Page 20 of Unbroken

I looked down at Fiona nestled in my arms, watching me with a bemused smile. I felt a shift between us, the hint of an acknowledgment of our shared history and recognition of what we were now doing together. It sent a zing of excitement through me, like it was the first time we were attempting a pranktogether.

But then I realized in a flash that what I was feeling, deep down in a place that I barely wanted to admit to myself, wasn’t even close to a joke. Being Fiona Cafferty’s fake boyfriend was starting to feel a little too real and that part of me I was ignoring could easily be persuaded to go all-in.

THIRTEEN

FIONA

“You actually want to keep going?” I asked, incredulous that Eli didn’t hightail it back to the table after the song ended. “Another dance withme?”

He nodded. “Feels much better out here with you than back there at the table. At least when it’s only the two of us, I know what I’m up against.”

“Oh, do you now?” I asked, a mischievous smile creeping onto my lips. “Are you sure you can handle the heat, Eli Carter? I’ve gotten much more devious since high school. I might be plotting something mind-blowingright now.”

He pulled me closer and did a quick spin, his eyes locked on mine. “I wouldn’t if I were you. Because you’re not the only one capable of devious ideas. You might regret taking me on.”

I laughed, but a shiver passed through me at his glower. We both knew it was a joke, but it was …sexy. And then there was the way his hands felt on my body. My dress was silk, and the warmth of his palms made it seem like there was nothing between our skin.

“Ooh, I’m scared,” I managed to spit out, mostly convincingly and while the shiver was real, the timing of it made it seem as if I’d faked it.

That was the thing about competing with Eli back in the day: No matter how intense the rivalry got, or how ridiculous the jokes became, I knew there were lines he’d never cross. Number one, he’d never do anything outright mean, and number two, he’d never make me feel unsafe.

Being in his arms on the dance floor reminded me that he’d always gone out of his way to make me feel safe. The time when he’d filled my car with ping-pong balls? He’d caught me in his arms when I started sliding on them as they spilled out into the parking lot. The Halloween when he’d spent two hours outside his house sitting immobile in a scarecrow costume, waiting for me to walk by? He’d whipped off the mask the second I screamed.

Even now, dancing with him, I felt protected. The way he held me and navigated me around the dance floor, keeping me in one spot to avoid crashing into other couples, then sweeping me to the far edges of the dance floor when the center got too crowded. He always seemed to be looking out for me. That trust I felt now had always been there, which only made me feel worse about how cruel I had been to him when I’d ditched him on prom night.

“Talk to me,” Eli said. “Help me keep my mind off the fact that everyone is watching us and not the bride and groom.”

I peeked around and realized that he was right. “Good thing you know what you’re doing when it comes to dancing.” He whirled me around and I grinned because now, he was showing off.

“Part of my dad’s training. He believes that every man should know how to lead a lady.” He shrugged. “Closest thing to being on stage that I’ll ever willingly do. But all those lessons paid off, I guess.”

Did they ever. I had done my time with sweaty-palmed belly rubbers who just wanted to smoosh up against me. Eli made me feel like I knew what I was doing.

“Well, since we’re free from the enhanced interrogation back at the table, what should we talk about?” I asked.

“We could talk about you.”

I laughed. “My favorite subject! What do you want to know? I’m an open book.”

“Really? Then why don’t you tell me why you left Denver? I’m curious.”

I screwed up my face and shook my head. “Let’s not talk about that right now.” The memories weren’t pleasant, and I had no desire to revisit them when I was enjoying being in Eli’s arms.

“We don’t have to if you really don’t want to,” Eli said. “But there’s a good chance it’ll come up when we have to go back to the table. I can do a better job of protecting you if I know the whole story.”

And God, wasn’t that just like him? He wasn’t after gossip, wasn’t looking to poke at my bruises. He only wanted to know how to protect me. Faced with that, how could I offer him anything other than the truth?

I hated thinking about it, and I hated talking about it even more. The mistake that had blown the life I’d built to bits. But Eli deserved to know the truth. Besides, I’d made him confront some uncomfortable topics with me, and he hadn’t hesitated to be honest. It was only fair that I should bare my soul a little as well. And doing it wrapped in his warm bubble felt okay. Like he wouldn’t judge anything I told him.

“I, uh, I got fired for doing something foolish and impetuous.” I let out a harsh laugh. “Imagine that, me not thinking something through.”I cleared my throat. “You know that guy, Chase Wickander? He’s a gamer, and he’s got a huge social media following.”

Eli shook his head. “I don’t. I stay away from that stuff. I’d rather be outside living real life than playing it on a computer.”

“Wise choice,” I said wryly. “Anyway, the marketing company I worked for had just won the Lemon-Lime Soda account, and they said they wanted to make a big splash with a younger demographic. So, I had the bright idea of setting up a deal with a hot gamer like Chase. Get him a full-on sponsorship deal. He’s hugely in-demand, so rather than going through the proper channels in my company first, meaning, getting actualpermissionfrom them, I reached out to Chase and preempted him with an offer. He accepted, so I put together this incredible presentation, got Chase to come meet with the clients, and they loved the idea. I was a rock star for setting it up. They signed the papers, announced it, and Chase started his promo work.”

Eli adjusted me so that I was a little closer to him. “Sounds like a win-win to me. Isn’t that what you corporate folks say?”

“And it was. Until …” I broke off. “Until the old videos of him making all sorts of, uh,bodily fluidjokes about Lemon-Lime Soda surfaced.”

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