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From the open doorway, I watched in morbid fascination as she climbed in and used the attached paddles to navigate across the river. When she reached the opposite bank, she disembarked and yanked the dinghy back onto dry land.

When she strode to the house and tried the appropriate window, it opened just like I'd predicted. She turned around and gave me a perplexed look.

When I waved, she hesitated for only a moment before smiling and waving back. And then, she turned and crawled in through the open window.

When she slammed it shut behind her, I shut the patio door and returned to the kitchen, hoping like crazy that Willow hadn't caught any of our conversation.

But as it turned out, my hopes were in vain.

Chapter 40

Cami

Willow asked, "Is Masonreallyyour boyfriend?"

Oh, crud.To think I'd returned from the patio over twenty minutes ago, and Willow hadn't said a single word about it.Until now.

Mostly, she'd been talking about how surprising it was to discover that a friend of mine was working as a nanny right across the river.

On this, I could totally relate.

In spite of everything, I liked Livia. And yet, she'd opened up a real can of worms by sharing personal details where Willow might overhear.

As I mentally ran through our recent conversation, I felt the blood drain from my face.Oh, my God.

What if Willow had overheard that one comment? The one about Mason fucking as good as he looked.

With growing dread, I asked, "Just how much did you overhear, anyway?"

"A lot," she said. "Your friend talks really loud."

No kidding.

Still, I summoned up a smile. "So, did you hear what she said about him being a faker?"

Willow's eyebrows furrowed. "I dunno. Maybe."

"Yeah, she said that he faked as good as he looked. I think she meant something about the TV show."

Willow eyed me across the table. "Really?"

I nodded. "Oh, yeah. Like on TV, he doesn't seem as nice as he does in person. But then, once you get to know him, he seems really different."

As I said it, it suddenly struck me how true this was. Oh sure, Mason still had his hard edges. But there was a softer side, too. And the funny thing was, I likedbothsides of him in a crazy sort of way.

Across from me, Willow was nodding now. "Oh, I know," she said. "People say he's mean, but he's not."

I stiffened.So someone had been bad-mouthing Mason to Willow?

If so, I didn't like it.

I asked, "Who says he's mean?"

"Everyone at school," she said. "They all watch the show."

Of course they did.Sure, it wasn't a kids' show, but not only wasBlastinsanely popular, it starred three brothers who lived right here in the area.

Of those brothers, Mason was probably the most interesting – not because he was flashy, but because he was blunt to the point of rudeness and so private that he was hard to figure out.