Page 39 of Love Me Tender
“Between now and Wednesday, we need to act like we’ve been living together for a while.”
“Do your parents even know we’re living together?”
“I told them the other day.” He dropped a pillow on the sofa. “As far as my mother was concerned, I might as well have said you and I were walking down the aisle next.”
“That’s where I draw the line.”
“I would hope so.” He tossed the blanket on the other end of the sofa. “But since we’ll need to do a lot more pretending to pull this off, we’ll start now. You need to, like,livehere. Put girl stuff around. Lotions, hairbrushes, clothes, lipstick.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Because I’m a girl, I need to clutter up your place with lotions and lipstick?”
“No.” He groaned and dragged a hand down his face. “You need to establish apresencehere. And not with bags of pork rinds and dirty T-shirts.”
“Wow. Way not to like me for who I am.” She injected a hurt note into her voice, then chuckled when he looked slightly horrified at having upset her. “Kidding. But really, even your parents will expect me to have a computer.”
“We’ll set it up tomorrow. I need to move stuff off the desk in the bedroom.” He flopped down on the sofa and put his feet on the coffee table. “So I know about your career, your terrible diet, and your family. What else do I need to know?”
“That’s it.”
He slanted her a glance. “I don’t believe that.”
She shrugged. “You know what I like to eat and drink, who my friends are, what kind of music I like. I work out and jog. I go to concerts when I can. I like hiking. That’s the main stuff.”
He studied her, his eyebrows drawing together. “Still not buying it. Everyone has secrets.”
“I didn’t say I don’t have secrets. I said that’s all you need to know about me to pretend like we’re together. Your parents will expect you to bring me a large coffee—no cream, two sugars—without me having to ask. They won’t expect you to tell them that I sing karaoke and dance around my apartment in my underwear when I’m stuck on a coding or design problem.”
Intrigue sparked in his eyes. “Do you?”
“Like I said…” She grabbed the milkshake cup and turned toward the foyer. “That’s all you need to know.”
She was halfway out the door when she heard him laugh.
