Mine to Steal (Mine to Love) (27 page)

“I’m sorry,” she says, touching
a hand to her lips as if they’ve been burned. “I should go find my friends.”

I grab her hand as she walks away and
tug her back to me and give her a kiss of my own. But this one isn’t rushed. I hold my hand to her neck and move my lips over hers as they part, and I give her a kiss that I hope makes it hard for her to leave me.

When we part, she
regards me with an apologetic smile, or possibly regret. “I’ll see ya later.”

She meets up with her friends who, by the way they’re looking at me, saw the whole thing. I’m not sure what they’re saying, but Faith
peeks over her shoulder and gives me a crooked smile before giving me her back. I make my way toward the bar, wondering what has happened in the last five minutes and pass my brother who is looking at me in the same way.

I watch Faith with her friends, in her element, and it’s li
ke watching a wild animal in its natural habitat. There are no pretenses, no airs; she’s simply Faith. Unapologetic, fun, free, and sexy Faith Young. I try to keep my eyes away from her, but more often than not, I find her dancing and laughing like no one is watching.

I don’t want to be set up with anyone else. In fact, I think I really want to go out with Fait
h again. As if she can sense my eyes on her, she turns and our eyes meet, and I know something has changed.

But
I’m not sure what it is yet.

“Doubt,” Jett yells from the living room.

“Don’t answer it,” I yell back. Faith and I are supposed to meet up for a movie. The local theatre is doing an afternoon showing of
Dazed and Confused
. I had quoted a McConaughey line, and she wasn’t familiar with it. That was my sign to introduce her to the pot-smoking classic. Hell, we live in Colorado after all.

I walk into the kitchen
, and Jett is on my phone laughing. Obviously he decided to ignore my instructions.

“Yeah, he just walked in
.” He waves me over. “So I hear you still hate me.”

“Give me the damn phone
.” I reach for the device, but he jumps back and laughs.

“Aw c’mon, Doubt. I was a kid,” he pleads, and I almost buy it. “Yeah, you’re right. Fine, I won’t call you Doubt anymore. Can we be friends now?”

I reach around him, grab the phone and put it to my ear to hear her voice, “-but so help me, you call me Doubt again, and I’ll tell everyone about your little accident in fifth grade.”

I look at Jett with a raised brown and respond to her threat, “You have to at least tell me.”

“Oops,” she laughs. “Did you hear all of that?”

“Mainly the part about my brother’s ‘accident.’ What’s that all about?”

Jett shrugs his shoulders and laughs. “What, when I pissed all over my shirt? You gotta do better than that to get me,
Faith
.”

“How in the hell did you manage that?” I ask, because I’m sure Faith wants to know.

“You remember Ms. Daphney, don’t you?” he asks about the English teacher we both had. All the boys had a crush on Ms. Daphney and studied hard for their spelling tests because if you did well, you inevitably got a hug from her and her double d’s.

“You’re proud of this - never mind, forget I asked
.” I laugh before telling Faith, “at least he didn’t say Doubt.”

* * *

“You’re late,” she calls out as I walk toward the ticket counter. “I got your ticket already so we can get seats.”

I glance at my watch and look at her in question
. “The movie starts at five after.”

“Yeah, and it’s almost two.”

“You realize there’s at least fifteen minutes of previews, right?”

“I love the previews,” she says, linking her arm through mine and dragging me through the doors. “You get the popcorn, I’ll get seats.”

“You’re crazy,” I say as she walks away.

There isn’t a long line at the concession stand, and I make sure to have them add extra butter to the popcorn
, per Faith’s request. I can feel the greasiness on my hands, and I hope it’s not getting on my shirt. That’ll be a bitch to get out. Making my way into the theatre, she spots me and waves in the darkness. My arms are loaded with popcorn, candy, and drinks, and she takes it out of my hands when I reach her.

“Anything good coming out?”

“Yeah, a few. But I’ll tell you later. The movie's about to start.”

There’s a surge between us
, and I’m not too sure if it’s only friendly in nature. However, I’m not trying to see if it’s anything else, at least not with her weird arrangement with Brad. I think friends is all we can be.

Sitting and watching this movie with her feels
good. She laughs on cue, sings along with the music, though she has no business singing, and comments on the strange nose grab thing the main character does. If this were a date, I’d be optimistic about the prospects, but this isn’t a date. We’re just two people who work together and have managed to become friends.

My arm is resting on the cup holder between us
, and she has her feet tucked beneath her, angled toward me. I find myself looking at her every once in a while, tallying the flaws I notice. She’s got them.

She’s moody.

She’s opinionated.

She’s stubborn.

She loves to argue.

She has a boyfriend.

It’s the last one that is by far her biggest flaw. She’s with Brad, and it makes me question her sanity.

“Why are you looking at me?”
she asks, when I fail to turn away fast enough.

“You have something in your teeth,” I lie and
avert my eyes.

She starts to bring her finger to her teeth but stops and
narrows her glare at me. “You can’t see anything, it’s too dark in here.”

There’s no response I can give for being caught checking her out so I shrug my shoulders and keep my eyes locked on the screen.

“Were you checking me out?” She nudges my arm with hers and laughs.

“
Shh,” I scold. “You’re missing the movie.”

“Oh my
God,” she whisper-laughs. “I totally caught you looking at me and now you’re all embarrassed.”

My lip quirks in a smile, but I train my eyes on the movie I’m not concentrating on. “Don’t flatter yourself
,” I say to her, using her favorite line.

