Page 47 of The Romance Game

“The treasure hunt on a moonlit night was purely platonic. Mostly. There was no kissing.” I swallow. Kind of.

I have to get my mind off Ryan, but I succumb to Heather and Harper’s expert interrogation tactics and tell them almost everything that happened last night.

“So, there is something afoot,” Harper says.

“A game is afoot,” Heather adds.

But I’m not sure if it’s a game after all.

“Are you still in love with Ryan?” Harper asks.

“I was never in love with him.”

They both break out into hysterical laughter.

“We could create a dating app profile for her.Hook her up with a tourist on the islands. I bet Rosalie knows about any eligible bachelors around here,” Harper says.

“I am not interested in your or anyone’s matchmaking services.”

Heather teases, “That’s because you’re in love with Ryan.”

They break into the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song, teasing me in a way that only sisters can.

“No, it’s not love. It’s a Romance Game. A two-player game. We made up rules,” I try to explain.

Their laughter eventually must wake up Luke because he calls for me.

Ryan doesn’t know about him. I’m afraid that if he does, he’ll think less of me for being an idiot and saying yes to Troy. He’s the exact kind of guy Ryan would despise. Me too, if I had been thinking clearly.

I could blame Heather and Harper for this predicament. They suggested I come down here. Had I remained in Alabama, I wouldn’t have run into Ryan, literally.

He wouldn’t have been able to propose a fake relationship and the K-I-S-S-I-N-G last night wouldn’t have happened.

What’s he going to think when he finds out about my living, breathing—and irresistibly adorable, if I do say so myself—secret?

I let out a long sigh. As for that R&R Heather and Harper suggested as part of my trip here to check on Uncle Eddie, more like R&D as I figure out what this strange fluttering inside actually means.

What will happen if I’m honest with myself?

Ryan

CHAPTER 10

Seated on the bench outside Beans & Books, my brothers and I speak in hushed tones.

“You think that’s a wise idea?” I ask, not quite believing that I’m the voice of reason for once.

“Listen, we know what we know. But we don’t know what we don’t know,” CJ says.

“Is that a riddle?” I ask.

CJ runs his hands through his shaggy hair, bleached by the sun. I’ve taken a few knocks to the head and Magnus had one explosive brain injury, but our youngest brother sounds insane right now, and the one I trust to be logical is going along with it.

“I’m just saying, it sounds risky.”

Glancing over my shoulder, Lally appears with my coffee. “A perfect pour-over for you, Ryan.”

“She got you hooked on these things too?” Magnus asks, lifting his coffee cup in my direction.

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