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And I’m horrified.
“Baby.” I pull her against me, my arms wrapping around her. “How long have you been worrying about this?”
She sniffs against my chest. “A while.”
“Then stop worrying for Christ sake. Everybody tells lies occasionally. And more than anybody I know you have a good explanation.” I kiss the top of her head, and the smell of her shampoo fills my senses.
And of course I get hard.
Shifting back so she doesn’t feel it, I cup her cheeks, feeling the wetness of her tears on my fingers. “It’s okay,” I tell her again.
“I hate lies. I’ve always hated lies.” She sniffles. “Ever since we learned about George Washington and that cherry tree in kindergarten.”
“What story is that?” I ask, frowning.
“The one where he chops down a tree as a kid and then his dad asks him about it and he says he can never tell a lie.” Her lips wobble. I’m still cupping her face, staring down at her.
“I’ve never heard that,” I tell her. “Did that really happen?”
“No.” Her voice wobbles. “That’s the stupid thing. It’s a myth told to kids to try to stop them from lying. I only found out it wasn’t true when I went to Mount Vernon in eighth grade.”
I’m trying not to laugh because she looks genuinely upset. “So somebody told a lie about George Washington not telling a lie, and that lie has made you always tell the truth?”
“You’re teasing me,” she says. “But I still hate lying. I can’t remember telling a fib this big to anybody else.”
“Then I’m honored.” And I am in a weird way. Especially since she’s coming clean now.
She told a lie because she was afraid of the chemistry. Which means she feels it, too.
A light flickers on in Ava and Myles’ hallway. “Come on, let’s get inside.” She lets me take her hand and I lead her up the steps, still holding on to her while I use the other to slide the key into the lock. And then I pull her into the house, closing the door behind her. Myles and Ava had better mind their own damn business, because I need to concentrate on cheering her up.
“Can I use your bathroom?” she asks. “I need to wash my face. Tidy myself up.”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll start dinner.” I gesture for her to walk ahead of me, but she still looks so unsure. It’s unlike her to be so reticent, so upset. And yeah, I want to know more about this lie, because let’s face it, it changes everything, but more than anything I want her to smile again.
“It’s okay,” I tell her.
She frowns and shakes her head. “No it isn’t. But thank you for pretending it is anyway.”
* * *
SOPHIE
I was such an idiot to blurt it out like that. I stare at my reflection, the thick makeup I put on at the studio is smudged and I look absolutely terrible. I run the faucet and wash my face before squeezing my eyes shut for a moment.
I have to walk out there. I have to explain.
I can’t just throw that information at him and then hide away.
When I walk into the kitchen, he’s stirring a pot of sauce. He looks up as I enter.
I take a deep breath. “That morning when we woke up together,” I say, needing to get this out before I start to think twice about it. “You assumed we had sex and I was about to deny it, but then I realized that it was the answer to all my prayers.”
“Pretending to have sex with me was the answer to your prayers?” he asks, his brow furrowing.
I shake my head. “That’s not what I mean. It was just that you were so insistent about only sleeping with a woman for one night. And I thought about how much easier life would be if that had actually happened. We could walk away and forget about all the tension between us.”
“Tension?” A smile plays at his lips.
