Page 30 of The Fake Husband Deal

“Noah…”

“No.” I laughed. “What I mean is that you come across as this corporate type, which doesn’t match my image of someone who runs a museum.”

“Should I be wearing tweed jackets with elbow patches?”

I scratched my chin. “Hmm, you’d still look sexy as fuck.”

We took our time with the third beer, switching to water afterward.

“You’re very close to your brothers. What’s it like?” he asked out of the blue.

“Only child?”

“Yup.”

“Having brothers is great. I love working with them.”

His eyes bore into mine. “How about the rest?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you close, close? I always wanted to have a sibling, but my parents said it just never happened. I always wondered what it would be like to have someone to share secrets with. Like a partner in crime.”

I laughed. “I wouldn’t say we’re partners in crime. Lex and Adam were always closer to each other, which is natural. They even share that weird twin ESP connection where they can sense the other’s emotions. It’s creepy. We have fun together. We go out most Fridays to Tanner’s with Adam’s best friend, River. He’s my dad’s restaurant manager. He grew up with us, and he’s practically Adam and Lex’s triplet.”

Lior finished his beer. “Why do I get the feeling they don’t know everything about you?”

I laughed. “Because they’d enroll in a convent and take a vow of silence or send me away to a remote location away from humans.”

“You’re really good at deflecting attention away from you, and when you seek it, it’s not you. It’s a mask.”

Hit words hit me right in the feels. No one in my life had ever called me out like this, and he didn’t mean it in a bad way. It was like he’d just figured me out, and I didn’t know if I liked that.

“Not always.” That night, he’d stripped me bare in more ways than I could imagine. Underneath the sex, there had been more. Acknowledging that was terrifying. So I didn’t.

I looked at my watch. “It’s still early. What do you— Oh, look who it isn’t.”

Lior turned around to follow my line of sight and groaned.

“I wish I’d known he’d be in Atlanta.”

Pierce walked into the bar with the swag of someone who owned it but looking so out of place he may as well be on a different planet. Did the guy have any self-awareness?

Hanging from his arm was a twink who had to be ten years younger than me. I didn’t even want to guess the math with Pierce.

“Do you want to go?” I asked Lior.

“No. I’m having a good time. He doesn’t get to have a say in this.”

I didn’t know what “this” meant, but I followed Lior to the bar.

He ordered a couple of shots.

“This looks like a bad idea,” I said, laughing.

“All good ideas start off that way.”

We downed the shots, and Lior ordered two more. I also asked for another glass of water because if Lior kept drinking like this, one of us needed to keep their head straight.