smile.
“What are you doing, Jones?” Tony barked.
“Tony, you’re blocking my sun,” Claire cut in. “Move.”
“What the hell, man?” Gabe asked. “Why are you flirting with Tony’s fiancée?”
I smirked. “Is that what I was doing?”
