Page 17 of Charming Deception

“How do you think it was? It fucking sucked.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Maybe because you’re such an expert liar, you expect lies.”

“You’re telling me there was no fun to be had?”

“There was fun to be had. I didn’t have any.”

“Now, if you’re me, do you believe you?”

“I don’t care what you believe. I kept my hands to myself.”

“How about your dick?”

“Same.”

“How about your mouth?”

“Are you planning to list every body part? I’m winning this game. I’m not lying, and I’m not cheating.”

Harlan scowls, skeptical. He knows me well enough to know I wouldn’t just breezily lie to his face. I have a major aversion to that kind of dishonesty.

But he also knows celibacy isn’t exactly my lifestyle of choice.

Through the wall of windows to the backyard, behind his back, Clara bustles into view. She’s escorting a woman across my patio.

A brunette woman, wearing a tank top and shorts, her long hair damp. Heat floods my chest at the sight of her, and my breath lodges in my throat.

It’s her.

It’s fucking her.

The woman from the street, with the bungeed suitcase.

Cole’s sister??

What the fuck.

I cough and shift to my left, away from the windows, and Harlan regards me with suspicion. I probably look guilty… about something.

I don’t want him to see her. I’m not even sure why. The challenge?

The fact that I don’t even know what to make of this sudden discovery that that gorgeous woman is in my house? Last thing I need is Harlan getting any ideas about it. Or about her.

Fortunately, Clara guides her out of sight.

“It’s been forty-three days,” my brother points out. I’m sure he’s tracking it on a calendar. “Have you ever gone forty-three days?”

“Why would I?” I mutter.

“And now one of us has made it so you can’t enjoy your favorite pastime,” he muses, sounding borderline pleased. Harlan doesn’t really do pleased, but he’s practically glowing right now.

“Yeah. For your own fucking shits and giggles.”

“It’s called personal growth, Jamie. You’re supposed to be learning something about yourself.”

“As if you give a shit about my personal growth. You just want to watch me suffer, because you’re a goddamn sadist.”

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