Faked (Ward Family #2)(8)

She hummed. "His half-brother’s sponsor?"

I turned. "I will not need to know any of that stuff. Besides, you told me his brother is a touchy subject. Why would he come up at a fancy dinner where they're trying to impress someone?"

"You never know," she said. "That's my point."

"He just lost his sponsorship with Burton this week." I sighed. Like I cared much about Finn's apparently insane, fully tattooed, snowboarder of a brother. Half-brother, whatever.

She snapped her fingers. "Nice. Didn't even trip you up with that one."

"You need to go," I told her.

"I am, I am." Lia paused before she left my bedroom again. "You're gonna do awesome."

I smiled at her. "Thanks."

"They won't even know it's you!"

My smile fell as she left because as the innocently spoken words fell between us like a deflated balloon, I suddenly didn't feel so much like a princess.

I felt like a fraud.

The door slammed shut behind Lia as she left the apartment.

Just me, my sad princess reflection, and the yellow dress made for someone else.

It took a second, but I met my own blue eyes evenly and took a deep breath. "C, pull your shit together. You're a mother-effing Ward."

So that was what I did.

After carefully covering the dress with my cotton robe, I curled my hair until it fell over one shoulder in pretty waves. Using all of Lia's makeup brushes, I applied goldish-bronze eye shadow until my eyes looked almost indecently blue in my face. The arms on the clock clicked faster and faster until I was sure someone was playing a cosmic prank on me.

One hour to get ready felt like insanity for the woman who could shower, dress, and be ready for class in less than twenty-two minutes on a normal weekday. What kept me steady was imagining Finn at the door, handsome and clean-shaven in his crisp black tux.

I closed my eyes and sighed happily. Maybe I'd get a dance, if I was lucky. I'd just have to not do something stupid like grab his ass when he thought I was Lia.

My phone buzzed, the phone that now had Lia's phone cover on it because my sister was nothing if not thorough, with a text bearing her name.

Lia: Still no word from Finn, but that's not abnormal if he's busy. He's NEVER late, so have that fine ass ready to go in five! kiss face





I smiled as I typed out my reply.

Me: PAY ATTENTION. This speaker is important, if you didn't know. I'll be fine.

Lia: I owe you a thousand favors.

Me: Yes, you really do.





I tucked my phone into my small nude purse and stepped into the open toe heels she'd picked out for me. They boosted my height by a few inches, and I took a few steps around the family room until I felt steady. The clock kept going, a few minutes past when Finn was supposed to arrive, and I felt a twinge of unease.

Hopefully, everything was okay.

Just as I thought it, and then ridiculed myself for thinking it, the downstairs door to our apartment building buzzed. Lia would never expect Finn to come up, so I took a deep breath and channeled my sister.

"Be right down!"

With a cringe, I released the button. Too chipper, Claire, far, far too chipper.

I locked the apartment door behind me, then took the steps down one flight of stairs to the lobby carefully. Beyond the entry door, I caught a glimpse of broad shoulders encased in midnight black, hands tucked into the pants pockets.

My eyes narrowed. Those shoulders ... they were a bit too broad. A few more steps, and I realized my hand was shaking as it grasped the door handle.

That was when he turned around.

No. No, no, no, this was all wrong.

When I didn't immediately push the door open, his hand came out of the pants pockets, and I caught a flash of ink along the back of his big, rough-looking hand.

My mouth was hanging open when he opened the door.

Where was the smiling face? The clean-shaven jaw? Where was Finn?

"You ..." I whispered. My head was shaking before I could even attempt to mask my reaction.

There was no smiling. No, his facial expression could be categorized as a smirk if I'd ever seen one. His mouth was firm and wide, a hard, smirking slash in his face.

Which was also not clean-shaven. There was a jaw, all right, but the similarities ended there. He was darker, bigger, taller than Finn in all categories. But the eyes, I noted immediately; he had the same color eyes as his brother.

"Not who you were expecting, I know," he muttered, eyes glancing down the front of my body. "Finn is sick, so you're stuck with the bad brother for one night, princess."





Chapter Four





Bauer





It took me less than ninety seconds to realize that I'd been duped.

The entire drive over to a modest area just outside of downtown Seattle, I'd imagined how Lia would react. The utter glee I felt at how she'd react to being stuck with me all evening—Lucifer's castoff, as she called me whenever I poked at Golden Boy—was nothing short of beautiful.

If the woman who opened the door, the woman wearing the yellow dress clinging to every single curve perfectly, the woman staring at me like she'd never seen another human being of the male variety before was Lia Ward, I'd light myself on fire.