Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

Ruune

I held Olivia close, her body fitting against mine like she was made for me. Her pupils were wide, her breath shallow, and everywhere we touched, heat throbbed through my body. I'd been attracted to females before—more times than I could count—but this was different.

Holding her felt so right that it terrified me. What was I doing? This was exactly what Griff had warned me against. I was playing with fire.

But was I? Olivia had just told me that she wanted commitment about as much as I did, which meant not at all. She needed help to appease her mother, and I needed someone to distract the females I would invariably lead on if I wasn’t careful—or didn’t have a fake girlfriend to chase them away.

Still, I was supposed to be her fake boyfriend. Emphasis on fake.

Instead of kissing her, which is what I'd usually do without a second thought, I released her quickly. Too quickly. She stumbled backward with a yelp, and I lunged forward to catch her before she hit the ground.

"I'm sorry," I said as I righted her, feeling like the biggest idiot in the galaxy. "Are you okay?"

Olivia nodded, her cheeks flushed. "I'm fine. But that was good.” She patted my chest. “Very convincing—until you dropped me.”

I helped her straighten, my arm still around her waist. "I promise, I'm usually much smoother than—"

Suddenly, Olivia's eyes went wide, snagging on something over my shoulder. Before I could turn to see what had startled her, she yanked my face down to hers and pressed her lips against mine.

For a heartbeat, I was too shocked to respond. But then I sank into the kiss, forgetting that anything else existed beyond the soft press of her lips and the warmth of her body against mine. I backed her against the wall, deepening the kiss as I tangled one hand in her hair and the other pulled her even closer.

A gasp behind us barely registered, but Olivia finally pushed me away, breaking the kiss. I blinked, dazed, before turning to see what had interrupted us.

Pippa stood there, arms crossed over her chest, glaring at Olivia. Behind her, Caroline and Griff wore matching expressions of surprise.

"What's going on here?" Pippa demanded, her voice sharp.

I cleared my throat, trying to find my voice. “I am sorry, but—” I had no clue what to say after that.

“It’s both our fault,” Olivia said without missing a beat. “We should have been honest from the start.”

“What are you talking about?” Pippa asked.

I was wondering the same thing as I swung my head to Olivia.

“We’re together.” She interlaced her fingers with mine. “We tried to hide it but that isn’t fair to anyone.”

"But you just met," Pippa spluttered.

"Actually, Olivia did meet Ruune before,” Caroline said, giving her friend a smile.

Technically yes, but only by minutes. Clearly no one was going to point that out, although Griff was eyeing me with both confusion and suspicion.

Olivia gave me a smile that was so tender that I was almost convinced it was real. “We thought we should keep it a secret so as not to overshadow the engaged couple, but I guess we can’t hide the truth anymore.”

“Congratulations, cousin. This is unexpected”

I avoided Griff’s gaze even as I forced a laugh, trying to sound nonchalant. "You know me, cousin. I am known for being surprising.”

"That's one word for it," he muttered.

I squeezed Olivia’s hand, hoping it came across as reassuring rather than panicked. Because despite my usual confidence, I was feeling distinctly out of my depth.

Caroline clapped her hands together. "Why don't we all go back inside? It's freezing out here."

“I think I’m going to head home.” Pippa backed away from us, her voice artificially high.

“You don’t have to go—” Olivia said before Pippa cut her off.

“It’s fine. It was nice to meet you all.” Her gaze lingered on Olivia. “I’ll see you at work.”

After she’d stomped away, Caroline exchanged a glance with her friend. “So much for work being fun again.”

Olivia’s expression was pained as we filed back into the bar, the warmth and noise washing over us. I kept Olivia's hand in mine as we walked through the crowd as if she was now my tether. It felt both strange and oddly natural.

"So," I bent down and murmured close to her ear, "that was some kiss."

She shot me a look that was part amusement, part warning as she swept her gaze around to make sure no one else had heard. "Don't get any ideas. I was just selling our story."

"Of course," I agreed, even as my lips still tingled from the memory. "You're quite the actress."

"And you're quite the actor," she shot back. "For a moment there, I almost believed you."

I gave her a sultry smile, but something in my chest tightened at her words. For a moment there, I'd believed it, too.

We made our way back to the bar and Griff managed to carve out some space for our foursome to stand. While Griff ordered more drinks, Caroline turned to Olivia.

“So, what gives? We all know you met Ruune all of five minutes before your friend arrived.”

Olivia sagged against the bar and released my hand. “I know. I’m so sorry for dragging you into this, but thanks for playing along.”

“You know I’ll always have your back, but a little advance warning would be nice.”

“Agreed.” Griff handed his mate a frothy drink and leveled me with a sharp look.

“I was doing what you asked me to do,” I told him.

Griff almost bobbled the drink. “I asked you to kiss my fiancée’s best friend?”

“Not in so many words, but you did ask me to avoid playing with anyone’s hearts and not pull Valoria into a diplomatic crisis with Earth.”

Griff narrowed his gaze at me. “And you accomplished this by kissing Olivia?”

“This is actually all my fault.” Olivia took the next drink the bartender slid across the bar, which looked exactly like the one Caroline held. “Well, my mother’s fault, if you must know.”

Caroline blinked rapidly. “This I have to hear.”

Olivia took a sip of her drink, the white froth clinging to her lip after she swallowed. “I told Ruune that I was dreading going to my mother’s New Year’s Eve party.”

Caroline touched her friend’s arm. “I know how much you hate that every year, Liv.”

“Ruune offered to go with me and be such a big distraction that my mother won’t have the time to foist her awful guys on me.”

Caroline slid her gaze to me and then her eyes lit up. “That’s a genius idea!”

“I know, right?” Olivia grinned at me. “He offered to be my fake boyfriend for the party if I would be his fake girlfriend while he was here on Earth. That way he won’t get in trouble by flirting with bunches of Earth women.”

Griff handed me a drink that looked decidedly less frothy. “Not a bad plan.”

I took the squat glass filled with an amber liquid and lifted it in salute. “Thanks.”

He lifted his matching glass. “I am glad you are here, Ruune. I have missed my family, and you are the one I have missed the most.”

A lump formed in my throat at his words. Despite our differences, Griff had always been more of a brother to me than a cousin. We clinked glasses, and I took a long swig of my drink, grateful for the burn of alcohol that did not taste like candy canes.

Caroline nudged me, pulling me down so only I could hear her words. “Thanks for doing this. Olivia might seem tough, but she’s not.”

Before I could tell her that she didn’t need to thank me, she’d turned back to Griff.

I looked at Olivia, who was sipping her drink and laughing. Already, the line between her eyes had softened. I thought about what Caroline had said and wondered how much Olivia hid beneath her beautiful, confident facade.

Olivia took another sip of her drink and smiled at me. I suppressed a laugh and inclined my head to her. “You have some foam on your lip.”

She quickly dabbed at her lower lip, missing the froth entirely.

“Hold still,” I told her, cupping her chin with my hand and brushing my thumb across her top lip.

As she stilled and met my eyes, my heart lurched in my chest. I dropped my trembling hand and looked away as every ounce of blood in my body rushed south. Despite my best intentions, despite everything I'd told myself about not getting attached, I had a feeling that pretending to fall for Olivia would not require much acting at all.