She shoves her elbow into mine, causing
it to slip a little off the armrest. She tries to do it again, but my arm is firmly locked in place, making it hard for her to move me.

“Will you grow up? You’re missing the movie,” I whisper loudly, but she
laughs and keeps her eyes focused on the screen. I look over at her and smirk before I raise my voice, “Faith, you can’t do that in a movie theatre. They might catch us.”

She jumps so far away from me the action makes her look guilty of what I’m implying. I still don’t look at her and smile at my success.

The movie finally ends, and we walk out side by side. I smirk at her and give her a nudge, but she refuses to smile.

“Aw, c’mon, you’re not seriously mad, are you?” I goad.

She opens her mouth to answer but is interrupted by the sight of the attractive, yet crazy, Logan approaching us. She has a slight smile on her lips, but Faith has no idea who she is. I slow my stride, but she perks up and smiles at Logan.

“Hi, Trey,” Logan says, shifting a quick glance at Faith.

“Hey, Logan,” I nod. “How are you?”

“Good.
How is your mom?”

The lie. What did I tell her about my mom?

“She’s doing better, thanks.” Her eyes dart between Faith and me, waiting for an introduction, I assume. “Oh, I’m sorry. Logan, this is Faith -”

“His girlfriend,” Faith chimes in, finishing for me. She follows
it up by wrapping her arm around my waist and looks up at me with a devilish grin. I’m on to her game. She sees this beautiful woman in front of us and thinks she’s someone I’m interested in. She thinks she’s cock-blocking, but she has no idea how far from reality that is. The last thing I want is for Logan to think I’m available.

“Babe,” I murmur, wrapping my arm around her and watch as her smile fades. “You know you are so much more than that.”

She didn’t expect this. And when I wink, her cheeks flush bright red.

Logan looks between us, her brows scrunched together in confusion. “How long have you been together?”

Faith straightens her back and looks to Logan who has narrowed her eyes at us. “How long’s it been, Hon? A month?”

“A month tomorrow, right?” I clarify.

Logan looks from me and then to Faith; there’s no way she’s buying this. But this ruse Faith started isn’t for Logan, it’s payback, and we both know it.

“
Honey,” Faith coos. She hops onto her toes and kisses my cheek, “you remembered.”

Shit. This is going too far
and yet I’m enjoying the hell out of it.

“
A month, huh?” Logan repeats, with her eyes boring into mine. “Interesting timing.”

Faith turns to Logan and glares at her. It’s actually cute as hell. “What’s so interesting about it?”

“Well, he didn’t mention he was seeing anyone when he was on a date with me and meeting my parents around the same time.”

“That’s when we had our date. You must have been one of the contestants in his blind date marathon, too
,” she almost sings as she grips the back of my shirt a little tighter.

“But I was the lucky one.” I squeeze her back and try to keep from laughing at this charade.

She looks up at me and flashes a gorgeous smile. “I guess when you know, you know.”

This game we’re playing is feeling less like a game and more like truth. There are scenarios running through my head, all of which end up with her in my bed
, again. Before I can stop myself, I lift my free hand and graze the side of her cheek with the back of my hand in an intimate gesture. I dip my chin, allowing my lips to meet hers and everything slows to a halt as I feel her trembling.

Or maybe it’s me.

The moment our lips touch, something inside of me comes alive. The last time we kissed, it was excusable as her having too much to drink, or getting caught up in the moment. But there’s something about this time that feels completely different. She parts her lips slightly allowing me to taste the sweetness from the candy and saltiness from the popcorn; it’s amazing.

Something startles us out of our kiss, but our eyes remain locked on each other; our breathing slightly erratic.

“I guess now I know why you never called,” Logan says in a clipped tone.

She walks around us, leaving Faith and me reeling from a fake relationship that all of a sudden doesn’t feel so
fake.

“Trey,” she starts, but I cut her off with another kiss to see if I feel the same thing. When I release her
, she studies me with uncertainty, but I grab her hand and thread our fingers. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

She nods
, and I pull her along with me to my car. We don’t say anything when I open the passenger door for her, and we don’t speak the entire time while I drive. There’s a park a few streets over, so I find a spot and turn the car off. We remain in silence as we get out and walk to a bench opposite the pond.

Faith sits down and runs a hand through her hair
with her concentration fixed on the water, but I remain standing.

“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” she says so soft I almost have to strain to hear her. “I was trying to get back at you for the movie.”

“I was playing along because that woman is not all there. Besides, I knew what you were doing,” I laugh half-hearted.

“Then why did you kiss me?”

“Why did you kiss me during paintball? Or at the bar? Hell, why did you kiss me back just now?” I counter.

“Shit,” she says in a rush. “I did kiss you back, didn’t I? But hell, you started it.”

I can’t help but laugh at her defense. “Yes, I started it. But what does it mean?”

“It was a kiss, Trey,” she scolds
. “It’s not a big deal.”

“I’ll give you that, but what about that night? Ever since we slept together, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. And you walk around like it was just another day.”

I should hit me for that one.

“If you’re implying that it’s something I do often, then you would be mistaken. That night, I had a little too much to drink. And yeah, I recognized you in Chicago, but I didn’t piece it together until later.”

“Where do we go from here? Yes, we’re working together, but you can’t deny that there might be more going on.”

“
What’s going on, Trey?” When she looks at me, I see the trepidation in her eyes. She’s wearing her vulnerability on her sleeve, and I’m not sure she realizes it.