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“Robin,” Lily says softly. “I like that.”
“You were the talk of the event.”
Her mouth drops open. “What?”
“Everybody was talking about you. The girl in the hall with the bird.”
“I hope I didn’t make things awkward.”
“If anybody made things awkward, it was me.”
There’s a longer pause, which I use to put the next chunk of wood on the stump.
“Did you…” Lily starts. Oh, good. She’s considering her next words carefully. I’m sure I’m going to love this line of conversation. “Did you get them up to speed on—” She waves her can in a circle, encompassing the cabin and the backyard and the trees. “Everything?”
“No.”
“No?”
“There wasn’t a good segue. Oh, hey, you had a baby! By the way, I kidnapped a woman and got arrested and then she pretended to be my fiancée to get me out of jail so—”
“I wouldn’t lead with the kidnapping, maybe.”
“Yeah? What would you lead with?”
“Probably the fiancée part.” Lily looks into the middle distance, then seems to remember I’m shirtless and runs her eyes over my abs instead. I can’t tell if she’s exceptionally committed to this fiancée thing because it’s hilarious to think she’d genuinely want that or because shedoesgenuinely want that or an unknown third reason, but she doesn’t take it back.
“You think I should have gone in there and told my entire family I got engaged to a woman I kidnapped?”
Her green eyes come up to mine. “No, I—you should leave the kidnapping part out completely. Obviously, do not tell them you kidnapped me.”
“Just that we’re engaged.”
“In this hypothetical, yes.”
“You do know that if I tell my family we’re engaged, they’re going to plan a wedding, right? My sister-in-law is a clothing designer. She’d probably insist on making your dress herself, and don’t get me started on Gabriel’s talent for parties.”
“You’re saying this like it’s a bad thing.”
I put down the axe so I can give Lily my full attention. She doesn’t look like she’s in shock. There was a while, when we were still driving, that I thought she might be. Now she looks freshly showered and comfortable and pretty, as if the two of us getting married could turn out to be great, now that she thinks about it.
“Lilith.” Her eyes get darker, and what the hell, I could end up fucking her on this giant stump. “Angel. We are not throwing a fake wedding.”
“If it’s a real dress and a real party, I’m pretty sure it’s not fake.”
“Holy shit. Look at your hand.”
She thrusts the can away from her with a gasp. “What? Is something on me?”
“No. There’s nothing on you. There’s no ring. Because we’re not engaged. That was something you made up for the police.”
Lily lets out a breath. “I thought there might have been a bee.”
Yes. Because that would be the apocalypse compared with being engaged to me. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to freak you out with that end-days scenario.”
I pick up the axe again, my heart pounding.
“I freaked you out, though,” Lily says softly.
