Page 91 of The Princess and the Fraud

“No.But itwasthe day before her wedding. Caroline, though…” With a quiet sigh, his left hand gripped the steering wheel tighter. “She didn’t even tell you Grant was coming home.”

“She didn’t have a chance to.”

“Has she talked to you about it since he’s gotten here?” Aaron turned on the road of my apartment complex. “Did she give you a heads up about that, at least?”

No, she hadn’t. Even this morning, after I was sure Grant called her and told her everything—like he always did—she hadn’t reached out. Hadn’t even texted, but I hadn’t thought much about it. I raised an eyebrow. “Did something happen when you went out yesterday?”

He seemed to hesitate. “No.” Aaron pulled into the apartment complex’s parking lot, just barely dodging the pothole at the entrance. “I’m just thinking about you, that’s all.”

I sat quiet in the passenger seat, fighting a small smile. “Well, I appreciate it.”

Aaron pulled into a parking spot the closest to the building he could find, sliding the gearshift into park. He then turned to me, slipping off his sunglasses. “I’m sorry for hijacking your day off.”

“I wouldn’t have gone to see it without you.” I curled my fingers tighter around my phone. “I needed it. And… I needed tohearit.”

And strangely enough, had it been anyone else, I might not have listened. Heck, even if he’d been the one to say it weeks ago, before I got to know him, I wouldn’t have listened. But knowing everything Aaron put himself through to impress his family, it felt like he was the only one who understood. I could trust him.

Aaron’s eyes were soft as he looked at me, in a way that caused my heartbeat to feel like a tickle in my chest. I thought about the way his arms so easily encircled me, as if he’d been holding himself back up until that moment I’d fallen into him. Hugging Grant had always been awkward, with him being a foot taller, but it felt sorightbeing in Aaron’s arms. As if I was meant to be in them.

The air pumping from the heaters was suddenly too warm. “Aaron,” I began, deciding then and there that the third time was the charm. “About Fiona. What are you going to?—”

A lightrapon my window had the both of us jumping, and I nearly jolted again when I turned to see who stood right outside the car. Caroline. The clench that’d gripped my stomach earlier absolutely tore into it now, dread sinking within me like a stone.

Caroline tugged open the passenger door, a stream of cold air freezing out the heat. “Ah, so that’s why you ignored my call,” she said in an odd tone. “You were with someone.”

She backed up to give me space, and as I climbed out, I could hear Aaron’s door pop open on the other side. “I was going to call you when we got back.”

“Back from where?” Caroline readjusted her pink scarf at her throat, lowering it to expose more of her neck. “You went on an adventure without me?”

I couldn’t explain the atmosphere beyond it beinguncomfortable. And it really shouldn’t have felt that way. I wasn’t sure when things had shifted, but I could feel the difference now, plain as day.

“We just went for a little drive.” Aaron leaned his arms over the top of his car. “Lovisa was showing me around the area.”

“I could’ve done that,” Caroline said, flashing him a grin. “I could’ve shown you the nicer spots. Bayview doesn’t have a lot of them, but Addison has a few… intimate ones.”

“She showed me a really good one.”

He and I exchanged a look that I felt a little lost in, but in a good way. Lost, butseen.

Aaron tipped his head at us then, slipping his sunglasses back on. “Have a good rest of your Sunday.”

I stepped back from his car, fighting the urge to ask him to stay. Instead, I merely gave him a small wave as he pulled out of the parking space, watching his taillights. Aaron’s car pulled out of the lot, and only then did I feel like I could look away.

“You’re spending a lot of time with Aaron,” Caroline murmured from behind me. “Didn’t your boss warn you against fraternizing?”

“This isn’t Alderton-Du Ponte,” I replied as I turned. “I’m allowed to do whatever I want off the grounds.” I started toward the apartment complex, assuming she’d follow.

“Does Fiona know?”

The leading way she spoke had me stopping on the sidewalk. “Know what?”

“That her fiancé is going on dates with other women.”

I turned around again and faced her, finding her expression completely blank. Something had happened between her and Aaron—I knew it in an instant. There was no jovial teasing, no softness in her gaze. “They’re not engaged yet. And it wasn’t a date.”

“Oh?” Caroline lifted her chin. “Then where did you go?”

Caroline acting like this would’ve normally made me nervous, and I would’ve scrambled to salvage her mood before she’d gone past the point of no return. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was emotionally wrung dry after today or what, but in that moment, there wasn’t a single trace of anxiety within me as I stared at her. “Why does it matter?”

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