Page 46 of The Brave and the Reckless (Bravetown #1)

Only my brother would think that turning twenty-nine in the height of summer combined with a guest list consisting mostly of people who wore costumes every single day at work meant that his birthday party should be a costume party.

I scratched my head on the way up to his and Zuri’s apartment.

Hairspray and a dozen bobby pins kept the tight bun in place.

I’d gotten a sparkly white prom dress at Goodwill. Two thin straps held it on my shoulders while the skirt fluffed out around my thighs in an explosion of tulle. With the updo and the plastic crown on my head, I looked like a cartoon ballerina.

“What are you?” I asked when Sanny opened the door in a beige tank top and green cargo pants. His hair was parted down the middle and big round glasses balanced on his nose. “Nerd soldier?”

He heaved a deep sigh. “It’s Milo. I knew it only worked as long as I’m glued to Zuri’s side. ”

As if on command, Zuri materialized next to him in a shimmering silver wig and a tiny blue two-piece co-ord. They wore matching glowing pendants around their necks, and that finally made it click.

They were dressed like the couple in Atlantis , Sanny’s favorite film growing up.

“If this is the twenty-first-century version of the Princess Leia bikini, if he’s making you wear this against your will, blink twice,” I told Zuri.

She laughed and drew me into one of her hugs, perfect and soft and only slightly awkward considering she was wearing a tiny tube skirt and tinier tube top.

“Don’t be silly. It’s his birthday present.” She fluttered her lashes at my brother and that told me everything I needed to know.

“Please spare me the details,” I laughed and shoved the little gift bag at Sinan. “Happy birthday!”

“You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“Don’t get too excited. I literally got this in one of the park gift shops.” I’d noticed his wallet falling apart and Bravetown had some leather ones that seemed durable enough. Plus, staff discount.

“Ah, you’re joining an age-old tradition.

” He looped his arm around my neck. His breath already smelled like whiskey and the party had only started twenty minutes ago.

He pulled me down the hallway to the large living room with windows overlooking the town square.

Back home, this room alone would be rented as a loft shared between four people.

I’d know. I’d checked rent prices before agreeing to move here for the summer.

“You work here long enough, you’ll find yourself drinking from Bravetown mugs, wearing Bravetown socks and somehow never running out of Bravetown gift-shop cookies. Case in point.”

He lifted a plate of pink-frosted cowboy-hat cookies from the side table of gifts, where I noticed at least two more boxes of cookies with bows on them.

I grabbed one and let him lead me over to some of our friends on the sofa. Adriana, dressed as some superhero in a red leotard and pink tights, narrowed her eyes at me when I refused a drink and bit into my sugar cookie instead.

“I’m not pregnant,” I groaned.

“Ugh.” She grimaced. “He’s rubbing off on you.”

I stilled, but it didn’t look like anyone else had tracked her words.

The others were chatting and laughing and doing shots over some dice game.

It wasn’t hard to guess who she was talking about.

Not a lot of other cast or staff members refused a drink.

After the bits and bobs Noah had dropped about his absentee father, it wasn’t hard to guess why he generally preferred staying sober and only indulged in a beer here or there.

“Relax. My lips are sealed. You could have told me though.” She patted my thigh. “Just don’t become too boring, okay? These country boys will wife you up and put a bun in your oven like that.” She snapped her fingers in the air.

“Thanks for the advice,” I mumbled and stuffed my face with another bite of sugar cookie. So not what I needed to hear right now.

I was definitely going to get drunk later. I needed to let loose. Have fun. Dance on the table or something. I just had to get the whole sex-tape conversation over first.

My eyes kept darting to the door whenever the bell rang, but Noah was noticeably absent from the party.

By my third or fourth sugar cookie, the music got so loud that it completely drowned out any other sound, and I had to remind myself to periodically check the room.

He might not come over to me on his own if he was trying to keep up the pretense.

Staying sober made the party a lot less enjoyable. Especially when a mermaid and a gorilla started grinding against each other in the middle of the living room and everyone went wild for it.

“Oh, come on dude, that doesn’t count as a costume!” Sinan shouted from the far end of the sofa.

