Page 27 of Aiden & Lily

That was the part he wasn’t sure he knew how to do.

“I don’t know if it will be that easy.”

“No one said it would be easy.” Parker was quiet for a long moment. “Let me put it this way. If we had a sister, would you be upset if Mathew or Reese wanted to date her?”

“Maybe?”

“But if she was happy, would you step back and let it happen?”

Aiden nodded.

“Why?”

“What do you mean?”

Parker sighed and tilted his head until he was looking at the ceiling. “Because you’d never say your friends aren’t good guys deep down. Despite any mistakes they’ve made in their lives, you believe they deserve happiness. So give your friends some credit. They might say they don’t want you dating someone they care about, and they might have a right to be upset if you hide it. But if they see you’re serious, and if you’re honest with them, they won’t stand in your way forever.”

Aiden didn’t believe a lick of what his brother was suggesting.

Mathew maybe… eventually.

But Reese? They’d grown apart so much he wasn’t sure he knew his friend well enough to make that prediction.

He expelled a long breath. There was only one thing his brother said that made sense. This connection wasn’t going away and he did deserve happiness.

And if he wanted it to be real, he couldn’t keep pretending honesty was optional. He just needed a little more time to figure out how to get there.

At least, that was what he told himself.

8

LILY

Lily was sprawled out on her stomach in her room, listening to the latest gossip from Jasmine, when a light tapping sound clicked against her window.

Jasmine stopped mid-sentence, her head cocked. “Did you hear that?”

Lily hoisted herself up on her elbows and craned her neck around to look at the darkened window. “I don’t know. What did you hear?”

They remained frozen for a few seconds, but when nothing happened, Lily shrugged. “Anyway, what were you saying about Royce? I heard Dad and Rose arguing about him the other day. I guess he’s interested in Penny?”

Jasmine nodded, her eyes brightening. “I told you something funny was happening. I swore I saw them at the wedding together.”

“But he wasn’t invited. Not even Mateo would have been willing to go against Dad’s request,” Lily insisted.

Tap.

Tap.

Jasmine straightened. “There it is again.” She pulled herself off the bed and moved around until she was standing before the window. She squinted, but when she couldn’t see what she was looking for, she yanked the window open and stuck her head out.

Lily heard the whistle. Then a low voice.

Her heart ratcheted up, but she didn’t move. Not even when Jasmine called out, “Really? Do you think that’s wise?”

Her sister turned then, glancing at Lily over her shoulder with a wink. Then she turned back to the window. “What if I don’t have a swimsuit?”

More low murmurs came from outside, and Jasmine laughed.