Page 82 of Faking It With the Small-Town Bad Boy

of my pants to hopefully hide the erection. “It wasn’t right of me.”

“I don’t see why not,” she breathes. “I want it. You want it.”

“Yeah, but it wouldn’t mean anything, Leah. We’re just upset.”

“I’m not upset. I’m excited,” she points out. Why can’t we be excited

together, Percy?”

“Because it’s not me, and it’s not you. It’s this fucking situation,” I

say, my tone easy, but my words built with content. I should wrangle

it back in, especially when talking to such a delicate flower, but I’m

already on the edge of one feverish emotion. The rest comes without

warning. “We are just thrown into this situation by circumstance, not

by attraction or love.”

She flinches.

She fucking flinches.

Before I can better articulate what I mean, and do so without venom

streaming through my words, she turns her back to me and crosses

her legs in bed. She leans forward, her shoulders so smooth and pale

while the blonde rakes of her hair fall flat on her spine, making it

hard to see much further than her shoulders. She sports a scar from

the surgery she had because of the fallen engine, but even with the

ugly mark, she’s still so beautiful.

“I didn’t mean that I don’t want to do that with you,” I retort. “I just

—”

“I know what you mean,” she says.

“Do you?”

“Yeah, of course. If it wasn’t for Ryan ruining our decade-long

relationship by seeking someone else, and if not for Farrah cheating

on you so callously, then we wouldn’t be in this situation. I get it.”

Hearing it spelled out like that, I feel like a dumbass.

“I know we’re supposed to be supporting one another and moving on

from them, I just don’t want you to be a crutch in that, Leah. I don’t

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