Page 68 of Seduction in Spades

He takes it out of his pocket and looks at it quickly before answering. A slight smile tugs at his lip. “Hey, girl.”

A twinge of jealousy twists in my gut and I look away, distracting myself with washing the dishes.

“Um, yeah. No, I didn’t forget. I can’t wait to see you this weekend.”

I scrub the pot harder, bubbles slopping over the edge of the sink and soaking my white T-shirt.

“Sure. Yeah. No problem. Love you too.”

Love?Nolan isn’t the type of guy to cheat on a girlfriend. There’s no way he—

“I totally blanked. It’s my niece’s birthday this weekend. I promised my sister I’d be there.”

Sister.Serena. I relax my shoulders and gently rinse the pot, surprised I didn’t wear a hole into the stainless steel.

He told her he loved her because that’s the kind of guy he is. Trey and I are close, but we don’t express our love for each other. Hell, we’ve never expressed our love to anyone. At least, I don’t think Trey has ever been in love.

We’ve never talked about dating or relationships either. It’s not the Braxton way.

“I’ve got four bachelorette parties this weekend and two private parties booked, and Drake and Nora planned some getaway in the mountains.” Trey leans against the counter, ignoring me, carrying on with Nolan as if I’m not even there. “You’ll need to take Avery with you.”

“What? No.” I drop the spatula I’m washing in the sink and more bubbles splash on me. I shake my head at Trey and glance quickly at Nolan. “I’m not crashing his niece’s party. I’m fine here. I won’t leave. Promise.”

“I’ll get a new ID for her and book our flights,” Nolan says, completely dismissing my protests.

“New ID? What the hell?”

“In case there are eyes on you,” Trey says to me. “It’ll be good. You’ve been saying you want to get out.”

“Nolan’s family doesn’t even know me. It’s going to be weird to randomly show up at his niece’s birthday party.”

“My family’s motto is always the more the merrier.”

“No.”

“Are you taking the private jet?” Trey asks.

Private jet?How rich are they?

“If Donahue is watching, it’ll be too easy to track us. We’ll both use alternate IDs and fly commercial. Easier to blend in.”

“Good.” Trey slaps him on the shoulder and scoops up his keys from the counter. “Gotta go. Help yourself to leftovers. By Aves.”

He’s gone before I can throw a hissy fit.

“I’m not crashing your niece’s party.”

“It’ll be good for you to get away.”

“Then book me a flight to Tahiti.”

“Make a list of anything you need me to get from your place.” Nolan walks away before I can argue with him.

I have two options. Storm down the hall and corner him in his room and tell him I refuse to go, which he and Trey will ignore and find a way to force me on the plane anyway. Granted, I could kick and scream and cause a scene at the airport, but that would kind of defeat my flying under the radar.

Or I can bite my lip and begrudgingly go along with this stupid plan.

Who am I kidding? Like I have a choice.

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