Faked (Ward Family #2)(20)

"Welcome home, Lia," he said quietly. "I bet your night wasn't half as exciting as mine."





Chapter Eight





Bauer





As frustrated as I was with these Ward sisters and the conversation I was about to have with both of them, I'd never been so happy to see Lia in all the years I'd known her. Because if she hadn't walked through that door, I might not have been able to keep myself from reaching for Claire again just to see what she'd do.

If I thought she was smokin’ in the yellow dress, what she was able to do with cotton sleep shorts and a T-shirt was a fuckin miracle of fabric.

But instead of staring at her like I quite desperately wanted to, I kept my gaze pinned on her twin sister. The one meeting my stare head-on, quite unapologetically.

"Where have you been?" Claire asked her twin. "I thought you'd be home hours ago."

Lia tore her gaze from me. "I-I met Catherine Atwood, and we got to talking ..." She pointed a hand at me. "Can we discuss why this person is in our apartment who's never been in our apartment, please?"

"Yes, let's do that," I agreed. "I'd love to talk about why I'm here."

"Why did you go in Finn's place?" Lia asked, trading a loaded glance with her sister. It was a twin-look if I'd ever seen one, something I was completely unable to decipher. Claire could, though, because she gave a slight nod.

I grimaced at the exchange. "Oh no, I don't think that's the first question that will be answered tonight."

Lia grimaced right back, but she didn't argue.

With both of them standing in front of me, I had to fight how disconcerting it was to have that mirror image in front of me.

I'd practiced what I was going to say under the assumption that Claire would be my only audience. Add in her sister, who I got along with about as well as a root canal, and this just got a touch more complicated.

"Not that I owe you this explanation," I said, "since I was the one who got the switcheroo, but Finn is home with a man cold."

Lia tilted her head. "Can a man call it a man cold? I'm pretty sure that's just for the women who have to deal with them."

"Why's that? I don't curl up under the covers like a little bitch when I have the sniffles."

She blew a hard breath out of her lips. "No? What'd you do the last time you had a cold?"

"Won an invitational and got handed a fat ass check."

Lia rolled her eyes.

Now it was Claire's turn to grimace, except interestingly enough, she didn't grimace at me. It was aimed at her sister.

That had a smile spreading wide over my face. "Princess, no need to get upset at her. Lia has always been my biggest supporter."

"Princess?" Lia asked in disbelief.

Claire's face colored. "Okay, Lia knows why Finn bailed. Now if you care to tell us why you're here, we can let you continue with your evening."

"You won't like it," I told her.

"What is it?" they said in perfect, perfect unison. The tone, the tilt of the head, the slight narrowing of the blue eyes.

"That is so freaky." I shook my head. "No wonder you fooled Adele and my dad."

Lia beamed at her sister. "I told you you could do it."

Claire gestured at me. "He knew right away, though."

"You did not," Lia said.

"I absolutely did." I gestured right back at Claire. "You two may look alike, but when someone is put into a surprising position, you can't mask that immediate reaction." They shared another look. Claire broke it off when her eyelids fell shut. "She was prepared to fake it in front of my parents. I, however, was the wild card."

"That's a role you're comfortable in," Lia muttered.

"Lia," Claire said sharply.

Lia set her jaw stubbornly, her cheeks flushed a slight red at the reprimand, and I actually rocked back on my heels at what that one word did to me.

Her face didn't give much away when I studied it, and Claire only allowed one quick glance in my direction after she did it.

I was given no smile of encouragement, no wink, no conspiratorial look.

But that word was enough to give me hope that she'd say yes to this crazy plan, and not only that, but we'd also be able to pull it off.

"Regardless of my role in this entire evening," I continued, "the whole purpose of Lia's presence was to impress one Richard Harper. And Claire did that in spades." I held up my hand to quell whatever it was Lia was going to say. "So much so, that he's invited us—my parents included—up to his home in Vancouver for a night so that he can learn more about the center." My eyes cut to Claire. "And learn more about us."

Stunned silence filled the room. Lia’s eyes were trained on her sister so intently that I almost felt ... protective of Claire. What was she trying to do? Glare the thoughts out of Claire's head?

And Claire ... her mouth hung open as all the color slowly drained from her face. "What?" she whispered.

"So I have to go with you overnight somewhere now?" Lia asked quietly.

Claire's face snapped closed, like she'd dropped a fence.

That Lia would come to that assumption wasn't surprising in the least. It was a logical place to land. Claire pulled off roughly one hour of pretending to be Lia in front of my dad and stepmom, but overnight was a completely different ballgame.