And as I’m looking at Brenden now, I realize that if I hadn’t moved back, I never would’ve met him. And that, well...

That’s just unacceptable.

So I run my thumb along his cheekbone and tell him the honest truth.

“No. I really don’t.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

BRENDEN

This date has done something to me. Altered my brain chemistry somehow so that it’s become impossible for me not to be touching Travis. I’ve spent the entire drive back to my house with my hand on his thigh or the back of his neck, my fingertips trailing over the short hairs at his nape like that’s their only purpose in life.

And this isn’t lust. Or maybe it is, but it’s something else too.

It's Travis.

It’s this thing that’s been building between us. Slowly at first, and now rapidly, out of control and impossible to ignore.

Or am I crazy? Am I letting myself get carried away in a silly fantasy where a dream man like this actually wants me? Wants me for more than sex, that is. The way Travis looked at me tonight—the way he touched me and talked to me—made it feel like there’s something real going on here. But I can’t afford to be wrong about this.

My life is great. I have May, I have a career I’m passionate about, I have the town. What happens if I fall for Travis and then find out I’m the only one falling? That would probably destroy me.

Going into this fake relationship, we agreed we wouldn’t let it affect our real friendship.

And Travis doesn’t date. He hooks up. That’s not just town gossip. He told me this himself. So how can I expect him to suddenly change who he is for me?

I can’t.

I need to break myself out of whatever magic spell this fancy date night put over me and remember that Travis is only mine for now. He’s not mine to keep.

As we pull into my driveway, we see Elise and Grant’s rental car there, and Travis unsnaps his seatbelt. “I’d better go in with you.”

“Right,” I mutter. “Keeping up the act.”

He frowns, but before I can puzzle out why, he’s out of the truck and coming around to my side. I let him open my door for me and help me out again, because Elise might be watching us out the window. Not because it feels nice.