Page 105 of The Facade

A slow smile slipped on her lips. “Really good.”

“That’s good.” I moved my hand up her back and twisted some of her hair around my finger. “So, um, I’m not sure if it was obvious after last night,” I said. “But if you’re okay with it, I’d kind of like to take back what I said about us being on a break.”

“You would?” A hopeful smile lifted her lips.

I nodded. “I can’t promise that I’m going to be the best version of myself all the time—and I know it might be a little much for you with all the baggage that I have, but—”

“I want to be with you,” she cut me off, putting a hand to my chest. “I know things will probably be hard for a while, but I want to be there for you.”

“Yeah?” I asked, not sure she understood what she was getting into. I mean, I didn’t think I’d go crazy like I did last night and need to be restrained by my dad so I would stop throwing books at the wall. But I didn’t think I’d be able to pretend like I was happy all the time, either. I’d tried that already and it hadn’t exactly worked out so well. Cambrielle always saw through my act, anyway.

“And I want to tell everyone about us this time,” she said. “No more Alfred and Mistress.”

I grinned at our nicknames.

“You didn’t like putting on a facade for everyone?” I raised an eyebrow. “Because I actually thought it was fun.”

She smiled. “It was fun. But if this is going to work, I need to be able to talk about you with my friends and family. I want to be able to brag about how amazing and sexy my boyfriend is.”

Her boyfriend.

I was surprised at how much I liked the sound of that.

I’d never been introduced as anyone’s boyfriend before.

There was just one complication.

Okay, two.

Maybe three.

“But what about your brothers?” I asked. “I have a pretty fresh memory of Carter talking about dismembering me in the night if he ever heard that I touched you.”

She rolled her eyes. “You know that’s just talk, right?”

“He seemed pretty serious when he said it.”

“Well…” She slid her hand across my chest and then to my bicep, giving it a gentle squeeze. “He may be strong for someone who’s six-foot-three, but you’ve got two inches on him and put in just as many hours in the gym as he has lately. So I’m pretty sure you could take him.”

“So you think he’ll challenge me to a duel?”

She shrugged. “It would kind of help fulfill that one particularBridgertonfantasy I had about you.”

“A fantasy?” I arched an eyebrow, suddenly very interested in watching this show she was obsessed with. “I think you might need to describe this fantasy of yours.”

“It’s not like that.” She smacked my chest. “It’s more that—” she started but then stopped when someone knocked loudly on her door.

“Cambrielle?” Nash’s voice called, an agitated note to it. “You need to wake up. Mack disappeared sometime last night, and Mr. Aarden is worried he may be in danger. We need to help look for him.”

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.

I glanced to the doorknob.

We forgot to lock it.

I started to sit up so I could jump out of Cambrielle’s bed and escape before Nash could discover me in bed with his sister, but in the next moment, the door swung wide open and Nash stepped inside.

“Mack?” he asked, putting a hand to his chest.

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