I followed my brother’s attention to the large silhouette darkening the living room doorway.

My insides shot heat down to my abdomen faster than my brain could process Ace Ryder striding into the room.

And it was Ace Ryder. Dark hat, black bandana mask, long leather coat, and the shift in his hips and tilt to his chin that was nothing like Noah.

“Better than yours,” he retorted in that dark, gravelly voice.

Oh. Fuck. There went my ovaries.

His gaze locked on to mine. I couldn’t see behind his mask, but judging by that little crease under his eyes, he was grinning.

That bastard knew exactly what he was doing to me.

“And what are you?” he asked.

“Three guesses.” I tapped my pink plastic scepter against my pink plastic crown.

“Princess.”

Of course he knew. I’d told everyone who asked that I was a ballerina, but Noah knew better. “Bingo. ”

He pulled his hat off and bowed his head slightly. “Your highness.”

That… yeah, that worked on me. Damn. I shot up from the sofa before anyone caught a whiff of the waves of pheromones my body had to be shooting through the air. Adriana laughed and choked on her drink, but I didn’t turn around.

“No, Esra, stay. He wasn’t making fun of your costume. Noah, tell her,” Zuri pleaded, “play nice.”

“I know exactly what he’s doing,” I said, unable to look at Noah-as-Ace. “I’ll be right back.”

I booked it to the kitchen to get myself some ice water to cool down, but I could still see him through the archway.

What a sight he was. The broad shoulders in that leather coat, the veins in his neck when he turned his head– nope, no.

I had to stop. This was exactly what had gotten us into this mess.

I had to resist his stupidity-inducing hotness.

I just had to get away from him and splash myself with some cold water.

I tried the guest bathroom in the hallway, but the door was locked, and someone yelled profanities at me from inside.

Okay, then. The door to the bedroom was closed, but it was unlocked, so I quickly slipped through that, grateful that no drunken party guests had discovered this dark and quiet corner yet.

All right. Master bathroom, cold water, and then a calm and collected conversation about the fact that we’d been filmed having sex and Renee knew about us and all the compartmentalizing in the world couldn’t get us out of this. No biggie.

I flicked the lights on in the bathroom, my eyes needing a moment to adjust to the brightness.

It was a really nice bathroom. Large rain shower on one side and a double sink with a huge mirror above it on the other.

Maybe I’d have to come here to take long, hot, muscle-soothing showers in the future.

I turned to close the door, only for it to bang against something hard. My eyes dropped. A boot?

Before I made sense of it, a gloved hand wrapped around the door, forcing it back open, pushing me backward. Noah stepped through, startlingly tall and dark in the bright bathroom, and shoved the door shut behind him. He twisted the lock.

“You can’t run from me, princess,” he said in his stupid sexy-villain voice.

Fuck.

I swallowed.

Some primal part of my brain told me to run. That this was a tall, heavy man behind a mask, who oozed viciousness. And another– very different– primal part responded by sending a hot shiver down to the base of my spine, way too excited by the fact he’d locked us in.

“Look, Noah—”

A gloved hand over my mouth cut me off. Noah shook his head slightly, icy blue eyes never leaving mine. I got the meaning. Not Noah.

Strange relief fluttered through me. If he wasn’t Noah right now, I had a little bit more time before I had to blow up our neat boxes, putting an end to whatever comfortable limbo this was. It was a slightly unhinged concept, but it was an easy out.

I twisted my chin out from under his hold. “Okay, two things. First, I just need you to tell me whether you’re having some sort of mental-breakdown identity crisis.” If that was the case, I should probably run.

He shook his head again and his hand slid down my jaw and around my neck. His fingers barely rested against my skin, but the position alone was enough to make me squirm.

“All right. Second. I don’t need you to do this. You know that, right? I’m not going to deny that this whole Ace Ryder package works for me, but it’s only because, god , the Noah Young package works for me. I got naked for Noah way before I even knew about Ace.”

“Are you done talking now, your highness?”

I nodded.

“Good.” He squeezed his fingers together slightly, just to affect but not restrict my airflow. Enough to send a spike of adrenaline through my system, making my nerves come alive.