Page 13 of Wild Lies

“Then where are you running off to?”

Away from you.

I just need a second to breathe, to figure out if this thing I feel for him is because of his proximity or something real.

Blinking through the fog of my arousal, I keep my gaze locked on the board up ahead, where a small crowd has formed. It’s my lifeline, and I can’t look away, or I might do something stupid. “I was going to check where our table is and then grab a drink.”

God, I hope he can’t see how badly I’m struggling to keep my shit together.

“Why don’t you go and find our table, and I’ll get you one.”

Yes. I want to shout it with relief, but I bite my tongue and incline my head instead, waiting for him to remove his arm.

“I’m going to kiss you, Chlo.” His voice is quiet enough for just me to hear, like he needs to warn me because he doesn’t know how I’ll react.

He’s still holding me like I belong to him. I don’t dare breathe, let alone move or ask him what he means. Although there aren’t many ways to interpret what he’s said. It’s pretty straightforward, but didn’t we agree to some rules? No. I got sidetracked by Aunt Liz, and then the ceremony started, and now I’m turned on beyond belief, and he’s about to kiss me. Surely I can’t be held responsible for whatever comes out of my mouth once he does.

When I don’t say a word, Kade dusts his lips over the exposed skin on my shoulder, and I shudder, the softness of his kiss almost taking my knees out from under me. Everything else falls away, blanketing us in a calm quiet, like we’re standing in the eye of a storm we’ve created. It would be so easy to turn in his arms and press my lips to his. To take more.

It’s not real. It can’t be. We barely know each other. But God, does it feel real. The most real thing I’ve ever had, even compared to Paul, who I was with for two years. This thing with Kade, the instant connection, is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

Someone walks past us, their smile telling me that our ruse is working—they think we’re together. I almost want to turn and tell them that it’s not real, just so someone knows the truth, because clearly my mind is not getting the message.

Far too suddenly, Kade straightens, releasing me, before he strides past me without another word and into the main room. What just happened? I stand still, frozen in time, as the room comes back into play around me, and he walks away completely unaffected. Somehow, he manages to play the part of the devoted boyfriend perfectly, not missing a beat, while I’m over here flustered and panicked.

It’s all pretend, I remind myself.

In a daze, I walk to the board that I was so desperate to reach moments ago. It takes me a second to focus on the plan of small tables laid out in front of me, my attention drifting more than once to where Kade is leaning against the bar, waiting to be served.

Come on, Chloe. If he can act like that was nothing, then so can you.

Mentally shaking myself, I focus on the board, searching for my name.

Chloe Lawson and her plus-one. Table three.

Despite having been together for years, my family didn’t know the name of my ex. This wedding was supposed to be Paul’s big introduction to my dysfunctional family, and yet I still didn’t tell them his name when I RSVP’d. Maybe I was foreshadowing us breaking up. Or I wanted to keep the judgment I knew was coming my way at bay a little longer.

They know very little about my life in Seattle, and yet I’ve still been living it for them and not for myself. After two decades of being told how much of a disappointment I am, I’m not naïve enough to think I’ll fix myself in seven years. It’s going to take years of therapy for that.

My gaze shifts to Kade. Guilt settles on my chest as I watch him. I shouldn’t have dragged him into this. When he turned up at my cabin, I should have sent him away, not clung on to his kindness like he was a life raft in a stormy ocean.

“Chloe, dear. How about dinner on Friday before your father and I leave?” My mom’s voice cuts through the bubble I’d built around me, replacing it with cold air.

I close my eyes briefly before opening them and turning toward her. “Sure, sounds good.”

She looks over my shoulder, a hint of disgust filling her features as she curls her top lip. It’s a familiar sight and usually reserved for my failures. I’m not entirely sure she’s aware she’s doing it.

I bite my tongue, fighting the urge to tell her to stop, but it would only lead to an argument, and if I’ve learned anything in my twenty-seven years of being her daughter, it’s that Marie Lawson will make a scene, regardless of where we are. And Rachel doesn’t deserve that.

“Don’t bring the cowboy, dear.”

A muscle ticks in my jaw, and I bite my tongue so hard that a metallic taste fills my mouth. “Of course.” You couldn’t pay me enough money to subject Kade to a sit-down dinner with my parents. Hell, I barely want to go, because I know that it will only see all my hard work unravel.

Satisfied with my response, my mom dips her chin before waltzing past me. I inhale a deep breath before slowly blowing it out in an effort to relax. I’ll probably spend the entire night trying to analyze why she wants to go to dinner, but more importantly why I agreed to go. I could blow them off, but my mother is nothing if not persistent and I wouldn’t put it past her to escort me from my cabin to the restaurant.

Just a few more hours and I can leave.

I head in the direction of the table Kade and I have been assigned, smiling at people that I vaguely recognize as I cross the room. The entire time I’m thinking over how different my night would have been if the man I was supposed to come here with hadn’t done what he did. I certainly wouldn’t be as turned on as I am, which is funny given he was my boyfriend of two years. But more than that, I think my parents would have loved Paul because he was exactly what they wanted for me: career-driven and looking like he’d just waltzed out of an Ivy League school.