Single And In Love With My Fake Boyfriend (Single Girls Club #1)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Lincoln

“Can you please tell me where we’re going?” I ask Callie as I bend to look at her in the driver’s side window of her car. She’s parked outside my house, with a mischievous smile on her face.

“Nope. A surprise is a surprise.”

I groan. “When you called me and told me about our date, I got excited. But then I started to get worried when you wouldn’t tell me any details.”

She gives me another mischievous grin.

I groan again. “I’m not sure I like surprises.”

She pats my hand. “You’ll love this one. I hope. No, I know.” She gestures to the passenger seat. “Hop in so we can get going.”

I watch her for a bit, trying to get a feel for what she has planned. I love that she’s being so playful with me and that we feel so comfortable with each other, as if we’ve known each other for years.

I also love that we can be totally and completely honest with each other. No hiding feelings, no people or cameras or social media getting in the way.

It’s just her and me in our own bubble, where I hope we’ll stay forever.

“Lincoln?”

Snapping back in, I look at her. “Hmm?”

“It’s starting to get late and we have lots to do.”

I salute, run to the other side of the car, and get in. Before I pull my seatbelt over my chest, I notice something in the back seat that’s covered with a large towel.

“What’s that?” I ask her.

She glances at it and shrugs. “Nothing.”

I playfully narrow my eyes at her. “Is that part of the surprise?”

She zips an invisible zipper across her lips. “The only thing I’ll say is that it’s payback for buying me those books.”

I place my hand on her arm. “You know I didn’t expect anything in return for that. I loved buying those books for you.” I rub her cheek. “I love seeing you smile, your eyes light up, just seeing you happy.”

She smiles. “I know. But I wanted to do something nice for you too. For us.” She bends close to peck my lips. “Don’t think of it as payback, then. Just a girlfriend doing something nice for her amazing boyfriend.”

I smile, bending close to place a kiss on her forehead. My lips sweep across her cheek until they reach her lips. “You know, I love when you call me your boyfriend. It actually means something now.”

“I know. Just a week ago, we were hiding our feelings from each other. Isn’t it crazy how things turn out?”

“Crazy in the best way possible.”

“Yep. We’d better leave or we’ll never get there on time.”

I lean in close to her. “And where exactly is ‘there?’”

She gives me an exasperated look. “Honestly, dude, you’re killing the vibe. Just sit back and relax and let me take care of everything.”

I hold up my hands. “I guess my curiosity is driving me insane. But I’ll do as you ask and won’t question you again. And thanks for doing this for me.”

She clasps my hand. “You don’t need to thank me. You’re my boyfriend and I’d do anything for you.”

I bring her hand to my lips. “And I’d do anything for you. But go ahead and start driving. I don’t want to miss out on a second of what you have planned.”

“It’s a long drive, so I’ll put on some music.”

A few songs have become “our” songs. Callie made a playlist and the soft music makes for a perfect, peaceful atmosphere. Every time I’m around her, I’m engulfed in warmth, peace, and a sense of wholesomeness.

We chat about our day. Since it’s Friday, she couldn’t wait to get out of work so we could have the entire weekend together. It brings me back to when we were stuck in my house due to the flood. Those nights changed everything. I can’t imagine where I would be right now if this wonderful woman wasn’t in my life.

Callie raises a brow at me. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you’re beautiful.”

She laughs, her cheeks going red. Even though we’ve officially been together for a week, I love that I can still make her blush.

“And you’re so handsome and sexy. And mine.”

Laughing, I rest my hand on her knee because I can’t take her hand. “Totally and completely yours. Until the day I die.”

She gapes at me, wondering if I’m sincere.

“I mean every single word, Callie.”

Her eyes widen. Then she focuses on the road. “Oh, um…”

I don’t expect her to say anything in return. It’s not like I said it because I want her to admit she feels the same. I don’t want to pressure her. She’s still recovering from that jerk Spencer and I want her to take her time. I just said it because I’d like her to know how I feel about her.

I give her hand a squeeze to let her know not to feel pressured, and I change the subject to something that happened during practice today. Thankfully, there’s no awkwardness. She’s back to her amazing self, saying goofy things that I love.

We sing along with the music, having a good time and enjoying each other’s company. We sneak in some touching and light kisses by red lights. I want to pull her close and hold her and whisper romantic things in her ear, but there’s time for that later.

It’s not long before we reach our destination. I glance around. We’re at a beach, a pretty well-known one, though I haven’t been here often.

“Tada!” Callie says with such a bright smile.

“Are we having a date on the beach?” I ask.

She undoes her seatbelt and steps out of the car. I watch as she opens the back door and uncovers whatever is underneath the towel.

It’s a picnic basket.

“A picnic on the beach,” she announces.

Getting out of the car, I go to her side and take her hands. “This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.” I dip my head to brush my lips across hers. “Did you cook the food all by yourself?”

“Hehe. I tried, but Alex got so annoyed with me. She can’t stand when someone in the kitchen is doing something wrong and has to jump in to help. So you should really thank her.”

