Page 19 of Make Her Mine

“What are you doing here?” Zach asks.

He seems annoyed. Perfect.

“Was walking by and saw my girl in the window. Of course I had to come in.”

Zach’s brows slam together, and he looks from me to Harlow, back to me, then back to Harlow. “Him?”

Now she leans into me. “I told you you’d find out soon enough.”

He looks back at me. “Why didn’t you just say so last night?”

“Honestly?” I ask. “Because it’s really none of your fucking business.”

“Why doesn’t anyone in town know the two of you are together?”

“Just because the people you’ve asked don’t know doesn’t mean no one knows,” I say.

Lying my ass off is not something I’m good at, especially on the fly. But that’s something I’m generally proud of. Guess I’m going to have to get a little better at it.

“I told you that we’ve been keeping it under wraps since we’re both from here and everyone knows us. We wanted to be sure it was turning into something before we let everyone in on it,” Harlow tells him.

Awesome. She’s already come up with a story and smoothly let me in on it. And that’s a pretty good one. Honestly, if I was going to date someone within our little friend group, or within the group of kids that came out of my parents’ friend group, that’s exactly how I would do it. The relationship would have to be well established, and pretty serious before we let everyone in on it. If it wasn’t going to work out, or it was only going to be a short term fling, there’d be no point in pulling everyone in. There’d be potential for a lot of broken hearts actually.

Fuck.

We’re going to have to let everyone in on this.

Our parents and siblings absolutely cannot think this is something serious or real.

“So how long has this been going on?” Zach asks.

I take a breath. “Zach. This really is none of your business. We’ve chosen not to tell a lot of people who are closer to us than you’ve ever been. We’re not gonna discuss our relationship with you. But I am going to tell you, Harlow is absolutely, one thousand percent, still off-limits.”

I feel Harlow’s gaze on the side of my face. Probably that use of the word still. She has no idea that Zach and I have had previous conversations about her and his involvement in her life. Nor does she need to.

Now I get to play the part of protector to Harlow, and antagonist to Zach Nelson with a much better reason—even if it’s fake—while he’s in town. This is definitely going to be fun.

“In fact, I was coming to find her. Need you for something,” I tell her, making eye contact for the first time since I sat down.

As our eyes meet, I become acutely aware of the fact that our bodies are pressed up against one another. She fits against me nicely. She’s warm and soft and… I stop myself right there. None of that matters.

“Oh?” she asks. But she seems eager for the excuse. “Then let’s go.”

“You’re not hungry?” Zach asks.

“I told you I was on the way to the bakery anyway,” Harlow tells him. “I wasn’t planning on French toast and bacon.”

“Guess I’ll take it home. Think of you later.” He gives her a smile.

I want to punch him.

It’s juvenile, but I slide out of the booth, go up to the counter and reach behind it for a to-go box. I come back, dump the contents of Harlow‘s plate into it, close the lid, and toss a twenty-dollar bill on the table. “That should cover her.”

Then I grab Harlow‘s hand, tug her out of the booth, tuck her under my arm, and press a kiss to the top of her head.

“See ya’ around.” I say to Zach, wishing that wasn’t true, but knowing that’s too much to ask for.

He sits back in the booth, watching us carefully. “Oh. For sure.”

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