Pretending She's His: A Hard Feelings Novella (2 page)

Eva felt someone step up behind her. She didn’t need to see Meagan’s worried expression to confirm that it was Luke. That man had been pressed behind her so many times that even with a small distance between their bodies she could tell it was him.

“You gonna get your ass in the water, or do I need to toss you in?” he said from behind. His voice was casual and easy, and his friendly, subtle flirting surprised her. It reminded her of the Luke she liked when she first met him. Cocky and flirty. Definitely not the Luke he was the last time she saw him—when he walked away from her with his asshole hat on after her dumped her.

He was leaning forward, lowering his head close to Eva’s ear. She would be lying like a dog if she said that she didn’t feel that slight flutter in her stomach when his hot breath hit the side of her neck. Luke was attractive, and damn good in bed. He was fun, just the way she liked ’em. But regardless, she didn’t want to go there with him again. Not after the way he ended things between them. Not after he made her feel like complete shit for hurting him. When Eva got a fucking conscience and actually gave a damn, she didn’t know. But she did know that she didn’t want to hurt him, not again.

Eva took a cautious step forward out of the immediate proximity of Luke, and spun around on her heels to face him now that there was enough distance between them. She lifted her eyes to meet his, and she instantly regretted it. He was watching her—staring at her. Gaging her every little move. And like the warm-blooded American woman that she was, standing in front of every woman’s ideal image of the perfectly, sexy American soldier—she was gawking.
Dammit.

The corners of his lips lifted, displaying his cocky-ass grin. Eva rolled her eyes. “Hey, big guy.”

“So how about that pool?” he hinted. His eyes travelled down her body and she hated the reaction her body had from his appreciative stare.

“Eh, maybe in a . . .” Eva trailed off as the clunk of a door shutting gained her attention. “Trevor!” she shouted, leaning her head to the side to see past Luke’s giant body, which was towering in front of her. “’Bout damn time!” Trevor couldn’t have timed that better if he’d planned it.

Meagan pulled out of Reed’s embrace and bounded the few steps to the sliding glass door that led inside the cabin where Trevor had just come from. His arms wound around her and he easily picked her up, her pregnant belly causing her body to stick out behind it.

Trevor set Meagan back down on her feet and ambled over to Eva. She hoisted her hands on her hips, feigning her annoyance toward him, and cocked up a golden-red eyebrow.

“Don’t give me that look, Red,” he said, his voice turning down an octave—laying his I-get-what-I-want tone on thick. He stepped into her and snaked his arms out and linked them around her waist, pressing her up against him as he lifted her off her feet, just like he did Meagan. When he set her down, he draped his arm over her shoulders, keeping her body against his, tucked into him, then he kissed the top of her head.

“I missed my girls,” he exclaimed with a huge grin on his face, swinging his other arm around Meagan’s shoulders and pulling her in as well.

Bumping her hip into him and wrapping her arm around his waist, Eva looked up and smirked. “I missed your pain-in-the-ass too.”

“Hey, man,” Trevor said, finally making eye contact with Reed who was now standing next to Luke. He dropped his arm off Meagan and reached his hand out to Reed.

“Good to see you again,” Reed said, shaking Trevor’s hand.

Eva was watching their little exchange, internally laughing at the memory of the last time the two of them saw each other. Reed had been fully ready to take a swing at Trevor when he’d last played his role of Meagan’s big, bad, overprotective friend.

Eva’s gaze shifted to Luke—and he was watching her. Like,
intensely
watching her. His eyes flicked over Trevor’s arm that was still wrapped around Eva’s shoulders, pulling her in tightly to his side, then down to Trevor’s waist where Eva still had her arm wrapped around him.

Then his eyes flitted to Eva’s.

Was he jealous? She and Luke were no longer together—not to mention
he
broke up with
her
—and besides, Trevor was just a friend—he would
always
be just a friend. Sure, Trevor may try every now and again to sleaze his way into her pants—but she wouldn’t give him access if her left tit depended on it. He was Trevor. He had probably slept with more women than Luke and Reed . . . hell, even Eva, combined. Yes, she had that one experimental moment back in her early twenties—but it wasn’t her thing . . .

