Page 46 of Hyde and Seek

“So good, I licked every crumb.”

Okay, yeah, totally filthy.

“I saw a show at Rye recently. I made him cookies to make up for the wholelaw-breakingthing,” I told Ray, using finger air quotes.

Her bottom lip jutted out in an exaggerated pout. “You didn’t make Edge cookies tonight. I want some cookies.”

“I’ll hop on that this week.” I turned back to Rhys. “What’re you doing at the competition?”

“Edge and I are old friends. We try to plan events that would draw similar crowds on different days. How do you know Ray?”

“Old friends. She did all my ink.”

“I knew it was quality when I saw it,” he said with a wink to Ray. “Let’s dance.”

“Well, I’m here with my girls, so—”

“Yes!” all three girls said behind me as they pushed me towards Rhys.

I shrugged and smiled, taking his outstretched hand as he led me to the dance floor. We danced and talked as much as we could over the music.

When he turned me so my back was to his front, his hardness was impossible to miss.

So, owning a kickass bar isfarfrom the only thing Rhys had going for him.

His mouth pressed close to my ear to be heard over the music. “Do you know how old I am, Piper?”

“Uh, Jake said you were around forty,” I confessed, feeling like I was caught gossiping.

“Of course he would. I’m thirty-seven.”

“Cool.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Does that bother you?”

I shook my head. “Does it bother you I’m twenty?”

“No. You don’t act it. You don’t even really look your age.”

Tilting my head, I fake glared up at him. “Are you saying I look old?”

He grinned. “No. I’m saying you look confident. You know who you are, and you own that. You aren’t desperate or needy, all things I see nightly. So, you don’t look your age, unless you look closer.” He stood up straighter as we danced.

I reached back to put my hand on his neck and pulled him down so he could hear me. “And then what happens?”

“Then you see how soft you are. Totally unhardened by life. You’re not an act. You’re not a mask you put on to manipulate people. You don’t want anything, you aren’t scheming, and you aren’t cynical.”

I smiled, liking that someone saw me that way. I was glad he couldn’t see my face because I knew my smile wavered when he continued.

“You’re almost, I dunno, innocent. Makes a man want to protect you even more.”

Innocent. I wonder how he’d feel if he knew just how innocent I really am? Would he drop out of my life, too?

I gave a nervous laugh. “I really don’t know what to say to all that.”

“Say nothing. Just know it’s true.”

I nodded, deciding to focus on the positive things he’d said.

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