Page 74 of One Sweet Lie

That lie could work. Take the bait, Harlow. Now.

“Sasha would never do something like that.” My dad beat me to it. “She doesn’t have the patience. Is she here with you, Harlow?”

The walls around me moved closer, squeezing me on all sides, pressuring me to burst and spew my lies.

“Hello.” Pierce suddenly stepped next to me. “Are you friends of Harlow’s?”

“We’re a lot more than friends.” Lauren extended her hand. “We’re her parents. And you are?”

“Are youblind, honey?” My dad extended his hand next. “He’s Pierce Dawson, the owner of the Brooklyn Jets. He owns RockCreek, too. We bought stock in his company last week.”

“I appreciate that,” Pierce said, looking at me like he expected me to join this lively conversation.

I stared straight ahead.

This wasn’t how I pictured coming clean about everything, but I had no choice.

“How do you two know each other?” “Did you just meet?” My dad and Lauren spoke over each other.

“These aremychildren,” Pierce said, “and Harlow is my girlfriend.”

“What?” They spoke in unison, staring at me in shock.

“He's not my boyfriend.” I was stunned he’d said that. “He’s just telling a joke.”

“I am?” He raised his eyebrow.

“Yes. You know that you're my…”

“You're not with Eric anymore, Harlow?” my dad asked.

“She better not be.” Pierce slid an arm around my waist and pulled me against his chest, kissing me like we were alone, biting down hard on my bottom lip for denying his existence.

He stared into my eyes while his mouth tamed mine, silently telling me he didn’t appreciate my lie. At all.

He let me go before I lost my breath.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you two ahead of schedule,” he said, addressing my parents like that kiss never happened.

“Likewise,” “Um, yeah,” they spoke in unison.

“Would you like to join us for the rest of our walk?” he asked. “Harlow was showing me her favorite places on the trail.”

They nodded enthusiastically.

Although I managed to show off a few spots that the twins and I loved, my parents were far too starstruck to focus on anything other than Pierce.

They didn’t let more than a few silent seconds pass without peppering him with a new question.

He answered each one patiently, and when we reached the end, he called his favorite hotel and booked them into the penthouse suite.

I saton the pool's edge, watching Olivia’s butterfly lesson.

Pierce moved next to me, handing me a water bottle.

“I can't believe you kissed me like that in front of my parents,” I said. “I’m still mad about that.”

“Then you shouldn’t have tried acting like you weren’t mine.”

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