But the look in Luke’s eye was definitely teetering on the border of jealous and hurt—and she unexpectedly felt guilty for being the reason that small fleck of hurt glimmered in his eye. Damn conscience. She was suddenly feeling very sympathetic toward poor little Pinocchio. Having a little conscience singing in your ear’s a bitch.

About that same time that Eva was having her sudden moment of sympathy, Trevor shot out a grin and lifted his hand to Luke. “Hey, man. I’m Trevor.”

Luke’s eyes went hard. Definitely not a Luke expression. Luke was a cheese ball. He was cocky and arrogant, yes, but he wasn’t one to hike his leg and mark his territory . . . at least she’d never thought he was. But at that very moment, she wouldn’t be surprised if he whipped it out and used her like a fire hydrant.

“Luke,” he sputtered, grasping Trevor’s hand.

“Good to meet ya, Luke.” He grinned. Trevor was one of those men that everyone liked. From what Meagan told Eva, he’d been the all-American boy in high school—captain of every team, the class president, homecoming king, the life of the party, and the desire of every female within a thirty mile radius, heck, even the desire of a few housewives as well.

But he definitely hadn’t won Luke over.

Trevor dropped Luke’s hand and pulled Eva in closer, kissing the top of her head again. “Come on, Red. Show me which room is ours.”

Eva was stuck with the pleasant opportunity to share her room with Trevor. Insert sarcasm here. Okay, she supposed she was fine with it. Not the end of the world. Would she rather share her bed with a man that she would get naked with? Yeah. But since she’d willingly omitted her plus one, and since the cabin was already a few bodies over capacity, she was sharing a bed with Trevor. It was either that or she slept on the floor in the living room. Easy choice.

Relieved to get away from the unwanted scrutiny of Luke, Eva allowed Trevor to lead her back inside the cabin. Once inside, he dropped his arm from her shoulder to pick up his duffel bag, which was sitting by the sliding glass door.

“You wanna tell me what the fuck that was about?” he nosily questioned as he ascended the stairs after her.

Keeping her eyes forward, she asked, “What?” Although, going off of the testosterone pissing match she just witnessed exuding from Luke, she had a pretty good idea what he was referring to.

“You know, every time I visit you ladies I seem to end up getting the death look. So what’s up with this Luke guy?”

Eva briefly shifted her head over her shoulder to glance at Trevor. He was smirking at her. The asshole knew exactly what was up with Luke and he was trying to rib her about it. Eva rolled her eyes and stepped onto the landing that looked down over the main level of the cabin. She led Trevor down the hallway to her right, all the way to the back bedroom.

Eva plopped down on the king-sized bed as Trevor dropped his duffel by the dresser. His hand latched on to the ledge of the cherry-colored wood, and he leaned his weight against it. “So?”

“Nosey much? He’s my ex. We haven’t been together for a long time, though.”

Slowly, he nodded his head upward and lifted his lips into a lopsided grin. “And I’m guessing that he doesn’t want to be your ex.”

Eva sighed and threw herself back onto the mattress. “I’m pretty sure he’s been seeing someone. I don’t know. It’s been eight months, Trev. We didn’t have the smoothest of breakups, though.”

A deep laugh emitted from Trevor’s chest. He sat down on the bed next to Eva then groaned contentedly as he lay back, his shoulder brushing Eva’s. “You don’t strike me as a woman a man just gets over easily,” he said.

Eva rolled her eyes.

“But I take it you’re over him?”

She turned onto her side and propped up on her elbow, resting her head on her hand. “Trev,” she started, lifting a perplexed brow. “You know me.” If anyone knew and understood Eva’s lack of intimate emotion—it was Trevor. They were cut from the same cloth that was missing the fall-in-love thread.

He grinned. “I know.”

“I knew it was going to be awkward and difficult being around him all weekend, but if you didn’t notice, the man is gorgeous. And those arms”—she sighed—“those are hard to resist. If things between us hadn’t ended so shittily, he would have made the perfect weekend fling.”

This time Trevor lifted his brows, looking at Eva as if she had
dumb
written across her forehead. “I can guarantee he wouldn’t have a problem with that,” he said.

Eva huffed out an exasperated laugh. “No shit, he has a penis. My experience with that organ is that it rarely, if ever, has a problem with that.”

“So what’s the issue?”

