Page 35 of Loving You

“What?” Miles snaps.

“She was at the bakery yesterday when Andy and Sully came in and asked about my boyfriend.”

“To be fair, I’m the one who mentioned you first because you were being all sour, Miles, and not letting her stay in the apartment. Your name must have triggered something for them.”

“Yeah, it triggered the fact that last summer, Quinn here told everyone that the two of us were dating,” Miles says in a hushed tone. He barely has the words out before Hudson starts to crack up.

“It’s not funny,” Miles says quickly, but that doesn’t stop Hudson. “I guess we can just call the whole thing off now.”

“What? No?” I say quickly. “Why?”

“People know it’s a lie.” He holds his hand out to Hudson and Sadie.

“We won’t tell anyone,” Hudson says quickly. “Hell, if she takes things off your plate and all you have to do is hold her hand a few times and take her to a festival here or there, I’d say that’s one hell of a deal.”

“It’s complicated, is what it is,” Miles replies.

“It doesn’t have to be,” I cut in. “We can make this extra simple. If people ask, we say that we are dating, but we hate PDA, then we show up places to be seen and go back to our homes at the end of the night.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Sadie says.

She shares a glance with her fiancée, and he nods. No words,just a look, and even though it makes me suspicious, I love that unspoken bond thing, too.

“Fine, but let’s go before we run into anyone else who just happens to know the truth.” Miles grabs my hands and rushes us through the store to the front door.

“Aww, he’s stealing you for alone time,” Hudson calls out after us.

I can hear Sadie’s laughter as the door shuts.

Miles’s steps don’t slow as we make our way back to the shop, which makes me laugh.

To any prying eyes, we look as Hudson just said.

Heck, we might be able to pull this off after all.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MILES

Someone slap me if I ever squeeze Quinn’s hand like that again.

I did it as a reflex, but my mind—yeah, mind—said those two little words, and I bolted into the shop before she could sense I was about to start acting weird. I’ve never done that to anyone. Ever. The worry in her voice triggered it somehow. Like I felt her words more than heard them.

Was that what happened to my mom when she’d do it to me?

I obsessed over it the entire afternoon to the point that I finally decided to go say something to Quinn. But she wasn’t in the office. I stepped out of the shop to see if she was outside, and that’s when I saw her running off.

The glance over her shoulder was all I needed. She was about to do something I wouldn't approve of.

Finding her in that bookstore proved just that.

I scan my key card at the gym and wave at the kid working. I’ve seen him around, but his family must be new because I can’t put a name to his face.

He nods and goes back to whatever he was doing.

I need this workout today something fierce because as if thewhole deal with Quinn weren’t enough, now my brother and Sadie know. I’m not even working out yet, and I’m already sweating over how this whole thing will play out. The boyfriend part, I mean. I don’t date much, so if I were someone’s boyfriend, I’d struggle at it, and now I’m a fake boyfriend.

What the hell do they even do?

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