Page 44 of Fake Crown

“Food’s ready.” Brent turns to dish up his plate. “Want me to get yours?”

“I can get my own,” I say, and I brush against his arm as I grab a plate.

Once we’ve both gotten what we want, we sit side by side at the island. There’s a weird tension between us that I don’t like.

“What do you want to do after this?” Brent asks.

“I have a lot of school work, and since Jaxon is here, he can help run interference with Val, right?” I focus on my food while I speak.

Brent doesn’t say anything for a beat. “Yeah.” The word sounds heavy, as though coming back to campus has weighed us down in unexpected ways.

We eat in silence, and when we’re done, I help him tidy the kitchen before grabbing my bag from the front entranceway. This whole fake relationship thing was probably a mistake. He can’t even take me flirting with his roommate.

“Jensen,” he says when I’m at the door.

I pause with my back to him, and then he’s behind me. A frisson of awareness races up my spine, and the connection I sensed between us in Bermuda is back in full force. Connection? Lust. Full-on, undeniable lust.

His large hand grips my biceps, and he rotates me around and presses me against the wall. “Don’t leave mad,” he says, and then he kisses me.

It’s deeply unfair that one brush of his lips against mine causes my panties to dampen with need. My bag hits the floor with a thud, and Brent lifts me up. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he carries me to his room.

His comment about Jaxon was about avoiding complications, nothing more. Sensible, really. The less we intertwine our lives and friends, the easier it’ll be to shake hands and move on in a couple weeks.

The only things I want from Brent are orgasms and lattes. When he lowers me onto the bed, I stare into his golden-brown eyes, and I pray I never want anything more.

Brent

We spend all afternoon in bed, and with a lot of persistence on my part, the deep freeze that sprung up between us when I suggested she shouldn’t flirt with Jaxon melted. Definitely made me realize I’d have an uphill battle with her if I wanted to make this relationship legit. Good thing that’s not in the plan.

I’m getting ready for my second practice of the day when Jaxon appears at the bathroom door while I’m stuffing dry swim gear into my bag.

“A fake relationship?”

“Val said she was going to convince me to take her back.” I shrug and keep packing.

“And you’ve got so little faith in yourself?”

“Faith you’ve got? You’re the one who told me how it would play out in Bermuda. Honestly, if Posey wasn’t there, you’d have been right.” My motivation to deny Val’s advances was partly my newfound aversion to drama, but it was also a strange loyalty to Posey. I didn’t want to let her down.

“If you’re sleeping with her, cooking for her, delivering her coffees around campus, you’re dating for real. You get that, right? Nothing fake about that shit. You bought her flowers yet?”

Heat creeps across my chest. I picked a single rose on my way back from practice on Sunday because I thought she was annoyed with me. Hardly evidence he’s right. “It’s temporary. We both know that. Get me over the Val hump.”

“Yeah? You weren’t jealous when she started flirting back today?”

“That wasn’t cool.” I glare at him and shove my swimsuit in my bag.

“You two must have had a good weekend together if you’re fake dating now.”

He can be such a smug asshole sometimes. “Just drop it, Jax. She’ll be around a lot for the next couple weeks, but that’s it. Once we’re sure Val’s gotten the hint, we’ll go our separate ways.”

“I’m surprised Posey agreed to it.”

“Why?” I sling my bag onto my shoulder and squeeze past him.

“She was very against boyfriends in freshman year.”

Makes me wonder if he tried to convince her to date him, and another shot of jealousy surges through me. “She’s got her reasons.” I grab my keys off the island.