New Novel
Chapter 24: She’s Gonna Call Me Daddy

Chapter 24: She’s Gonna Call Me Daddy

Rose’s thumbs pressed into the muscle along his shoulder blade, and Adrian was doing his best to think about literally anything else.

It wasn’t working.

Her hands had started somewhere reasonable; upper back, spine, the knots he’d built up carrying furniture up three flights of stairs. But they’d drifted lower over the last few minutes, and his body had opinions about that his brain hadn’t authorized.

He went still.

Rose noticed immediately. Of course she did.

"You’re tense."

"I’m aware."

"Why?"

"Professional confidentiality."

A pause. Her hands stopped moving as she inspected him for a moment, eyes scanning him like he had personally offended her.

Then her hands stopped, just for a second, long enough that he knew she’d worked it out.

"Oh, for God’s sake."

A light smack landed against the back of his head.

"Hentai."

"You got me."

She shook her head in playful disappointment, then she resumed the massage. There was something in her voice now. Not annoyance, not really. More of amusement wearing annoyance as a disguise. He’d take it.

After a moment, he decided this was as good a time as any.

"By the way, since we’re here." He said. "I need a heads-up."

"A heads-up?" Her hands paused again. "For what?"

"Today."

"What about today?"

"If I’m supposed to be your boyfriend, are you planning to kiss me?"

Her hands stopped completely. He felt her go still behind him, and for a second the only sound in the room was the low hum of the diffuser on the counter.

"You’re asking me that now?"

"I’d rather know beforehand."

"Why?"

"So I don’t look surprised."

That caught her off guard. He couldn’t see her face, but he could hear it; a half-second delay before she spoke again, her voice pitched slightly higher than usual.

"You really are a hentai."

"I’m trying to be prepared."

"For what?"

"You said this was supposed to look convincing." He tilted his gaze to her.

She looked away, her hands resuming with a little more force than necessary.

"If I have to kiss you, you’ll know."

"That’s not exactly a heads-up."

"Then you’ll have to survive the surprise."

He was still turning that over when her phone buzzed against the counter.

She glanced at it and frowned.

Adrian turned his head slightly, enough to catch her expression without making it obvious he was watching for one.

She unlocked the phone, read whatever was on the screen, and her thumbs moved fast; type, stop, delete, type again.

Whatever she landed on, she hit send fast. The kind of fast that looked like she didn’t want to think about it twice.

"Everything okay?"

She set the phone face-down on the counter. "We’re done with the massage."

Said casually. Too casually. Adrian had spent enough of his life reading people who didn’t want to be read to know when someone was managing a reaction instead of having one.

"Daniel?"

She nodded once. "He wants to meet. Now."

"Then I suppose this is happening now."

"That’s generally how ’now’ works." She stepped back and reached for a towel to wipe her hands. "Get dressed."

Adrian pushed himself up off the table, made it about halfway, and stalled.

"Problem?" Rose asked.

"No."

"Then get up."

"Working on it."

She looked at him for half a second, the kind of look that made him aware of exactly how little he was wearing, then turned her face away fast enough that it had to be deliberate.

"Oh." A pause. "I’ll give you a minute."

"Appreciated."

She busied herself with her phone while he got dressed, giving him something like privacy. He waited, but when he glanced over, she was still there, her thumbs clicking hard against her screen.

"You’re not going?"

"Hmm. Of course not." A beat. "I still have something to tell you."

"What?"

She started in on it like she’d rehearsed the list in her head already. Don’t overdo it. Don’t make things weird and a half-dozen other don’ts he didn’t quite catch.

He drifted toward the door, past her, in no particular hurry.

"And if it gets uncomfortable," she said, "follow my lead."

"Anything else?"

"Probably."

"That’s reassuring."

"You’ll be fine."

"That’s what people say right before something goes wrong."

She didn’t dignify that with a response, just locked her phone and turned. He was reaching for the door when she stopped him.

"Wait."

He turned. She crossed the small distance between them and reached up, adjusting his collar, covering up his peeking singlet, then smoothed a crease near his shoulder that he hadn’t noticed and probably wouldn’t have cared about if he had.

He held still without meaning to. She was close enough that he could smell the same oil she’d just used on his back, and neither of them said anything about the distance for a second longer than the collar adjustment strictly required.

She stepped back, gave him a once-over.

"Better."

"Thanks."

"Don’t think too much about it."

"There’s that line again."

A faint smile, gone almost as fast as it appeared. "Because you apparently need to hear it a lot."

She checked her phone one more time before they left. A quick message to the front desk, something about taking her break, stepping out for a bit. Nothing that would raise questions. She put it away like she’d done it a hundred times.

"You already had an excuse ready?"

"I work here." She gave him a look. "I’m allowed to leave the room sometimes."

Fair enough. She pulled the door open, and they stepped into the hallway together.

For a few seconds, neither of them said anything.

This was ridiculous, if he thought about it for more than a second, which he was actively trying not to do.

Yesterday she’d been the dumpster girl with the nice ass. Now he was walking beside her toward her ex-boyfriend, playing a part he hadn’t agreed to the specifics of, and there was apparently a chance she’d kiss him before the day was out.

He glanced at her. She caught it immediately.

"What?"

"Nothing." He turned away.

She rolled her eyes, but there wasn’t much heat in it. "Pervert."

"We’re gonna have to work on that too."

"There’s nothing to discuss."

"There is." He replied. "I don’t deny that I have pervy thoughts, but it does feel a bit much when you don’t let me forget it."

The smile came back on her lips, small and quick.

"Are you offended?"

"I’m not flattered."

She looked at him for a moment, then turned away. "Then let’s make a deal."

"A deal?"

"If you play your part today well." She turned to him. "I’ll change your nickname to anything you want."

He returned his glance at her, looking to see if she was joking. She was smiling but looked honest enough. Any nickname he wanted.

Daddy sounded nice. He gave the thought exactly one second of consideration, the same way he’d consider a bad business idea, then filed it away under things he would definitely think about again later and never admit to.

"Alright." He smiled. "You’ve got yourself a deal."

By the time they reached the reception area, the thought was gone

Jenna and Drew were already there.

Adrian clocked them before he fully processed that he was the late one. Rose’s steps slowed just slightly beside him, a half-beat hesitation that told him this wasn’t part of whatever plan she’d laid out in the massage room.

Jenna spotted them first. Her eyes went from Rose, to Adrian, back to Rose, and Drew followed a second behind her.

Nobody said anything for a moment. Not awkward, exactly, just the natural pause of two people clocking that Adrian had brought someone.

"Adrian. Finally decided to finish up your massage." Drew said as Adrian came to a stop in front of them.

"Yeah..." He smiled, playfully scratching his hair. "Sorry for the delay."

Jenna’s eyebrows climbed. "Um...That’s not a problem." She looked at Adrian. "Who’s this?"

He ran through the available answers. Her neighbor. My fake girlfriend for the next twenty minutes.

Neither was going to hold up under Jenna’s questioning, and he was still working out a third option when Rose beat him to it.

"Hi. I’m Rose." She gestured lightly toward him, not looking his way even once. "I’m Adrian’s girlfriend."

A beat.

"Nice to meet you."

Adrian went completely still.