Liam pining over me? Really tempting.
“I don’t understand why you’re putting so much thought into this. It’s not like you’re getting anything out of this.”
Seriously. I half expected him to negotiate the situation in his favor, but not like this. All he’s done is make it so I have to spend more time with him.
His lips tip into a crooked smile, dimpling his left cheek. “Because I’ve been in love with you since we were five, and you’re finally giving me a chance to get close to you.”
A panicked laugh tightens my chest. “What? Why would you say that? What?”
“Just getting into character, Peaches, relax.” He taps the index card wedged between his fingers and winks. “Honestly, if it helps keep the peace around your brother’s wedding, I don’t mind.”
Okay,thatI buy.
“So you’re serious about this? You really think you can play the tortured lover part?”
“I wouldn’t worry about me.” His stare shifts from playful to serious. The energy in the room changes along with it, and my fingers twitch through the heavy static, filling the air and suffocating my lungs. “But you, I’m worried you’re not going to make it through this. You’re already acting weirder than usual.”
“I’m not acting weird. You’re the one being weird.”
“Come on. Your comebacks are better than that.”
I take another step, and my back finds the wall. “I can handle it.” I half-smile, fighting back the charged magnetism building up inside. “But I’m serious. If you think I need to practice, I’m a little skepticalthat youcan fake something being hard for you. I feel like a lifetime of unrequited love would break someone with your general disposition.”
“You think I need practice?” He mirrors my steps.
“Your life’s track record has yet to prove you can play the part. But please, feel free to prove me wrong.”
“How do you know I’m not playing right now? Maybe I’m really good at hiding it.”
“It’d be pretty obvious you were cracking.”
“Maybe it is, and you’re not that observant.” He steps closer, placing his hands on either side of me and forming a cage with his body. Last night’s dream flashes in my mind again, and my chest heaves against his. “Maybe I accepted a long time ago I was always going to be miserably in love when it came to you and learned to mask the crack.”
He brushes a portion of my loose hair over my shoulder. Shivers ripple down the nape of my neck in the wake of his grazing fingers as waves crash against my reserve. Whatever fortress I had built to survive this is in serious trouble of crumbling under the growing storm.Remember why the fort was built.Remember the ball. Remember the ball.
“Oh yes, suddenly your prank at the ball makes perfect sense. People love to humiliate the ones they’re madly in love with.”
His jaw tightens. “It wasn’t a prank. Something happened.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, okay, bud. Sure.”
“I’m serious.” The dark intensity that meets my gaze when he says this makes my heartbeat skip, over and over with the thrashing waves.
“You said it was a prank.”
“No, actually, I just didn’t correct you.”
“But why?”
Liam leans closer, lips slightly parted. My breath hitches and I tilt my chin toward him, reduced to nothing more than the girl at the bar, hoping I misread our situation. Because no matter how hard I try, I can never shake the feeling we were destined for something greater than what we settled into. His long-hooded lashes brush against his cheek, shadowing his already shrouded face.
“Because you needed a villain that day more than you needed the truth.”
“What if that’s not what I needed—” My ability to form any coherent sentence suffers as Liam draws closer. His lips rest a fingerbreadth away. The growing static floods my entire being until I’m drowning in need. The need to feel his lips on mine. The need to have his warmth on me. To no longer find myself wrapped in his scent but to be buried in it instead. Maybe tortured lover wasn’t that far off a role for me. “What if—”
Oh. Shit.He’s playing.The rational part of my brain finally foghorns its way through.This isn’t real. For this to be believable, you’ll need a cover story for that night.Right.“Shit, you’re good,” I manage, blinking my way back to reality.
“Evie, I—”
