Page 8 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

He didn't inch away from me as I leaned forward. If anything, he seemed to move closer too.

"That's why I'm cutting you off," he said.

"No, no." I waved my arm through the air. "The other thing." I shifted my butt on the couch, trying to get more comfortable. Or maybe I was just retreating. He was too close. He was supposed to be left in my imagination. The fact that he was right in front of me was too real. "God, my ankle really hurts."

"Here." His hands moved to my foot and he started unlacing my shoe.

He's undressing me.

"What other thing?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"You said I was right about you. And then you said it was the other thing."

"Oh." I laughed. "I run every day at 8 a.m. because I know this lawn is on your schedule at 8 a.m. on Thursdays. And also it's better to run the same time each day because your body likes routine. It's scientifically proven."

"I understand the premise of the workout. But why do you time it so that you can see me?" He gently pulled off my sneaker.

I immediately felt relief. "Obviously because I'm madly in love with you." It came out as an exhale. I didn't even have any control over it.

His stormy blues danced with amusement. "Yeah, I figured that."

I laughed. "I was joking, buddy."

He sat back down in his seat. Even though I was begging him with my eyes to join me on the couch.

"We're back to buddy? I thought we were on a first name basis now."

I ignored him. "You never told me how old you were."

"Twenty three. And you?"

Only twenty three? He really was young. Of course he was. He mowed lawns for a living. He's a landscaper, I reminded myself. But wasn't that all the same? No wonder he had called me ma'am. "Older than you."

He smiled. "Well, I wouldn't have guessed that. What are you then, twenty five? Twenty six?"

I just turned thirty a few weeks ago. Thirty. I was officially a ma'am. I'd never speak to him again after this. What did it matter if he knew I was an old lady? "I just turned thirty actually."

He made this adorable whistling noise that put the smile back on my face.

"You don't look thirty. Not that it's bad that you are. I just would have assumed you were in your mid-twenties."

"Sure. You called me ma'am."

"I was being respectful."

"That's something you call old ladies."

He put his elbows back on his knees. "Trust me, that is not the way I intended it."

"Ben."

"Adeline."

"Oh, God, don't call me that."

"What would you prefer that I call you?"

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