Page 53 of Love You, Mean It

“Really?” I squeaked. “Why?”

“We’re supposed to be engaged, Ellie. Our families would at leastmeetat this point. And I have a sense that your grandmother might not be as on board with this plan as you led me to believe.”

“What makes you—”

“I asked Bella point-blank.”

I pursed my lips, annoyed at her unfailing honesty.

“I promise, Mimi will toe the line if I ask.”

“Still, I’d prefer a quick tête-à-tête before we head into the lion’s den.”

“Trust but verify?”

“Something like that. Plus, you should show her this. So she doesn’t act surprised by it, I mean.” His hand moved across the loveseat to mine, and he lifted it slightly, glancing down at the ring as he rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. A shiver worked its way down my spine, lodging itself between my legs. “More importantly, I want her to believe I’m on her side. That I’m onyourside.” His eyes, heavy and hooded, firelight flickering over their surface, caught mine.

“Why does it matter?”

“At least one of our families should seem excited about this.” His voice had gone rough. It activated some sort of magnet in my chest, one polarized to him. “Aboutus.”

“And then people will believe it?” I whispered. “You…and me?”

“I think they’ll wonder why they didn’t see it before.”

And nowhewas leaning closer. The shivery feeling at my core started spreading outward, warmth flooding me.

I shouldn’t do this.Shouldn’t let myself slide into him so easily a second time. Shouldn’t let his lips trace the line of my throat, his hands slide over the curves of my body, feel the strength in those muscled arms as he pulled me up onto his lap…

Why shouldn’t I do this?

I flung around desperately for an answer, but I couldn’t find one, every nerve, every inch of skin begging me to give in to his touch, pregnant with possibility even as he barely grazed the tips of my fingers.

Sam. She’d shown again and again that she really cared about Theo. Put herself on the line today because there was somethingrealbetween them, or at least there could be. After the accident, she’d dropped everything and come running, and I’d…lied for my own self-interest. I still wasn’t sure if there was a trick in her offer I hadn’t spotted, but I at least owed her a fair hearing, right? Owed ittomyselfto know the full story before I blustered in and made a mess of not only my life, but Theo’s, and hers?

Sucking in a sharp breath, I forced myself to sit back, sipping the champagne to give myself something to focus on besides the curves of Theo’s lips.

“Before we go there, I have to know…”

“Yes?” I could feel his eyes burning over the skin of my neck. He was leaning closer, quickly closing the gap I’d tried to create.

“What happened with you and Sam?”

He blinked a few times. Sat up.

“What do you mean?”

“She clearly cares about you.”

“And I care about her, but there’s nothingromanticbetween us.”

“But there was, right? Before?” He squeezed his eyes shut, exhaling heavily through his nose. “I’m just saying…if we’re going to sell this, I can’t be blindsided by her, or by someone’s idea of her. Ted, his friends…they’d expect me to at leastknow.”

“I suppose that’s true.” Theo drained his glass in one gulp. “First, refills.”

Once he’d topped us off again, he reclined into the loveseat, idly reaching for my hand once more, but safely slack. My heartbeat started to slow back to normal. The champagne was giving me a pleasant, warm, buzzy feeling.

“The truth is…Sam and I were engaged.”

---