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A flicker of hurt passed through his eyes, then it was gone. “I’d like to remind you that you kissed me.”
“That was a dare. What came after, was you.”
“You were there too.” There was a hint of defensiveness to his four crisp words. She couldn’t even imagine what it must have felt like after the night they’d shared for her to have called him by the wrong name. “Do you really think I’d take a dare that far?”
She didn’t even have to think about it—knew in her gut that he wouldn’t. He might be a flirt, but he wasn’t cruel. “No. No, you wouldn’t.” Not in a million years, she realized. “I just haven’t seen you around town since I’ve been back, so I assumed … It’s really true what they say about assuming. I was a total ass, Jax. I’m sorry.”
“At least you got the name right this time.”
She grimaced. “I may have thought you were him, but you were you, and you looked nice. Handsome.”
“You called me dashing,” he said, and the tiniest bit of a smile cracked through.
“Did you know you have pink glitter in your hair?”
He ran a hand through his dark locks and gave them a shake. A clump of glitter floated to the ground.
“I was playing prince and princess with my niece. Guess who got to be the princess?”
She laughed. “Pink is your color.”
“I was going to say the same.”
Milly knew she looked ridiculous in her loud, pink, could-be-seen-from-outer-space getup but that’s what happened when one’s sister was a prankster. “You should see the rainbow one my sister wore for Pride. It has hearts over the”—she looked down at her breasts—“you knows.”
“Oh, I know,” he said in a tone that people used when they’d seen each other naked. Suddenly, all the playfulness drained out of his face and that easy nature vanished as quickly as it had come on. “So you took me home thinking I was him?”
“I took you home because you were sweet and funny and made me feel seen.”
“One more night and I promise you, you’ll know you picked the right twin,” he said, and she laughed nervously. He did not. Nope, the man was dead serious.
A vaguely sensuous light passed between them, and her nipples responded. She took a fortifying breath, so deep icicles formed in her lungs, and pulled herself together.
“When I think of that night, I think of us.”
“You mean the ‘us’ where you thought I was Lucas.”
She wanted to say no, but the whole night was a big messy blur. Lucas—Jax. Sensible—outgoing. Serious—playful. Compatible—different from any guy Milly’s ever been with. Maybe that’s why their night had been so surprising and exhilarating. In fact, Milly couldn’t remember the last time she’d has as much fun with a man.
But fun didn’t translate into the kind of relationship she wanted for herself. Record scratch—back that up. Since when was she thinking about relationships?
She’d already lost a chunk of her heart when Zoe passed, another over her broken engagement, not to mention the marks her dad’s heart attack left behind. She wasn’t about to give even a molecule of herself to an emotionally unavailable man—even if he did kiss like a Mr. Darcy.
Side-stepping the topic all together, she said, “I’ve apologized for the mistake, and I am sorry. I’m also sorry for how things went down the morning after. I never meant to pull you into a lie.”
His brow pulled into itself in confusion. “Then why did you?”
“I told my parents I was dating someone so they wouldn’t worry about me. But I’m not. In fact, the other night was the closest thing that I’ve had to a date in nearly a year.” She grimaced. “Anyway, I was trying to figure out how to handle the morning after when they walked in. My dad had a heart attack last week and had to be air lifted out, so he was supposed to be home healing, not at the cabin. If I’d known they were coming, I never would have put you in that position. But I panicked.”
“Ah.”
“If they found out that I slept with a guy whose name I got wrong … ” She pressed her palm to her forehead to chase off the impending headache. “This is why I don’t lie. It starts out small and then grows from me moving on with my life to having a fake boyfriend, who morphs into a real-life fake boyfriend.”
If he had an opinion, he remained silent on the topic.
“I don’t want to worry my dad with anything more right now. He’s still coming to terms with my sister being gone.” She sighed. “I just couldn’t stomach them looking at me the same way they used to look at my sister when she made an impulsive decision. Or lied.”
“You don’t like being compared to your sister.” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement and something about the way he said it told her he’d been compared to his brother and come up short. Which made her feel even worse.
