Faked (Ward Family #2)(25)
Then her laughter stopped.
Paige swore.
And my stomach tangled into forty-seven knots.
Because Bauer in a tux was nice enough but not the real him.
Now, I was seeing the real Bauer.
"Good morning, princess," he said. His voice was gruff and grumbly, like he hadn't used it much since he woke up.
In faded, ripped jeans, a dark gray beanie covering his hair, and a black Henley stretched tight across his chest, sleeves pushed up to reveal the sleeves of ink on his muscular forearms, I officially got my first taste of The Bauer Butterflies.
"Claire," Paige whispered in my ear, "go put those wool socks in your backpack, or I will do it for you, young lady."
I motioned for her to back up. "Come on in," I told Bauer. "Ignore them."
"Seems highly impossible." His grin was wide and charming, and dammit, he had dimples I'd not noticed the night before. With an outstretched hand, I watched Isabel melt like butter, and Paige shift right the frick into overprotective mom mode. "Bauer. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting?"
"Isabel, one of the big sisters." Iz gave him a friendly smile. "I'm a huge fan, Bauer. It's nice to meet you."
He dropped her hand and turned to Paige. "And you, I recognize. Paige Ward, wife of the big brother."
Paige shook his hand, and I stifled a laugh when I caught the gleam in her eye. "It makes it easier that you recognize me."
"Does it?"
She nodded pleasantly. "That way, if you hurt a hair on her head, you'll know exactly who's going to send you to your painful, bloody demise."
Bauer froze. "Right. That does make it easier."
Something about this entire exchange made me want to go hide in Lia's room with her.
Bauer was too charming in the harsh sunlight that came with this brand new day. He was too big and tattooed and muscular and ... too Bauer, for me to go anywhere with him that involved sharing the same roof.
Now I was thinking about Finn. Because he would've been polite and sweet. Unassuming. He would've taken my bag and called me Claire, and it would be comforting because I knew what to expect from him.
As Isabel asked Bauer some questions about snowboarding, and he gave me a tiny wink, my head and my heart were screaming at me not to leave this apartment with him.
Instincts were blaring like a tornado siren. My hand tightened around the handle of my backpack until my fingers started tingling from loss of blood flow.
I couldn't do this.
If I wasn't capable of one full evening around him, one full evening of pretending to be my sister, I definitely couldn't do this for an entire night. With him.
"And you have good snow tires?" Paige asked him. "Because you might encounter bad weather."
"That's going north of them," Isabel said. "Ignore her, Bauer. She's like this with all of us."
Bauer set a hand on his chest. "My Jeep can handle anything, I promise. I have excellent tires."
"Do you mind if I quickly grab a picture of your driver's license?" Paige continued. "Just ... in case."
He tilted his head. "Umm, yes?"
"Why? Something to hide?"
"Okay," I interjected. "Paige, I think he gets the picture."
"Believe me," Bauer said seriously, "I'm well aware of how precious my cargo is."
I rolled my eyes.
Paige, however, looked pleased. "You're damned right."
Setting a hand on my sister-in-law's shoulder, I squeezed in warning. "Thank you, Paige."
I gave her a look.
She gave me one right back.
If we didn't leave soon, she'd pull a shotgun out of thin air and start cleaning it in front of him.
"Ready?" I asked Bauer.
His wide grin held the slightest secret edge to it that was meant only for me. It made my heart race inexplicably. My head was still screaming in warning.
"Let's go, princess. I've been ready since last night."
Chapter Ten
Claire
The drive from my apartment to Richard's place in Vancouver was roughly two and a half hours. I learned a few things in that relatively short span of time.
1-You could stare at the breathtaking scenery for most of it and live in abject denial about what was waiting for you upon our arrival to Richard's place. Memorize entire mountain ranges, each craggy, uneven peak, and imagine it to such detail that if you actually knew how to do something like ... paint or draw, you'd spend those two and a half hours thinking about how you'd paint or draw them.
2-Bauer was, regrettably, a very good singer. He favored classic rock and alternative as his music of choice, and it took everything in me not to jam my fingers in my ears as he sang along. His voice was low and smooth without frills or fancy embellishments, but it made the hair on the back of my neck rise, and therefore, I didn't like it.
3-He was also freaking relentless in trying to engage me in conversation even though I was doing my very best at ignoring his existence until I had no other choice. It took until the last thirty minutes of our drive before I finally cracked.
"So, princess, when did we start dating?"
Ignoring the unsteady gallop of my heart when he asked that, I kept my voice even and emotionless every time he asked me something that I felt forced to answer.