Page 4 of Improper Proposal
“I missed the round of hugs and kisses,” he whispers, his warm breath sliding across the shell of my ear. Oh God, that shouldn’t feel so nice. I cough to hide the moan rising in my throat, and resist the urge to drop to the ground, spread my legs, and ask him to take me already.
Run away, Harper. Get out of here while there’s still time.
I take in his tanned skin, and his eyes stray down my body. I realize he’s looking at me the same way I’m looking at him. I really should get out of here. I have no real idea what’s going on, or if this family—George—is part of my dossier. But instead I find myself saying, “It’s so nice to finally meet you all.”
Damn, girl, what are you doing?
As soon as I speak, Will gives me a curious look. His ocean-blue eyes narrow in on me, and his head angles sideway like he’s trying to piece together a puzzle. I feel a measure of unease. Does he know whether I’m supposed to be here? If I was sent here to meet George?
“Do I know you?” he asks.
“Oh, Will, cut it out,” Claire says, giving him a whack on the arm.
“We only learned that George’s surprise was a woman when Gramps found her at the end of the driveway,” Bronwyn says. She bats her lashes. “So romantic.”
“So, you’re George’s girl?” He looks about as surprised as I feel.
“I…uh…” Shit, what do I say? The pieces were lining up to prove I was. George and my sponsor must have been in on this adventure together.
“Of course she is,” Bronwyn pipes in.
“Well, he did mention to me a while back that he was online dating,” Will said.
Online dating?
Please tell me one of the girls hadn’t connected with George while pretending to be me!
Shit. Shit. Shit. What a freaking mess. I need to get a hold of my friends and find out what they set up. Or better yet, since George isn’t even here, come tomorrow morning, I could hightail it out of here before anyone wakes up.
“You sound like you’re from New York,” Will says.
I clear my throat. “I’m a New Yorker,” I say. “Born and bred.”
He rocks on his heels, and those steely blue eyes move over my face. “Actually, I thought George had given up online dating months ago.”
“That’s because he found someone, silly,” Bronwyn says.
Was that someone supposedly me?
“What exactly is it that you do, Harper?” I don’t miss the deep curiosity in Will’s voice, the interrogation behind that question.
Claire, George’s mother, gives Will a whack. “There will be plenty of times for questions later, Will.” She smiles at me, so warm and motherly my heart wobbles, missing my own mother who died a few years ago. She steps closer. “Will is an American, too,” she says, but I already figured that out from his accent. “Works as a consultant in New York. Perhaps you two do know each other, after all.”
Will’s lips curl into a teasing smile. “Do we know each other, Harper? New York is a big place, but I’m sure we must have crossed paths.” He looks at me, his eyes challenging, a dare of sorts. He knows something. I’m almost positive. Is he aware of the dossier? Has he come to see for himself what kind of desperate girl would set up such a pact?
“I’m sure if we had met, I would have remembered,” I say and look at my shoes. What the hell am I’m doing? I should go. George isn’t even here.
Then leave already.
I want to, I really do, but George has a big wonderful family, full of love and life—everything I’ve ever wanted but know better than to hope for—and I just want to bask in that for a while. Then there’s Will, the American cousin I can’t seem to keep my eyes off of and would like to get to know better. Between the sheets, of course. I mean, I am here to have epic sex, right? Although, how I plan to do that with the cousin when I was supposed to be here for George is beyond me.
I’m a horrible person. I know it. But I can’t say the words out loud.
And it has nothing to do with the fact that the way he smells makes my body… No. No, I really shouldn’t go there.
Yep. I’m awful.
Well done, Harper. Well done.
