Page 30 of Secrets We Fight

“When did you and her mom break up?”

“We didn’t.” Fallon and I hadn’t talked much about our dating histories, and since I had a kid, it was likely he’d assumed I had been in a serious relationship with Poppy’s mother.

“What?” He lifted his head and glared at me.

Answering that way had been a dick move on my part, but I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Alexis and I were never together. We went out a few times and quickly realized a relationship between us wouldn’t work. It was quite a surprise when she told me she was pregnant a couple of months after we’d gone our separate ways.”

“Do you two get along?”

I shrugged. “It’s not like we’re BFFs or anything, but we’re on friendly terms. She’s a great mom and has been nothing but understanding regarding my work schedule. I can’t ask for much more than that.”

“I can’t believe you said BFFs.” He grinned.

“Yeah, my younger boyfriend must be rubbing off on me.”

“First off, twenty-nine isn’t much older than me.” He rolled his eyes. “Second, and more importantly, you just referred to me as your boyfriend.”

“I did.”

He sat up, and I followed suit. “I didn’t realize you thought of me in that way.”

We hadn’t had a conversation about what we were to each other, and I suddenly worried I was moving too fast for him. I grabbed his hand and laced our fingers together. “I know we can’t really be together in public, but I’d like to think we aren’t seeing other people while we explore things in our private bubble.”

“I haven’t had a boyfriend before,” he murmured, looking down at his lap.

“Are you serious?”

He nodded and lifted his head slightly to meet my stare. “I’ve had guys I’ve gone out with, but none of them ever got promoted to boyfriend status.”

“Not even Declan?”

He snorted a laugh. “I wondered if you would ever bring him up because I was pretty sure you saw him leave my place the morning after the election.”

“Yeah, the two of you act pretty chummy in class too.” I huffed.

“Someone sounds jealous.” He winked. “But no, Declan and I didn’t date. We had sex to blow off some steam, but it was never more than a casual thing. We haven’t been together since that night.”

“Not even when he came over after our first gym session?”

“Nope. Agent Bernard was here, and I didn’t feel like fucking with an audience.”

Knowing they were no longerblowing off steamtogether was a relief, but that didn’t mean he wanted more with me. “That makes me feel better, but listen, if it’s too soon for us to label this—”

“I didn’t say that. It’s just the boyfriend thing is new to me.”

I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. “Me too, but we’ll figure it out together.”

Our moment was broken by the alarm on his phone going off. At least that one wouldn’t send agents rushing in, but it did mean it was time for us to get ready for the day and go back to pretending we had a strictly professional relationship.

* * *

Fallonand I didn’t get another chance to be alone after class because he had indoor training with his rowing team, and when we returned to his condo, Agent Bernard was already waiting to start his shift.

It sucked, but it was the reality of our situation. At least I’d thought to buy us prepaid phones, so we could text each other whenever we wanted without any identifying information in case they fell into the wrong hands, and we’d been putting them to good use the last few days we’d been apart.

I received one from Fallon:

Hey! I got those Breakfast with Santa tickets for you and P. You just need to give your name at the registration table if you still want to come