Page 20 of Revved up & Ready

She nudges me back. “Itdoessound like fun.”

“And it’s something you’ve never done,” I remind her.

“You’re not wrong,” she says, pointing out the house with the pink door—her favorite—as we pass it.

“We won’t tell our friends we’re pretending,” I say, liking that idea better anyway. “And then they won’t judge you.”

“They’ll judge me for getting into a relationship so quickly—or not actually—wellmaybe.” Her pace slows again as she stumbles through the thoughts. “It’s possible I’m not giving them enough credit.”

“Is your friends’ judgment enough of a reason not to do something?” I ask.

“Yes,” she laughs. “These friends are more like family than my actual family most of the time,” she explains.

“Luke is like that for me,” I say, turning us around so we can head back to the house.

“You think it’s a good idea if we lie to all of them?” she asks.

Shrugging, I answer, “I think it’s okay to have things that are only your business if you don’t want to share it with your friends—even if those friends feel like family. It’s alright to have secrets.”

“Huh,” she huffs a quiet laugh. “You want to know something else I’ve never done?”

“Absolutely,” I answer.

“I’ve never had a secret,” she whispers the information to me, like it’s a secret in itself.

“Never?” I ask.

“You’ve pointed out before that I am a terrible liar,” she reminds me.

She is. It’s one of her cutest qualities. “It’s a good thing to be bad at,” I say.

“Maybe, but it makes it awfully hard to be mysterious.” She lifts a flat hand up like a tray for the point she’s about to make. “Or to keep a secret.”

“You want to try it with me?” I ask.

She considers for long enough that I’m focusing on the rhythm of our steps as our feet hit the asphalt when she finally answers, “Sure. Let’s do it.”

Now I’m the one trying to hide my response.She actually agreed.I take a steadying breath and say, “I’ll post something tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Didn’t you just agree to do this?” I tease her.

“Yeah, I did. I—butrightnow? Our friends won’t believe we got together in the last fifteen minutes.”

“We’ll ease them into it,” I say, guiding her out of the street. Wrapping my arm across her chest just below her shoulders, I rest my chin on top of her head and lift my phone in front of us to grab a photo. It’s a pose that could be read as friendly or affectionate, but either way,we look damn good together.

Chapter 4

Sadie

Have a secret –from Sadie’s list of things she’s never done

The black cat clock on the wall above my desk swings its tail with every second I get closer to being late for my morning meeting. I click the button to join the 9:00 a.m. video call with my team at 9:01.Dammit.Cam and I were up late last night talking through the specifics of our outrageous plan, so I barely woke up in time to brush my hair and throw on a presentable shirt before my meeting.

“Oh, good! You’re here,” my manager greets me the second I pop up on his screen. “I hope you’re feeling better.”

Feeling better?My brow furrows, and then I remember. I wassickyesterday.Shit.I unmute myself. “Yup. It’s gone. All better.” What the fuck do I mean by“it’s gone”?What’s“it”? I never even said what kind of sick I faked being.He’s going to know.I quickly mute myself again, feeling like the sound of my anxious heart might be picked up by my computer’s microphone. I wait for him to call me out for lying in front of the whole team, but he just says it’s good to have me back and moves on.

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