I smile. “I’m thanking you and please thank her as well. She’s so nice for putting so much work into making this possible.” I rest my forehead on hers. “And thanks for taking me here and doing this for me.”

She draws back and gazes into my eyes. “You really don’t have to thank me. You do so much for me and I wanted to do this for you.”

“For us.”

She smiles. “For us. I probably made too much food. We’re just two people.”

Chuckling, I pat my stomach. “I’m kind of starving, so chances are I’ll eat most of whatever is in there.”

She giggles, the sound as adorable as it was the first time I heard it a few weeks ago.

Callie pulls out a picnic blanket from inside the basket. “We need to go closer to the water. Can you carry the basket?”

“Sure.” I lift the basket and follow her deeper into the beach, close to the shore, but not too close.

There are a few people here, but it’s mostly empty since it’s starting to get late.

The weather is beautiful, perfect for a picnic. After Callie spreads the blanket on the sand, I lower the basket on it. Then we take a few moments to enjoy the marvelous nature around us. The sand, the waves, the salt on my skin. Between my crazy schedule and Callie’s work, we don’t have that much time to step back and appreciate the world.

Callie turns to me, smiling. “Pretty, huh?”

I stretch my arm around her, tugging her close to my chest. “A beautiful moment with my beautiful girlfriend.”

She presses her face into my chest. “A beautiful moment with my wonderful boyfriend.”

I smile, smoothing my hand down her back.

We take in the scenery for a little bit longer before dropping down on the blanket and digging into the food she brought. Callie lays it all out on the blanket.

“Everything looks delicious,” I tell her.

“I’ll send the compliments to Alex.”

“And yourself, too.”

She waves her hand. “Meh. A little, I guess.”

I bite into my burger. “Mmm. Really good.” I gesture around. “Being here in this incredible place with you and eating this fantastic food is amazing.”

“Yeah? You like it?”

I bend close to her ear and whisper, “I love it.”

She smiles. “I’m glad. I was up for days trying to come up with the perfect date. Then I was trying to figure out something we could both enjoy. And the beach popped into my head.”

“Nice. So now I understand why you asked me to bring a swimsuit. I should have expected that.”

She smiles widely. “I’m glad you didn’t because the date would have been ruined.”

We eat and talk, wait for the food to settle in our stomachs, then change into our swimsuits.

She’s wearing a sapphire swimsuit and looks so sexy and cute and beautiful that I can’t help but stare at her.

Callie poses. “Like what you see?” she teases.

Laughing, I pull her close to me. “I love what I see,” I murmur.

She smiles shyly as she gazes into my eyes. “I bought it especially for today. It matches your eyes.”

“I didn’t realize that. I guess I don’t think about the color of my eyes much.”

“Well,” she says as she brushes her fingers across my forehead, pushing some hair out of my eyes. “I can’t stop staring at them.”

“And I can’t stop staring at you, my gorgeous girlfriend.”

She plays with my hair. “Thanks.”

Hand in hand, we make our way from the changing rooms toward the shore. There are only a handful of people here, which is great because I like when it’s just the two of us.

Some people wave and ask for selfies and autographs, but we’re mostly left alone. I do hear and feel people taking pictures, but we’ve gotten used to it.

“Last one in the water is a rotten egg!” Callie yells before running toward the shore.

“Cheater!” I call after her, and then run to catch up. Because I’m much taller than her, I reach her within seconds, wrap my arms around her waist, and lift her in the air.

“Hey!” She tries to free herself. “Not fair.”

“And it’s fair that you cheated?” I tease.

She rolls her eyes. “Everyone knows I’m at a disadvantage.”

I lower her to her feet, holding out my hand. “Let’s walk into the water together?”

She places her hand in mine. “I like that option much better. Dang, Linc, you can melt a girl’s heart.”

“I don’t want to melt girls’ hearts. Only yours.”

She places her hands on my chest as she gazes into my eyes. “Well, you’re certainly succeeding.”

My lips kick into a grin. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. And not just my heart. Don’t you see I’ve turned into a puddle at your feet?”

“Gosh, I hope not. I couldn’t bear you not being in my life.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Don’t worry. The puddle is a metaphor.”

I sigh in relief. “Good.”

“Ready to go in? I hope there are no sharks. Ugh, my friends watched a shark horror movie the other day. It was terrible. Maybe this was a bad idea.” She looks at the water, as if assessing if there’s anything down there.

I squeeze her hand. “There are no sharks in this area. Trust me.”

“Okay. Well then, what are we waiting for?”

With our hands still grasped, we make our way into the water. It’s cool and feels great on my skin. Callie and I sink as low as we can, bobbing in the soft waves. Thankfully, they’re calm.

“This is nice,” she says.

I nod. “So relaxing.”

We flip onto our backs, hands still clutched, and float on the water. We don’t need to say anything to each other, we just need to be together.

It’s the only place I want to be right now.