Page 16 of Faking Ever After

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” I muttered under my breath. “Anyway, Finn’s right behind, helping Dimitrios with the luggage.”

“Wonderful,” Mom said with more than a little hint of skepticism. “I’m on the edge of my seat.”

“It would really help if we didn’t scare the poor guy away,” I pleaded with my parents.

Aunt Judith shifted. “Not to worry,” she announced. “If your parents do scare him away, my dentist’s nephew came out of the closet just two months ago. Oh, my dear, you wouldn’t bel…”

“Aunt Judith, please,” I cried. “What would it look like if Finn came in and heard you talk like that?”

Aunt Judith lifted her chin defiantly. “It never hurts to be ready.”

“He really must be shy, Percy,” Emily said, poking me in the ribs with her elbow.

I only managed a shortouchbefore Finn Connolly rolled through the house. “Oh. My. God! Percy, baby, you never said you were the owner of Heaven on Earth,” he exclaimed from the top of hisshylungs. He passed through the door and onto the terrace with wide eyes and a wider smile. “Family! I’m so happy to finally meet you all. Percy never shuts up about you. Seriously, sometimes I just want to put a sock in his pie hole. You must be Emily.”

To my infinite horror, Mom laughed out loud. “Aren’t you a charmer? I’m Alicia, darling.”

Finn gasped. “That’s impossible.”

Mom only laughed harder as she gave Finn her hand and pulled him in for a short and sweet hug. “Welcome to Naxos, darling.”

“I like him,” Dad said to Mom, feeling Finn’s flattery almost like it had been directed at him. He shook Finn’s hand. “Welcome to our home, son.”

Finn beamed even more brightly, if that was possible. “And what should I call you? Mom and Dad might be a little too soon, huh? Mr. and Mrs. Davenport, then?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Finn,” Mom said, my nightmares growing more vivid by the minute. “We can’t be as formal as that.”

“Call me Lawrence, son,” Dad said.

“And I am Emily,” my sister supplied.

Finn shot her a conspiratorial smile. “Percy, baby, you never mentioned your sister came from the cover ofVogue.”

Emily snorted and laughed, then hugged Finn. “I think I’m going to like you.”

Finn glanced at me with mischief and reassurance in his eyes. Neither helped me relax one bit. When he spoke, it was to Emily. “We’re going to be best friends, I can tell.” As they let go of each other, Finn added a bit of flourish as he bowed slightly to my aunt. “I’m Finn Connolly. The boyfriend. You must be Percy’s aunt.”

“Judith, dear. Aunt Judith,” she said, measuring Finn against a score of potential suitors she had in store for me. There was a touch of interest in her dark brown eyes and an amused quiver to her sharp lips. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. We’ve been hearing of Percy’s boyfriend for so long.”

“I should hope,” Finn said delightedly. There was only a split-second glance he shot at me and I couldn’t even blink before he was off. “Ah, this view is incredible.”

Mom put a hand around Finn’s arm and led the way off the sea-view terrace to the pool terrace where beach beds provided the view of the azure pool, its edge indistinguishable from the sea in the distance. She was talking to Finn and he squealed with excitement. “Oh, my God. And the beach is just there. Percy, the beach is just there.” He looked at me over his shoulder with as much delight as a golden retriever.

“Shy, is he?” Emily whispered for my ears only.

I opened my mouth, closed it, and blinked. “Ah, Dimitrios must have given him the good wine.”

“He must have laced it with ecstasy, too,” my sister said and laughed out loud. Her searching look went over my face, but it faded into that of pure affection. “It’s good to see you, Percy.”

I inhaled a deep breath of air. We were in for a hellish experience and the start was as explosive as I could have imagined. This was going to be a disaster and my family was never going to let me forget about it. And yet… “It’s good to be here,” I said. And it was completely true.

CHAPTER 7

Finn

Percy reddenedand sweated and flinched at everything, but I spotted him talking to his sister with something like a smile on his face. Alicia showed me the infinity pool, its furthest edge blending seamlessly with the Aegean Sea until I stepped closer to the end of the terrace and saw the crescent sand beach far below. The borderless yard of the house sloped until it met the sea.

There was a young couple on a large beach towel, apparently exploring each other’s anatomies with hands and tongues. “Uh, your guests seem to be enjoying themselves.”

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