Page 50 of The Ruse

“Ah, but you’re going after Carter’s brother…” I said. “So you’re still trying to get that same look, aren’t you?”

“No.” She pulled her head back, like the idea actually surprised her. Her eyes widened further. “I-I never even considered that…”

“You didn’t?”

“No…” She got an odd look on her face. “That would be really weird, actually. For Ava, Mack,andme to all end up with the Hastings’ siblings.”

“You’re really just realizing that?” I asked since I’d made the connection almost immediately when I saw them all on that triple date together.

“Yeah…” She shook her head and seemed to mull the thought over.

While she was thinking over it, I picked up my fork and took my first bite of pasta. Somehow, I’d been so caught up in the conversation that I’d forgotten to start eating.

“Do you think other people would think it was weird if Nash and I started dating?” she asked.

I finished chewing my bite of salad and washed it down with a gulp of water. “I don’t know. Maybe.” I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “I mean, obviously I would think it’s weird for anyone to pick Nash over myself…” I shot her a cocky grin, and she rolled her eyes. “But it’s not like it’s illegal or anything. So you might as well go after who you want, right?”

“Yeah…” she said thoughtfully. “That’s actually the thing I liked about Logan. He wasn’t afraid to go for what he wanted.”

“What do you mean by that?” I frowned, genuinely not understanding.

“Okay, this is awkward.” She shook her head and looked back at her plate. “I don’t know why I brought it up again.”

“It’s fine. Logan and I are buds,” I said, in case she was worried about sharing personal details with someone related to her ex.

“Well…I guess I liked how he wasn’t scared of making the first move.” She peeked over at me. “I, um, I guess I like it when a guy is assertive that way.”

“So you’re saying last night was an anomaly for you?” I asked. “That you don’t usually surprise guys with your kisses?”

“No.” She put her face in her hands. “That was me trying something new.” She shifted her head in her hands to glance sideways at me. “Which is probably why it backfired big time, I might add.”

“I don’t know if it completely backfired,” I said. “You seemed to enjoy it well enough.”

And I couldn’t help but remember the way her fingers had traced along my jawline, or how she’d pressed herself closer to me and sighed into each kiss.

I might not have kissed anyone for a long time, but I wasn’t dumb enough that I couldn’t recognize the signs of someone enjoying a stolen moment like that. She’d been into it as much as I had been.

“I can’t believe you just said that.” Her jaw dropped and she smacked my arm. “I thought you were someone else.”

“Maybe you did.” I rubbed my arm. Then leaning closer to her ear, I whispered, “But that still doesn’t change the fact that it was me. Or that you got swept up in the moment just as much as I did.”

She shivered, as if my hot breath on her neck made her feel whatever sensations she’d felt last night when she’d been in my arms.

I knew it was probably wrong of me to say those things when I’d agreed to just be her friend and when I really wasn’t supposed to be flirting with anyone right now…but part of me just wanted her to admit that it had felt as good to her as it had to me.

That it wasn’t just an “unfortunate mistake.”

She breathed in slowly, like she needed to take time to say her next words just right. Then, leaning close with her voice just above a whisper, she said, “So maybe you’re a good kisser.” Her gaze fell to my lips, and I found myself licking them as if anticipating another kiss. “I’m sure any girl would have reacted the same way that I did.” She lifted her gaze to mine. “Especially if she thought it was the guy she liked kissing her back like that.”

Well, that was sort of a compliment.

She’d said I was a good kisser, at least.

I hadn’t had anyone tell me that in a while. Hadn’t kissed anyone like that in a long time.

Even my kisses with Bailee had never made me feel the way I felt when I kissed Elyse.

“I’ve been wondering something, though,” she said. “Why did you kiss me back? The light was on my face, so you had to know it was me.”

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