Page 30 of Yours, For Now

Humor didn't leave her face, but she raised an eyebrow at my statement.

She lifted a hand and called me down as if to tell me a secret. "It's only because of how busy I am. Letting myself relax enough to make out like that won't happen any time soon."

That I got. I looked into her eyes. "In that, we share the same fate."

"Yet here we are," she said.

"Fake dating you is full of ironies."

She stared at me for an extra second, before checking how close we still stood, then turning her eyes back to her house.

"Besides, if I fall for a woman or enby person, I don't think I'd get to flirt openly like this. Not with the way my family is."

I could still smell her perfume, clear above the petrichor, and my head still swam with images of kissing Lina for hours. Yet I heard the disappointment in her voice.

"That's sad." I lifted a hand to caress her face. "You should be able to flirt with anyone you like. You're good at it."

That changed her vibe. "You think I'm good at it? I'm not a flirt, typically. But I do like to go for what I want, so…"

"You could have anyone eating from the palm of your hand, if you wanted." I accompanied that with a serious nod of my head.

She laughed. "Too busy for that."

"And that's just sad, too."

I kissed her cheek and got in my car. I lowered my window.

"We have the green light now," I said. "Next step, writing the proposal and signing the contracts."

As I drove home, I spent a significant amount of time thinking of all the good reasons why I was doing this, and why I had decided to postpone dating for a few years in the first place.

I needed to sear the reasons into my brain. Nothing else would have the power to stop me from doing more than getting playful with Lina, for the sake of convincing everyone we were dating.

Chapter 10

Gabe: Tomorrow morning for the meeting

with your lawyers— is anyone from

your family going? On my side it'll be

me and one of our lawyers

Lina: Tío Miguel is coming

Gabe: Okay. I won't be all business then.

Just mostly business.

Lina: Responsible, professional…

but a little distracted by me?

I can work with that

Gabe: Yes, exactly. If you want to flirt

a bit that would help