For the prompt: "Please pretend to be my girlfriend/boyfriend."

He was on his first night of leave in three months and somehow, he was spending it in a bar in Arlington. All he really wanted was to sleep on a real mattress and to do it without the room spinning, but his buddies had dragged him out.

He needed new friends.

Henry leaned against the bar and waited. The ice in his glass had melted down to water, and he almost drank it out of boredom.

Suddenly there was a small hand on his back, pressing lightly through his fatigues. He turned. A very pretty woman, who he most certainly did not know, stood next to him. She was smiling at him like she most certainly knew him.

Shit.

His mind scrambled.

Was he supposed to know her?

Frantically, he ran his memory back through all of the women he'd ever met, talked to, befriended, dated, or slept with in his life. He was coming up empty. Was this bad?

She seemed to read the panic on his face because she chuckled lightly, and her voice came out husky. "Relax, flyboy."

And Henry did. Because now he knew this couldn't just be some woman he forgot—he definitely would've remembered that voice.

"Listen," she continued, sounding urgent, "I know you don't know me, but I could use a favor."

"O-okay?"

She tipped her head toward the far side of the bar. "My ex is here. I came with my friends, but I just... Can you just..." She bit her lip. The tiny movement dragged Henry's eyes down her face and now he was staring at her little mouth. She really was very attractive— "Look, I know this is going to make me sound like a crazy person, but can you just please pretend to be my boyfriend for the next few minutes?" She looked at him hopefully. "Just... just until he leaves. I'll refresh your drink for your trouble."

He blinked. "Sure?"

"Great!" She beamed, ducking under his free arm and pulling it around her. His fingers brushed the sliver of skin that showed between her jeans and the hem of her shirt, and he was feeling five steps behind in this entire operation. "You can grab my ass if you want," she told him nonchalantly. "I'll just give you blanket permission now."

He laughed in disbelief. "Aren't you gonna ask my name first?"

She leaned away to get a look at his name tag, and then at the pips on his uniform. "You're Captain McCord, US Army," she declared.

"I mean my first name."

"It's not Captain?" she said with false surprise.

"Henry."

She grinned. "It's nice to meet you, Captain Henry. I'm Elizabeth Adams."

He was halfway to holding out his hand when he remembered that she was supposed to be his girlfriend. He wasn't going to shake hands with his girlfriend.

He shoved his hand back into his pocket.

Elizabeth leaned on the bar and flagged down the bartender with greater success than he'd had. When their new drinks got pushed across the bar top, she handed him his. "Cheers. To new boyfriends." And then she threaded her arm through his and led him away. "Come on, let's go stand over here."

"Aren't your friends going to worry?"

"They know where I am and what I'm doing," she said airily. "What about your friends?"

"They expected me to ditch them early anyway."

Elizabeth laughed again and the sound went right down his spine. "Not really your scene?"

"You could say that." He considered her. "So... what did your ex do that you're so hellbent on making him jealous?"

"What does any guy do?" She rolled her eyes. "He cheated on me."

"...I'm sorry. That- that's terrible," he said, but she merely shrugged. Henry scanned the room. By the pool table, he caught a country club lawyer type glaring in their direction, stony-faced. Ah, the cheater himself. He'd bet all the money in his wallet. "Don't turn around now, but I think he's looking right at us."

She slid one hand up his chest, angling into him. "Is he?"

Henry decided to press his luck and tugged her closer before sliding his hand over her ass. "I really think we need to take it up a notch if we want him to buy it."

"Now you're talking." Elizabeth gripped the back of his neck and pulled him down for a steamy kiss.

Blindly, Henry set his drink aside on the first ledge he could feel. He buried his hands in her hair and kissed her back with feeling.

When she finally pulled away, just by inches, she said, "Is he still watching?"

Henry chanced a look. "He's gone."

"Good." She stepped back fully, carding her fingers through her hair to smooth it down where he'd tousled it. "So," she said. "Army Captain, huh?" And damn it, she was smiling again. "Are you even allowed to be out drinking while in uniform, Captain McCord?"

"As long as I don't get up to any trouble."

"What's the point of being out if you don't plan on getting into any trouble?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning on getting me into trouble?"

She shrugged. "I haven't decided yet, but the night is still young."

"Is that so?"

"Is that okay with you?"

He pretended to think about it. "Well, that depends. Do I get to keep pretending to be your boyfriend?"

"If it's not too much trouble, then yeah," she said sweetly.

"It's no trouble."

She wrapped her fingers around his wrist then and tugged him away. "Then come along, Captain Henry McCord. Let me show you off to my friends."