Page 79 of Deadly Little Scandals

I made myself turn back to the shore, take one step away from him and then another.

“You told me once,” Nick said quietly, “that after your grandfather died, your mother started wearing all black, and your aunt ran away.”

That was just random enough that I found myself able to stop and reply. “For almost a year.”

Nick strode toward me. I could hear him walking, but I didn’t turn back around until he stopped, right behind me.

“You think you’re like your mother,” he told me. “And that Lily’s like hers, but you’ve got that backward. She’s the one who turns things in on herself. You’re the one who runs.”

The tone in his voice was mild, but the intent in those words was not.You’re the one who runs.

“No, I’m not,” I said sharply. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

I was still living with my mother’s family, even though things had pretty much gone to hell. I was here—with him—now.

I’m not running. I’m not scared.

As if in response to the words I’d just thought, he brought his hands to my face, then ran them through my hair. He kissed me, rough this time, in a way that banished every other thought from my mind.Count to seven.His touch turned gentle. His lips pulled away from mine and, moments later, brushed lightly against them again.

And then he spoke. “You’re so afraid of being left, you live life with one foot out the door. That’s why you won’t call Lily on the way she’s been acting, even though you’re worried about her. Hell, that’s why you wanted to find Ana’s baby in the first place. Pregnancy Pact Baby Number Two is your backup plan. Backup family.”

“That’s not true,” I said.

“Really?” Nick brushed his lips lightly over mine again. “Then why won’t you tell Lily how worried you are?” He looked at me in a way that left me no choice about looking back. “Why were you so quick to believe that Jessi was something other than my sister just now?”

“I’m not having this conversation with you.” I pressed my lips to his. He kissed me back but only for a moment.

“What if I told you that I don’t want you to run?” he asked.

You know better than to let him matter,something inside me whispered.You damn well know better.

“What if,” Nick continued, “I told you that I don’t need your help to get Jessi into the Symphony Ball anymore? What if I told you your debt was paid?”

I went very still, and the muscles in my stomach tightened. “What are you talking about?”

“I haven’t needed to play nice with high society for weeks,” Nick told me, his voice as soft as his touch and both like fire to my nerve endings. “Your grandmother told me to consider it taken care of. Turns out she has a soft spot for girls from the wrong side of the tracks with lofty aspirations.”

There was nothing chilling in those words. No reason I should have felt dread pooling in my stomach. “When?” I said.

He knew what I was asking. “The fund-raiser at the Arcadia hotel. While you were outside.”

That was the first time we went out. Weeks ago.I couldn’t make my mind slow down.Before Fourth of July. Before we were ever…

I stepped back, away from his touch. Away from him.

“See?” Nick told me, his voice low enough that it was almost lost to a sudden, punishing wind. “When things get real, you run.”

“You lied to me,” I said.

He just looked at me. “That’s not why you’re pulling away.”

I shook my head, feeling cornered and caught and like something horrible might happen—or already had. “I have to go. I told Aunt Olivia I’d be home for dinner. And Lily…”

“Lily is dealing with a crap hand life dealt her,” Nick told me. “But we both know people who’ve dealt with worse. She’ll come out of this okay. Don’t make her your reason for walking out of here and away from me.”

I wanted to say something else. I wanted him to be wrong. But he wasn’t.

“I have to go,” I said again.