Page 47 of The Ruse

In the moment I’d thought it was a wrong place at the right time, but I wouldn’t tell her that now.

“I promise I wasn’t trying to interfere with you and Nash,” I said. “It was an honest mistake on my end, too.” And since I knew she was waiting for it, I added, “Don’t worry, I’m not planning to tell anyone about it. Not even Nash.”

“Good.” She sighed like the weight of the world had just been lifted off her shoulders. “I appreciate it.”

“So now that we cleared that up, do you think we can still be friends?” I asked.

Even after the awkwardness of the past few minutes, I still wanted to be friends.

There was something about Elyse that made me feel at ease in a way I never had before. It was weird and something I couldn’t explain, but she was easy to talk to, and I rarely found it easy to open up to anyone.

Bailee was probably the closest I’d ever been to being an open book with someone, but even that felt different than whatever this thing was with Elyse.

While she seemed to be considering whether we could be friends or not, I added, “I promise I won’t trick you into kissing me again.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t a trick.” A flash of betrayal covered her expression.

“It wasn’t,” I hurried to say. “I-I’m just saying that since now that you know how good of a kisser I am, it will probably be even more tempting to accidentally cross the line again.”

I’d probably be thinking about that kiss tomorrow at least.

And the next day.

And probably the next.

Man, it had been too long since I’d kissed someone.

Elyse studied me in the dark, as if trying to decide whether two people who kissed the way we just had could still be friends.

So I gave her my most angelic look and said, “We’ll just be buddies. I wouldn’t let you kiss me again even if you begged me to.”

She rolled her eyes, but then she said, “Fine. We cantryto be friends.”

“Good.” I released the breath I’d been holding. “Buddies, it is.”

I held my hand out for her to shake, and when she placed her hand in mine, I tried not to notice the pulse of electricity that shot up my arm.

It didn’t mean anything. I was just starved for physical touch was all.

I was most definitely not catching feelings for the girl Nash liked—the girl who had just made it very clear that she wasn’t into me.

15

ASHER

“Where are Nash and Cambrielle?”I asked Elyse during lunch the next day. She’d been sitting at the far end of one of the long tables alone, so I figured now was my best chance to talk and make sure we were still good.

We’d had a morning full of workshops, but since Elyse and I had been put in different groups each hour, I hadn’t spent any time with her yet.

It was kind of strange that we hadn’t been paired together, especially when we were playing love interests in the play, but so far, the closest I’d been to interacting with her was when I’d briefly caught her gaze across the room at breakfast.

Had she asked Miss Crawley to keep me away from her after what happened last night?

Had she only pretended that we could be friends just to be nice in the moment?

“Nash and Cambrielle had to leave early for some family event,” she said, surprising me by gesturing for me to sit in the chair beside her. “I think their great-grandma is celebrating her ninetieth birthday or something.”

“Are they coming back tonight?” I scooted closer to the table.

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