Page 163 of Secrets on Ice

“Do you still have feelings for Connor?” Cass asks.

“Does it matter now? It seems like he has started something with that girl. I want him to be happy, and maybe that isn’t with me,” I tell her.

“Bullshit, you can’t have gone through all this to end up with someone else,” she says.

“Or maybe I did.”

She shakes her head. “Nope, you and my brother are endgame.”

“You’re just going to have to wait and see, I guess.”

47

SULLY

Someone is trying to take my door off its hinges. I know it's Cassidy before I open it because nobody else knocks like they're serving a warrant. Sure enough, there she is in leggings and one of Trevor's old college hoodies she should have burned years ago, and she looks like she wants to put me through a wall.

“You absolute dick,” she says, shoving past me into the apartment.

“Good morning to you too.”

“Don't.” She spins around in the middle of my very empty living room. “Explain the photos.”

And there it is. I've been waiting for this since about seven this morning, when my phone started going off, and Bouch sent me a screenshot with nine crying-laughing emojis and the words ‘Busted.’

“It's not what it looks like,” I tell her.

“Oh, don't you dare.” She jabs a finger at me. “That is what men say when it's exactly what it looks like.”

“Cass …”

“You're dating her? Her? The one from the gala?” She's actually shaking. “You didn't say a word to anybody, you just turn up on a gossip site kissing some random.”

“It was a favor.”

“I’m sure it was,” she says, rolling her eyes at me.

I scrub my hands over my face. “At the auction she paid a stupid amount of money …”

“To try to get into your pants. It’s a tale as old as time.”

“No, it’s not like that,” I tell her. “Is she flirty? Yes, I won’t deny that. I also won’t deny she is hot, so the favor isn’t that much of a hardship.”

My sister rolls her eyes and folds her arms, she isn’t happy with me and I get it.

“A while ago, she called me and asked if I'd do her a favor. One dinner, somewhere public, and let a photographer get some shots of the two of us together.”

Cassidy blinks. “Why?”

“Because she's an influencer and it's good for her numbers.” I shrug. “And because her ex cheated on her and she wanted him to see her out with his favorite hockey player. That's it, that's the whole reason. She was very upfront about it.”

“And you said yes.”

“Of course, it was harmless. Plus, she gave a fortune to a charity I care about. Who's it hurting? No one, except maybe her ex.”

Cassidy’s face falls. “There was a photo of you kissing her.”

“There's a photo of her turning her face into mine outside a restaurant, while a guy with a camera stood across the street,” I say. “We made it look like it was a kiss, but we never kissed.”