Page 45 of Rulebreaker
“Don’t know what?”
I wave a hand at her face. “Pink cheeks. Sneaking out of work early…” I shrug. “Seems like falling to me.”
She glares at me. “Seriously?”
I shrug innocently. “What?”
Her glower intensifies, not buying that innocence in the least. “You seriously want to do this?”
“Do what?”
A sigh. A shake of her head. “Okay,” she says, leaning back against the wall near the door, mouth curving, “then I suppose we’re going to discuss Lily?—”
My heart spasms.
“And why you keep sneaking out yourself.” It’s not an accusation. But itispointed.
I suck in a breath.
“That’s exactly what I thought,” she says, chin lifting. “So unless you want to give me the scoop on Lily, I’d back off.”
Normally, I’d shut this shit down.
I don’t talk about this stuff. Don’topen up.
I help my family.
But I don’t accept it. I’m an iceberg floating in the ocean, solitary floating along the surface, everything below perfectly contained in the cold, dark waters–just like I like it.
Except today…Briar’s words unstick something inside me.
And I find myself saying, “I like her, what else is there to say?”
Her brows fly up. “Youlikeher?”
“I think that’s been obvious for a while, don’t you?”
“I mean”—her mouth twitches—“thereisthe whole running into doors thing.”
Christ. I’d blocked that from memory.
“And that time you wore jeans and a T-shirt.”
I grit my teeth together, stifle my shudder.
“And the whole stuttering, awkward conversational gambits.”
Fucking hell. How have I lost control of this conversation so quickly?
Briar’s smile widens, as though she plucked that thought from my mind.
“Briar,” I warn.
She just grins. “And when you?—”
“Should I do a full background check on West?” I ask pointedly. “Or a superficial one?”
Her smile flattens out and she narrows her eyes. “I’ve already warned you about background checking my dates.”
