My Fake Husband by Black, L. (lightest ebook reader .TXT) 📗

“Hey,” I said, taking the empty chair beside her. “I heard you had some trouble down at the shop. I was sorry to hear it.”

Trixie looked up at me, her face startled. Those big brown eyes so sorrowful that I had to clench my hands into fists to keep from pulling her into my arms. Baby, I’ve got you. It’s gonna be okay, is what I wanted to tell her. I wanted to kiss the top of that head, dark silky hair tucked in under my chin. Why would I think that? Why would I think about calling her baby? I shook my head at how ridiculous I was being.

“Thanks,” she said, her cheeks flushing bright pink.

“Is everything okay now?” I asked.

The two other women there, Nicole Renner, our City Planner and Michelle from the library, shook their heads emphatically. Trixie picked up her drink, which looked like a screwdriver, and took a sip. She licked her lips and shook her head as well.

“It’s complicated.”

“Tell me if I’m outta line asking, but wasn’t it just a burst pipe?”

“Yes, and I don’t care if you ask. I mean, everybody knows everybody around here. Why not spread the joy?” she said, and her voice was flat and bitter.

I waved the other guys over with the beers and they joined us at the table. Josh started talking to Michelle about the sci-fi series they were reading for book club at the library, and they teased Kurt because he didn’t read. He proudly announced he hadn’t read a book since high school, which only an idiot would say to a librarian, so we all laughed. Michelle started quizzing him about shows he liked to watch and looking like a doctor trying to solve a mysterious symptom. That man would leave with a reading list as long as his arm, I knew.

“Make him read Outlander. God, those books are amazing,” Trixie piped up.

“The show is amazing,” Nicole corrected. “Sam Heughan isn’t in the books. Although if he did the audiobooks, I’d listen the shit out of those.”

“You’d need backup batteries,” Trixie said.

“Rechargeable. It’s the wave of the future. All you need is a USB port,” Nicole said, waggling her eyebrows.

“USB port? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” I joked.

Trixie smiled at me. A real smile, and it felt like I’d been hit in the head. It was like being knocked sideways and not knowing which way is up. Dizzied by her smile, I wanted another one.

“It’s good to see you smile.”

“It feels good. I’ve had a rough couple days,” she admitted.

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet. We may get something in a minute,” she said.

I waved a waitress over and ordered some pizzas and wings. I drank my beer and we all talked, trying to cheer her up. Trixie dove for the Hawaiian pizza when the food came, scooping two slices onto her plate, dripping with melted cheese. I watched her take a bite even though it was obviously too hot from the oven. She took a bite, fanned her mouth, eyes watering, and I passed her my beer. She took a drink and swallowed, blinking a lot.

“Needs to cool off a little?” I teased. She reached into Nicole’s water, fished out an ice cube and sucked on it. I lost my ability to tease or do anything but wish—for things I couldn’t have.

Her mom is best friends with my mom. She’s off-limits. She’s just sucking an ice cube because she burned her tongue with food, not because she wants to look like a porn reel and make me so fucking hard I can’t breathe. These pants are going to strangle me. A drop of water melted off the square ice cube and slipped down onto her lower lip and trailed onto her chin.

My hand shot out without permission from me and wiped away the drop of cold water so close to the corner of her mouth. Just that slight touch undid me. I couldn’t focus my damn eyes. I felt helpless and ablaze from that touch. I pulled my hand back as she looked at me.

“Yeah, I know, I need a bib, right?” she said, making light of it.

I wanted to make a flippant remark, be funny and casual, but I cleared my throat loudly, so loud she jumped a little. Because between the way my breath was sawing in and out from watching her with the ice cube and the fact that my dick was trying to take over the world with the worst hard-on I’d had since high school, I had just cleared my throat so hard it sounded like someone trying to shove a dinosaur bone down a garbage disposal. Josh laughed.

“You should hear him snore. It’s a legend at the station.”

“Yeah,” Kurt said, “rattles the windows. You gotta make sure you sleep close to the fire alarm in case there’s an emergency because his snoring could drown out a siren.”

“Remind me never to take you with me if I’m trying to pick up a woman,” I said dryly to Kurt. “You are a shitty wingman.”

“Are you trying to pick me up?” Trixie asked.

I swear to God, she licked her bottom lip, just the tip of her tongue showing at the corner of her mouth. I wanted to capture it, to cover her mouth with mine. I’d never sat this close to her and talked since we were grown, and the chemistry was hot as hell. I could flirt with her all night. I could do a lot of things with her all night.

“If I was, Kurt would’ve ruined it by now,” I said lightly, “besides, my mom would kill me.”

“Still afraid of your mom?” Josh asked.

“Have you met my mom?” I shot back, “she’d kill me and make it look like an accident.”

“She would not,” Trixie said. “She’d make you disappear and say you ran off with some girl. Then she’d donate all your stuff to the church clothes closet for the needy. Meanwhile,