Page 71 of The Texan's Secrets

Realistically, she hadn’t been in any actual danger. She’d been anxious, more worried about the house than her own safety. Still. He had rushed to her side, given her moral support and helped her get dry and warm. She felt a flush rise in her cheeks when she remembered exactly how warm he’d made her feel.

They’d slept in her small bed again that night. He’d gone out for coffee and croissants in the morning and waited for Paris to come home to see the damage. There was something noble about his insistence on staying by Emilia’s side for the aftermath.

And that’s where her feelings grew complicated. She felt guilty for holding back the truth from him, and she knew she had to come clean. She had to tell him she’d cheated the Surprise Me! function by hacking into the algorithm. She had to tell him she wasn’t his real match, and their being together was all based on a lie.

Part of her wished he wasn’t so noble.

The crowd broke into applause, startling her, and she realized the speeches were over.

“Well, that’s a satisfying ending to generations of anger and grief,” Misha said.

“Absolutely,” Emilia agreed, even though she’d missed most of Joseph Winters’s speech.

“Maggie looks relieved.”

Jericho had moved to Maggie’s side, put an arm around her and whispered something in her ear. She smiled, and he planted a light kiss on her temple.

“He’s one of the good ones,” Misha said. “Almost as good as Trey.”

Misha’s boyfriend, Trey, was sending her an intimate smile across the room.

Emilia’s thoughts turned back to her own romantic life.

“What do you think about Nick?” she asked Misha.

Misha seemed taken aback by the question. “In what way?”

“I don’t know. In the usual way. Does he strike you as a good guy?”

“Uh...sure. He does. Why?” For some reason, Misha looked uncomfortable with the line of questioning.

“We’ve gone out a few times.” Emilia rephrased her point. “Well, two official dates. But we’re also doing an online tech workshop for Coders Plus, so we’re spending a lot of time together working on that.”

“Wait, what?” Misha seemed unexpectedly shocked by the news.

“I’m doing the workshop delivery on camera. Nick is helping to script it. I get the feeling he’s camera shy.”

“He didn’t say anything to me about doing a workshop.”

It was Emilia’s turn to be confused. Why would Nick have told Misha about the workshop?

“Are k!smet investors supposed to be exclusive?” Emilia asked. It was the only plausible reason she could come up with for Misha’s strange reaction to the project.

“No. That’s not—”

“Hey, youtwo.” A grinning Maggie appeared and put an arm around each of them. “I’m so glad you’re both here.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Misha answered with a bright smile.

“Me neither,” Emilia echoed.

Maggie looked to Emilia. “I hear your first floor flooded out. I hope it wasn’t too bad.”

“My roommate, Paris, got it the worst. It’s her room that’s on the lower floor.”

“Was it really bad?” Maggie asked, looking concerned.

“A couple of feet of water. We couldn’t rescue much of her stuff. She’s staying with Chase’s family for a while.”

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