Her Twin Baby Secret

‘How did I manage to upset you with that?’ she asked, more resigned than curious.

‘You didn’t.’ A lie. Or half-lie. He’d upset himself, but because of something she’d said.

Her eyes narrowed, but she finished his coffee, slid it over the counter towards him. She finished her own drink with a teaspoon of honey, then leaned back against the counter as she had with her water.

‘Okay, so let’s talk straight.’ She bit her lip, then straightened her shoulders. ‘I’m sorry for pretending you’re my boyfriend. It was an impulse.’

‘Why did you?’

She tilted her head, as if considering his question. Or perhaps considering whether she’d answer it.

‘My brother is a jerk.’

He stared.

‘You can’t possibly not have noticed,’ she replied at the look. ‘He’s entitled, and competitive, and generally unkind. I wanted to push him off a cliff. Since literally doing so would send me to prison, I settled for figuratively. You were the figurative.’

He took a minute to process that.

‘He’s normally a decent guy.’

‘Maybe to you. But since you said normally, I think you recognised that he wasn’t decent today.’ She paused, her lips pursing. ‘He normally isn’t decent with me.’

Lee’s behaviour today didn’t encourage him to disagree with her. So he didn’t.

‘It’s weird that you pretended I was your boyfriend. You hate me.’

‘You were the closest person,’ she said coolly, not denying his statement. ‘Also, you’re his business partner. Best cliff.’ She shrugged.

He took a steadying breath. He didn’t like being used. He’d had too many instances of it in his life. His last girlfriend, his father’s colleague, his cousin. Those were but a few, but they were the most recent. Remembering them had him steeling himself against Alexa’s charm—or whatever it was that kept him standing there.

‘I don’t like being used.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Her voice and expression were sincere. ‘I’m sorry for putting you in a position to be used. For using you.’

It was that sincerity that had him saying, ‘Apology accepted,’ when he wasn’t entirely sure he meant it.

‘Thank you.’ There was a brief pause. ‘So maybe now you can explain why you decided to go along with the charade. Maybe you can apologise for that kiss, too.’

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