Page 96 of The Charade

Right now.

"I should go back to the party," I said, knowing that if I stayed here with Carter for much longer, we both might actually give in to our feelings and do something we couldn't take back. "Elyse is probably wondering where I am."

Carter's jaw flexed and he gave a slight nod. "Okay."

But neither one of us made a move to leave. We just stood there, face to face, his hands still holding mine, our foreheads still pressed together, our breaths still mingling, our hearts still racing.

I was working up the nerve to really leave him, to go back to the soirée like a good girl and wait for my mom to come and tell my sister and me that Mr. Hastings was the father she'd kept us from our whole lives when Carter spoke up.

"This might be selfish of me, but I basically just bared my whole soul to you. Just told you a lot of things that I’ll probably kick myself for admitting to as soon as we leave this room. But…" He swallowed. "I can't help but wonder if you felt any of that at all this week."

Did he really not know?

Could he really not tell just how hard this was for me, too?

But I guess I hadn't told him, had I? In fact, I'd just danced with a dozen other guys, flaunting it in his face.

Since this was probably the last chance I'd have to tell him how I felt before we officially heard the truth from our parents’ mouths, I whispered, "Being with you is all I can think about, too."

"It is?" His chest expanded, like he actually had thought my feelings for him could disappear in the span of just a week.

"Of course," I said, reaching up to caress his high cheekbone with my thumb one last time. "I've been dreading tonight because while I knew the party would be amazing, I knew I'd still hate it because I couldn't spend it with you."

"It’s been a pretty bad night," Carter admitted, leaning his cheek into my hand. "I was actually fighting the urge to punch my best friend in the face because I was so jealous he got to dance with you when I couldn't."

I couldn't help the half-smile that lifted my lips. Even though violence wasn’t something I'd usually condone, it was nice to know Carter felt so strongly about me.

Carter returned my smile, and it was a welcome sight after the glares he'd been shooting me all night.

After a few seconds where the world seemed to disappear and we got lost in each other's eyes, Carter said, "Don't you want just one last moment?" He took my bare shoulders in his hands, running his thumbs across my collarbones. "Don't you want just one last time to be together?"

My stomach tilted inside me as I thought about what he was saying. And while turning him down was the last thing I wanted to do, I made myself shake my head and say, "We can't. It would be wrong."

His brow furrowed and he searched my eyes. "But is it really?" he asked. "Because what I feel for you doesn'tfeelwrong."

When he slipped his hands over my shoulders and down my back to rest at my waist, I had to agree. Being like this with Carter didn't feel wrong. It felt like exactly what I wanted to do.

But we couldn't act on our feelings.

We couldn't steal one last moment from fate, could we?

And so, since one of us needed to stay here in reality, I said, "Do you know how bad it’ll be if it comes out that we're related and we still acted like this?" I pressed my lips together. "This is the twenty-first century. People go to jail for having relationships like this."

I expected Carter to nod. To accept what I was saying as the truth. But instead of agreeing to my logic, Carter just bent closer and whispered into my face with his minty breath, "I don't care."

What?

I shook my head, not believing I was the one who had to talk about the rules when he'd been the poster boy for rule-following a month ago. "I looked it up, Carter," I said. "You can go to jail for up to five years for this."

"I. Don't. Care," he said more firmly, his towering height and muscular physique more intimidating than it had been a moment before.

"Carter…" I braced my hands on his chest, needing him to see reason. "It'sillegal. There’s no future where we can be together."

"It's illegal if weknowthat we're related and we break the rules anyway." He gripped my waist tighter and pulled me impossibly closer. "But your mom still hasn't told you. And my dad certainly hasn't said anything to me. As of now, the only evidence we really have are a few photos that place them together at the scene of the crime."

"But that's just a technicality."

"No one has to know." He leaned his mouth close to my ear. "It can be our little secret. Our last goodbye."

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