Page 63 of Even if You Fall

Well, this sure isn’t Aruba, and Asher won’t tell me where you are, but I have a feeling you aren’t anywhere tropical. Bummer...maybe?

At first, I was surprised he didn’t send you with the Deadly Duo, but I think I love this so much more for you. I mean, you’re stuck somewhere with a funny, “outlandishly gorgeous” man whose job is to protect you. That’s the main plot of at least twenty books you’ve told me about since I moved in.

Go live your real-life novel.

My attention drifted back to Chloe as I asked, “Who are the ‘Deadly Duo?’”

Chloe’s eyes widened and mouth popped open into a perfectObefore she reached out her free hand. “Give me my phone.”

“I don’t think I will,” I told her, already taking a step back as she carelessly tossed her book aside and started shifting, preparing to get off the bed.

“Adam Thatcher, give me my phone.”

“Should I be worried?” I asked, a slight tease to my voice. “Is this duo better than me?”

“Probably in every way,” she said in the most obvious lie as she quickly untangled herself from the sheet and blankets.

“What is it about them that you’re worried I’ll see?”

A huff punched from her lungs, but she just slanted her head like she knew better than to answer that as she hurried off the bed and over to me. Already reaching for the phone and stumbling slightly before she righted herself, which was wild considering this was the first time I’d seen her without heels on.

“Bubbles,” I said, the smile in my voice clear when she made it to where I stood, “just how short are you?”

She glared up at me, the knot of hair bouncing and making her look so adorable. “Phone,” she demanded, shoving her hand closer to me as if I hadn’t already seen it.

“It’s just the first time I’ve seen you without those heels you’re always wearing,” I told her, my smile widening. “And you’re still short with those on.”

“Five-one is notthatshort. Not all of us can be freakishly tall,” she shot back as she gave me an impatient look that did nothing to hide the worry in her eyes. But this worry didn’t set off alarms or raise red flags for me.

The blush that had immediately rushed to her cheeks when I’d first mentionedDeadly Duohad told me all I needed to know. I’d stumbled onto a carryover of agirl talk. I had sisters. I knew girl talk was like the equivalent of a diary entry.

“You thinkI’mfreakishly tall?” I countered as I lifted the phone, taunting her by pretending to look at the screen again. “Rush has two inches on me.”

“That’s—”

“Doyouthink I’m ‘outlandishly gorgeous?’ Or just Lainey?” I asked, then glanced at Chloe’s horrified face, my smile widening. “Think Briggs might murder me if he finds out his fiancée finds me attractive. But it was in quotes, so...”

“What did she say?” Chloe demanded, even though she sounded terrified to find out. I handed the phone over to her as if that’d been my intention all along, a huff of a laugh leaving me when she snatched it from my hand.

Her mortification grew and her cheeks darkened as she quickly scanned the texts before responding.

“Don’t tell her where we are.”

Chloe’s fingers stilled and stayed hovering over the screen for a moment before she looked at me. “Why? You told me where she is.”

“Phones can easily be taken over, and your messages can be read.” I nodded to the phone resting in her hands. “What she said is dangerous enough because it implies you’re with me.”

She nodded, then resumed typing, slower than before.

My gaze drifted back to her face. Taking the time to study how beautiful she looked in that moment. Not that she wore much makeup anyway, but there was something about her then, makeup free and ready for bed, that about did me in.

The exact opposite of everything I usually went for, and everything I wanted in her.

I tried to shut down the train of thought as soon as it appeared, but I was still studying her and counting the freckles splashed across her cheeks when her face paled and the light in her eyes dimmed.

An air of uncertainty and shame pulsed from her as she stood there, staring just past her phone at the floor, her arms covered in chills that hadn’t been there just before.

“You cold?” I asked and watched as she slowly pulled herself out of wherever she’d just been, blinking slowly before more rapidly as she glanced up at me.

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