“See? It worked!” he says excitedly, taking his phone back from me. “I knew my talking to them would help. Seeing us together helped too, but letting them know who I am was the right thing to do.”

“But they still called me the freaking ‘Naughty Nanny’,” I point out, using air quotes just like Fable did a few days ago. “They also mentioned I was caught having an affair with Drew, which is a total lie. They’re never going to let that go.”

I try not to sound all doom and gloom but hello. I’m feeling pretty doom and gloom right about now. Despite the fact I have a gorgeous, sexy man in my bedroom. I should be thrilled.

But we’re in a fake relationship. This is all…bogus.

So why doesn’t it feel bogus? It should. I don’t want to get my hopes up.

Too late. They’re already up.

“We need to amp it up, and then trust me, they will definitely let all that bullshit go,” he says, his dark eyes sparkling. Why is he so cheerful this early in the morning? I sort of hate him right now. That’s because I desperately need coffee. “We need to put on a big display at the game tonight.”

“How?” I go and sit on the edge of my still unmade bed, and oh my God…

Wade sits down right next to me, making the mattress squeak from his weight. He’s sitting so close and he’s so hot—figuratively and literally. I’m still a little steamed up from the shower I took earlier, so he’s not helping matters. At all. Plus, this feels so intimate, him in my room, sitting on my unmade bed, and it’s not even nine o’clock in the morning. If I let my imagination run wild, I could almost envision us being like this after he stayed the night. In my bed.

Though I’d rather still be in my bed. With Wade. Naked.

Oh. God. My thoughts have seriously gone off the rails.

“We need to act like we’re totally into each other,” he says, his face, his voice deadly serious.

“Okaaaay.”

“Like, way into each other,” he stresses, his gaze never straying from mine.

“Uh huh.” That won’t be a hardship, especially after last night’s kiss.

“It needs to be undeniable, how much we want each other.”

“And how do you propose we do that?” I ask, getting a little irritated. I seriously don’t know what he expects me to do when he’s out on that field playing the game tonight and I’m sitting up in the stands.

“Well, maybe we should run through a few things and practice first.” He scoots even closer, his thigh nudging against mine. It’s solid with muscle, and wide, and I’m tempted to reach out and touch it. Touch him. Just rest my hand on his thigh, slip my fingers beneath the hem of his dark blue athletic shorts and see how muscular he really is….

I clear my throat, hoping that’ll also clear my head. “What do you think we should practice?”

“I’ve been thinking about you—uh, this all last night. And how we can make this appear even more real between us.”

Oh wow. He’s been thinking about me? Maybe I kept him up all night too, like he did to me. Maybe he’s feeling the same exact way about me that I feel about him, which is…

Crap. I don’t know how I feel about him. I just know that I like him, and that I’m attracted to him.

And he said he was a big believer in attraction…

“Tell me how we can make this pretend thing between us seem more real,” I say my voice low and hopefully sexy.

“We can push it to the next level.” He tucks a wet strand of hair behind my ear, making me shiver. “We can do little things, like me touching your hair. Those kinds of gestures make us seem like a bona fide couple.”

I give in to my earlier urge and rest my hand on top of his thigh, though I don’t dive beneath his shorts like I wanted to. That would be too much. Right? “Do you mean like this?”

“Uh.” His gaze drops to my hand on his thigh. “Yeah. Like that,” he says to my hand.

I give him a firm squeeze. He’s solid as a rock, I swear. I run my hand down until I’m touching his bare knee, his soft leg hair tickling my palm, and I’m suddenly tempted to do more exploring. More searching. My hands are literally itching to stroke all over his body. We have the time. I don’t have to be downstairs until ten, or maybe even later. We can give in to all of this attraction bubbling between us and just…let it take over.

Forget the emotional component of all of this. Emotions have nothing to do with what I’m feeling toward him.

“Sydney…” he starts, but this time I’m the one with the advantage. I go up on my knees so I’m more level with his mouth and kiss him. I grab hold of his shoulders and hang on for dear life as I press my mouth on his once. Twice. Soft, lingering kisses that last longer and longer, until our lips are parted and his tongue sneaks out to trace my upper lip.

It’s like we’ve given ourselves permission to just go for it, so we do. The kiss is instantly hot. Deep. Wet. Tangling tongues and hot breaths. I somehow end up on his lap, straddling him, clinging to his shoulders, rubbing against him like I’ve lost all inhibitions. I’m wearing tiny denim shorts and a tank top and his hands are on my butt, gripping me, pulling me in close so I can feel him.

And yeah. He’s big. Erect. I can’t believe it.

I want more of it. More of him.

He breaks the kiss first and starts in on my neck, his lips hot and damp as they slide over my sensitive skin. “Christ, you smell good,” he whispers.