Page 52 of It's Complicated

“You’d better catch up soon.”

“Oh, I will, trust me.”

Jace drops a kiss on my forehead. “Goodnight, Lola.” Then, locking eyes with me, he adds, “I love you.”

The next morning, I wake up to the sound of Jace’s phone vibrating on his nightstand. He shifts under the blankets and picks up with a groggy, “Hello?”

I don’t understand what the other person says, but the voice sounds like an angry cartoon chipmunk speaking a thousand words per minute.

“Yeah, no, M—” Jace tries and fails to chip a few words in. The tirade on the other side continues until Jace, sounding defeated, says, “Yeah, okay, see you later.”

He sags back on the pillow, letting out a puff of air and raking a hand through his bed hair. Jace turns to me and upon finding me staring, his lips curl into the most adorable lopsided grin. “We might have a problem, Lola.”

21

JACE

Lori blinks at me, more curious than worried. She looks so cute when she’s freshly awakened with her hair all tousled and one of my T-shirts on.

Gosh, could I really wake up to this every morning?

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“That was my mom. Apparently, Aiden has a big mouth and told his mom we were dating who in turn, told my mom.”

“And she wasn’t happy?”

“No, she was thrilled about you but very offended that she had to learn about her only son’s love life from a friend. So we’re summoned for a family Sunday lunch today.”

“Oh.” Lori’s lips form the cutest little O shape. So cute, in fact, I have to restrain myself or I’ll start kissing her again and never stop.

I scratch the back of my head. “Now, until yesterday, I would’ve simply explained the fake-dating situation to Mom…”

Lori quirks an eyebrow. “You would’ve told your mom I made up a relationship with you to make Aiden jealous?”

“Yeah, Mom’s cool and she reads enough rom-coms to get your predicament.”

“Okay, but she could’ve told Aiden’s mom by mistake or someone else, and word could’ve gotten back to Aiden. Haven’t you seenFight Club? The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: youdo nottalk about Fight Club!”

“Relax, Lola, it was just a hypothetical,” I say, sitting up and shoving the covers off me.

Lori seems to get distracted in her outrage by gawking down at my bare stomach. I flex my abs a little and tease her. “You’re staring like a perv, Archibald.”

Lori’s eyes dart back to mine. “That’s because I’m not used to seeing you shirtless and wanting to…”

I bounce my pecks. “Test the goods.”

“If we have to abide by your rules, you’d better cover yourself, Barlow.” She pulls off my T-shirt and throws it at me.

The T-shirt hits me in the face and when it slides off, the tables are reversed because now Lori is in my bed with her black bra on and I have to muster all my self-control not to close the distance between us and forget all about my stupid rules.

My gaze must convey some of my thoughts because Lori blushes.

“What are you doing, Archibald?” I ask.

“Returning the favor?” she says, smiling coyly. Lori inches forward on the bed.

“How altruistic of you.”

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