Page 31 of Fake

“Nell said he was really good.” Micah gives me a funny look, probably because he’s wondering how many more times I’ll say the name Ricky. “You must be doing something right.”

Nathan holds out his hands and feigns shock. “You all heard it, right? Someone mark the calendar. Micah actually gave someone else credit for doing a good job.”

“Uncle Nator Tot!” A little girl with golden blond hair bounds up to the group and leaps onto Nathan’s back. He grunts, then twists back and forth, waving his arms like he’s trying to brush her off.

“What the…?” He spins wildly, then stops, craning his neck to look over his shoulder. “Is there something on my back?” he asks me, his eyes gleaming, his smile wide and toothy and absolutely stunning.

Look at me, breathless again.

Wow. I mean, just, wow.

The little girl giggles, burying her face in his neck. “There’s no kids here and I’m bored. Will you play with me? Grandma says there’s strawberry ice cream, just for us.”

“Strawberry ice cream just for us?” Nathan asks excitedly, pivoting back and forth like he’s looking for something. “Where? Point me to it!”

The girl digs her heels into his side, pointing to a table set up on the other side of the room. “That way, Cap’n!”

Dear God. Ovaries have exploded. Cuteness overload disabling common sense. Stop me before I do something stupid. Desperately, Mina Blake.

“That’s enough, Nell,” says Micah. “Hop off Uncle Nathan and let him say hi to everyone before you commandeer him for the evening.”

“Nell Bell?” Nathan cranes his neck to meet the giggling girl’s eyes. “Is that you?”

“Who else would it be?” She slides off his back, then stands in front of him, her little chin lifted. “You knowed it was me the whole time.”

“Maybe,” he says with a grin, then shakes his head as Nell skips away and disappears in the crowd.

“So that’s my daughter,” Micah says to me before turning to his cousins. “She’s desperate for a cousin or seven, if any of you would like to get on that it would be very helpful.”

The group chuckles and cracks a few more jokes while I acclimate to a Nathan who doesn’t feel like The Prince of Darkness.

“I’m gonna finish saying hello to everyone,” he says, during a lull in conversation. “So Mina can meet the whole crew.”

We say our goodbyes and make our way around the room. He introduces me to so many people I’m dizzy with names and faces. Dinner is delicious, the cake is huge, and damn if the smile on Nathan’s face when he blows out the candles feels like sunshine. We sing. We eat. We help ourselves to cocktails from the bar.

And then, we dance.

Nathan’s arms are draped around my waist, his eyes locked on mine. I’d almost buy that he adored me if I didn’t know the truth. And if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t mind being adored by the man I met tonight. I don’t know which version of him is real. The grumpy rich asshole who charges obscene amounts of money for a favor? Or the man giving piggyback rides to his niece and making house calls to nervous students because he’s the guy who drops everything to save the world?

“You are uncomfortably good at this,” I say with a sigh.

“At what?”

“Pretending to like me.”

He cocks his head and grins like I said something to melt his heart. “I’ll admit, it’s taking more energy than I thought it would.”

Of course, then he says things like that and I remember everything about tonight is an illusion. Grumpy rich assholes can be good with kids and awful with everyone else.

Nathan’s hands slip lower on my back, almost brushing my ass for the third time since this song started playing.

“Touch my butt one more time. Go ahead. I dare you,” I say, pressing my cheek to his chest.

“It’s a great ass.”

“It’s an off-limits ass.”

“You didn’t have to wear a thong.”

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