Page 45 of Rulebreaker

“Don’t know what?”

I wave a hand at her face. “Pink cheeks. Sneaking out of work early…” I shrug. “Seems like falling to me.”

She glares at me. “Seriously?”

I shrug innocently. “What?”

Her glower intensifies, not buying that innocence in the least. “You seriously want to do this?”

“Do what?”

A sigh. A shake of her head. “Okay,” she says, leaning back against the wall near the door, mouth curving, “then I suppose we’re going to discuss Lily?—”

My heart spasms.

“And why you keep sneaking out yourself.” It’s not an accusation. But itispointed.

I suck in a breath.

“That’s exactly what I thought,” she says, chin lifting. “So unless you want to give me the scoop on Lily, I’d back off.”

Normally, I’d shut this shit down.

I don’t talk about this stuff. Don’topen up.

I help my family.

But I don’t accept it. I’m an iceberg floating in the ocean, solitary floating along the surface, everything below perfectly contained in the cold, dark waters–just like I like it.

Except today…Briar’s words unstick something inside me.

And I find myself saying, “I like her, what else is there to say?”

Her brows fly up. “Youlikeher?”

“I think that’s been obvious for a while, don’t you?”

“I mean”—her mouth twitches—“thereisthe whole running into doors thing.”

Christ. I’d blocked that from memory.

“And that time you wore jeans and a T-shirt.”

I grit my teeth together, stifle my shudder.

“And the whole stuttering, awkward conversational gambits.”

Fucking hell. How have I lost control of this conversation so quickly?

Briar’s smile widens, as though she plucked that thought from my mind.

“Briar,” I warn.

She just grins. “And when you?—”

“Should I do a full background check on West?” I ask pointedly. “Or a superficial one?”

Her smile flattens out and she narrows her eyes. “I’ve already warned you about background checking my dates.”