Page 47 of Prince of Lies


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“Oh. Oh, shit. You’re with Rowe,” Kenji said in a hushed voice.

“You knew I would be. You arranged—”

“No, I mean… you’rewithhim. Like, inbedwith him. Post-sexsleepingwith him.Together.”

Kenji had traded his anger for pearl-clutching. I couldn’t help chuckling as I headed into the bathroom, blinking under the bright overhead lights as I retrieved my toothbrush. “Did you think we were going to tell ghost stories and braid our hair all night?”

“Well, no, but I thought… Actually, I don’t know what I thought,” he finally admitted. “Spending the whole night with someone isn’t a thing you do… is it?”

The last thing I wanted at that moment was to be reminded of how unusual—and impossible—this situation with Rowe was… especially now that it was coming to a disappointingly quick end.

I cleared my throat. “If I leave now, I should get to Philly in an hour and a bit. Text me the location. I assume you’ve already contacted Bruce?” I asked, mentioning the expensive attorney Kenji had finally put on retainer to deal with Landry’s messes. “Shit. And I forgot I didn’t drive out here. I need a car—”

“Morris will be waiting outside. I’ve been texting him as we talked. And yes, Bruce is already involved—he should have the guys processed out before you get there.” Kenji paused. “Sorry, Bash. Genuinely. I wish you didn’t have to be the one to handle this. But somebody needs to have a come-to-Jesus with Zane, and he’ll listen to you. He can’t jump on Landry’s fuckery train and expect it not to catch up with him.”

“I get it. It’s fine.” It really wasn’t. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Rowe, to leave the little bubble we’d created in this hotel room. But that wasn’t Kenji’s fault. “I’ll text you when they’re out. Put this out of your mind and enjoy the rest of your weekend, okay?”

He snickered. “Oh, yeah. You know me—living it up here at the Vista Bonita Active Seniors community. I’ve finally found my people. See you Monday… And FYI, I’ll be making another large deposit to the Fake Sterling Chase Escape Fund before then. Just in case of disaster.”

“Great.” I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t going to need any special coping mechanisms to deal with the fallout of spending a single weekend with a sexy man… but that would be a lie.

After Kenji and I disconnected, I splashed some water on my face, ran a hand through my hair, and pulled on some clothes. I made a point ofnotlooking at the bed as I walked through the bedroom on my way out of the suite.

Rowe appeared in the doorway of the second bedroom with a towel slung around his waist and a shy smile on his face. “Hey! Just let me throw on my clothes, and I’ll be ready for our next adventure, okay?”

He walked back into the bedroom, and I stared after him, too busy admiring the way the towel dipped over his luscious ass to process his words for a long moment. Then…

“Wait. You’re coming with me? To Philly?” I trailed after him.

“Sure. You said we had all night, right? Still looks like night to me. Besides, you looked like you could use a friend or at least a distraction.” Rowe grabbed a shirt from the open suitcase triumphantly and turned toward me. His sunshine grin fell the moment he saw my face. “Or maybe not. Oh, god, I’m such a dork.” He rolled his eyes. “You’ll alreadyhavefriends there. What would you need me for? Never mind. I’ll just catch the train back to New York in a little while. And I, uh… I’ll settle up for the room in a couple weeks, if that’s—”

I stepped across the room and took his face in my hands so he would have to meet my eyes. “Please come. I’d love your company. I figured a middle-of-the-night trip to a Philadelphia police station wasn’t on anyone’s adventure bucket list, and I didn’t want you to feel obligated—”

Rowe lurched forward and kissed me. It was awkward, with bumped noses and lips pinched between teeth, but it was real and heartfelt and… and definitely not casual.

“I’m not ready to say goodbye yet,” he admitted, and hearing him speak my thoughts aloud made my heart squeeze painfully. “Besides, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but ordinary stuff justbecomesan adventure when you’re around. You’re kinda magic that way.”

I was pretty sure it was the other way around.

I kissed him again because I couldn’t help it, savoring the flavor of toothpaste and Rowe. I was very, very close to tumbling Rowe into the bed and letting my idiot friends figure out their own shit, but finally, I set a hand on his chest and pulled my lips away reluctantly. “My dick wants to stay here very badly and continue this conversation with you in bed, but we need to go.”

Yet we both watched my fingers trace down his chest, over the smooth skin of his lean stomach toward the knot in his towel. Rowe’s breathing hitched, and he turned those big brown eyes up at me. “Bash?”

“Fuck.” I stepped further away, out of touching distance.

Rowe gave me a wry smile.

“Later,” I promised, though I still had no fucking idea how that was going to work.

Once we were dressed, we gathered up our things and met the driver out front of the inn. “Sorry to wake you, Morris.”

The older man held out a tray with two cups of coffee while taking a third for himself. “As soon as Kenji texted, I figured we’d be bailing those two knuckleheads out.”

“Again,” I muttered, taking the tray and offering one of the cups to Rowe.

We huddled together in the back seat of the car as it made its way down the driveway and into the deserted country roads of early morning.

“Does this kind of thing happen often?” Rowe asked hesitantly.

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