Faked (Ward Family #2)(54)

I held up my hands. "Forgiven."

The sisters walked in tandem just to the other side of Finn's car where my little brother and I wouldn't be able to hear them.

"Weird week," Finn said conversationally.

My head tilted. "A good week."

He squinted into the sun, and I took a moment to study him. I hadn't been home in months, and my little brother had filled out a bit, clearly spending time with the weights.

"School going okay?" I asked.

Finn nodded. "Eventually, I'll be able to sleep again or have a social life."

It was no surprise that Adele struggled with me. Finn and I couldn't be more different. Like Claire, he'd dedicated all his free time to his studies. Nothing came before it, and it showed in his grades. And lack of a girlfriend.

"Heard Mom and Dad got the money from Richard," he said.

My eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Good for them."

"She was excited."

"Adele should send Claire one hell of a thank-you note when she cashes that check," I pointed out.

Finn looked back at the sisters and grinned crookedly, and it was one of the odd moments that I noticed similarities in us. That smile looked a bit like mine. "Lia would've been able to pull it off too."

"I don't think she would've," I said quietly. My little brother wanted to stand up for his friend, but I held up my hand. "Don't misunderstand me. I know Lia is smart in her own right, but she's not Claire. And the kind of smart Claire is, the way she reads people, that's what Richard responded to. It had nothing to do with her last name, or who her brother is, or how she's connected to Washington. It was her."

"Hmm." Finn regarded me carefully. "Sounds like you got a read on Claire pretty quickly."

My eyes moved to the woman in question, her animated gestures almost had me smiling, but the whole situation was still just a little too strange for anything to be humorous. "I think so." The whole day still had me feeling off-kilter after leaving our haven in the woods.

It was laughable that I'd worried at one point that Claire might regret one night with me.

Not only did she seem to have zero regrets but she also willingly stayed. Willingly dug inside parts of me that no one had ever seen, no one had ever wanted to before. Those blue eyes of hers came with a superpower, X-ray vision straight through whatever messy tangle I'd kept floating on the surface.

When she looked over at me in the car, kissed my palm, and told me she thought I was boyfriend material—that bringing me home to her family was something she wanted to do—I damn near cried.

One manly, manly tear.

Right on the heels of that was, holy shit, I don't know if I can pull this off.

For her, though, I'd try. Because my little brother was right. I had gotten a read on Claire quickly, and she never would've told me the things she did in the car if she didn't believe them.

Finn turned so he could watch the sisters, his thumb tapping restlessly on the side of his car. "She's Claire, you know. I guess I never thought much about the ways they might be different."

I wanted to tell him all the ways Claire was different because what idiot couldn't see it? Finn might be book smart, but book smart people could still be total dumbasses in the ways of the world.

Something about the way he was watching them, trying to see what I saw, left me feeling edgy. Jealous.

It was a strange sensation.

"She's nothing like her sister," I snapped. "I don't know how you missed it."

He laughed at my grumpy ass, which didn't help the green-eyed monster settle. "It's not like I missed it. I just didn't ... I don't know. I didn't pay much attention." His smile faded as he took in my glowering face. "Never thought I'd see the day that a woman turned you inside out like this."

"Join the club," I muttered.

Finn gave me an assessing nod. "I think she'll be good for you."

Couldn't argue with that. "Thanks for getting sick, by the way."

"Ohh, it was my pleasure." His voice was dry humor and tinged in sarcasm, and it lessened a smidge of the tension banding tight around my chest at this entire exchange.

Lia.

Finn.

Whatever her family might say to my unexpected presence.

There was no misunderstanding what a big deal it was, and it was on the tip of my tongue to ask Finn for tips. Tell me what the hell to do at this family dinner. Ask him if Logan Ward was going to punch me in the balls for whatever had gone down between me and Claire in the cabin.

In his mind, I was sure our relationship played out backward.

There was no first official date, where I walked to the door and picked her up with flowers in hand. Where I told her she looked beautiful. Where I had her back home later that night and snuck a kiss in the car. Where I hoped for a second date and then a third. Because if I'd done those things, in whatever way he probably wanted his sisters to start dating a guy, I would've wanted a second and third and fourth date from the moment I picked her up.

I would've pulled out her chair, held the doors, done every chivalrous thing I could think of. Not because Claire wasn't capable of holding the door herself or pulling up her own chair, but because I would've wanted her to know how special she was.