Leave him alone.
It would be too weird.
He doesn’t even look at you that way.
Those were all the things I told myself when my crush on Finn flared out of control. And it had helped for years.
“Text from Finn,” I yelled.
“What does he want?” Lia called from our kitchen, right around the corner from my bedroom.
I swallowed heavily as I read the text again. “Help. He’ll owe you a million favors.”
Lia groaned. “He could offer two million, and I still wouldn’t be able to do it.”
“What does he need your help with?”
“Some fancy-pants dinner and award ceremony. He needs a plus one, and since he refuses to find himself a date, his mom practically demanded that I go with. I think she actually put my name on the guest list because she assumed I wouldn’t say no.”
My heart clenched with unwelcome jealousy. “It’s just dinner. Why not go?”
“I can’t. I have something that night, and moving it isn’t an option. He just thinks I’m being stubborn.”
I rolled my eyes. Lia was physically incapable of admitting when she was being stubborn, which was about ninety-two percent of her existence.
The sound of her footsteps approached my doorway, quick and loud. “Wait,” she said.
I spun my chair to face her. “What?”
A devious smile spread over her face.
“No,” I said instantly. Twin telepathy, y’all. It was a real thing.
“Oh, yes.” She rubbed her hands together. “We haven’t done a twin swap in years, Claire. Come on, won’t it be fun?”
While my head tried desperately to wrap around the idea of pretending to be my sister for the first time since high school, it was a faint whisper compared to what my heart was doing.
That particular organ buried in my chest was roaring and thrashing, screaming at me to do this one thing that would grant me my greatest unfulfilled wish.
Time with Finn.
“He’ll know,” I argued weakly.
Lia blew a raspberry through her lips. “Nah, he won’t. You know how to be me, Claire. It’s one dinner. Then I’m off the hook, and his mom gets off his back.”
One dinner with Finn. One night to soak up his attention instead of playing the third wheel to the clearly non-romantic friendship between him and my sister. They’d never even hinted that they wanted to cross that line, which was the only reason I was even considering this insanity. Because for one night, I wanted to know what it felt like to have his eyes on me. To wear a pretty dress and spend the evening by his side.
“One dinner,” I said again.
She bounced excitedly in the doorway. “You’ll do it? Seriously?”
I took a deep breath and held it, muting every argument that sprang into my head. “I’ll do it.”
FAKED （Ward Family series book 2） is coming Summer 2020! Pre-order your copy HERE!
Need more broody Logan, fiery Paige, and the ward sisters? Grab your copy of The Marriage Effect HERE.
See where the Washington Wolves began in The Bombshell Effect. Grab your copy HERE.
Acknowledgments
This fall was a complete and utter BLUR of writing and travel, and I’m so incredibly thankful that my little tribe of people （friends and family） understood what that meant for me.
It was long stretches of writing, blinders on, and ignoring texts for days. It was to-do lists with no wiggle room and pretty much no socializing for three months. On nights and weekends, it was spending time with my family, and putting my phone away.
Being a writer is strange. It’s a job that most people don’t really understand, and that’s okay. Where I’m SO FORTUNATE is that the people in my life who don’t understand it still love me and respect me when I have to ignore them.
So, here’s that list:
To my husband. WE OFFICIALLY SURVIVED our first stretch of both of us working from home. YAY! Thank you for respecting every crazy boundary I put on my own ‘office space’， both mental and physical. You didn’t so much as blink when I looked you in the eye and said, “If you need ANYTHING FROM ME, it can wait until after I get the boys from school. So, please, for the love, do not interrupt me for the next seven hours unless you are bleeding.” I love you.
To my kids, because I think you’re really awesome and funny and smart and kind.
To Fiona Cole and Kathryn Andrews, for every opinion on this book, whether I wanted to hear it or not. You make my books better, and I love you both.
To Najla Qamber Designs and Regina Wamba for a STUNNING COVER that I’m obsessed with.