Page 5 of Lavender Lake
After the flight attendant brought us beverages, I decided to rip off the Band-Aid.
“So, what do we do?” I asked.
“About what?” He took a sip of his coffee and made a face. “God, this is awful.”
“It’s airplane coffee. What did you expect?”
“Something better than this,” he muttered.
“Back to what I was saying—what do we do? About us, I mean?”
He raised his brows. “There’s anus?”
“Bowman,” I drawled.
“Powell,” he said in the same tone.
“I mean, how are we going to deal with”—I gestured between us—“this. I feel like we should be adults and tell Declan and Hadley that we slept together.”
“No.”
“No? Really? That seems juvenile.”
“It’s not juvenile. It’s self-preservation. Declan is my best friend. But he’s marrying your sister. And he’s going to be protective of you. And if he finds out that I slept with you, we’re looking at black eyes for the wedding. And I’m pretty sure Hadley doesn’t want that in her wedding photos.”
“I don’t like the idea of lying to Hadley.” I chewed my lower lip, which drew his attention. “Though I do see your point. And it doesn’t make sense to spill the beans over a one-night stand. A one-night stand that’ll never happen again.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” he quipped.
I glared at him. “You just said you don’t want a black eye.” I raised my fist in a mock gesture.
“Easy there, Powell.” He curled his huge hand over my fist and gently pushed it down.
“So, if we’re not telling them the truth, we need to come up with some sort of plausible story.”
“How about we met on the plane and found out who the other one was,” he suggested.
“I guess that could work. Still . . .”
“What?”
“Maybe we shouldn’t be so . . .familiar. With one another.”
“Familiar how?”
“You know.”
“I don’t, actually.”
“I don’t know. We just—you talk like?—”
“Like I’ve seen you naked?”
I bared my teeth at him.
“You’re cute when you’re feral.”
“Drink your coffee,” I muttered.
