Not Pretending Anymore(23)

I’d been staring at my phone, lost in some ridiculous fantasy, and hadn’t heard Julia walk into the kitchen.

“Who are you texting over there?” she asked. “You have the dirtiest smirk on your face.”

Shit. “I, uh, my sister.” I closed my eyes, silently cursing myself and my dumbass answer. Great, now she probably thinks I’m freaking creepy. “She was, uh…” I attempted to iron out the wrinkles. “She’s trying to fix me up with one of her friends.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, with four sisters, it’s a pretty common occurrence.”

“Are you…going to go out with the woman?”

I shook my head. “I learned my lesson a long time ago. Keep your love life as far away from your sisters as possible. The last time I let one of them set me up, I wound up on a date with a woman who loved cats.”

“So? Are you allergic or something?”

“No. But she picked me up in her car, and when I got in, I realized just how much she loved her cats. Six of them were in the backseat.”

“She brought her cats on your date?”

I nodded. “Said they got lonely at home, liked to go for car rides, and were a good judge of character.”

“That’s a little bizarre. Did the cats approve of your character, at least?”

“One leaped into the front seat while we were on our way to the restaurant and threw up all over my pants.”

Julia laughed. “Oh my God. You mean they weren’t even in carrying cages? What did you do?”

“She drove me back home so I could get changed, and I feigned a headache. But that’s not even the worst part.”

“It’s not?”

I shook my head. “My sister didn’t talk to me for a month because her friend told her I wasn’t nice to her cats. She was convinced I’d made them nervous, and that’s why one threw up on me.”

My phone buzzed in my hand. Julia looked down at it. “I’ll let you finish letting your sister down easy. I was just coming to ask if you had any wine.”

“I think Molly does. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if we had some. I’ll pour you a glass and be right in.”

After Julia went back to the living room, I texted Molly again.



Declan: Are you okay? Do you need me to get you an eyewash or something?



Molly: No, I’ll be fine. I just need a few minutes for the stinging to subside so I can try to glue these on again.



Declan: Forget the eyelashes. You don’t need ’em. Your eyes are pretty without any makeup at all.



Molly: That’s sweet. But I don’t have a choice at this point. I have one on, and I can’t get the damn thing off! I’ll be out soon.



I chuckled as I typed.



Declan: Aye, aye, Captain.



I didn’t think she’d get my humor, but she texted back right away.



Molly: Ha ha. I’ll be out to see ye wench shortly.



Ten minutes later, Molly finally emerged from her room. I’d decided to join Julia in a glass of wine and was mid-sip when I caught sight of my roomie. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been prepared for what she was going to look like. I swallowed down the wrong pipe and started coughing, and I inadvertently sprayed wine all over Julia.

“Shit. I’m sorry.” I grabbed the napkin from under my glass and started to blot the mess I’d made on her face.

Smooth, Declan…really smooth tonight.

Molly walked over to where Julia and I were seated on the floor next to the coffee table. She looked smoking hot in a short, black mini dress and sky-high silver strappy heels that wrapped around her ankles. Her hair was blown out into a mass of soft waves, and she had on way more makeup than she usually wore, including super long, thick, dark eyelashes. Damn, those things were worth a little glue in the eye. They really made the light blue color of her eyes pop.

“Hey, Moll.” I cleared my throat and tried to come off nonchalant, as if she walked around the apartment looking like that every day. I held up my wine glass. “I hope you don’t mind, we had some of your wine. I’ll replace the bottle for you tomorrow.”

Molly batted her lashes and smiled. Her lips were painted bright red and covered in a thick layer of gloss. I didn’t know where to look first—at her seductive eyes, full, shiny lips, or the mile of legs on display.

“No problem,” she said. “I don’t mind at all. Plus, I’m off tomorrow night, so maybe we can share the replacement bottle.” She held my eyes for a few extra seconds and then pretended to have just noticed Julia.

“Oh, hi…Jessica.”

Julia pursed her lips. “It’s Julia.”

Molly twirled her hair. “Sorry. Right. Julia…” She turned her attention back to me. “Are you almost done working, Dec?”

“Almost,” I said. “Why? Are we disturbing you?”

“No, not at all.” She lifted her hand and rubbed the back of her neck. “But that knot is back, and I was hoping you could work your magic fingers into it again—like you did the other night.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure…no problem.”

Molly looked over at Julia and practically cooed, “He’s got the strongest hands.”