Page 32 of Twins For My Bestie's Brother

I grab another stack of books and check the name on the spine to figure out which aisle I need to go down. Kayla stops me, her hand on my arm. “That’s a long time.”

“I should never have asked you about prom,” I grumble.

Kayla laughs. “Oh, come on. Isn’t it better that I know than you feeling like you have to sneak around behind my back?”

“Kayla, nothing’s happening. I’m a friend helping a friend. I can keep my—” I don’t want to sayfeelings. That makes it sound so dramatic, and it’s not dramatic. “I can keep it together.”

I walk away, past the rickety wooden shelves. Kayla bought this place after we received our inheritance from our grandfather. Each portion was a healthy nest egg. I took the money and started investing at an exponential rate, and Kayla bought the town’s bookstore from the previous owners who had been looking to sell for years. Despite my support and her success, Kayla remains frugal. She’s kept a lot of the samefixtures from the original store and has used books mixed in with the new ones. It even has the same old bookstore smell.

Too bad Kayla knows every square inch of this place. I can’t get her off my trail by winding through the stacks.

“Jackson, people are talking.”

“People always talk.”

“Not—argh! You’re so obtuse.”

See? Like sister, like brother.

Kayla darts in front of me and yanks the books out of my arms. “Tia’s been talking about how you two couldn’t keep your hands off each other at the reunion.”

With nothing to hold onto, I grab the nearest shelf and lean on it. “You know Tia exaggerates.”

“Yeah, but I was expecting the exaggerations to go the other way. ‘Jackson and Lily look like they’ve never even kissed!’ or ‘Jackson and Lily don’t even look at each other!’ Not ‘Jackson and Lily were making out on the dance floor.’”

I roll my eyes. “It wasn’t making out.”

Kayla’s jaw drops open. “So, it’s true? You two kissed?”

“Well, with Will being there we really had to sell it—“

“Jackson!” Kayla smacks my arm, then my other arm.

I jump away from her. “Hey, you know you don’t know your own strength!”

“You and Lilykissed, Jackson! That’s—”

“Acting. We were acting.”

Kayla pushes me. “Shutup.”

I stumble back and can’t keep from laughing. This is ridiculous and . . . it’s nice. I like the excitement Kayla has over Lily and me. Even if it’s not real.

Idohave a whole month to make it so, though.

“And now you two are going to pretend to be dating for the whole town to see, and you’ve already kissed. I mean, what’s next? Fogging up the car windows?”

I gasp. “What? Ha! No, that’s—”

Kayla’s eyes widen, magnified by the lenses of her glasses. “You did that too?”

Dammit, I’m a terrible liar, especially when it comes to my sister. “It was practice.”

“Practice. Yeah, right.” She shoves the books back into my arms. “You’re an idiot.”

Kayla walks back to the front of the store, leaving me to shelve. God, how does she do that? She chases me down, makes me talk despite my every intention not to, and then Iwantto talk. I drop the books on the shelf and follow after her. “Kayla, I promise, nothing is going to happen, okay? I don’t want you to get weird about it or—”

Kayla walks behind the counter and starts notating something in the big brown bound book in front of her. “Jackson, does it seem like I’m weird about it?”

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