Page 9 of The Best Bad Decision

Atlee stumped me for a few long moments as I sat down, but my brain was up to the challenge. “Oh, sweetie, you’re one of the sexiest men I’ve dated in a long time, so real or not, I’m going to enjoy every chance I get to leer, every touch you give me, and every touch I get to give you.”

Subtle was not my middle name, but I was pretty sure he didn’t need it.

Yep.

His eyes went wider and he cocked his head. “I know I’m not ugly, but men…you don’t have to exaggerate.”

What kind of morons had he dated?

Subtle was clearly not a good idea with Atlee, so I wrapped my hand around his tie and stroked my hand down it like I was jerking him off.

“My favorite days last summer were Sundays…do you know why?” Confusion filled his expression as he thought about what I could mean. He even glanced around the neighborhood like he was trying to remember what he’d seen.

He was oblivious.

It was kind of cute.

“No.” Finally turning back to me, he frowned again. “Sundays?”

Yep, oblivious.

“You washed your car every Sunday morning like clockwork, and once it heated up, your shirt came off.” I couldn’t resist smiling when he blinked at me. “My favorite Sundays were when you wore those tight little red shorts. Oh. I lived for those Sundays.”

He’d fucked up my entire schedule for when I usually ran errands, but the show had been worth it. They cupped his ass perfectly and were so short I kept hoping his cock would fall out of them. I got nothing done on red shorts day.

“I.” He stopped mid-thought and blinked a few more times. It was like watching a sexy robot reboot. “I only wear those when I’m behind on laundry.”

“They’re a beautiful view, so let’s not get rid of them anytime soon.” Logic said I should’ve been a lot more careful with my fake boyfriend, but it seemed like too many people had fucked him over for that to be a good way to handle him. “Maybe they’ll be my reward for being an amazing boyfriend.”

His eyes flashed wider for a moment, but after a few seconds, it was clear he had no idea what to say to me.

Adorable.

But he needed directions, so I nodded toward the driver’s seat. “Time for dinner, sexy. I’m in desperate need of attention because I’ve had to behave the last couple of days and I need a reward.”

That got a chuckle from him as he came back to life. “I can do that.”

So he could give me attention and focus on what I needed but he couldn’t figure out what to do when I flirted with him?

“Perfect.” I behaved myself and slid fully into the car so he could shut the door, and I was amazingly well-behaved as we drove to the restaurant. I kept the conversation light and asked about his week, and thoroughly enjoyed the new round of crazy from his family. “She really tried to get you to look at cake samples?”

He didn’t like cake.

Everyone remembered that from the block party last year. He was a brownie and pastry junky, though. “Did you even eat the cake at your first wedding to her?”

Atlee glanced over at me as he pulled into a parking spot and put the car in park. “Why did you ask that?”

Ugh.

“Because the whole street knows you don’t like cake.” A few pushy women had finally gotten it out of him that it was a texture issue. “You should have mini cheesecakes and brownies iced really fancy. You’d like that better. Oh, you’d love a full dessert bar with different pasties. That would be fun and they could be fancy.”

A smile peeked out as he leaned back in his seat. “For my last three birthdays my ex and my mother both picked out cupcakes for me. Icing piled high. They’ve been alternating between flavors like strawberry and guava.”

Guava?

“You don’t like fruity desserts unless they’re something like chocolate-covered strawberries.” How hard was that to figure out? “I’d have picked out a selection of treats from that European bakery downtown. They’re good and small enough you can eat three without thinking about what you’ve done to yourself.”

The unexpected bark of laughter from him made me smile but it was the way he leaned in and kissed my cheek that had me silently cursing the man.