World's Worst Boyfriend: A Romantic Comedy Adventure (Fake It Book 3) by Carina Taylor (books to get back into reading .TXT) 📕

the past week. We’d formed a sort of friendship. Esme reassured me I was doing the right thing with an apology present. We found the perfect I’m-sorry gift. A Magnolia catalog by her favorite designer couple, and a bag of her favorite tea from the local specialty tea shop. After that, I dropped Esme at her home.

I’d texted Saidy to see if she was home. She sent me a one-word reply of, “Yup.” Not exactly the most encouraging response, but I was going to make it up to her.

I knocked on her door.

I heard her footsteps as she came to the front door and unlocked it.

She opened the door and stood there in her favorite pair of “house pants” as she called them. They reminded me of curtains that her grandmother had in her house, but she still looked adorable in them.

Instead of saying anything, I held out the gift to her.

She narrowed her eyes at me, looked at the peace offering, and snatched it out of my hands. She was cute when she was mad. I’d also learned right away that it was really stupid to tell her that when she was angry. It was a great way for her to stay mad for an extra week.

“I’m sorry I’ve been letting you down lately. Really sorry. Work has become so consuming lately, and I want to make it up to you.”

She didn’t open the present. Okay. This was not going very well. I took a step closer. “Are you going to open it?”

Her frown slowly disappeared.

“It’s not a puppy,” I promised. She’d told me she never had a dog growing up, because of her mom’s allergies. She’d also had a run in with a mean dog at a park as a young child. The owner didn’t have it on a leash at a children’s park. It had charged over to the playground barking and snarling at the children. It eventually bit Saidy.

Some dogs were not kid dogs, and I blamed the owner for not being responsible with his dog ownership.

It had unfortunately left Saidy leery of any canine she met. I told her not all dogs were mean, and she’d reluctantly agreed with me on that point, but I was still trying to convince her owning a dog would be fun.

Her nose twitched. “No dogs.”

I guess I’d have to press my case for a dog at a later date. “I know I’ve been distracted with work, but after this next big project, I’ll be able to keep regular working hours.”

She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. “You? Work regular hours? I might die from the shock.”

I smiled. “You might. I know how you’re obsessed with schedules…”

I tipped my head toward the giant calendar she had plastered to the front of her fridge.

Her face finally cracked into a smile as she shook her head at me. “I’m not obsessed.”

“Hmm, you’re not? Could have fooled me,” I teased. “How does a seven o’clock reservation sound?”

Her eyes sparkled. “You know I love reservations.”

“I know. I’m pulling out all the stops tonight.”

She shook her head but was still smiling. There was hope.

She finally set the bag down on the entry table and pulled the white tissue paper off the top. “Did you wrap this yourself?”

“Yup.”

“I can tell.”

I’m a guy, and I was actually trying, but wrapping gifts was not my thing. I’d even tried to fluff the tissue paper just right but ended up ripping it instead…

She pulled the magazine from the bag, along with the canister of tea. She unscrewed the lid and sniffed the blend. Her eyes closed briefly, and a small smile graced her lips. “Thank you, Fletcher. This was so sweet and thoughtful.”

She turned toward me and leaned in to kiss—my cheek? Okay, I was hoping for a more enthusiastic response than that, but I knew relationships had to be repaired when broken, so baby steps.

“I’ll go get ready for dinner.” She smiled and hurried down the hall. “I just filled the teapot if you want some!”

She disappeared from sight, and I went to the kitchen to pour myself a cup of tea that I filled with sugar and a whole lotta milk. Because tea by itself was an uncommitted beverage. I’d never say that to Saidy because she was as equally obsessed with tea as she was coffee.

Fifteen minutes later, she came out wearing a pair of red pants and a cream sweater that showed off her shoulders. Big earrings drew my attention to the slender curve of her neck. She was stunning. “I’m ready!”

I grinned and opened the front door for her, even though I didn’t feel like sharing her with the rest of the world. She stepped onto the porch and I locked the door behind us.

She didn’t hold my hand for the walk to the car like she normally did, though. I still had a ways to go to get out of the doghouse, that much was obvious.

I opened the door to my SUV for her and she climbed in. It was nice to not have to drive my service van all the time. Although, I did miss my motorcycle… Unfortunately, it didn’t fit with the timid undercover IT impression I was trying to pass off. The one where I wore blue light-blocking glasses seventy percent of the time. I didn’t need Sullivan looking into me too closely. And the bike might give away the connection between me and an undercover cop named Johnny—Johnny being my undercover name from my previous investigation.

I took a deep breath in and out. I didn’t want to be obsessing over work, or my cover story tonight. I wanted to enjoy time with Saidy and remind her that I did care about her and want to be with her. More than anything else in the world, for that matter.

She slowly warmed up to me in the car on the drive and she told me about her afternoon consultation with a man who was surprising his wife with an interior