Page 59 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

She pops another nacho into her mouth, but I can tell she’s bracing. “Why can’t it be fun?”

I study her face, the way her jaw tightens just slightly.

“Nothing wrong with fun,” I say. “Just seems like there’s more going on.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.” I lean forward a little, keeping my voice easy even as something twists inside me. “Wes…” I stop, clear my throat, then start again. “Wes thinks you’ve got a whole plan in motion.”

Her smile doesn’t drop exactly—but itdims.

“Wes thinks a lot of things,” she says.

I feel the shift immediately. She looks away like she’s trying not to care, like she’s trying not toshowthat she cares, and I swear my whole chest tightens.

Shit.

“Aimee—hey,” I say gently, reaching out and brushing my fingers over hers. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. Don’t let him get in your head.”

She blinks once, then slowly meets my gaze. Her voice is soft when she says, “He really thinks I’m using you, doesn’t he?”

I hate the way she asks it. Hate the flicker of hurt that dances across her face like a flame catching.

“He’s just being Wes,” I mutter. “Overprotective, and suspicious of anything he can’t control.”

Aimee nods slowly, but her lips press together.

“And what doyouthink?” she asks, barely above a whisper.

Fuck. It’s instinctive: the way I move closer, the way every cell in my body responds like she’smineand I have to fix it, smooth it out, make it better.

“I think you’re honest,” I say. “Direct and funny and smart. And if I didn’t think you were serious about this—aboutme—I wouldn’t be here.”

She stares at me for a long moment. “You mean that?”

There’s a glimmer in her dark eyes now. It looks like vulnerability.

“Yeah,” I nod. “Of course I mean it.”

She looks down at our hands, where my fingers are still tangled in hers.

“He makes me feel stupid, sometimes,” she murmurs. “Like this is all just a game I don’t know the rules to.”

God, thatkillsme.

I tighten my grip on her hand. “You’re not stupid, and this isn’t a game. Not for me.”

She doesn’t answer right away, and when she finally does, it’s with a sigh so soft I feel it in my bones.

“It’s just been a long time since someone chose me without some kind of agenda.”

Jesus.

I don’t know if it’s true, but I believe it. Iunderstandit.

And that’s enough to make me want to grab her and hold her so close nothing can ever touch her again.

“I’m not him,” I murmur.

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