“First of all, he dumped me. I don’t care how sexy his abs are glistening in the pool”—she paused as a shiver raked through her shoulders—“I wouldn’t give him the benefit of sleeping with me again.”

“Damn, bitter much?”

She sighed, blinking slowly, then continued. “Second of all, even if I
was
bitter,
as you put it, I don’t want to hurt him. I wouldn’t want him mistaking me sleeping with him as emotion. It’d be kind of a dick move for me to hook up with him just for my own selfish need for pleasure.”

He belted out a laugh. “Who the hell are you and what have you done with my friend?”

She slapped him on the chest. “I know, right?” She smiled but it quickly faltered. “This is Meg’s big weekend. We’re supposed to have fun, I’m not supposed to be whining about my ex issues.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “And you, you’re supposed to be the cure-all. Isn’t that your role in our threesome? To balance the clusterfuck of crazy that Meg and I bring to the table?”

A mischievous gleam took over Trevor’s eyes and Eva got the feeling that something equally mischievous was spinning around in that head of his. “What?” she questioned cautiously. That look could never mean anything good . . .

“I just might have the perfect solution to your problem.” The slick innuendo of his words didn’t necessarily give her the warm fuzzies. He was up to something. Plotting was usually Eva’s gig. That’s what she was good at. Scheming and plotting. Being on the receiving end of someone else’s scheme, on the other hand, wasn’t as fun.

“And what might that be?” she asked, knowing that any plan Trevor Owens came up with probably wasn’t one she would want to go along with.

He smiled slowly, confidently, like what he was about to say was the best fucking idea he’d ever had. “Be my girl for the weekend.”

And she was right. Definitely not a plan she wanted to go along with.

“And how the hell would that make things between me and Luke less awkward?” She turned her head away from him and looked up at the ceiling. “Seriously, sometimes men are idiots,” she mumbled.

“Hey, woman, I resent that. And all I was saying is that if you pretend you’re mine, it would keep Luke’s eyes from fucking you. Make it a little easier on ya.”

Eva shot him a glare behind slit eyes.

“I’m tellin’ ya, Eva. The dude still wants you, and I’d bet money he still cares about you.”

Eva sat up on the bed and crossed her legs. “I can’t believe I need to even say this to you, but,
hell no
.”

“Why not?”

“Do you want me to start at the top of the list? We do have a wedding to attend tomorrow, you know.”

He sat up and shook his head. “Don’t act like being with me isn’t something you’ve fantasized about.”

She didn’t respond. There was no point. She’d never fantasized about Trevor that way . . . he was
Trevor
. But trying to convince the man who thought he was God’s gift to women any different was a lost cause. Instead, she pondered this little suggestion for a moment. It would work. And plus, Luke probably already assumed as much by the way Trevor was holding on to her downstairs—even though that was just Trevor being Trevor. But pretending to be
with
Trevor
.
The man already had a big enough ego, she didn’t see the need to stroke it by playing his little acting game. And what all would this little scheme include? Physical affection. Hell no.

She reached over and patted him on the shoulder a few times. “Thanks, but no thanks.” She stood up and Trevor followed.

“All right, just thought I would throw it out there, Red.”

“Noted. Now, let’s go. I need another drink.”

Chapter Two

Trevor rolled over as the alarm on the nightstand on the other side of the bed starting going off.

“Eva, turn that off,” he mumbled sleepily.

She didn’t even flinch.

“Red. Wake up,” he said a bit louder, flopping back onto his stomach and burying his face in his pillow. After another few seconds of continuous shrieking from the alarm, he rolled back over, reached across Eva, and slapped the top of the clock.

Now awake, he took a moment to look down at her sleeping beneath him. He laughed. She had always been an ugly sleeper. Her unruly red curls clung to her neck, her lips were parted wide open, a trickle of drool flowing from the corner of her mouth, and a sweet, soft snore rattled from her nose. She may be an ugly sleeper, but it was fucking adorable.

“Wake up,” he said as he yawned and rolled off her. She stretched and groaned and flipped onto her stomach, flailing her legs out wide at a diagonal and over top Trevor’s. “Come on, sleepyhead. Don’t you have maid-of-honor duties to do or something?”

Sitting straight up in bed, she rubbed her eyes. “Shit.” Dropping her legs to the side of the bed, she stood up. “You’re helping the guys set up the tent for the reception, right?” She yawned.