Page 9 of Loving Lies (Granton University 3)

With a slight nod, he whispered, “Okay.”

She forced a smile, but with the tears clinging to her lashes, it only made him ache with regret and the need to apologize for whatever he’d done to hurt her.

“Okay,” she repeated as if bolstering herself.

This time, when she reached for his hair, he didn’t flinch away. He closed his eyes and breathed in a relieved breath as soft fingers brushed his bangs across his forehead. When he opened them, she leaned in with her lips pursed. He could tell her target was his forehead, but he needed more than that. He needed an intimacy he’d been craving since he’d opened his eyes days ago. He needed to know someone cared. So, he tilted his face back, readjusting just in time for her to catch his mouth against hers.

Plus, he had to know what it felt like to kiss her.

Realizing what he’d done, she pulled back, looking startled. “Oh! Uh…” Her gaze raced over his, and her fingers fluttered back to her throat. “I was actually aiming for your hair because I thought you’d be uncomfortable with…” With a noisy swallow, she zipped a quick glance at his lips. “Since you don’t remember me at all. But…um…okay.”

She darted back in and stamped her mouth to his with a quick, impulsive peck. He barely had time to digest what had happened. But the scent of peaches remained as she pulled away.

Lifting his face to stare at her, he watched the color rise to her cheeks. Strangely, it didn’t throw the redness of her hair off balance. In fact, her blush and those scarlet locks complemented each other, giving her a glowing kind of angelic effect.

He wanted her to kiss him again, longer this time. And not because there was something comfortable and familiar about her. But because her lips had felt new and exciting.

In fact, if she hadn’t claimed to be his girlfriend, he would’ve sworn that had just been their first kiss together, ever.

Chapter Three

TESS NEEDED TO ESCAPE this room before she had herself an honest-to-God heart attack. Her pulse raced a million miles per minute, and her cold skin was slick with nervous sweat.

She hated lying, and every word that had spewed from her mouth since she’d stepped into this room had been coated, dunked, and outright punctured with lie after lie. But with each fib that fell from her tongue, she’d been forced to layer another on top of it.

It was obvious Jonah Abbott needed someone in his life right now who “knew” him. He had to be experiencing every kind of pain there was to experience. Physical, emotional, mental. Hell, probably even metaphysical. And knowing he had no one could only hurt him more. So, she’d struggled to keep up the lying game for his own good.

Trying desperately not to flush but feeling her face heat anyway, Tess glanced away after kissing him. “Well.” She blew out a breath and licked her lips. She could still feel the soft press of his mouth against hers and taste caramel apple from the empanada he’d eaten.

Her cheeks burned hotter. “Okay, then. I guess…I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” Forcing an overly bright smile, she risked a quick glance his way.

He didn’t answer, simply watched her as if trying to figure her out. Darting her gaze away, she gave a jerky, embarrassed wave, grabbed her purse, and sprinted toward the door.

“Tess,” he called, his voice edging toward panic. But she’d already hit the hallway, and no way could she go back, not without telling him the truth. Right now, she didn’t think the truth would help him.

Covering her mouth, she hurried down the hall and veered blindly around the first turn she came to, only to get rammed in the gut by an empty cart.

She didn’t even feel the pain in her abdomen. She closed her eyes and moaned. “I’m sorry.” Lifting her hand in apology to the cart pusher, she whirled away to run in the opposite direction.

But Bailey’s voice had her screeching to a halt and spinning back. “Tess?” From the other side of the cart, her friend blinked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “What the hell? Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?”

Like a balloon deflating of air, all the pent up misery and guilt rushed from her system. “No.” Tess charged toward Bailey and grabbed her arm. “We need to go. Right now.”

“Wha—” Bailey stumbled along behind her. “What happened? Oh, shit. You didn’t kill the poor bastard in three-twelve, did you?”

“No. But I’m going to have a panic attack if we don’t find an exit soon.” When she hurried them around another corner, she whimpered. “Where the hell are all the elevators in this freaking building?”

“Good Lord.” Bailey let out a huff, grabbed Tess’s hand, and led her the other way until they exited the hall and those magical silver doors came into view.

Beyond grateful, Tess rushed to them and started jabbing buttons. She didn’t speak until the doors opened and she and Bailey were safely sealed inside alone. When the floor began to drop, making everything in her stomach dip as well, she wrapped an arm around her waist and turned to her friend.

“I think I just made the worst mistake of my life.”

Bailey blinked. “Well? What happened?”

Tess sucked in air, so much that she became lightheaded. “I—I—I felt so bad for him. No one had come to visit him, he’d been shot three times, and he’d just come out of a coma. A coma, Bailey, a freaking coma. And now he has amnesia. He was so alone and afraid and upset. And his eyes. Oh, my God. His eyes seemed to hold all the pain in the world. I just couldn’t…he needed to know someone cared, so I…so I told him…”

“You told him what?”

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