“What do you suggest?” she flirts, barely wearing enough clothes to leave anything to the imagination. She’s twirling her hair around her pinky, and it takes everything in my power to not roll my eyes at the girl.
“Oh my gosh, I hope I’ve never sounded that needy and desperate.” The voice wakes me up as my eyes shift to the end of the bar. Somehow she possesses the power to put the world on pause. Jules smiles wide and her dimples kiss me from a distance. Her crazy, wild hair is tamed, but the curls bounce as they always do. She’s wearing a beautiful red dress that covers everything while highlighting her curves. And her eyes…Jesus. I didn’t know it was possible to miss a pair of eyes so much. I swear they’re bluer or they sparkle more. Or well, maybe she’s just happier. She looks happier.
I start to move her way, but she shakes her head, and points to the girl, waiting for her drink. Reaching under the counter, I open a random beer and slam it down. “Here you go. It’s on the house.”
“But…” the girl starts to whine while I’m already crossing to the other side of the bar.
“Hey, you,” Jules screams over the loud music. The way she says those two simple words makes the world that much sweeter.
“What are you doing here?”
“I need to hire a fake boyfriend for New Year’s Eve. You see, I was planning on spending my New Year’s alone, drinking wine, and listening to Hall and Oates, but…I don’t know. I’m feeling a little wild.” She stands up straight and holds her hand out to me. “Help me up on the counter and then shut off the music.”
I abide. Of course I fucking abide. She could have told me to jump in Lake Michigan and I would have performed the task butt-ass naked. The crowd goes nuts with the lost sound, but I don’t care, Hank can fire me if he wants. Please don’t fire me, Hank.
When she gets up there, she bends down to me, edging her lips close to mine. “By the way you look really sexdorable serving those drinks to people. Very sexdorable.” She stretches back up to a standing position and she taps her hand right below her throat before speaking. “Hi! I’m Jules Stone. I’m single and weird, and I ugly cry—like real ugly. Snot, boogers, and all that gross stuff. I sometimes snort when I laugh too hard, and I am desperately in need of a date for New Year’s Eve. I need a kiss in about thirty minutes. I’m offering fifty dollars to whoever will step up to the job. So if anyone’s interested—”
“I’ll do it!” A stranger yells in the background. Followed by more and more people shouting. Jules’ face expression changes, and I can tell, like always, she didn’t really think her plan through.
“Hell,” The brunette I slid a beer to steps onto the bar and walks over to Jules. “I’ll do it!” She wraps Jules in her arms, dips her, and kisses her—hard.
The crowd goes wild. Jules’s doe eyes are untamed and confused, and Hank turns the music back on. My gut hurts from laughing so hard at the shocked look frozen on Sunshine’s face. “Jules, get down.”
I take her hand in mine and help her get down behind the counter so she’s standing in front of me. “I just kissed a girl, and her tongue touched my tongue I think… And her hand grabbed my ass. That definitely didn’t go the way I thought it would. In the movies, there’s always this big moment of realization where the hero or heroine marches into a place, confesses his or her love in a big life-changing way, and it works out perfectly.”
I blink once, looking down to the ground, and a realization hits me when my head snaps back up, my eyes widen. “Did you say ‘confesses love’?”
“Lust.” She pauses, wiggling her nose and slapping her hand across her face. “Lust. I meant lust. I mean, clearly we don’t love each other yet. I’ve known you for like, a week. And there were at least five days where we didn’t even communicate. I tagged those as the lost days. So love is a little extreme and—”
She’s rambling, I love it. My finger moves to her lips and shuts them. “I’m sorry I lied about the agency. I was trying to prove people wrong, prove myself to myself, I guess. And if I have to, I will spend the rest of my days trying to make it up to you. Because I lust you, too.”
“Do you really? I mean, I know I’m odd and stuff. My family almost drove you crazy, too, and I really messed up this romantic, big life-changing moment. If you give me another day, I can come up with something even cooler, something more fun! I’m thinking clowns and a marching band.”
“Jules, shut up. This isn’t a movie.” I inch my lips closer to hers and ignore all of the people begging for drinks. Our lips are touching, but we’re not kissing—yet. “This is real life.”
“Real? No more fake?”
“No more fake.”
“Like a totally, ridiculously, real relationship?” Her smile widens and I want nothing more than to fall for her for the remainder of my life.