Page 60 of The Roommate Lie

If we want this to work? Alice still sounds like she’d rather throw up than spend another second with me, but her words don’t match. She isn’t giving up on our plan?

Warmth fills my chest, but there’s something else mixed in. Something extra that feels a lot like hope.

“We’ll have to play it just right,” she says, and I nod.

“Sweet and wholesome. Got it.”

That’s not my strong suit—not even close—but an old Charlie can learn new tricks, right? All I need to do is ignore every Alice-instinct I have…and stop looking for any excuse to touch her or hold her hand. Bonus points if I can avoid getting lost in those warm brown eyes thirty times a day or mentally tracing star patterns in her freckles or imagining what she looks like in that Regency maid costume or?—

“Clean and wholesome.” Alice nods. “Yes—but also no. I mean, that’s important too, but…”

Suddenly, she’s more nervous than before. It’s a wonder she doesn’t faint right there on Balsam Street.

“If we want this to work…” Alice hesitates. Taking a deep breath, her gaze finds mine. “I have to pursue you.”

Pursue me?

I almost faint. Right there on Balsam Street. My throat dries out, and I fight the urge to wet my lips. “You want to…pursue me?”

Alice is a tornado of anxiety, but she nods. “That was the plan I came up with last night. So I guess it’s still my plan. Why? Do you hate it—is it dumb? Because if you hate it…”

It’s a horrible idea. Her new plan is worse than the Hindenburg, but I definitely don’t hate it. “Are you sure you can pull that off, Kilpatrick?”

She can’t. We both know she can’t—she can barely make eye contact. But Alice nods weakly, and I don’t try to talk her out of her new plan.

I’m too into it.

This plan iseverything.

Maybe it’s going to crash and burn a million different ways. Maybe she’ll never be able to muster up what it takes to pursue me properly, but I’m really going to enjoy watching her try. Five minutes ago, Alice was avoiding me like the plague. Now she’s going to flirt and make moves?Yes, please.

“It’s the only way to prove you aren’t a rake,” she stammers. “You can’t be up to no good if I’m the predator and you’re the prey.”

Now I’m prey?

She doesn’t mean it that way. I’m pretty sure Alice isn’t going to hunt me like a stone-cold player while she’s in town. But maybe I’d like that too. Maybe, when it comes to Alice, I’d like just about anything. That girl can hunt me however she wants, whenever she wants.

“I’m prey now, huh?” I tease.

Alice blushes, but she almost smiles too. So I keep going, egging her on as I dust off my secret weapon. An award-winning smirk that is every rake’s best friend.

“I don’t think you’ve got it in you, Allie-cat. Not gonna lie.”

That gets her.

Alice bites back a laugh, and it feels good to see her happy again. Feigning offense, she serves up a smirk of her own. And that smirk is heaven.

“I’m a romance author, Roscoe. And this was my idea. How hard could it be?”

Guess we’ll find out.

Chapter Thirty-One

CHARLIE

We’re going to need a trial run.

By the time we reach my house, I’m a bundle of bad ideas. I’ve been on my best behavior all day, but Alice has awoken the beast. And the beast wants to play.

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