Page 20 of Fighting With Light

She keeps her composure, but her eyes spark and the apples of her cheeks turn light pink.

“Fine, but we’re going to do this my way and you will tell me every single thing you know, down to the most unimportant detail you can think of,” I say.

Her shoulders drop and she relaxes into the bed. “Everything. But um, there is a small problem.”

I groan, tossing my head back. “What is it?” I sigh, wondering if she is going to be more work than she’s worth. But damn, she’s beautiful work.

“My father is expecting me back in a week partly because I told him I would be, but I only go for my mom. When I don’t show up, it will be a problem.”

“Can’t you just call him and tell him you’re going to…I don’t know, Italy?”

She smiles sadly. “I could do that. But I always come back around this time. It’s their wedding anniversary. I go to support Mom because she loathes him. My brothers and I are there for her, not him. I’ve never missed one, and if I did, he would know something is up.”

“Of course,” I grumble. “So what is your plan, then? Go home, act like everything is normal, then what, come back to Bali? I won’t be here much longer. I’m a professional surfer, and I have competitions and climbing trips coming up.” This is becoming more and more chaotic the more we talk. I’m not a logistics guy, I never have been. It’s a bad idea, but it’s the best lead we’ve had for a very long time and I need to remember that.

“No, but he won’t blink an eye if he thinks I’m with a friend.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, wondering if maybe she’s the crazy one and I’m the sane one, which is saying something.

“My father hates that I basically do what I want when I want, but he’s taking it from the approach of ‘don’t do anything about it, and maybe she will stop doing it’. Well, I don’t because I know it pisses him off. So if he happens to find out that I’m sort of dating someone, that would be icing on the cake.”

“Don’t you think working together is bad enough? Do you want him to believe you’re dating a Coldwell? There is no way he would be okay with that because it’s insane, Aelia.” Unable to sit anymore, I put my computer on the desk and start pacing the room.

“Well, here’s the thing, he doesn’t need to know it’s you. We should probably keep that quiet. It’s the fact I’m seeing a man and willing to travel to see him that will piss him off. He doesn’t know that I know who you are. But I know about his business. He believes I am entirely oblivious, other than I know what my family does. He doesn’t know that I’ve been watching and taking notes for a long time.”

“You’re not oblivious, though,” I mutter, gripping my hair. She doesn’t respond and I lift my gaze from my feet to her wide eyes. “What?”

She blinks a few times. “The only reason he pays attention to me periodically is because it suits his interests,” she says.

I can sense there is more behind her statement. But I don’t push it. “Why would we do this?” I ask her.

She groans and throws herself back onto the bed.

I am way too tired for this.

“Because it’s worth the risk of helping our families,” she says into the ceiling.

My feet keep moving as my brain struggles to organize all the details and the stories. The problem with lying is it’s hard to keep track of the lies, so we have to put the truth and the lie together in order to sell it. Small details, like meeting in Bali, could be what sells that she’s seeing someone seriously. It’s a good excuse.

“You’re going back home to the party, and then meet me in Portugal, and we’ll start digging.Plus,datingsomeone will be the perfect excuse for you to go and leave again because you’rein love.“ She sits up and her hair is a mess, but she looks…no, Liam, stop.

“I can sell that,” she says confidently.

“You better, princess because I don’t know how else we can explain you and me together if he finds out.”

She puts her hand on her chest in mock offense. “Excuse me, I know how you kissed me, Tarzan, and that wasn’t a ‘I just want sex kiss,’ that was an ‘I like this girl kind of kiss.’ You’re not fooling anyone but yourself.”

My mouth splits into a smile before I have a chance to smother it and she grins back.

“Yeah, you’re not wrong.”

“I knew I wasn’t,” she says confidently.

“So you want to pretend you are going to see a man in order to take your father off his throne, and then what?”

She looks at her nails and picks at them. “I haven’t thought that far and I’m not going to bother trying because the likelihood of us being killed is much higher than surviving, so let’s focus on the task at hand.”

“Are you sure, Aelia? Once we start this, there’s no going back, there’s no more avoiding Daddy. We have to assume he’ll eventually put two and two together.”