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The way she tucked her hair behind her left ear when she was trying not to lose her temper. The little line between her eyebrows when she was concentrating. The fact that she claimed not to like sweets but had always ordered dessert.
None of that was on her damn spreadsheet.
She might think this was a “fake” relationship. But I saw it as four days to make Mikayla Parsons fall for me.
Challenge accepted.
Her phone alarm went off.
“Shit. We have to go. So…what do you think?” Her eyes were searching mine. I couldn’t tell if she wanted me to decline the offer, or not. I doubted she even knew.
“I’ll do this on one condition.”
“Just one?” she clarified.
“Yes.”
“What condition?” she asked wearily.
“If I’m gonna be your boyfriend, you have to let me do it my way.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “As long as your way falls within the scope of the agreement?”
“I can work with that.”
I grabbed a pen and signed my name on the contract, then handed it to her.
“Congratulations, sweetheart. You just hired yourself a heartbreaker.”
5
UNSCRIPTED TONGUE
Mikayla
Damon and I were halfway to the wine tasting/cocktail hour when I realized I’d made a critical tactical error: I’d briefed him on the entirety of my life, at least the parts that could be weaponized against me by relatives and childhood enemies, but I knew next to nothing about his.
If this was going to work, if we were going to survive a night of open bar and open season on my love life, I would need more than a bullet-pointed list. I would need a narrative, a myth, a mutually agreed-upon history. Something that would hold up under the scrutiny of women who got PhDs in Instagram and men who remembered my seventh grade orthodontia.
“Okay, so tell me something about you, Cliff Notes version,” I demanded, falling into step beside him on the winding brick path up to the vineyard patio. “Do you prefer cats or dogs? Are you a night owl or a morning person? Favorite ice cream flavor? Just give me the basics.”
“I don’t sleep much, so both. I love all animals equally, I always have. I think I get it from my mom. She takes in strays, and not just the animal variety. She saves any wounded or hurt being,” he said with pride. “And I’m not a big ice cream eater, but if I had to choose, it would be Cookies ’n Cream.”
“Okay and what about love life?”
The corners of his lips curled up. “I’ve recently entered into a relationship with the love of my life.”
I tried not to smile, but it was difficult. Damon’s default mode was equal parts exasperating and charming. He had a sly smile that turned every question into a game of chicken.
“I’m serious,” I said, stopping short to face him. “I need to know about your romantic history. Like how many girlfriends have you had?”
His face scrunched. “Define girlfriend.”
“A serious relationship.”
“Define serious relationship.”
“Are you being difficult on purpose?” I asked.
