Page 31 of Whisper of Surrender (Whisper Lake 2)

“You just said it’s complicated,” Ali emphasized.

“So?” Jess felt her eyebrows scrunch together.

Brynn and Ali both gave each other a look.

Ali turned back to Jess. “You’re finally admitting that something is going on between you two?”

Wow. If this was the reaction that her friends had when all she did was say that something was complicated, she couldn’t imagine what they were going to do when she and Ethan started their fake romance.

This was a bad idea. All week she’d been on a seesaw, unable to decide if this was the best idea ever or the worst plan in history. But being around the entire town today made that decision as clear as the crystal her mom kept in her hutch.

Worst plan in history.

“It’s not complicated. It’s nothing.” Jess glanced over her shoulder again, feeling Ethan’s intense stare boring into the back of her neck.

“The looks you two have been exchanging all day are so hot I’m surprised that you both haven’t gone up in flames,” Ali observed.

“You two have more sparks than a welding machine,” Brynn added.

“No. We don’t,” Jess firmly stated.

Since agreeing to the plan, Jess was feeling even more defensive about her feelings for the man than she ever had before. She barely managed to keep what she felt hidden when she’d professed that she didn’t like him. How in the world was she going to accomplish the same thing when she was supposed to like him? People would see, he would see that it was real.

As the panic rose in her, she made a command decision. She wasn’t going to go through with the plan. She was aborting the mission.

“So you’re not attracted to him?” Ali’s tone implied she already knew the answer.

“No. I’m not.” Jess lied through her teeth, but felt a sense of calm that she was regaining control.

Ali and Brynn looked unconvinced. Which was fair. She wasn’t totally selling it.

“Is he attractive? Sure. But he’s not my type.” That probably didn’t help her case.

Her statement caused Ali’s eyes to widen and Brynn’s lips to flatten in a tight line.

She kept going, attempting to make her case. “What? He’s not. I am not attracted to Ethan Steele.”

“Hey, Ethan,” Brynn chirped brightly.

“Are your ears burning?” Ali asked with a mischievous grin.

“Ladies.” A deep voice rumbled behind her and the sound sent her belly rolling like a tumbleweed in a desert.

Ethan’s hand brushed along her lower back as he leaned in close to her. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Jess turned her head and did her best to appear casual, cool, and totally unaffected by the fact that Ethan’s touch had just sent a shock wave of bliss through her. “I’m a little busy now.”

She looked back to her friends for backup, but they’d scattered. In fact, the entire crowd had migrated to the other end of the pool. It was just her and Ethan.

When she looked up at him, she couldn’t quite read what was going on behind his hazel eyes.

“What’s up?” She heard the tension in her voice.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I have not. I’m just busy being a good hostess.”

“Doesn’t a good hostess mingle with her guests?”

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