Page 28 of Miss Understood

The elevator door tries to close, but I plant my palm against it. She’s got that same stance she used on Mom and Dad as a kid, when she knew she’d get her way or go kicking and screaming. Running a law firm is one thing, but keeping my sister in line is like holding on to water. Messy and impossible.

“Fine, let’s just get this over with.” I step into the elevator and rest my back against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest.

Serena and Mateo pile in, chatting about nails, tattoos, and guys. But Luce keeps quiet and moves next to me.

“I was wrong,” she says as the elevator starts moving. A faint smile crosses her lips as she watches Serena and Mateo giggle.

I lift an eyebrow in confusion.

“Stubborn, bullheaded, refuses to concede even an inch.” Luce’s body shifts a fraction closer, and I can almost feel the heat palpitating between us. “I can definitely see the family resemblance now.”

Her eyes flick up to mine, and they might as well be wrecking balls, because one look brings me to my fucking knees. That barbed tongue that hides her mischievous smile. That piercing glare that hides her bright eyes. And everything I want to hate is suddenly making me ache instead.

Luce straightens up and clears her throat as she faces the front of the elevator. I’m not sure what that look was, but it planted a land mine in my chest. And while the woman standing beside me might be my fake wife, whatever is exploding behind my ribs feels dangerously real.

10

Luce

“Givemeallthebread,” Serena says to the waitress, clawing at the air with a wild shimmer in her eyes. She and Mateo are lost in conversation while Jesse watches them over his menu.

If there’s a person on the planet who is the polar opposite of Jesse, it’s his sister. Where they might share the same headstrong attitude, their approaches and demeanors couldn’t be more different.

Jesse is hardened and difficult in a cold way, making it feel impossible to gain an inch with him. Serena, on the other hand, is strong-willed with a more spirited determination. She’s warm and wild, possessing a certain freedom Jesse doesn’t seem to allow himself.

Watching them play at each other’s nerves across the table is amusing. Serena clearly knows how to push Jesse’s buttons and enjoys doing so. I could learn a lesson or two from her; the girl knows all the tricks.

“What’s that look about,wifey?” Jesse says, folding his menu and handing it to the waitress.

“You’re enjoying saying that a little too much, don’t you think?” I roll my eyes and place my napkin in my lap.

Jesse shrugs.

Staying married isn’t either of our first choice. If Mateo hadn’t outed us, we would be halfway through our annulment by now. But the fact that we aren’t seems to be bothering Jesse less and less by the minute. Either that, or he’s a pro at faking it.

After all, this is Jesse, master manipulator.

“So,” he prods. “The look?”

“I was just thinking that it’s interesting to see you around your sister. You’re almost human.” I smile.

“Miracles do happen.” Jesse sits back in his chair and watches as Serena tells Mateo an animated story. “Guess that’s family for you. Bringing out the good and the bad.”

He’s not wrong. I think about how I am with my brothers and how they’d never believe that the sister they wrestled to the ground is now someone who struts around the office owning her shit in pencil skirts and sky-high heels.

Badass attorney or not, at home, I’m a Stevens, and it’s a level playing field in my family.

“Luce.” Jesse says my name, and it snaps me back to the table. I realize he’s positioned his chair closer, and now I’m nearly brushing his leg with my own. “I have a proposition for you.”

God, those words out of his mouth should not do what they do to me.

They send stupid electrical impulses straight between my legs.

“I’m listening,” I say.

Jesse dips his chin and leans the slightest bit closer. “We’ve got five and a half more weeks of this case, and that’s if the judge doesn’t drag it out longer. Which also means five and a half more weeks of early mornings, late nights—”

“Shitloads of paperwork,” I finish.