Page 66 of Exception

“Are you telling me you have feelings for Tiff? Actual feelings, not just lust?” I take the ice pack off my eye and hold his stare, because I’m not sure how else to say he’s right. I’ve spent so long avoiding and denying I can’t find the words he needs to hear. Apparently my honest gaze isn’t enough. “If that’s true what was thisshowtonight then?

“A diversion.” When his skeptical expression doesn’t change, I elaborate. “No one wants to see Tiff with me. And if they did, their overprotective instincts would kick in and she’d have even less freedom than she does now. So, we came up with a way to make it look like there’s nothing going on.”

“You’re telling me Tiff’s in on this? She knows you picked up another woman tonight?”

I press the ice pack to my face again. “Who do you think called me with the excuse I needed to get out of taking that woman home?”

“Jesus.” Cade shakes his head. “It’s not enough that you’re using her body, you’ve got her telling lies to keep this affair secret?”

“I’m not using her body.”

“If that were true you wouldn’t be telling lies to keep her a secret.”

“The lies are for her benefit, not mine.”

“How do you figure?”

“What’s happening right now,” I draw an imaginary line between us, “would happen to her over and over again if people knew about us. You, her parents, her friends… Hell, the whole town would corner her and give her shit about me, taking away any shred of privacy she has. I’m trying to spare her that.”

Cade snorts with disdain. “You could’ve done that by staying away from her.”

“I tried that,” I grit. “It didn’t work.”

“Because you couldn’t keep your dick dry.”

“Because I love her!”

At first I think it’s my volume that has Cade’s jaw hanging open, but when he makes no move to speak I replay my words. Holy shit.

The truth I’d been afraid to admit to myself is out in the open, and my eyes dart to the hallway in a panic, wondering if Tiff heard it.

“You… She doesn’t know?” For the first time since he arrived Cade’s voice doesn’t hold any anger.

The hand holding the ice pack drops to my side as I shake my head. “I don’t want anything to keep her from walking away when she decides I’m not worth it.”

“What makes you think she’ll decide that?”

“Yeah, what makes you think I’ll decide that?” Tiff’s soft voice echoes Cade’s as she steps into the kitchen with Cora.

Fuck.

Tossing the cold pack in the sink I spin to face her. “You could do a hell of a lot better than me, Tiff. We all know it. One day you’ll see that, too, and I won’t stand in your way.”

“Better?” she scoffs. “What could be better than someone who believed in me enough to help me try to build a career? Who supports me unconditionally and doesn’t judge me based on my age or the fact I grew up here?”

“Uh…” A quick glance at Cade tells me he recognized himself in her words as much as I saw myself. And while we see her differently, we’re both guilty of seeing our own actions as chivalrous, when to her they’re anything but.

“For the first time in my life I feel likeme,” she continues as she moves closer, “Not the little girl people want to believe I still am. And that’s because ofyou.”

She comes to a stop when she’s so close she has to tip her head nearly all the way back to see my face. “I’d have to be pretty stupid to think a guy like that isn’t good enough for me.”

Her words send my heart into overdrive, giving me a sense of hope that her feelings match my own. But just as quickly as the beating accelerates, it comes to a halt. “None of that changes my past, Tiff. And in this town… I know they aren’t bad people, but I can’t see them accepting us together. I don’t want that for you.”

“Then we go somewhere else.” She rests her palm on my chest. “I could probably still take that teaching job.”

“Teaching job?” Cade’s repeats, reminding us we have an audience.

“That’s why I was in Jefferson.” Tiff angles her head so she can see him without moving away from me. “I was thinking about moving, and I went for an interview.”

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