Page 74 of The Problem with Perfect

“Did I push it too far? I figured I had an idea of what you were getting at, but…”

“Your brother is here,” I say, interrupting her so she doesn’t say anything else.

Her head jerks back, but then she smiles. “Bishop’s here?”

I shake my head. “Boyd.”

Bellamy’s eyes widen. “I’m not wearing any underwear,” she whispers.

My eyes scan her up and down one more time, giving myself a last chance to appreciate the image of her panty-less in thigh-high stockings before I wipe it away.

“Bellamy?”

I turn, finding Boyd standing a few feet behind me, one eyebrow raised as he assesses the situation.

“What are you doing here?”

She beams at her brother. “I should be askingyouthat question,” she says. “I didn’t know you were coming to town.”

He gives her a smile, but it looks less easy than the one he gave me when he first arrived, especially since his eyes keep flicking between the two of us.

“Yeah, we have a meeting.”

Bellamy nods. “Cool. Well I guess I’ll see you later at the house then.” Her eyes connect with mine. “We can chat about the thing with Connor and Stace another time. See ya!”

She spins around and heads back out to her car, and I quickly close the door so Boyd can’t see the bit of ass cheek that flashed me as she walked away. When I turn around, he’s leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a neutral expression on his face.

“Maybe it’s good I surprised you,” he says. “Now we can have a little chat.”

I take a deep breath and let it out then nod, and we head back into the living room. He takes a seat on the couch, and I go for the fridge, grabbing my own beer and popping off the top before joining him.

“We’ve been friends for a long time,” he says, his voice deep and gravelly in a way that says he’s taking this conversation seriously. “So I’m going to give you one chance to be honest with me about what’s going on with you and Bellamy.”

My mind flickers over it all—Connor and Stace, how things started, when they became physical, the fact that I’m crazy about her—and I consider trying to lie to him. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to be honest because I amterrifiedof losing Boyd’s friendship, but ultimately, I can’t be that guy.

I just can’t.

I try to be as honest as I can be without making him want to scrub his brain clean of the idea of me giving his sister sex lessons.

“Bellamy asked me to be her fake boyfriend because of Connor—that part has always been true,” I start, wanting to reassure him that my intentions were always to help out his sister. “But we’ve been spending more time together, and it’s starting to feel real in a way I wasn’t expecting.”

“But it’snotreal. You know that, right?”

I sigh, scrubbing my hands across my face.

“You’re ten years older than her, Rusty. She’s in a completely different place in her life than you are. She’s just starting to figure out who she is, and to be frank, I don’t want you to use her and then toss her away like you do every other woman you hook up with.”

Wincing, I look down at the floor.Use hersounds a little harsh.

“And if it’s not a hookup?” I ask, forcing myself to look Boyd in the eyes. “If the things I feel about your sisterarereal, even if the relationship isn’t?”

He grits his teeth and takes a swig of his beer.

“I love you, Rusty,” he eventually says after sitting silent for a moment. “I really do, and I know you have a good heart, which is why I think it’s important to point out that the question shouldn’t be about whether or not your feelings are real. Feelings arealwaysreal, big or small, deep or shallow. They’re always real.”

Boyd pauses again, and I know I’m not going to like whatever he says next.

“I think, more importantly, what you need to ask yourself is if you’re good for Bellamy.”

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