Page 108 of My Merry Mistake
I scan behind me, on lookout for family members, then hiss, “Nothing happened Tuesday.”
“Did youwantsomething to happen Tuesday?” he asks.
I thinkYES,but say, “No, and don’t bring it up around my sisters. They’ll turn it into something it’s not.”
“It doesn’t have to be a big deal,” he says lightly. “We almost kissed. It happens.”
I look at him. “It doesn’thappen. Not to me.”
He faces me, studying. “So it meant something.”
I scoff, but my heart could give Secretariat a run for his money. “You wish.”
“Actually, you’re right.” He leans in. “I do.”
He walks away, and my fortress of pretending that moment in his apartment never happened falls under siege.
I take a second to get my head back in the game, then walk down the hall just in time to see Finn open the door for Justin. “Welcome to the Hart fam?—”
I reach the entryway and push Finn out of the way. “I got it!” I look at Justin, brushing my hands down the front of my outfit. “Hey!”
He’s wearing a long, dark coat, gray dress pants, a white button-down and a maroon tie. I should’ve included the casual dress code in the details I sent his assistant. Shoot.
“Come in.” I grab his arm and pull him inside the house, then see Finn, studying him. “Finn, Justin, Justin, um . . . Finn.” I awkwardly hold out a hand between them.
Finn settles into Finn mode. “The famous Justin!” He extends a hand, but then gets a quizzical look on his face.
Justin reaches out and takes it, “Nice to meet you.”
Finn holds his hand for a second too long. “Man, you look familiar. Have we met?”
Justin smiles awkwardly, looks at me, then back at Finn. “Uh, no, I don’t think so, unless I showed you a house recently.”
Finn shakes his head, “Nah, that’s not it. But welcome! Glad you’re here!”
This feelssosurreal. It’s like I’m watching this happen on a screen and not in Dallas’s house.
“Uh, how was the race,” I ask, doing my best to snap out of it.
“Good,” he says. “Guess I made it on time after all.”
I smile, then take the bottle of wine Justin’s holding and hand it to Finn. “Hey, do you mind taking this into the kitchen?” I widen my eyes at him, trying to silently tell him to stop being weird.
I move to take Justin’s coat, heart pounding a mile a minute.
“I can put this in the guest room,” I say. “Be right back.”
Justin nods, and I shoot Finn aBe nicelook. He raises an eyebrow, likeWho, me?and I walk away, wracked with guilt I’m not even sure I should feel.
Do I owe Justin my emotional loyalty if our relationship has barely started and isn’t exactly real? This is a conundrum I don’t want and didn’t predict, and there’s nobody to ask because nobody knows the truth about how we started dating.
I open the door to the guest room, but instead of dropping Justin’s coat on the pile, I lay it neatly over the back of an armchair in the corner. I’m about to leave when Finn walks in, his expression smug despite the confusion lacing his brow.
“What is this, Hart?” he hisses.
I slowly look around. “What iswhat?”
“That’sthe guy? That’s Justin?”
