Page 50 of The Temptation of Truth

“Yes. I’m feeling fine.”

I study the side of her face. She’d be taller than me if I were barefooted, but not by much. It would be a comfortable height difference. Kat’s taller than me, and she hates it. Says she’d be forced to wear flats if we were ever out in public. I wonder if Aurora would hate it, too.

“How tall are you?” I ask, and her lips quirk up.

“I’m five-seven. How tall are you?”

“How tall do you think I am?”

She looks at me, and it makes me nervous in an exciting way. Her eyes drag from the top of my head to the bottom of my platform combat boots. Then, she looks from her shoulder to mine and back. She purses her lips and thinks for a moment before speaking.

“Five-one?”

“Five-two.”

“I was close.” She drops her eyes to my shoes again. “I’d fall on my face if I wore those.”

“I have, like, fifteen years of practice.”

Aurora huffs a soft laugh, and I change the subject.

“Is it just me, or is Arthur looking happier?”

“Oh, no, it’s not just you.” Her answering grin is contagious. “He’s definitely perked up, which is surprising, you know, because I thought I would have trouble regulating the humidity and temperature being in hotels and such, but so far—judging from Arthur, of course—I guess it’s not been hard at all. His leaves are greener and plumper, see? And if you look at his roots—well you can’t see them while he’s in the planter, but I can show you in a second if you want—they’re finally getting that healthy silvery green color. He’s been waffling between, like, yellows and browns and papery whites. Like too dry and too wet, you know? But he’s doing good right now. And Uncle Wade said that this lodge has really precise climate controls in the suites, and the sunlight is perfectly filtered outside, too, so I think he’ll be able to spend some time in the fresh air. Oh, and look!”

She holds the planter out so it’s inches from my face, then points at one of the stems.

“See that bud there? I think it’s growing. Just a little. Usually, by this point, he’d droop and lose the bud. That’s called a bud blast. It’s so disappointing, but I’ve gotten used to it. It’s not happening right now, though. At least not yet.”

She pulls the planter back to her chest and beams up at me with a wide smile. She’s beautiful when she smiles like this, and I can’t help but smile too. Her cheeks are flushed, her blonde hair is wisping around her head like a halo, and the green in her hazel irises seems to sparkle. She’s breathtaking, actually. She’s radiating joy.

“I like when you talk about your orchid.”

Aurora’s brows jump at my confession, the flush on her cheeks grows darker, and she folds her lips between her teeth as if trying to tame a smile. Her eyes bounce between mine, and when she speaks, her voice has lowered. Spoken just between us.

“Why?”

“You light up. Your smile is unbidden. You’re not self-conscious. You seemreal.”

Her lips part, and she blinks several times before she breaks our eye contact, dropping her gaze to the ground in front of us. The mood shifts, and my shoulders fall when I see hers droop.

“Oh.”

“Hey. What did I say? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, actually.” She shrugs, but she won’t look at me again as she forces out a quiet, almost sad laugh. “I don’t know anything right now.”

I have no idea what to say to that. I want to touch or hug her. I want to make her talk to me. I do none of it. Then Ham’s voice breaks into our bubble, and we both turn to face him as he addresses the group.

“All right, listen up. We’ve got the whole lodge for the week. It’s just us, so you have access to all of it. The restaurant is staffed from six a.m. to eleven p.m. for us, and they’ll be stocking refrigerators in the lounge for after hours. The spa is also staffed, but they do ask that you make an appointment if you want to use their services. The estate is thirty acres. On the grounds, there are six spring-fed hot pools, an infinity pool, a wildlife enclosure, several walking trails, and a tennis court. You can book tours with the front desk or explore the estate on your own, but if you want to leave the grounds, check in with me first and take security with you. I’ll give you a map and an information sheet with the key to your suite.”

He focuses his attention on someone behind me, and I don’t have to look to know it’s Ezra and Crue.

“Look at the map and information sheetbeforetexting me with your questions, and just because we’re the only guests here, doesn’t mean we don’t have to act with decorum. You’re still public figures. You still need to be professional. You still need to be respectful of the staff, the grounds, and each other. I do not want another incident like we had in Amsterdam. Do you understand?”

I smirk as the Caveat boys grumble their agreement, and I bet Crue and Ezra resemble scolded puppies.

In Amsterdam, the two of them got fucked up on mushrooms and somehow dyed the water in the pool and hot tub blue. They have no recollection of how they did it, but Ham found them in the sauna giggling like idiot smurfs with their skin dyed bright blue from the nipples down—dicks and all—five hours before their show.