Page 83 of The Fake Out

Benny pointed his fork at me accusingly. “You’ve told her you love her, right?”

I shook my head. “Umm...we’re still not there yet.”

“Hmm. Didn’t take me long with Rox,” Benny said and raised his dark eyebrows at me.

TJ waved both him and Noah off. “Neither of you count. Noah sat there and pined for Dinah for years, and Benny, you eye fucked my sister for three years while you both pretended to hate each other.”

Benny elbowed the smaller man. “Okay. It take you long with Max?”

“Well...not too long, but we took it slow. Max is shy,” TJ explained.

That much I knew. Max had been painfully shy in high school, but I always thought that was because of her uber-religious upbringing.

“Holmsy, what gives?” Noah asked.

“Nothing, just thinking out loud. Besides, we have that wedding tomorrow.”

“Wedding sex is the best!” TJ cheered.

My phone buzzing in my pocket distracted me from the conversation.

VERONICA: Call me before you go to bed?

ME: Give me a few minutes?

VERONICA: K!

When I looked up, TJ and Benny both gave me a grin.

“Get out of here and go call your girl,” Benny teased.

“You guys are the worst,” I teased back and threw some bills down on the table. I downed my scotch and took off upstairs. I got a quick shower and laid on the bed shirtless before hitting call on my video chat app.

Veronica’s cute face appeared blurry at first, but then she came into focus. She smiled at me, and it made my chest hurt, but in a good way.

Damn, I missed her.

“Aw, sweets, your hair looks better on video.”

She pushed her hair behind her ear and gave me a shy smile. “Thanks. What time does your flight get in tomorrow?”

I leaned back on the bed, putting an arm behind my head. “Early, don’t worry, I won’t miss it.”

She nodded.

She was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed, and she was definitely not wearing panties as I got a quick view of her pussy. I wished she was here with me, lying in my arms and kissing me. Even if we weren’t in a relationship, this traveling thing sucked. I don’t know how I did it for so long with Astrid. Maybe that said something about our relationship because I never longed for Astrid the way I did for Veronica.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to go all girlfriend on you,” she said. “Just wanted to figure out some things. The wedding starts at four, so we should be good.”

She looked nervous.

“Sweets, we don’t have to go if you don’t want to. You don’t owe that asshole anything,” I reassured her.

“I have to go. I have to show him he didn’t break me when he left me,” she insisted, her voice cracking a little.

I hated that this douche-canoe made her feel like she wasn’t worthy of love. If I were home, I would have folded her into my arms until she felt better. But I wasn’t. I was alone and horny in my hotel room.

“Do you still love him?”